Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Provide Necessities,
Create Independence

An Honoree Symbolizes
Change At The Yeshiva

ALAN GOODMAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

One of the em-
ployees in the
agency came up
to me last week
and asked me if
there was any-
thing I could do
about a problem
\'4 which has come
up on a number
of occasions for her hi the com-
munity. She told me that when-
ever she says that she works for
Jewish Family Service, people

like to complain about the "Rus-
sians."
"This community gives them
everything," they say. "Apart-
ments, furniture, clothing, cars,
medical care and spending mon-
ey. There is no limit to what you
will do for them.
"They don't want to work and
we, the community, support
them. What did we get when
we came to this country? We
had to struggle for everything
on our own. They don't even ap-
preciate it. It's a disgrace."
Perhaps, by providing his-
torical and general background,
we can shed light on the reali-
ties and the facts and better in-
form those who feel this way.
Will we change their minds?
Probably not, but I feel that it is
important for us to try.
I would like to begin with a
brief historical perspective. The
Resettlement Service has its
historical roots in the Hebrew
Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS).
For 80 years, HIAS has helped
to settle Jewish refugees who
were fleeing from oppression
and wanted to make their new
homes in the United States.
At first, those children who

Alan Goodman is executive di-
rector of Jewish Family
Service and Resettlement
Service.

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

came to Detroit were resettled
through the Jewish Child Place-
ment Bureau with funds pro-
vided for their care through the
United Community Service, the
Jewish Welfare Federation and
the National Council of Jewish
Women.
A Resettlement Committee
was established in 1937 by the
Jewish Welfare Federation,
which was succeeded by the Re-
settlement Service, a new
agency, in August 1938. This

became the central body re-
sponsible for refugee program-
ming and coordination in the
community.
Throughout the 1940s and
into the mid-1950s, refugees
came to Detroit from Europe
from displaced persons camps,
with 409 families resettled in
our community from 1948 to
1952. The policy of the com-
munity at that time was to pro-
vide support (relief) to them for
the first five years after their ar-
rival. This was in order to avert

The majority
are diligent and
hard-working

possible deportation if these
families could not support them-
selves.
We have a long history of not
only welcoming Jewish refugees
to Detroit, but providing them
with the basic necessities of life
to assist them to become inde-
pendent members of the com-
munity.
Today, both the community
and the refugees from the for-
mer Soviet Union face the same
challenges. Community policy
now dictates that we can pro-
vide basic support to families for

only the first four months after
their arrival in the country.
Family members already in the
community, called anchor fam-
ilies, are required to pay $500
per person for their arriving
family members to assist in re-
settlement. This amount is
matched by the Detroit Jewish
community and the federal gov-
ernment.
The anchor family, which
borrows this money from He-
brew Free Loan at no interest,

often expects the newly arrived
refugees to begin paying back
the loan immediately upon ar-
rival.
The amount of money avail-
able for the new arrivals during
this initial period depends upon
the number of people in the fam-
ily. Since the public trans-
portation system in Detroit is so
limited, families who wish to en-
ter the work force must borrow
additional funds to purchase a
car.
On average, families must
budget at least $150 in month-
ly loan repayments between the
original resettlement loan and
car loans. Additionally, they are
expected to begin paying back
their travel loan from HIAS
within three years ($55 per
month per person in the fami-
ly) beginning one year after ar-
rival.
After the initial community
support, if fainily members have
not found employment, they can
receive refugee assistance for an
additional four months for a to-
tal of $560 and food stamps for
a family of four, barely enough
to cover the rental payments
alone.
Despite these hardships, the
majority of our newly arrived
families are diligent and hard-
working.

NECESSITIES page 12

It wasn't long
ago that we were
reporting Yeshi-
va Beth Yehu-
dah's financial
demise. Stories
covered Federa-
tion loans to the
Yeshiva, difficul-
ties of meeting
teacher payroll, and whether or
not the school, a cornerstone of
Jewish learning in this commu-
nity, would continue to function
was even at issue.
During those times of strug-
gle, there was a constant — the
learning. A person could walk
through the hallways of the Sal-
ly Allan Alexander Beth Jacob
School For Girls, hear the
melodies of benching (grace af-
ter meals) and know that there
was really a current of continu-
ity. Over at the boys school, dis-
cussions of talmudic thought
between teacher and student
never stopped. It was difficult to
tell from the classrooms that
there was anything to worry
about.
In 1991, there was even a dif-
ficulty in the Yeshiva putting its
biggest fund-raiser, its annual
banquet, together. A keynote
speaker, Rep. Robert Carr, was
found almost at the last minute.
This column is not one to high-
light banquets or keynote speak-
ers or honored guests at any
banquet. Indeed, we could fill
these pages with that sort of in-
formation if that were the case.
This time, it's important and no-
table. It's important because as
the Yeshiva gets ready for its
Nov. 7 79th annual dinner, we
recall the many who wondered
if there would be a 77th or 78th.
A few years ago, a Yeshiva
rabbi even came to the news-
room and asked us not to run
anymore of the news stories we
had been doing. When it was ex-
plained to him that we weren't
making the news, but reporting
it, he had difficulty digesting it
all.
Today, we can report that
Beth Yehudah's financial situa-
tion is better. A cohesive lay lead-
ership working on the inside has
made that happen. The school
has gotten itself together. With
that written, though, we need to
understand that the backbone
of the Yeshiva, the learning, was
never in question.
That's what Selwyn Isakow
saw during his visits to both
schools. Mr. Isakow, a success-
ful businessman and president
of the Oxford Investment Group,
Inc., was not one to publicly lend
his name to organizations such
as Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. But
like a new breed of young adult
Detroit men and women who are
discovering their Jewish spiri-

tuality and Jewish involvement,
Mr. Isakow symbolizes a breath
of fresh air that is part of the
Yeshiva's resurgence.
Indeed, being a dinner hon-
oree was not something he want-
ed to do, and he came up with
every reason not to do it. He said
his background is not religious,
maybe attending a synagogue
three times a year. Jewishness,
he said, was "never of earthly im-
portance to me."
But then he learned of the
continuity. He saw the class-
rooms and the children and
teachers, and it reminded him of
his hometown of Johannesberg,
South Africa. He said he had
memories of the older men sit-
ting in shul and discussing the
week's Torah portion. This was
something he kept stored in his
mental vault, perhaps locked
away for a personal, special mo-
ment.
Something happened during

"That experience
has given me a
better understanding
of who I am and
where I came from."

a tour of the Yeshiva that made
Mr. Isakow go back, dust off the
memory and sustain its life.
There, he saw a young boy,
maybe a third-grader, stand up
and emotionally defend a tal-
mudic argument with his
teacher, his rebbe.
"I guess that's what did it for
me," Mr. Isakow said. "I saw
something special here. My ap-
preciation for traditional Jewish
educational values has been en-
hanced by a magnitude. That ex-
perience has given me a better
understanding of who I am and
what I am and where I came
from. It's reasonable and good
and exciting to be Jewish."
No. No more "Editor's Note-
books" about honorees or
keynote speakers for a while.
The rule has been broken be-
cause the message here is so im-
portant for all of us.
"If you believe that good deeds
create good things, and you have
an opportunity to do good and
don't, how much can you expect
in return?"
The old men of Mr. Isakow's
memory didn't say that, nor did
the third-grader to the rebbe.
Mr. Isakow did. It's a medrash
for the entire community. He can
now sit at a table of learning
with the old men, the young boy
and the rebbe.
They now have something in
common. ❑

