An Accountable Plan For JCC
There's plenty of room at the JCC Health Club
these days. More room than its board of direc-
tors, instructors and maybe even its members
want. Two hundred Health Club members at
Maple-Drake and the JPM have opted out re-
cently for alternatives that are either less ex-
pensive, more convenient, provide better
instruction or have better facilities.
But whatever the reasons for leaving, the
Health Club is at the heart of what is seen as an
uncertain financial future for the Jewish Cen-
ter. What was once a 1970s national model of
activity for Jewish community centers, is now
facing a brand-new century with questions of its
own purpose and strengths. As Jews find it less
necessary to affiliate with things Jewish, they
are also questioning whether to pay member-
ship fees and remain active with the Jewish
Community Center.
And why should they? A quick trip within five
minutes' drive from the Maple-Drake campus
will find alternatives in exercise facilities.
Who needs to concentrate Jewish book-buying
power for a once-a-year book fair when the
mega-book sellers along Orchard Lake Road pro-
vide year-round discount prices for the same up-
to-date works by Jewish authors? Day care,
cultural arts, camps, classes, the list goes on.
Jewish consumers are finding that they can
get many of the same services in secular loca-
tions and still see many of their friends and
neighbors.
The Jewish Center is projecting losses in the
hundreds of thousands unless it can market it-
self in a leaner, more consumer-sensitive way or
eliminate deficit-producing programs.
Does it recognize the changing nature of the
Jewish family? Gone are the days when mom
would drop the children at school and then have
time for a class. Potential members are even like-
ly to be unaffiliated with any other Jewish cause,
synagogue or organization.
JCC officials need to plan strategically for a
community entirely different than the 1970s
model they continue to serve. For example, the
Jewish News was told by JCC officials of a goal
for adding new health-club memberships dur-
ing 1995. When asked how those membership
would be obtained, no plan was offered. We sug-
gest that the JCC's marketing personnel and
board members construct and implement a plan
on an urgent, full-time basis as one tangible step
toward meeting the current challenge.
If the money-draining Borman Hall situation
was any example at all, the JCC cannot and
should not count on budget bailouts from Fed-
eration. No, this is a time when the JCC needs
to plan ahead and be accountable even if it means
cuts in programming or reduction of workforce.
Look around and we see that JCCs are facing
similar fiscal challenges from coast to coast. De-
troit's JCC has always been held as a national
example for its facilities, programming and fis-
cal responsibility. Now its time for its board and
this community to show how a JCC, under cri-
sis, can change for a changing Jewish commu-
nity whose needs and pocketbooks are different
from the ones of 20 years ago.
Suspend The Peace Talks
Another week in Israel, another terrorist bomb,
at least 18 more Israelis dead.
How much more expensive can the process
get? It's price is incaculable. For now, instead of
names, we are numbed by the numbers, 54 dead
to be exact since the September 1993 accord be-
tween Israel and the PLO.
This, Mr. Rabin and Mr. Peres, makes the
price of peace too high.
While peace is our goal and should be the goal
for the Israelis, it is time for Israel to make the
safety of its people its top priority, even if this
means once again sealing the borders and plac-
ing Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza
out of work.
Let Mr. Arafat and his government work out
its own uncontrollable problem. Israeli blood is
not worth the struggle going on under his so-
called rule.
Mr. Rabin and Mr. Peres, we urge you to pull
away from the peace table for at least a month
for the expressed purpose of a cooling-off period.
Detail when and how you will return. Is this not
what the PLO did after Hebron? At a minimum,
eliminate new phases of the talks. Focus on the
existing problems.
Will a suspension of the talks strengthen the
hands of Islamic fundamentalists? Will it weak-
en the PLO? How much weaker can it get? This
situation calls for time and perspective to sort
through the options. The momentum will not be
lost. Israel and her supporters need to catch a
collective breath.
In the past, we've tried to look away from the
atrocities, a suicide bomber on a bicycle, a bus
ripped inside-out leaving 22 dead. We thought
these acts should not become obstacles to peace.
We'd be playing into the terrorists' hands should
we leave the peace table.
Our thinking must now be to protect the lives
of the innocent, suspend talks of peace, and let
the PLO show Israel why peace is even an op-
tion anymore.
This Shabbat in temples and synagogues all
over Detroit, we recommend that religious ser-
vices include a reading of the names of those
killed. We need to keep their memory from be-
coming nothing more than a number. If we don't,
the peace process will have a similar sad end-
ing.
The dead include: Staff Sgt. Daniel Rosovski,
20; Staff Sgt. Yechiel Sharvit, 21; Staff Sgt. Yaron
Blum, 20; Sgt. Maya Kopstein, 19; Sgt. Daniel
Tzikuashvilli, 19; Sgt. Avi Saalto, 19; Sgt. Rafael
Mizrachi, 19; Sgt. Eran Gueta, 20; Cpl. Soli
Mizrachi, 18; Cpl. David Hasson, 18; Cpl. Amir
Hirschenson, 18; Cpl. Eitan Petetz, 18; Lt. David
Ben-Zino, 20; Lt. Adi Rosen, 20; Lt. Yuval Tu-
vya, 22; Sgt. Maj. Anon Kadur, 24; Cpl. Ilie Da-
gan, 18; Shabtai Mahpud, 34.
Letters
An Irrational
Fear Of Firearms
I read with interest and disgust
the opinion piece by Ms. Jeannie
Weiner — "Twisting the Consti-
tution for Fundamentalists and
the NRA" in the Jan. 20 issue.
I will let the NRA refute the
various statistics that she used
and address only her beliefs. She
feels that the Second Amend-
ment of the Bill of Rights does not
allow private individuals to have
firearms.
The Bill of Rights is just that
— a bill of rights. It recognizes
rights that we as individuals
have. These rights were not be-
stowed upon us by the govern-
ment. In the Bill of Rights, the
government is simply acknowl-
edging the rights that people
have just by being American cit-
izens.
She says that she remembers
when there was no danger from
guns at school, work, etc. She
does not realize that when she
was younger there were plenty
of firearms around. They were
even easier to get then than they
are now.
The reason that she did not see
so much gun violence when she
was younger was because vio-
lence was not tolerated then as
it is now.
Ms. Weiner is worried about
"the number of guns easily avail-
able to law-abiding citizens who
can become enraged or who irre-
sponsibly leave loaded guns to be
discovered by children."
I am not worried about my
law-abiding Jewish, Christian,
Muslim, black, brown, white Re-
publican and Democratic neigh-
bors legally owning guns, knives,
matches or cars. I trust them for
they are law abiding. Indeed to
feel otherwise is an insult to all.
Maybe she wants to establish
a government agency to screen
law-abiding citizens to determine
if they may in the future become
enraged or irresponsible. Then
once we identify these citizens we
can set up camps to re-educate
them.
The issue we face is not gun vi-
olence. The issue is violence in
general — and the lack of clear
and firm punishment of violent
criminals.
Please, Ms. Weiner, if you
have an irrational fear of
firearms — deal with it. Do not
try to trample on my Second
Amendment or any other rights
in some weird way of justifying
your fear and twisting it on to
others.
Finally, I as a Jew, do not want
to live in a country where only
the state is armed — and I don't
have to because I live in the Unit-
ed States.
Mike Havis
Southfield
Not Cheering
On The Sidelines
I am writing in response to the
Jan. 20 letter from Bracha Stein
titled "Misplaced Generosity."
While I do not wish to engage the
writer in either a political or a ha-
lachic dialogue concerning the
proper response to helping the
needy, I do wish to go on record
as saying that I was dismayed at
the suggestion that all of "us"
Torah observant Jews are "po-
litically conservative."
I don't know who appointed
Bracha Stein as spokesperson for
the politics of the Orthodox com-
munity, but this Orthodox Jew
is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.
Yes, there are only a minority of
us, but what else is new? Stand-
ing up to the prevailing political
winds has never been easy. It re-
quires both intellectual integri-
ty as well as a great deal of
courage. How much easier it is to
parrot the name-calling of the
Rush Limbaughs, or stand on the
sidelines chanting rah-rah to the
cheers of the prevailing political
Party.
However, with Republican
leaders like Newt Gingrich
standing behind individuals who
would give voice to Nazi revi-
sionism, I would suggest that all
Jews who applaud the shift in
power from Democrat to Repub-
lican study your history and start
praying that you gain the insight
to understand who really is the
enemy of the Jews.
Laurel Stuart-Fmk
West Bloomfield
Destructive
Behavior
In order to stem the current self-
destructive behavior of the Israeli
government and prevent similar
DESTRUCTIVE page 10
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