"I could understand the out-
rage, I could understand the emo-
tionalism, I could understand
wanting to grab at the throat of
anybody who would dress up in a
Nazi uniform and say the kind of
things that [Nazis] say."
Fortunately for Simon, most of
the ACLU causes he champions
are less "schizophrenic" for him
and are consistent with his own
values. "I'm very lucky to be able
to work for an organization that
advances and defends my own
values," he said. "I've never had
to defend something [advanced by
the Michigan or national ACLU]
that I didn't believe in myself"
Although a number of Jewish
thinkers — like former Reagan
adviser Elliott Abrams — have
recently questioned Jewish op-
position to the religious right, Si-
mon urges the Jewish community
to continue being highly suspi-
cious of political campaigns by
such groups as the Christian
Coalition.
`There is this effort on the part
of the right wing religious groups
to try to seduce the Jewish com-
munity into acceptance of the
power that the religious right has
in imposing their theological
views on public policies," he said.
"They can talk all they want
about advancing the Judeo-Chris-
tian tradition, but when Ralph
Reed and Pat Robertson got to-
gether and formed the political
organization to advance their
goals, they didn't call it the Judeo-
Christian Coalition, they called
it the Christian Coalition.
"The Jewish community is a
diverse community, but I hope
they will not heed the voices say-
ing there's nothing to fear from
the religious right. There's a lot
to fear from the religious right:
what's at stake in the battle is
the future of religious freedom in
America."
Micki Levin, Michigan ACLU's
former president, is heading the
search committee to find a new
executive director, but she says
Simon's shoes will be hard to fill.
"We're certainly going to miss
Howard," she said. "He has been
an articulate spokesperson
for ACLU and civil liberties,
and this will be quite a loss for
us." El
The Teen Turnaround
Four synagogues and AJE explore new options
to keep Jewish teens interested in Judaism
beyond the b'nai mitzvah phase.
JULIE WIENER STAFF WRITER
F
ew adults look back fond-
ly on seventh grade.
It's when the acne, rag-
ing hormones, mood
swings, peer pressure and the
generalized angst of adolescence
abruptly crash into one's life, but
before the independence of dri-
ver's licenses and the opportu-
nities high school affords.
Seventh grade is also the time
when the majority of young
Jews celebrate their bar mitz-
vah, collect their gifts and say
goodbye to Jewish involvement.
While it can't do anything
about the normal growing pains
of seventh grade, the Agency for
Jewish Education (AJE) is hop-
ing it can at least make the Jew-
ish experience a little less
painful and a lot more reward-
ing for pre-teens.
Working with a small but di-
verse group of Reform and Con-
servative synagogues — Temple
Shir Shalom, Congregation Shir
Tikvah, Shaarey Zedek and
Beth Shalom — AJE is launch-
ing a pilot project to revitalize
Jewish education for seventh-
and eighth-graders.
Coordinating the project is
staffer Felicia Goodman, who re-
cently completed a Hebrew
Union College master's thesis
on strategies for keeping
teenagers involved in the Jew-
ish community.
While the project is still in the
planning stages, Goodman says
it will incorporate family edu-
cation, social action and "be-
yond-the-classroom"
experiences, drawing heavily on
components of Shir Shalom's
camp-based high school pro-
gram.
The hope is to enhance the so-
cial component of Jewish edu-
cation and provide young people
with opportunities to work with
Jews from different movements
and different synagogues.
"This is an age group for
whom we've tended to under-
program," said Mindy Nathan,
director of education at Shir
Shalom. "We want [kids] to
know there's a Jewish life out-
side bar mitzvah parties."
If it is successful, the project
could be expanded in the future
to include interested synagogues
throughout metropolitan Detroit.
"All Reform and Conserva-
tive synagogues stand to bene-
fit," said AJE director Howard
Gelberd, who added, "If this
works, it could be a model for
other cities."
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