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The Spice of Life
'
?!;]
Cabaret Concert
1
.0
Featuring music from the
40s. 50s. 60s through the
90s: Pop. Jazz and Broadway
TH E D E TRO I T J E WIS H N E WS
Saturday, May 21st
20
a45 p.m.
Jewish CommunityCenter
Maple/Drake Bldg.
Adrnksiorx $15.00
Refreshments served • Reservations required
For information and reservations call the
Cultural Arts Department at 661-7624.
Co-sponsored by the Manny Natalie Charach
Endowment Fund and I-lomeklealth Exchange
Incoming, Outgoing:
Presidents Consistent
LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER
n addition to building coali-
tions with other communities,
acting as an umbrella to a va-
riety of organizations and
speaking to the media on issues
of Jewish concern, professional
and lay leaders of the Jewish
Community Council have tried
to form a stronger identity — to
answer the question, "Who is this
organization?"
"Because of the nature of our
organization, a lot of our efforts
are not highly visible," said Alan
Zemol, slated incoming president.
"And we don't just have one fo-
cus."
Outgoing president Jeannie
Weiner struggled with the image
dilemma for three years, but is
fairly certain the name of the
Jewish Community Council is
known and understood outside
the community, if not entirely
within.
"The Jewish Community
Council is sort of schizophrenic.
Our role is to develop consensus
and stand in front of issues. How-
ever, with all the organizations
we represent, it's a bit of a
tightrope walk," Ms. Weiner said.
"But all the things that never
made the paper, that never be-
came a crisis, that were mediat-
ed because of our relationships in
the community — that's the sat-
isfaction and true nature of our
work."
For Ms. Weiner, three years at
the helm concludes with new di-
alogue with the Arab communi-
ty and maintained relations with
black organizations.
She also traveled to Israel sev-
eral times with state and local
politicians.
"If you're doing advocacy, you
can't do it in a vacuum. You need
to be able to pick up the phone
and say, 'Joe, we're really con-
cerned about assault weapons.
How are you going to vote?' " Ms.
Weiner said. "Just because you
represent 270-plus organizations
doesn't mean you're significant.
You have to know the people
you're talking to. And they have
to understand our consensus
process."
Internal changes which oc-
curred during Ms. Weiner's lead-
ership include one-delegate
representation by member orga-
nizations and a $25 membership
fee. Ms. Weiner leaves Mr. Zemol
with the task of continuing to find
funding for programming beyond
what is allocated by the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan De-
troit.
And in the same breath, Ms.
Weiner adds that she hoped to do
I
Jeannie Weiner: Outgoing JCCouncil
president.
more outreach to the Hispanic
and Orthodox Jewish communi-
ties.
Ms. Weiner believes Hispan-
ics were hard to reach due to her
own lack of time and the differ-
ent concerns of groups within
that community — Mexicans and
Puerto Ricans. She feels the JG
Council's traditionally liberal
stance on abortion and the Mid-
- dle East peace process may be
among the reasons much of the
Orthodox community has stayed
further than arm's length away
from the organization.
"Our charge is to look inward
as well as outward, to see if there
are ways to improve relations be-
tween major segments of the
Jewish community and develop
respect. I look forward to a day
when it's not OK for a rabbi to
speak from the pulpit disparag-
ingly about another Jew. I don't
have the answers and I'm sure
they won't be easy ones," Ms.
Weiner said.
Mr. Zemol hopes young blood
might bring new insight.
For the 1994-95 year, 25 per-
cent of the JCCouncil's board of
directors will be first-timers.
"I think our toughest challenge
is to create meaningful roles for
young people. If we're going to at-
tract young Jews, the ones who
don't remember a time without
an Israel, who didn't live through
the Holocaust, we have to have
broader community participation.
We need to show being Jewish-
ly involved doesn't have to be
narrow," Mr. Zemol said. 'There's
a great deal of diversity within
our community. The trick is to
listen." ❑