zvah
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
(Above)
Sandy Kuhel and E.J. Levy mingle.
(Left)
Philip Grossberg and Amy Milner: Newcomers with a calling.
Spirited, casua
get-togethers
come of age
with 300 young
1 adults.
14
he Jewish Federation's
- Young Adult Division has
got a new thing going: Monthly
bar nights.
The casual, nonsolicitation af-
fairs are drawing crowds of
more than 300 young people to
billiard rooms and other local
hang-outs.
"It's a mitzvah to bring peo-
ple together," said Jonathan
Gorman, chairman of the most
recent event, held Aug. 30 at the
Old Woodward Grill in down-
town Birmingham.
Bar nights, sponsored by
YAD's outreach committee, are
scheduled for the last Tuesday of
each month, barring holiday
times when special functions like
the annual Thanksgiving dance
will serve the same purpose.
wrIbe main goal is to get people
involved in YAD, for them to
meet and mingle," said Steve
Rotenberg, another outreach
committee member. The com-
mittee is cochaired by Dr. David
Altman and Jennifer Morse.
Although YAD remains a
fund-raising arm for Federation's
Allied Jewish Campaign, its
scope has expanded during the
past year to include many more
nonsolicitation events.
"If people knew that they
would be asked to give money
here, they might not have come,"
(Far left)
Young people show up for YAD's casual gathering.
said Mr. Rotenberg amid the 20-
and 30-something crowd at Old
Woodward Grill.
"Instead, with bar nights, peo-
ple know they're coming to a
much more laid-back situation,"
he said. "And they know that lat-
er on someone will call them to
join a committee or help them
find out about the nuts and bolts
of Federation."
YAD leaders reason that the
more fun people have, the more
involved they'll become, the more
they'll learn, the more they'll care,
the more they'll give to Cam-
Paign.
"It's all part of building the
Jewish community," Mr. Roten-
berg said.
Georgia native Philip Gross-
berg, 26, is a newcomer to town.
He's a college graduate who was
out-of-touch
with the Jewish
community be-
fore something
clicked.
"It hit me. I
don't know
what it was," he
said. "I went to
school at GMI
Engineering
and Manage-
-
ment Institute
in Flint and really didn't know
anybody Jewish. It wasn't im-
portant to me. But at a point
when you start getting serious in
a relationship, you start looking
at what's important in relation-
ships. And religion's important."
Mr. Grossberg, who now serves
on YAD's outreach committee,
wanted to meet Jewish women,
but he had to do some "inreach-
ing" first. He called the Jewish
Community Center, which re-
ferred him to Jenifer Adler, YAD
staff director.
"Jen put me on the mailing list
and once you're on the mailing
list, it's all over," he said.
Upon completing the Singles
Mission to Israel this summer,
Mr. Grossberg bonded with De-
troit's Jewish singles scene and
has since participated in many
YAD events.
"It's really made things much
more positive for me in Michi-
gan," he said.
Mr. Grossberg's views are
shared by outreach committee
member Amy Milner, originally
from Florida. Looking for some-
thing social to do this summer,
she attended her first bar night
"Once you're
on the mailing list,
it's all over."
—Philip Grossberg
in July. She didn't know people,
but it didn't matter. She devel-
oped a network of friends and
now helps other young adults do
the same.
"I met three people tonight
who said this was their first time
here and how do they get in-
volved? How do they meet peo-
ple? I gave all three of them my
phone number," Ms. Milner said.
"I told them, 'I know it can be
hard to come to these things
alone. So call me before the next
one and we can go together.'" El