DETROIT
75¢
25 SIV AN 5755/JUNE 23, 1995
The Color Pink
AJE staffers are laid off or have hours cut for agency to come in under budget.
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
Tossing octopi may be a Red Wing tradition, but
does it jibe with Jewish law?
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
Mr. Gelberd said four clerical, custodial and part-
time professionals were given pink slips. Another
person at the agency said the number was closer to
seven.
This was the first time the agency has laid people
off for the summer. In the past, ME continued to op-
erate with a full staff between June and August.
Some of those laid off or those whose hours were
scaled back were told it was a strategic move to keep
the agency's budget balanced. Others heard the agen-
cy planned to bring in more full-time professionals
in the fall, leaving the current part-time workers po-
tentially without jobs come August.
Both are true, Mr. Gelberd said. The layoffs are
necessary to keep the budget in line for the agency's
current fiscal year.
"It is just administrative fine-tuning is all it is,"
he said. "The plane is coming in for a landing and I
am trying to adjust the flaps."
The agency's fiscal year ends Aug. 31. AJE offi-
cials expect to come in under budget.
"I am very, very cautious about money," Mr.
Gelberd said. "I watch every nickel."
Also, Mr. Gelberd said he hopes to someday bring
in full-time professional staff to replace part-time
workers. Part-time workers at times don't have the
THE COLOR PINK page 8
0
ctopus fever is
in high pitch in
the Detroit
area.
With the Detroit Red
Wings in the Stanley
Cup finals for the first
time since 1966, the
eight-tentacled sea
creatures have been in
big demand at local
fish shops.
At Vic's Quality
Fruit Market in
Southfield, simply
showing a ticket to a
home game will garner
a free octopus. Across
town at Superior Fish
market in Royal Oak,
many of the creatures
have changed hands as
customers rush to buy
one to fling on the ice or
to serve as a mascot at their
home parties.
OCTOPI page 10
PHOTO BY GL ENN TRI EST
he scene June 15 at the an-
nual meeting for the Agency
for Jewish Education could
not have been much more fes-
tive.
Trays of fat, chocolate-cov-
ered strawberries, tiny cakes
and cookies were the focal
point of a large sweet table at
Congregation Beth Abraham
Hillel Moses. Participants la-
dled sweet raspberry-flavored
drinks from a vat of purple liquid. Laughter and
relaxed chatter could be heard from small groups
prior to the meeting.
Howard Gelberd, AJE director, gave a top-ten
list of his favorite things that marked the last year,
many of which illustrated a growing want and need
for education. He also praised the staff for their own
"hunger and thirst" for Jewish learning.
The mood did not last. On Friday morning, some
workers were called one by one into Mr. Gelberd's
office and told they would be laid off for the summer
or would have their hours substantially cut.
The office staff also was reconfigured, with some
workers laid off and others having their hours scaled
back.
Shlugging Octopi
Kevin Dean with Stanley, a 52-pound
dead octopus.
INSIDE
Close Up
DETROIT
Electing
Judaism
Young Israel of
Greenfield gets
a new Torah.
Page 14
PROFILE
Avern Cohn is Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah honoree.
Page 49
SPORTS
Tiger great Hank
Greenberg would have
been proud.
Page 47
Contents on page 3
More Jews on
Capitol Hill are
turning toward
their tradition —
and national
Jewish groups are
responding.
JAMES D. BESSER
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
story on page 30