INSIDE: DETROIT/ AREA FAMILY FACES ISRAEL'S WORST FIRE;
BUSINESS/ HIGH-SCHOOL LACROSSE STARS CELEBRATE TWO STATE TITLES,
75ยข
THE JO S H NEWS
23 TAMMUZ 5755/JULY 21, 1995
Looking For
Leadership
Hillel officials look to fill two
high-level positions at MSU.
JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER
w
Amidst War's Dark Clouds
During Saralevo's siege, a tiny Jewish community has brought
relief to the sufferings of its neighbors. Photos by Ed Serotia
Story on page 30
PHOTO BY GLENN TR IEST
Planned Growth
Congregation Shaarey Zedek B'nai Israel Center plans
to establish permanent classrooms with a major addition.
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
I
n a move that would split its school
into two permanent locations,
Congregation Shaarey Zedek pre-
sented plans last week which would
expand the B'nai Israel site by 20,300
square feet.
The plans call for an addition attached
to the north side of the existing structure
at Walnut Lake and Green roads that
would include classroom space for up to
400 elementary-aged students. High school
and other elementary-aged students would
continue to use Shaarey Zedek's Southfield
location.
The West Bloomfield Planning
Commission saw diagrams of the proposed
expansion at its meeting July 11 but tabled
discussion until it meets again Aug. 8. The
concerns of some neighbors regarding a re-
tention pond on the property as well as
landscaping issues will be studied prior to
the next meeting.
Should the commission approve the
plans, the township board would have to
give its consent before any work could be
done on the property. Because of this, set-
ting a groundbreaking date or estimating
PLANNED GROWTH page 8
Leonard Baruch: Preliminary plans.
ith just over a month remain-
ing until the start of the 1995-
96 school year, students at
Michigan State University are
wondering exactly who will be running
MSU's Hillel.
To date, the East Lansing Hillel is
without an executive director or program
director and Howard Neistein, one of the
officials involved in the search process,
says finding qualified leadership for the
top job could take six more months. Until
a professional staff is in place, the local
board of directors and the students will
assume the responsibility of running the
campus Hillel.
"In finding an executive director, the
problem we are running into is the re-
ality of trying to get someone who is
available in the fall," said Mr. Neistein
of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit. "The pool of qualified people is
limited at this time of the year. We don't
want to hire someone who is not in the
students' best interest."
Students active in the organization
are concerned the temporary lack of pro-
fessional leadership will hurt the for-
ward momentum their Hillel has
recently gained.
"This is the time of year the profes-
sional staff would be planning out a cal-
endar, recruiting prospective members
and preparing for the first week of school,"
said Jason Zaks, president of the MSU
Hillel Student Board. "There is so much
potential here that it is just starting to be
tapped. Every day we don't have a direc-
tor is a huge step backward. I don't think
all of our past energy will go down the
tubes but the situation is a tremendous
strain on our campus community."
The executive director post became
available in April when Mark
Finkelstein resigned. Officially, Dr.
Finkelstein relinquishes his duties at
the end of this month. However, some
of his remaining time on the job is being
taken up by vacation days.
The search process, which began just
last month, is being conducted as a co-
ordinated effort by Federation, the East
Lansing-based Hillel board and the na-
tional offices of the Hillel Foundation.
Those involved with the search said the
process just began because it took all this
time to coordinate everyone involved.
As time goes by, Mr. Zaks said students
are becoming increasingly nervous about
LEADERSHIP page 12