The Julius Chajes Concert Series •C e ce U 0 U 0 presents - L 0 0 ALEX SLOBODYANIK Pianist a. "In a program of Bach, Prokofieu, Chopin...the young man showed impressive virtues: a big technique, romantic feeling and a real empathy for the dreamier side of the romantic piano repertory. He is also a pianist evidently in love with the sheer sound of the piano." - The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) Performing the music of Chopin Sunday, April 2, 1995 4:00 p.m. General Admission - $10.00 Seniors & Students - $8.00 Jewish Community Center • W. Bloomfield Janice Charach Epstein Museum/Gallery For information call 661-7634 or 1008 Young Concert Artists Management Funded in part by the Irwin and Sadie Cohn Fund and the Friends of the Julius Chajes Music Fund. Co-sponsored by The Jewish News. We Never Leave A Stone Unturned... JAMES D. BESSER WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT s over the next five years, and deny benefits to childless adults who are not working — even if they have been unsuccessfully seek- ing employment. The hundreds of thousands ofJews affected will inevitably turn to an already- overburdened Jewish communal infrastructure for more help. Or consider legal immigrants. They will be hit hard by new reg- ulations blocking benefits from a host of programs from food stamps to Supplemental Secu- rity Income (SSI). Thousands ofJews continue to arrive from the former Soviet Union every year, many of them elderly parents of earlier immi- grants. Because of their age, they are less likely to become citizens, less able to stand on their own two feet. The Jewish community has given generously to assist these new arrivals. But government as- sistance has become a vital thread in the lifeline that keeps them above the poverty level — barely. The Republican welfare reform proposal, if approved by the Senate, will force many of these people below the poverty line. Jewish organizations, again, will be forced to make up the dif- ference. Also, Jewish children, mostly in larger cities, often depend heavily on the nutrition benefits that are being cut, or handed over to the states in "block grants," which provide a convenient cov- er for wholesale funding reduc- tions. For example, many Jewish women benefit from prenatal health programs. But there is a broader dimen- sion to the welfare reform debate, In New York City alone, more one with long-range implications than 150,000 Jews receive food for Jews as well. In Washington stamps — single parents, the dis- today there is nothing less than abled, the elderly, victims of eco- a fundamental redefinition of the nomic reverses and recent role of government, an eviscera- immigrants from the former So- ton of the idea that it is in every- viet Union. one's interest to use government No reliable statistics exist for as an instrument of compassion other cities, but conservative es- and social stability. Many Jews may have made it timates suggest that up to a quay- ter million Jews receive this without government "handouts," important benefit every year. Na- but have benefitted enormously tionally, more Jews receive food from the social climate that pro- stamps than any other federal en- duced and nurtured the welfare titlement program except for infrastructure — despite its cost- Medicaid. liness. Some recipients may be de-The welfare system, as ineffi- frauding the government. But a cient as it can seem, is a tangible vast majority are ordinary peo- sign of a tolerant, compassionate ple who have been left behind by society. It is one where the com- a society with narrowing eco- mon good is not entirely over- nomic horizons. whelmed by the needs of the The Republican plan passed individual, where government ac- last week would cut some $20 bil- tivism minimizes the social strife lion from the food stamp program that inequality always breeds. easoned Capitol Hill ob- servers predict that much of the welfare reform bill passed by the House last week will not survive scrutiny in the Senate. Its members seem less determined to pass vast out- pourings of legislation as quick- ly as possible, and never mind the details. But in many ways, the anti- welfare onslaught has already done irreparable harm to the idea that government compassion is essential to the social stability on which we all depend. And that's _bad news for the American Jewish community. It has thrived in precisely the kind of society that many political lead- ers seem determined to disman- tle. On a practical level, the wel- fare cutbacks — the first in a se- ries, the Republicans promise — will directly hurt hundreds of thousands of Jews and millions of other Americans. The image of unwed black teen-agers with babies still dom- inates the public debate over wel- fare. But in reality, the system that is being torn down with such relish by the GOP budget raiders encompasses far more. The welfare system, as inefficient as it can seem, is sign of a tolerant, compassionate society. Four-strand cultured pearl bracelet (4.5mm pearls) with multi-colored gemstone separators in 14K gold Ciirine, amethyst, blue topaz, peridot and rhodolite stones. 30400 Telegraph Rd. 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