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THE PROMISED LAND by Jordan B. Garfinkel
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THE JEWISH RELIGION IS GETTING.
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The GA: Taking The Issues
Out Of The 'Small Rooms'
Small rooms.
That is sometimes the key to finding and turn-
ing over the emerging themes of the Council of
Jewish Federations' General Assembly, to which
our local federation is sending a delegation next
week.
Decades ago, a small room in some remote cor-
ner of a convention center housed a discussion of
intermarriage and its effect on Jewish demo-
graphics.
Now that topic plays in and out of much of our
assemblage.
Small rooms.
In the mid- to late-1980s, a group of 10 or 15
people crammed a cavernous closet and were dis-
tracted by flickering fluorescent bulbs that need-
ed replacing. The issue: AIDS in the Jewish
community.
Small rooms.
Now is the time to focus on the role of women
in Jewish communal life, the poor representa-
tion that women see in leadership positions in
federations and in national Jewish organiza-
tions.
This year, in Seattle, several important sessions
occupying the "big room" will take on women's
r
REMEMBER WHEN WE.
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READING THE INGREDIENTS.
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roles, domestic violence in Jewish homes and Jew-
ish women as leaders.
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Every year, between 2,000 and 3,000 North
American Jewish leaders converge on the GA to
work on the complex issues fiercely competing for
communal dollars and attention. The GA by no
means can be considered a junket or a place just
to schmooze anymore.
With topics such as abuse, hunger and a seem-
ingly drying-up well of funds available, the topics
at the GA must address the needs of every Jew,
not just those who affiliate with a federation or a
synagogue.
The core issues are basically the same.
GLOSSARY: 1 ROSH HASHANA=HEBREW FOR JEW SH NEW YEAR 2 KASHRUT=HEBREW FOR LEVEL OF
But the reality is, if the message doesn't leave
RITUAL PURITY WITH RESPECT TO THE JEWISH DIETARY LAWS (i.e. "how Kosher it is")
the "big room," then we find ourselves regurgi-
tating what was talked about years ago.
For the delegates attending, we wish a won-
derful and meaningful experience in Seattle. We
know that you will not leave without something
to bring back for the people in your community, Clarification
those whom you have never met or you don't know. On Cemetery Effort
The question is, will you have the fortitude to per-
suade those of us not there to follow through with Thank you for the excellent item
on the cemetery in Slupsk,
the priorities and tactics that you learned at the Poland
(Nov. 1).
GA?
Conrad Giles' New Challenge
Will Begin In Seattle
When the Council of Jewish Federations' Gen- most pivotal in the history of the modern Dias-
eral Assembly convenes Tuesday in Seattle, one pora.
of Detroit's most active leaders, Dr. Conrad Giles,
CJF and the United Jewish Appeal, the two gi-
will be installed as the CJF president.
ants in Jewish communal work and philanthropy,
Dr. Giles, who has served as president of the are still on a track toward consolidation. That
Detroit Federation, as well as in various CJF posts, merger, though widely supported, still has its de-
is well deserving of this honor.
tractors, and some of them are im-
While there are still many who
portant voices representing major
make light of Detroit's unfortunate
cities. There is a great deal of lis-
reputation for events such as Dev-
tening to do, a great many chal-
il's Night, those who work within
lenges to be ironed out.
the federation world know of a dif-
With a new century upon us, the
ferent representation of this com-
next three years will determine the
munity.
immediate future of how federa-
Dr. Giles is an important part of
tions service their local. communi-
the strong Jewish leadership that
ties, and how funds are directed to
comes from Detroit. That leader-
Israel could very well be decided.
ship has produced national figures
Flat campaigns, federal and state
such as Max Fisher, David Her-
government cutbacks to social ser-
melin, Bill Davidson, Joel Tauber
vices, apathy and an Israel with
and others. Federation executive
new demands and new challenges
vice president Bob Aronson is
will require of Dr. Giles and other
known as a leader among his peers.
leaders an effort toward streamlin-
Dr. Con rad Giles:
His work on Partnership 2000 is
ing.
But it won't be easy.
A national presidency.
being hailed as a national model.
We know, however, that the
This is the "stock" that produces
same Dr. Giles who has been such
people such as Conrad Giles. He will make a fine an anchor to Detroit's Jewish community will take
CJF president.
his workmanlike spirit onto the national scene.
What Dr. Giles knows and what much of the And the rest of the national Jewish community
organized Jewish world understands is that the will benefit from the strength of the Detroit fed-
three-year term he will serve could be among the eration leadership.
Letters.
I would just like to clarify that
my mother's grave was a main
motif in my efforts, largely to
make her great-grandchildren Soviet Jews arrive in numbers.
aware of their family history.
In the photograph you pub- time out while American-born
lished, historian Stanislaw "flappers" did not do so well —
Szpilewski lay flowers in mem- and I was ridiculed and resent-
ory of my mother, Henriette Seel- ed.
Being a stranger in a strange
ig, who was buried at that site
land is not easy at best. Being un-
March 30, 1932.
wanted and resented is very hard
Frank Theyleg to bear. Perhaps only another im-
Farmington Hills migrant can know the pain.
Compassion Sought
For Immigrants
What can we do to combat Jew-
ish anti-Semitism? At the mere
mention of Russian immigrants,
the degree of resentment is un-
believable. There seems to be no
compassion or understanding of
the immigrants' situation.
I know a Russian doctor who
is working as an orderly; a CPA
who is a dishwasher in a hospi-
tal; a construction engineer
who is driving a delivery truck;
a high school teacher who is
changing diapers in a day care
center —jobs too menial for less
educated red-blooded American
Jews.
It makes me very sad because
I remember my first five years
in America. I spoke better Eng-
lish than most Americans, and
my manners were definitely bet-
ter. My luck was too good to be
true because I got a job the first
Betty Shepherd
West Bloomfield
Oak Park
Is Thriving
I was interested in your Sept. 20
article "The Times They Are A
Changin"' on the city of Oak
Park. As a former director of the
Oak Park Chamber of Com-
merce, I knew that the city had
potential to return to its former
glory days. -
Your article cited the Neigh-
borhood Project and the Jewish
community, both Orthodox and
"families who are not observant,"
with helping the rebirth of the
city.
Neighborhood Project Director
Marion Freedman is correct, I
feel, in her assessment that the
decks, parks and playgrounds
make Oak Park a desirable loca-
tion. Please be aware that those
THRIVING page 26
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