AN OPEN LEITER
To The Jewish Community From the Ain
1913 - 1993
MICHIGAN REGIONAL
ADVISORY BOARD
FRAN GROSS LINDEN
President
•
CHERYL BLOOM
GENE A. FARBER
BARRY J. GOODMAN
HOWARD GOLDBERG
RUTH LANDO
LEONARD SAHN
SHERI T. SCHIFF
Vice-Presidents
•
PAST PRESIDENTS
VICTOR J. BAUM
ARCHIE KATCHER'
FRANCIS SOLOVICH.
MELVIN WEISZ
BURTON R. SHIFMAN
MARTIN M. DOCTOROFF
RONALD M. ROTHSTEIN
DAVID L. BITTKER
ROBERT H. NAFTALY
JOHN E. JACOBS
CHARLES H. TOBIAS'
ELAINE BLOCK-VICTOR
PETER M. ALTER
STUART M. LOCKMAN
ROBERT I. GORDON
LINDA SOBERMAN
NORMAN H. BEITNER
*deceased
•
RICHARD H. LOBENTHAL
Michigan Regional Director
L. JILL BRIGGS
Development Director
(on leave)
NANCY BECHEK SCHONBERG
Acting Development Director
ADL APPEAL
LEONARD SAHN
•
COMMITTEE OF 5000
MICHAEL HOROWITZ
COMMITTEE OF 1000
LEONARD SAHN
•
NATIONAL COMMISSION
MELVIN I. SALBERG
National Chair
DAVID H. STRASSLER
Chair, National
Executive Committee
IUDI KRUPP
Vice-Chair, National
Executive Committee
LAWRENCE ATLER
THOMAS HOMBURGER
LUCILLE S. KANTOR
IRVING SHAPIRO
WILLIAM VEPRIN
CARMEN WARSCHAW
Vice-Chairs,
National Commission
ROBERT H. NAFTALY
Treasurer
ALVIN ROCKOFF
Secretary
ABRAHAM FOXMAN
National Director
PETER T. WILLNER
Associate National Director
DIVISION DIRECTORS
BOBBIE ARBESFELD
Finance and Administration
Michigan Regional Office
Anti-Defamation league®
Because we believe, as we always have, that an informed Jewish community with strong
Jewish agencies is still the best defense we can have, the Michigan ADL Board is
republishing our audit of anti-Semitic incidents, covering 1992 (the 1993 audit will be
released in January). The facts are inconclusive: while there was an 8% decline in
reported anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S., representing the first decline in overall
numbers in six years, the statistics are still serious enough to rank 1992 as the second-
highest total in the 14-year history of the audit. Further, a major national opinion poll
commissioned by ADL shows a decline, since 1964, of Americans holding strong anti-
Semitic beliefs, but showing also that 20% of Americans (as many as 50 million) do still
hold those beliefs, although they are rejected by younger and better educated
Americans.
Ironically, however, the audit reveals a marked increase in campus anti-Semitic acts,
which have skyrocketed in recent years. And, in 1992, an FBI report on hate crimes in
the U.S. showed that Jews were targeted far more often than any other religious group,
and that while the largest number of hate crimes were against Blacks, attacks against
Jews represented 17% of the total hate crimes - an alarming figure considering that
Jews are only about 2.5% of the U.S. population.
So the audit, as it often is, remains inconclusive; but contains a grim reminder that anti-
Semitism is alive and well in this country, even as there are reasons to be hopeful that it
is declining.
In Michigan, the ADL continues its counteraction of hate and extremist activities,
especially through the only police consortium in the country linking ADL, 80 local police
departments, three county sheriffs, three county prosecutors, and every single Federal
law enforcement agency in the area. Our Black-Jewish Dialogue group, now in its fourth
year, and our Black-Jewish Seder have been joined by an Asian-Jewish dialogue group,
and a teen dialogue group - first as a Catholic-Jewish teen dialogue effort, and now
joined by a Black-Jewish teen dialogue program. We've initiated a training program for
Jewish high school seniors, preparing them for what they'll find on college campuses,
and stepped up our college students' programs, training them on dealing with issues and
incidents, and servicing them and Hillels with programs, publications and consultation.
In May, we're bringing in 6 Israeli teenagers (2 Sabras, 2 Ethiopians, 2 Russians) to
spend 2 weeks in 10 local high schools interacting with local youths, and our staffing the
Holocaust Education Coalition puts Holocaust curriculum in high schools throughout
the state.
These are just a few of the ongoing ADL programs; but most important to remember -
we're here for you! Use us; join us; support us! We're all in this together.
CHARNEY V. BROMBERG
Intergroup Relations
MARK A. EDELMAN
Marketing and Communications
KENNETH JACOBSON
International Affairs
MARK MEDIN
Leadership
Assistant to the National Director
IEFFREY P. SINENSKY
Civil Rights
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ICam
Fran Gross Linden, President
Michigan Regional Advisory Board
Richard H. Lobenthal, Director
Michigan Regional Office
STUART TAUBER
Development
ANN TOURK
Community Service
"Translating Democratic Ideals Into a Way of Life in Our Time"
4000 Town Center, Suite 420 • Southfield, Michigan 48075-1402 • (313) 355-3730 • FAX (313) 355-9534