Jewish Unity
Programs Suggested

LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER

A

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s the Jewish com-
munity develops
ties with other
minority groups, its
own intergroup relations
are faltering.
Rabbi Irving (Yitz)
Greenberg believes this
situation should be of the
utmost concern to Ameri-
can Jews.
President and co-
founder of CLAL — the
National Jewish Center
for Learning and Lead-
ership, Rabbi Greenberg
spoke on the topic "The
Jewish Community — A
House Divided?" April 1.
The program was spon-
sored by the Jewish Corn-
munity Council.
According to Rabbi
Greenberg, freedom has
led to the divisiveness of
the Jewish community.
And Jews were not pre-
pared for the choices of
religious freedom in
America.
Each sect within Juda-
ism holds an ethnocen-
tric belief that it will be
the only one to survive.
Each movement makes
decisions based solely on

"We need to
share our
successful
models with
each other."

Rabbi Greenberg

bettering their own phi-
losophy, and not the com-
munity as a whole, Rabbi
Greenberg added.
"The problems are
demographics and the
new prestige of being a
Jew. We have people
claiming themselves as
Jews, but they are being
rejected by other parts of
the community," Rabbi
Greenberg said.
The rate of conversion
to Judaism skyrocketed
in the 1970s and '80s. The
largest percentage of
these conversions were
done by Reform rabbis.
However, the Orthodox,

Former Sinai Chief
Is Dead At 57

RUTH LETTMANN STAFF WRITER

and much of the Con-
servative community does
not accept these Reform
Jews by choice, he said.
On the flip side, the
Reform movement's deci-
sion to accept patrilineal
descent alienated Ortho-
dox and Conservative
Jews, Rabbi Greenberg
said.
"These are the dynam-
ics of separation," Rabbi
Greenberg said. "It
should be a premium to
find solutions that unify."
Rabbi Greenberg be-
lieves lack of social con-
tact between the move-
ments has escalated the
problems of separation.
"Thirty years ago, Re-
form rabbis came from
Orthodox families. Re-
form rabbis had to ques-
tion if their decisions
would disturb the rest of
their family. Today that's
not an issue." Rabbi
Greenberg said.
Rabbi Greenberg sug-
gested five ways to bridge
the split — raising con-
sciousness, creating pro-
jects all Jews can work
on, organizing Jewish-
Jewish dialogue, reaching
out to young Jews, and
rebuilding the center of
the Jewish community.
"We weren't ready for
the freedom to be Jews
and we failed," Rabbi
Greenberg said. "We have
a common thread of as-
similation and we can
start again. But we need
each other."
Rabbi Greenberg sug-
gested all sects look to
the Orthodox model of
day schools and the
Reform movement's out-
reach to Jews no one
could attract.
"We need to share our
successful models with
each other," Rabbi Green-
berg said. "This problem
is still one of the hardest
to grapple with. But
Israel wasn't built by just
one type of Jew. And in
concentration camps, no
one cared what kind of
Jew you were."
Following Rabbi Green-
berg's speech, Temple

W

hen they met at
Durfee Interme-
diate School in
Detroit, sev-
enth-grader Marian
Carel thought Sheldon
Kantor was a nice guy
with a good sense of
humor.
"He was the kind of
male you'd like to be
friends with," she said.
They shared friends
and the same family val-
ues. Nine years later,
they married, and Mar-
ian Kantor discovered
her first impressions of
Sheldon held true.
"Gentle, kind...There
are so many ways I want
him remembered. It's
hard to pin down one
thing," she said last
Monday — almost four
decades after their first
meeting.
Dr. Sheldon Kantor,
who passed away April 2
of inoperable melanoma,
died at Sinai Hospital —
an institution he helped
bring through economic
tough times during the
late 1980s.
A specialist in gas-
troenterology and inter--
nal medicine since 1966,
Dr. Kantor was elected
Sinai Hospital's chief of
staff from 1987 to 1990.
Said Dr. Robert Reed,
executive vice president
of medical affairs at
Sinai:
"He was elected by his
peers as their chief of
staff. He served in that

Israel Program Director
Nancy Gad-Harf ad-
dressed local responses to
the problem of Jewish
separation. She pointed to
two programs co-spon-
sored by the Reform and
Conservative synagogues
as a beginning of bridging
the split — Stepping
Stones to a Jewish Me
and the Singles Shabbat
Service program.
Stepping Stones is a
two-year program for
unaffiliated, interfaith

role during much of the
difficult times here at
Sinai. He was one of the
leaders of the physician
group that worked very
hard and successfully to
keep Sinai an indepen-
dent institution.
"He was a gentleman
in every sense of the
word," said Dr. Reed.
"Quiet, unassuming, but
always ready to help. He
was a role model."
Co-workers remember
Dr. Kantor as a soft-spo-
ken, but extremely effec-
tive doctor, teacher and
friend. Dr. Hershel Sand-
berg was Dr. Kantor's
partner at the offices of
Sandberg, Kantor &
Eisenberg in Southfield.

"He was a
gentleman in
every sense of
the word."

Dr. Robert Reed

"We worked together
for 28 years without a
contract," Dr. Sandberg
said. "It was always a
handshake. That's it.
"We always started the
day with stories, jokes.
He loved telling jokes."
Dr. Kantor, a Detroit
native, was born 57
Years ago. He became an
active member of
Congregation Shaarey
Zedek and graduated
Wayne State University

couples. The singles
Shabbat Service rotates
each month to a different
synagogue.
"Both of these pro-
grams combat problems
of intermarriage. And
both programs aim to get
to the core of our prob-
lems," Dr. Gad-Harf said.
"Perhaps these issues are
not as explosive as patri-
lineal descent and conver-
sion, but we are talking
about education and
ritual." 11]

Dr. Sheldon Kantor

School of Medicine in
1960.
Dr. Kantor was a
diplomate of the Ameri-
can Board of Internal
Medicine, a fellow of
American College of Gas-
troenterology and an
honorary staff member of
Mt. Cannel Hospital.
He was a highly-
respected and well-liked
professor at Wayne State
University's medical
school, said co-workers.
Dr. Kantor also was a
member of several medi-
cal societies, including
the American. Medical
Association and the De-
troit Endoscopy Society.
In his spare time, Dr.
Kantor loved to pilot air-
planes and play golf with
his wife.
In addition to his wife,
Marian, he is survived
by sons and daughter-in-
law, Dr. Robert and Lisa,
and Bruce; daughter and
son-in-law, Lori and Dr.
Robert Goldstrom; 'a
grandson; sister and
brother-in-law, Roslyn
and Irving Schneider. ❑

Correction

MetroDetroit Hillel
will host
Jeff Zaslow,
9:45 p.m. April 10
at
Congregation
Beth Achim.