"She has
taken us
from a
mom-and pop
organization
to the
forefront."
Gad Stewart
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
in the rented room and both
the former Soviet Union. Ini-
Above: Ms. Shallal
worked at the grocery store.
tially, because he was a for-
makes time for
Ms. Shallal's oldest sister came
individual meetings
eigner and Ms. Shallal was
next. All three worked in the
with group-home
assimilating into American cul-
residents.
store. Within six years of his ar-
ture, she wanted nothing to do
rival, her father had the entire
with him. Mr. Ayzin pursued
family here; eventually, the
her and she finally agreed to go
family was able to open its own
out with him once. They dated
Below: Ms. Shallal
store.
for three years and married in
listens to home
During her early adult years,
1983.
manager Beverly
Ms. Shallal began dating a
Their children Eric, 12, and
Steward.
Jewish man named Boris
Mark, 8, are being exposed to
Ayzin.
both backgrounds.
With the help of Jewish
"In our family, it was ex-
Family Service, Mr. Ayzin had immi- pected that we marry within our culture,
grated to the United States in 1976 from Ms. Shallal said. "My mom disowned me
until my children were born. The fact that
[my husband] was Jewish was a big part
of the family not wanting me to marry
him. We lived in a Muslim-dominated
country, so my parents were influenced
by the anti-Israeli sentiment."
Ms. Shallal comes from a family and
culture where arranged marriages are
not uncommon. Her parents first met on
their wedding day. Her father was in his
late 20s and her mother was barely 13.
A year later, their first child was born.
When Ms. Shallal's father died at the age
of 61, he and his wife had been married
33 years.
All of the 10 Shallal children grew up
to become professionals. They include
physicians, attorneys and an interior dec-
orator. Some have done more unusual
work. Ms. Shallal's brother was once the
Reebok aerobics champion, and her sis-
ter Jane is a past president of the
Chaldean Federation.
"Our parents valued education," Ms.
Shallal said. "All of us have at least an
undergraduate degree."
With the exception of two out-of-state
brothers, the family still lives within a
five-mile radius of each other and see one
another often.
By the time Ms. Shallal was 14, she
knew she wanted to go into counseling.
"I think I'm a natural therapist," she
said. "I have a knack for being able to
help people."
Ms. Shallal attended Mercy College,
majoring in psychology. She went on to
earn a master's degree in social work
from Wayne State University.
Two days after her graduation from
Wayne, she went to work for Catholic So-
cial Services of Wayne County. She spent
the next 16 years there in various posi-
tions, first as a family youth therapist
and a social worker in two Detroit
Catholic schools. A promotion after two
years moved her to a supervisory posi-
tion. The next 14 years were spent su-
pervising the agency's teen mothers
program, and later the adoption program.
After nearly two decades with the
same agency, Ms. Shallal believed it was
time to move on. One of her former pro-
fessors told her of a job opening at Jew-
ish Family Service. The job fit her
background and qualifications, and she
was hired to supervise the agency's fi-
nancial assistance, clinical staff and child-
welfare programs.
Ms. Shallal left JFS after a supervisor
gave her name to Kadima, which was
looking for an executive director.
Because Ms. Shallal wasn't Jewish,
the board deliberated on whether it felt
a Jewish director was necessary for the
primarily Jewish agency. In the end,
board members decided religion didn't
matter as much as qualifications.
"Because I'm not Jewish, I didn't think
I would be hired, even though I am ori-
ented to Jewish culture," Ms. Shallal said.
"I like working in the Jewish communi-
ty. When critical issues come up, you can
usually get someone to help. To me, that's
a miracle. That doesn't happen in a lot of
communities. It's exciting to see people
who care for one another."
Shallal's schedule is consistently
interrupted by emergencies, like meet-
ing with a young woman who is mental-
ly ill, pregnant and homeless. Eventually,
the agency found the woman an apart-