Community Views

Editor's Notebook

Jewish Talking Sticks:
The Power Of The Yad

A U.S. Welfare Fix:
Unfinished Business

STACIE FINE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR

I recently had cus on deep listening with re-
the opportunity spect and open ears.
I decided that we would use
to lead a Shabbat
celebration on an object from our culture that
the topic of Jew- also represented the power of the
ish healing and word, an object that causes us to
spirituality. I focus, pay attention and listen.
approached the I chose to use a pointer, or yad,
evening with fear which is generally used for the
and trembling; Torah reading so our hands do
never before had I chosen to al- not directly touch the Torah text
low something so close to my itself. We carefully passed the
heart, so personally powerful yad around the circle of our gath-
and important to me, to become ering, and surprising things hap-
public. I planned a full evening pened.
of dance, breathing,
chant and reflection.
I paid a great deal of
attention to detail.
But those of you
who know me know
that my own Jewish
spirituality has been
enriched through
past exposure to oth-
er traditions, so I
spent a great deal of
time researching and
experimenting with
Jewish ways to
meditate, move and
create a sacred space.
One of the out-
side traditions that
means a great deal to
me is the tradition
of the talking stick
from Native Ameri-
can practice. Gener-
ally, people seated in
a circle will use a dec-
orated stick or other
object to indicate who
has the floor.
The stick is passed
around the circle un-
til everyone has had
a full say in the mat-
ter. Those without
the talking stick —
First, several people tried to
you guessed it — do not talk un-
til it comes around to them. OK, use the yad as if it were a mi-
it doesn't sound very Jewish, crophone that could amplify
having just one person talking their voices. I suppose it was the
with her hands occupied with an shape of the elaborate object that
object preventing the arm flail- caused that to happen, but more
ing and hand-wringing people importantly, this seemingly
like me are known for; but, small aspect of the service had a
nonetheless, it is powerful to fo- powerful effect. Many people
said they hadn't held a
Stacie Fine is an assistant rabbi
yad
since their bat or bar mitz-
at the Birmingham Temple.

vahs. It was a moment of recon-
necting with a time long ago
in their Jewish lives. Distant
memories — some good, some
bad — seem to come upon peo-
ple, and many were choked-up.
Even as interesting was the re-
action of some of the older
women in the group, who, when
the yad came to them, said they
had never touched a yad before.
It had been for them a symbol of
oppression, of their exclusion
from the bimah or Torah read-
ing, but on the night of this
Shabbat celebration,
they reclaimed it as
a symbol of power
and dignity. Some of
them were teary-
eyed as they spoke.
Some were clearly
enthused and ener-
gized. Some were re-
flective and as they
held the yad, we lis-
tened to their stories,
their journeys, with
respect and open
hearts.
Some may find the
idea of using the yad
in such a way offen-
sive, but I would ask
us all to consider the
use, power and rich-
ness of Jewish sym-
bols in a new way.
Rather than sitting
icily as near-museum
pieces, our cultural
icons invite us to
jump in with all the
senses, with all the
heart. When our
symbols move from
sentimental entities
to powerful contem-
porary opportunities,
we have opened new
doors to our tradition for many
who feel alienated by flatness,
lack of spirituality and institu-
tionalization. Judaism does not
belong in a museum; it belongs
in a garden, where old plants
scatter new seeds, and roots deep
in the fertile soil of culture spring
to life under the gardener's
hands. It is in every one of us to
be wise. ❑

TheDJN@aol . corn

lis

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Monday, Aug.
18, will be a
happy day for
Sara Broker
rather than the
looming disaster
that it has been
since February.
Broker, 65, is
a refugee from
the former Soviet Union. For the
last four years, she has cared for
her cancer-stricken husband,
Grigory Shteynbrg. He died ear-
ly this year, and "I lost my best
friend," said Broker.
She and her husband lived in
Northgate Apartments in Oak
Park since coming to the Unit-
ed States from Kiev. Next Mon-
day marks five years since they
arrived in this country.
Until last week, Monday was
a day of dread for Broker. Un-
til last week, when President
Clinton signed the budget ap-
propriations bill that "fixed" the
1996 welfare reform legislation,
Broker's Supplemental Securi-
ty Income (SSI) of $491 per
month, her food stamp allotment
and her Medicaid were in jeop-
ardy.
Broker and other
refugees were in a
"Catch 22." Appli-
cants may not apply
for citizenship until
they have lived in the
United States at least
four years and nine
months. But the Im-
migration and Naturalization
Service (INS) is taking nine to
18 months to process and nat-
uralize new citizens. Under the
1996 law, Broker could have lost
her benefits next Monday while
waiting for INS to process her
citizenship application.
The legislation extends SSI
and Medicaid indefinitely for
refugees who were receiving
those benefits by Aug. 22, 1996.
But it cuts out the up to $120
worth of food stamps. Any
refugee who arrived since Aug.
22, 1996, is eligible for SSI and
Medicaid for seven years from
their arrival date.
Agencies of the Jewish Fed-
eration of Metropolitan Detroit
have been gathering data and
planning for a total cutoff since
January. Although they now
have breathed a sigh of relief
over Congress' fix, the elimina-
tion of food stamps remains a
factor.
"For someone living on $491
a month from SSI," said Rachel
Yoskowitz, director of Jewish
Family Service's resettlement
department, "taking away [up
to] $120 in food stamps will
mean you have to make choic-
es between food and medicine
and eyeglasses."
Federation set aside $500,000

to address the loss of welfare
benefits for refugees and native-
born Jewish poor had "the fix"
not passed. Planning Associate
Judah Isaacs estimated the po-
tential cost to the Jewish com-
munity at $1.3 million annually,
"and it would have gotten larg-
er."
The food stamp issue will
eventually affect some residents
of Jewish Federation Apart-
ments, who pay for their meals
with those funds. But a prelim-
inary study by Executive Direc-
tor Marsha Goldsmith Kamin
found no one who will be im-
pacted for at least 18-24 months.
A bigger concern for approx-
imately 550 of JFA's 667 resi-
dents was the possible ending of
rent subsidies, but last week's
federal budget legislation left
those funds intact.
So at the moment, the major
concern for most refugees is food
stamps. With Yad Ezra, the
kosher food pantry, serving a
preponderance of refugees each
month, Federation, Jewish Fam-
ily Service (JFS) and Yad Ezra
have come up with a communi-
ty plan:
Federation has
placed $100,000 into
a fund to subsidize
any Jew — refugee or
citizen — who loses
food stamps and does
not have local fami-
ly as a fall-back.
Those who qualify
through JFS will receive the
standard Yad Ezra food pack-
age, good for a week, plus a
three-week "community pack-
age" funded by Federation and
Yad Ezra.
Lea Luger and Elaine Ryke
at Yad Ezra believe that 25 per-
cent of the 1,000 families now
seen monthly by the food pantry
will be affected by the food stamp
cutoff. But not all will qualify for
the community package.
"Food stamps lasted three
weeks," said Luger, "and Yad
Ezra was created to help with
the fourth week. Now that's been
turned upside down."
Not everyone will lose their
food stamps at the same time.
But only immigrants since Au-
gust 1996 will continue to qualz
ify for food stamps, for a
maximum of five years.
While the experts believe
some potential refugees re-
mained in the former U.S.S.R.
because of the welfare changes
in the United States, Detroit still
resettled 260 last year and they
continue to come. But, points out
Rachel Yoskowitz of JFS, 63
came in August a year ago and
only 39 are scheduled to come
this month. 'They're afraid," she
said. 'They don't want to be de-

A time limit
for new
immigrants.

BUSINESS page 28