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The

AMERICA-ISRAEL CHAMBER

of Commerce of Michigan
announces
two important events!

TUESDAY, DEC. 3, 5:00 - 7:30

P.M.

University Adversity

in the atrium at Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone
1400 North Woodward, Bloomfield Hills

A reception presenting

ERICA MEYER RAUZIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

SHERWIN B. POMERANTZ

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President, Economic Developers for Israel, Ltd.
Jerusalem

"AMERICAN STATES DOING BUSINESS IN ISRAEL
WHAT MAKES THEM SUCCESSFUL?"

MUM

Refreshments include Israeli wines and cheeses
No charge -- Reservations required

* # * # *

THURSDAY, DEC. 5, 7:00 - 9:00 A.M.

at the Southfield Marriott Hotel
Northwestern Highway Service Drive, West of Lahser

A breakfast briefing featuring

CHRISTOPHER C. GREEN, M.D., PH.D.

Executive Director
Materials Research & Technology Business Development
General Motors Research and Development Center

"GM'S RESEARCH, DEVELOPMENT AND
BUSINESS ACTIVITIES IN ISRAEL"

$25

(Dietary laws observed)

Reservations by
Phone: (810) 646-1948 or Fax: (810) 646-9332

Arrangements for these special events by
Michael H. Traison, President, AICCM
Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone, PLC
Murray Sittsamer, Chairman, AICCM Program Committee
Prism Performance Systems
Dr. Avraham Horowitz, AICCM Board Member
GM Research & Development Center

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LOSE WEIGHT

FOR HEALTH AND LOOKS
Join the most successful

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

medically supervised weight loss program
•
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Next time you feed your face, think about your heart

Go easy on your heart and start cutting back on foods that are high in saturated
fat and cholesterol. The change'Il do you good.
WE'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE
V American Heart Association

had my schedule all worked
out: columns, newsletters,
graphic design work, house-
hold projects, children's home-
work, no problem. This fall and
winter, for the first time, I had
everything scheduled and
planned. No more frantic rush.
No more flood of projects. I was
going to be calm, on time and on
top of everything. And if anything
else came up, I was going to say
NO.
Then Jill got sick.
Jill is one of my best friends.
Jill, who is brilliant. not to
mention gorgeous, has several
advanced degrees. She had
agreed to teach freshman com-
position at the university this fn11,
but then she found out that she
had to have surgery with a long
recuperation period.
First semester students at the
university have to take composi-
tion, that is basic writing with a
big dose of grammar. They can
take a general composition
course or they can select a course
that is geared to a particular sub-
ject, so that they have some sub-
ject to write their compositions
about (while never, of course, us-
ing a preposition to end a sen-
tence with). The focus subjects
offered, for instance, include en-
vironmental studies, black stud-
ies, and women's studies. Jill's .
class focused on Judaic studies.
That's why she turned to me.
And I couldn't say no.
She has plenty of other friends
who are writers, but they don't
teach about Judaism. She knows
lots of other Jewish people, but
they don't teach writing. I have
taught before; I have an ad-
vanced degree; I was in sight and
breathing.
So, now, I am teaching.
Until I ended . up doing this, I
hadn't been on a college campus
for years. The young people are
messy. They wear dirty jeans and
sloppy T-shirts. The food is ter-
rible. The classroom is stuffy. The
copying machine is broken. The
book shop is paradise. In other
words, not much has changed
since 1968 (except for the pierced
eyebrows).
I have 21 earnest students
who meet with me for an hour
and fifteen minutes twice a week.
They range from a young woman
who received her entire previous
education at Orthodox day
schools to a dozen or so Jewish
youngsters of varying, but less
intense, orientation, to a small
group of Christian youth who
don't seem at all sure how they
ended up in Judaic studies ... but
what the heck, it fits their sched-
ules.
Jill had given them their first
assignment before she became

ill: Attend a Rosh Hashanah ser-
vice somewhere unfamiliar to
you and write about it. I learned
several things from reading these
essays. I learned that a couple of
these young people already know
how to write and could just go
straight to hard covers without
stopping in my class at all. I
learned that many of them have
lots of grammatical glitches to
outgrow. To my chagrin, I dis-
covered that a few of them have
absolutely no clue; they can't
spell; they can't tell passive from
active voice, and they can't make
their subjects and predicates
agree. I felt better when I dis-
covered that for at least two of •
them, English is a second lan-
guage and for one, it's a third.

On campus,
the youngsters
wear dirty jeans.

I learned, sadly, that the non-
Jewish youngsters were more
tolerant of ideas and rituals that
were new to them than the Jew-
ish ones. The most appalled stu-
dent was a Conservative lad
who attended a Reconstruction-
ist service; he practically sput-
tered in amazement and
indignation.
The most totally-at-sea stu-
dent was the girl who wondered
why the men at the service she
attended were all wearing
"shawls and beanies." But now
she knows. One boy even noted,
"The Torah seems to be a lot like
the Bible." Now he knows, too.
The non-Jewish or non-obser-
vant who did best at Rosh
Hashanah services were those
who were lucky enough to go to
a congregation where someone
talked to them. That bit of kind
human contact radically affect-
ed their reactions and opinions.
Their essays reflected far more
awareness of Judaism's spiritu-
al beauty, far more openness,
than essays written by those who
came to services and went away
with no human contact. Re-
member that the next tithe you
see a stranger in shul. _
Meanwhile, here I am, my
schedule shot, trying to teach
Genesis and grammar, syna-
gogue life and syntax, all in 2 1/2
hours a week, not counting prep
time. I grade papers, study the
assigned readings, mimeograph
class handouts, and do home-
work along with my children.
Whew. Ifni known my college
teachers were working this hard,
I'd have put on clean jeans. 0

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