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COMPILED BY ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Addressing The 'Silent Legacy'
Of AIDS: The Children
C
arol Levine has
become an outspo-
ken advocate for
those who bear what she
calls the "silent legacy"
of AIDS: the children.
Ms. Levine, of New
York, founded the
Orphan Project two
years ago out of concern
for children of HIV-posi-
tive parents.
Administered by the
Fund for the City of
New York and support-
ed by foundation grants,
the project is a research
program designed to
explore policy options to
meet the needs of all
affected children — from
dying infants to healthy ado-
lescents and young adults.
"By the year 2000, between
72,000 and 125,000 children
and adolescents in the
United States will have lost
their mothers to AIDS," Ms.
Levine states. "The vast
majority of these children
come from families beset by
drug addiction, violence,
unemployment, substandard
housing, malnutrition and
inadequate access to health
care.
"Extended family members
who would be the normal
surrogates are themselves
often unable, at least without
support and resources, to
take on the additional bur-
den of caring for these
T
Association of
Hungarian Immi-
grants in Israel is
organizing an international
congress to commemorate
the 50th anniversary of the
Nazi deportation of
Hungarian Jews to the
death camps.
Some 5,000 participants
are expected at the event, to
be held May 29-June 2,
1994, in Israel. The program
will include discussions and
an exhibit of the history of
Hungarian Jewry.
More than 565,000 Jews
e Crohn's & Colitis
CCFA), of America
(CCFA), the only
national nonprofit organiza-
tion that sponsors research
and educational programs to
help individuals with inflam-
matory bowel diseases, is for
the first time offering Rosh
Hashanah cards, with 50 per-
cent of each purchase order
benefiting the CCFA.
American Jews are four
times more likely than the
general population to be
affected by inflammatory
bowel diseases, which are
chronic and incurable and
generally strike young adults.
To order the cards, or for a
free brochure about the foun-
dation, call 1-800-932-2423,
or write the CCFA, 444 Park
Avenue South, 11th Floor,
New York, NY 10016.
(
orphaned children. The fos-
ter-care system already is
overwhelmed and is inher-
ently impermanent; adoption
is an option for some young
children but is difficult to
arrange for older youngsters,
many of whom are seen as
undesirable because of their
potential (or actual) be-
havioral and developmental
problems."
The Orphan Project is
developing collaborative
work with direct-service pro-
viders and family members
throughout the country.
For information, contact
the Orphan Project at 121
Avenue of the Americas, New
York, NY 10013, or call (212)
925-5290.
Hungarian Immigrants Plan
Commemorative Conference
he
Crohn's
Foundation
Offers Cards
living in greater Hungary —
of a total Jewish population
of 825,000 — perished dur-
ing the Holocaust.
All those living in
Hungary or areas under
Hungarian administration
during World War II (includ-
ing Carpathia-Russia,
Slovakia and Transylvania)
are invited to the anniver-
sary program.
For information, contact
the Hitachdut Ole Hungaria
(Association of Hungarian
Immigrants), 76 Ibn Gabirol
St., Tel Aviv 64162.
Are German
Jews Still
`Foreigners'?
t seems the German peo-
ple still need an educa-
tion.
Ignatz Bubis, head of the
German Jewish community,
recently called on the citi-
zens of Germany to stop
thinking of Jews as "for-
eigners."
"It's particularly hard on
those Jews born in
Germany when more than
half the population consid-
ers Jews as foreigners," Mr.
Bubis said, referring to
opinion polls that show con-
tinued German anti-
Semitism.
Mr. Bubis said older
Germans are still affected
by Nazi ideology, which
regarded Jews as "foreign-
ers, belonging to a different
race, suitable for extermina-
tion," according to an article
in the International Herald
Tribune.
About 40,000 Jews now
live in Germany, and many
of them are thinking of emi-
grating, Mr. Bubis said.
I
If What This President Said Is True,
Why Are So Many Jews Democrats?
ere's just one presi-
ential birthday this
month, but that's no
reason not to make a big cel-
ebration.
William Howard Taft,
27th president, was born
Sept. 15, 1857.
Taft had a
long and friend-
ly association
with Jews. His
father, Alphon-
so Taft, was a
close friend of
Rabbi Isaac
Mayer Wise. In
fact, as a boy in
his native
Cincinnati, Taft
accompanied his father to
hear Rabbi Wise's sermons
at Congregation Bnai
Jeshurun.
In the early 1900s, Taft
was incensed at reports of
pogroms (supported by the
czar) committed by Russia's
Black Hundreds terrorists.
He was inclined to abrogate
Td
a commercial treaty with
Russia, but was advised he
had no legal basis to do so.
(B'nai B'rith soon
launched a national cam-
paign for abrogation which
saw success in 1911.
Congress voted
to terminate
the treaty with
Russia because
of the czar's
anti-Semitic
policy, the first
time a U.S. gov-
ernment had
taken such an
action.)
In 1921, Taft
added his name
to a long list of prominent
Americans who denounced
anti-Semitic propaganda in
America.
Taft, a lifelong member of
the Republican Party, was
said to have stated in 1912,
"Jews make the best Republi-
cans."
New Jersey, Chicago
Are The Places To Be
A
nd they say New
Jersey is all smoke and
factories.
The Cherry Hill-Southern
New Jersey area and the
Chicago metro area both
reported Jewish population
gains of more than 10,000 in
1992.
The Cherry Hill-Southern
New Jersey area, which
includes
Camden,
Burlington
and Glouce-
ster counties,
issued a new
Jewish popu-
lation esti-
mate of
49,000, near- Chicago Skyline
ly double the
previous year's total of 28,000.
The new figure, based on a
recently completed survey,
reflects growth that took place
throughout the 1980s.
The Chicago metro area
reported an increase of 13,000
from its previous estimate of
248,000, to a total Jewish pop-
ulation in 1992 of about
261,000. Cited as reasons for
the increase: an influx of
immigrants from the former
Soviet Union, migration from
smaller Midwestern commu-
nities, and inclusion of a larg-
er geographic area than was
surveyed in the earlier study.
These population estimates
are reported in the 1993 edi-
tion of the American Jewish
Year Book, just published by
the American Jewish
Committee.
The total
Jewish popu-
lation of
the United
States in
1992 was
estimated to
be 5,828,000,
up slight-
ly from
5,798,000 reported in 1991.
The estimated Jewish propor-
tion of the total U.S. popula-
tion remains at 2.3 percent.
The five states with the
largest Jewish populations, in
absolute numbers, are New
York (1,643,000), California
(920,000), Florida (599,000),
New Jersey (443,000) and
Pennsylvania (329,000).