Folio
A fresh look at some recent stories in the headlines.
Project
Continues
Refugee
Aid
RUTH LITTMANN
STAFF WRITER
pp
roject Achim is still
going strong after
three years of helping
former Soviet Union.
New Americans adjust to
American Jews invite the
life in the United States,
newcomers to Sabbath
said Rabbi Elimelech
dinner at their homes and
Goldberg, the project's
to other holiday celebra-
chairman.
tions.
Orthodox organizations
"The purpose of Project
in metro Detroit started
Achim is to make these
Project Achim with the
people as comfortably
help of funds from the
Jewish as possible," Rabbi
Jewish Federation of
Goldberg said. "In the
Metropolitan Detroit. The
beginning, there was a
project aims to help
concern in the Federation
Russian refugees find a
circle that this was just a
Jewish niche in their new
bunch of Orthodox institu-
homeland. •
tions seeking to gain a
The project works with
share of the New
one paid staff person and
volunteers who contact - American market. But I
believe that everyone who
each new arrival from the
AJC
Sponsors
Fem Forum
KIMBERLY LIFTON
STAFF WRITER
Tax Bill
With A
Big Twist
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
ASSISTANT EDITOR
ep. Michael Andrews,
D-Texas, recently
introduced in the
House a tax bill with a
R
twist.
The proposal mirrors a
Senate bill, the Charitable
Contribution Tax Act of
1992 introduced by Sen.
Daniel Patrick Moynihan,
D-N.Y., with the exception
of a particular passage of
interest to religious com-
munities.
The Moynihan measure
includes a clause calling
on taxpayers to report
quid pro quo contributions
(where a donor receives
goods or services in
exchange for a donation)
U-M
Regents
To Vote
On Shoah
Memorial
KIMBERLY LIFTON
Ann Arbor's statue.
STAFF WRITER
or the past few years,
former Detroiter
Rachel Sasson has
been organizing the
Jewish Feminism Sym-
posium in Chicago.
This year, Ms. Sasson,
the assistant director for
the Midwest Region of the
American Jewish Con-
gress, hopes to attract
hundreds of women to the
May 23 conference at
Northwestern University.
F
of $100 or more. The
Andrews proposal does
not.
If it passes, the
Moynihan bill could affect
the tax-deductible status
of such items as High
Holy Day tickets and
checks written at charity
auctions. The Charitable
Contribution Tax Act is
set to go before the Senate
some time this summer.
Rep. Andrews opted not
to include the quid pro
quo clause after represen-
tatives of various religious
he University of
Michigan board of
regents is expected to
approve a site plan today
for a Holocaust memorial
on the property adjacent
to the Rackham School of
Graduate Studies in Ann
Arbor.
A statue, to be sculpted
by artist Leonard Baskin,
would be a „single grieving
figure placed. at the corner
of Fletcher and Wash-
ington streets on the site
of the state's first Jewish
cemetery.
In recommending ap-
T
-.
has observed us — inside
Federation and out — is
unanimous in their praise
for what Project Achim
has accomplished."
Rabbi Goldberg said a
gauge of the project's suc-
cess is attendance in the
Machon L'Torah program,
which offers classes on
Jewish studies to Russian
refugees and features
speakers from the former
Soviet Union. Ongoing
classes draw 15 to 40 peo-
ple. The larger seminars
have attracted between
120 and 130 new
Americans, he said.
Featured keynote speaker
magazine
Lillith
is
founder and editor Susan
Weidman Schneider.
The symposium, "Em-
bracing the Challenge:
Jewish Feminism From
Generation to Genera-
tion," will include sessions
on Jewish daughters/
Jewish mothers; the chal-
lenge of backlash, past,
present, future; Jewish
women's volunteerism, is
there a future?; integrat-
ing Jewish feminism into
curriculum and everyday
life; an international
Jewish feminist move-
ment; and transmitting
feminist values through
story and song.
There is a charge for the
one-day conference. For
information, contact AJC
in Chicago at (312) 332-
7355.
communities expressed
concern that it could
severely affect donations
to charitable institutions.
Among those who met
with Rep. Andrews was
Brian Anderson, vice pres-
ident of the Church of
Scientology International,
who has been closely fol-
lowing the issue. Mr.
Anderson said "both mem-
bers of the House and
Senate are becoming
increasingly sensitive" to
the concerns raised by the
quid pro quo clause.
proval to the board of
regents, U-M Vice
President Farris Womack
said the memorial statue
"can be interpreted as a
victim of tyranny, as a fig-
ure of humanity grieving
for the victims of tyranny
or even as the sadness felt
by the Deity when viewing
the cruelty of one group of
humans toward another."
The idea for the memor-
ial dates back to 1985,
when former Ann Arbor
City Council member Seth
Hirshorn asked the
city council to pass a
resolution endorsing the
idea.
If approved by the
regents, the memorial
could be dedicated as
early as this summer.
Meanwhile, the Ann Arbor
Holocaust Memorial
Foundation, set up as a
nonprofit group in 1988,
raised
has
already
its
toward
$50,000
$250,000 goal.
The project has the
backing of the Ann Arbor
City Council. It will be
constructed through pri-
vate donations. 0