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Glamour and
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Photography
Specialist
Trq It Again
MetroDetroit Hillel is turning over a new leaf
Young adults should give it another chance.
JASON ROSKIND, WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY
is spring, I was
approached by
Miriam Starkman,
the executive director of
MetroDetroit Hillel. She
asked me to participate in
a task force to save the
organization.
At the time, I didn't
think it needed saving. To
me, Hillel has always exist-
ed and always will. I have
friends who have been out
of college for more than a
decade. They went to
Hillel. My parents went to
Hillel. So, in my eyes,
Hillel had become some-
thing to be taken for grant-
ed.
But when I started
learning more about the
organization — about what
goes on behind the scenes
— I realized how much
trouble we are in.
Picture the scene: It's
Saturday night. A group of
college-age friends are dis-
cussing plans for the
evening.
"Hey, let's go to the
Excalibur Restaurant or
maybe to the Metro Music
Cafe," one says.
"No, David is
still too young
to get in. Let's
just go to
Windsor,
where the
drinking age is
lower," replies
another.
So, like hun-
dreds of other
youths, these
college-age peo-
ple make a run
for the border,
the Canadian-
U.S. border.
What the
Jewish commu-
nity needs, I
think, is some-
thing to keep Jason Roskind
young Jewish
people on this side of the
border. They should be
meeting other young Jews.
That is one of Hillel's major
functions.
I discovered that many
Jewish young adults do not
know about the organiza-
tion — or they want noth-
ing to do with it because it
has a reputation of cater-
ing to ultra-religious Jews.
Hillel also suffers
because most young people
between the ages of 17 and
22 are just looking for
something to rebel against,
and Hillel represents struc-
ture and religion: two
strikes against it.
After participating in the
task force, I understand
the need for it. Hillel won't
always be around — not
unless we work at it.
During our focus groups
we met with students, rab-
bis and Jewish communal
professionals. I occasional-
ly encountered people who
felt that Hillel was not
their problem or their
responsibility to fix. This
was discouraging, though I
must admit some of the
issues we discussed I had
originally brushed off as
unimportant. For instance,
I initially disparaged the
issue of a new location for
MetroDetroit Hillel, which
is headquartered on the
Wayne State University
campus. Then the task
force heard from students
who don't go to WSU.
Getting to Hillel represents
a major schlep.
The task force, chaired
by Keith Braun, opened my
eyes to other issues. Some
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people were not aware that
Hillel is more than a
kosher kitchen.
I would like to see Hillel
become an organization
that is better able to deal
with the social, scholastic
and professional needs of
all Jewish students.
Now it is up to the young
adults of Detroit to give the
"new and improved" Metro-
Detroit Hillel one more
well-deserved chance.
Jason Roskind is a Wayne
❑
State University student.
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