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COMPILED BY ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Lawyers And Doctors, Move Over;
In Israel, Pragmatism Adds Up
Heal The World
I
f you're interested in
adoption, but not quite
ready to deal with all
that diaper changing and
waking up in the middle
of the night, consider this
worthy alternative:
Aleh, an Israeli facility
offering care for severely
brain-damaged children in
a religious setting, is look-
ing for families to "adopt"
youth under its wing. For
$2,500
a
month,
a
family or in-
dividual can
provide dor-
mitory care
for one child.
Other month-
ly costs:
* Day-care
center:
$1,500
* Rehabilita-
tion kinder-
garten:
$1,200
* Rehabilita-
tive therapy:
$500
* Food: $260
Located in Bnei Brak,
Aleh (the Hebrew initials
for - Aid for the
Handicapped Child) was
founded in 1982. It began
as a day-care center to
provide programs for
severely brain-damaged
children and, at the same
time, offer much-needed
respite for their parents.
Soon after Aleh's • opening,
demand for services was
so great that it expanded
to a four-room building
capable of handling 40
children each day.
Impressed by the scope
of Aleh's program and the
list of waiting children,
the municipality of Bnei
Brak donated land for a
new building to house a
permanent Aleh rehabili-
tation center and dormito-
ry. The facility opened in
1991, offering 24-hour-a-
day care and treating 198
children.
Aleh's services include a
treatment center for
severely mentally disabled
children, a rehabilitation
center
to help
inte-
grate
disabled
children
into reg-
ular
schools,
acrd an
outpa-
tient
clinic for
ambula-
tory child-
ren need-
ing de-
velop-
mental
therapy.
Aleh's operating budget
is $140,000 a month.
Children of all religions
and races are welcome.
In addition to needing
families for the adoption
program, Aleh is seeking
donors for a number of
major projects, including
the completion of a central
kitchen, a therapeutic
whirlpool and new dormi-
tories.
For information, contact
the Aleh Foundation's
American office at 4715
13th Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y.
11219, or call (718) 851-
4596.
Thank God
T
eachers credit genet-
ics. Parents say it's
early stimulation,
like reading. The students
themselves credit God.
Researcher Michael
Shaughnessey of Eastern
New Mexico University
recently analyzed stu-
dents who are high
achievers. He found that
the vast majority
attribute their academic
accomplishments to God
and hard work. Other
factors include motivation,
personal interests and
the influence of their
mothers, according to a
report in Mothering maga-
zine.
"Perhaps the basic point
is that the highly able
children see their own
efforts as a bigger part of
their success than their
parents do," Mr.
Shaughnessey suggested.
"If parents are more
inclined to think that good
grades and test scores
come naturally to their
children, they may end up
pushing them too hard."
How To Find
Your Zivug
y
ou've been looking
for Mr. or Miss
Right and, so far, it
has been an absolute bust.
Is it really too much to ask
to find someone Jewish
who looks like Mel Gibson,
is as clever as Jerry
Seinfeld, as smart as
Albert Einstein, and as
sensitive as the top writer
for Hallmark Cards'
Mother's Day line?
Maybe it's time for you
to go to Jerusalem, where
a new, nonprofit organiza-
tion hopes to bring you
and your true love togeth-
er.
Zivug (soul mate) is not
a dating service. "We
request only people who
are seriously pursuing
marriage," a spokesman
said. The agency provides
interested parties with an
in-depth questionnaire
and assures anonymity.
Membership lasts until
participants are married.
For an information
packet, send $5 to Zivug
File, P.O. Box 1415,
Jerusalem 91013, Israel.
For All You Do,
A Busch For You
B
eer lovers of Amer-
ica, drink to this!
The Anheuser-Busch
Foundation announced
this month that it will
donate $400,000 to Jewish
organizations in 11 cities
across the country.
The donations will be
made to Jewish federa-
tions in nine areas where
Anheuser-Busch operates
breweries, in addition to
New York and Washing-
ton, D.C.
"Since its earliest days,
Anheuser-Busch has been
deeply concerned with
human needs and the
quality of life," said
August A. Busch III.
ccountants,
your time is
here.
"My son, the
lawyer," has
fallen from
first to fourth
place, while
"my son, the doctor" has
dropped out of the Top
Ten altogether.
Of the so-called tradi-
tional Jewish professions,
only "my child, the
accountant" remains
among the three careers
most popular with young
Israeli men and women.
This fact comes from the
first Index of Israel's Most
Popular Occupations com-
piled by the Hadassah
Career Counseling Insti-
tute (HCCI).
"For Israelis under 30,
pragmatism is the watch-
word in their choice of
occupation," says HCCI
Director Yitzhak Garti.
"They are looking for
high-income, high-status
professions which require
relatively short training
and offer a range of em-
ployment opportunities."
The runaway favorite
among Israel's 400 occu-
pations listed in the Index
is business administra-
tion, with second and
third places going to relat-
ed careers in accounting
and industrial engineer-
ing. Law, with its lengthy
specialized training and
an increasingly glutted
market, fell to fourth
place. It is followed by
communications, comput-
ers, business administra-
tion, graphics and design,
psychology and engineer-
ing.
The Index was compiled
from persons who came to
HCCI for career counsel-
ing and those who con-
sulted HCCI's career
information data bank.
Just Say No
I
nsisting that inter-
marriage can be coun
tered only if active
steps are taken to pre-
vent it, three leaders of
the United Synagogue of
Conservative Judaism
recently visited targeted
areas throughout the
United States and
Canada to spread their
message.
Meeting with educa-
tors, clergy, youth and
lay leaders, Executive
Vice President Rabbi
Jerome Epstein, Educa-
tion Director Rabbi
Robert Abramson, and
Youth Department Di-
rector Jules Gutin em-
phasized that those who
work with Jewish youth
must make an active
effort to inhibit intermar-
riage both by speaking
out against it and by giv-.
ing positive reasons to
remain Jewish.
One commonly asked
question concerned the
charge that a refusal to
interdate somehow con-
stitutes discrimination.
Rabbi Abramson, former
headmaster of Hillel Day
School in Farmington
Hills, said one of the best
answers to this came
from a workshop partici-
pant who noted that
while she grew up in a
totally non-Jewish envi-
ronment, and still retains
close friendship with gen-
tile childhood friends, she
never dated someone who
wasn't Jewish.
For information on the
Commission on the Pre-
vention of Intermarriage,
contact the organization
at (212) 533-7800, ext.
2207.