Editorials
The Naftaly Legacy
or inadequate nursing home care that cry -but for
obert Naftaly ended a three-year term
strong
and immediate corrective action.
as president of the Jewish Federation
But others — including legal guardianship,
of Metropolitan Detroit on Sept. 28.
nursing home chaplaincy and special-needs day
During a turbulent time for Federa-
programs — are being addressed, thanks to
tion, he emerged a popular, strong
COJES and its member agencies,
leader as well as a mentsh. He has
including
Jewish Home and Aging
much to be proud of, especially his
Services,
whose
impassioned head is
crusade promoting Jewish education.
Margot Parr. COJES has developed
But his legacy as Federation presi-
into a respected Federation partner,
dent will be remembered most for his
even though it's still in the formative
advocacy for the elderly, a precious
stages and highly dependent on fund-
resource that's too often squandered.
ing.
His finest hour was helping steer
As passionate as he is about champi-
Federation away from operating nurs-
oning
Jewish education, Naftaly is most
ing homes and toward creating elder-
emotional
when talking about seniors,
care services. He led Federation from
Robert Naftaly
in many ways the bedrock of the
serving only a few hundred senior
—am entsh.
Detroit Jewish community. He
adults through skilled nursing care to
acknowledges that as the number of
serving several thousand senior adults through a
seniors grows, their needs will grow — needs we
multifaceted range of services. He understood
must tackle with fervor.
better than many that we should revere, not
And we truly must.
patronize, our seniors, regardless of their frailty or
Those needs include transportation services,
independence, or their poverty or wealth.
wellness
programs, new housing options, in-
When he rose to the presidency in 1995, Fed-
home
care,
and experiences that help inspire self-
eration was caught in a tangled web of opera-
dignity
tional woes at two nursing homes, Borman Hall
Indeed, there's an art to caregiving.
and Prentis Manor, which it later closed. Within
We're hopeful the progress COJES has made
a year, Federation created the Commission on
with Naftaly's support will continue under Feder-
Jewish Eldercare Services. COJES' mission is to
ation's new president, Penny Blumenstein. For
extend the safety- net to the weakest and neediest
she,
too, recognizes that, as Naftaly so succinctly
seniors.
put
it,
"A measure of society is how it treats its
Not unexpectedly, some eldercare problems
elderly." ❑
persist, including complaints about inconsisten\t
R
Germany's New Face
I
s it good for the Jews? It's a cliche, but it's
what many Jews thought in recent days
upon learning that a united Germany has a
new chancellor, the first one born after the
start of World War II.
Helmut Kohl, who ruled Germany for 16
years, will be remembered for many positive
things — and for a few questionable ones as well.
On the plus side, he oversaw a peaceful and pros-
perous Germany. It was a Germany that wel-
comed Jewish refugees (primarily from the for-
mer Soviet Union), kept Holocaust remembrance
a national ethos and built up its role as Israel's
leading European advocate. This might have
been because Kohl, 15 at World War II's end,
was old enough to remember the Nazis and
young enough not to have participated in their
onslaught against humanity.
On the down side, perhaps because of his age,
Kohl seemed burdened by the deep-rooted sense
of German nationalist pride. In the mid-1980s,
he successfully urged then-President Ronald Rea-
gan to visit the Bitburg Cemetery, resting place
for soldiers linked to Hider's feared SS troops.
And in recent years, Kohl occasionally pushed
the xenophobia card, sowing a climate inhos-
pitable to Turkish and other Moslem immigrants.
Finally, we have Jewish ambivalence over
Kohl's near-masterful role in conducting Ger-
many's reunification in the past decade. The
thought of that nation again rising as one still
gives us pause, despite our joy, and relief, in see-
ing it as a responsible democracy taking its place
among the nations.
Germany's new Social Democratic leader, Ger-
hard Schroeder, 54, is a different breed. He is
reminiscent of Bill Clinton in 1992 and Eng-
land's Tony Blair. He is a new, younger face, one
without the baggage of the past and with the
communication skills needed for the present.
However, while representing a new Ger-
many, he faces old challenges. Germany's mas-
sive social services net needs to be redefined.
There are questions about its economy. The
country's role in post-NATO Europe is far
from finalized. There are question about resur-
gent neo-Nazi groups. And Schroeder is active-
ly courting the left-wing Green Party for his
government. The meaning of all this — for
Jews, Europe and the United States — will not
be clear for some time.
Only one thing is certain:' Germany is about
to end this century, in which it played a central
role as perhaps no other country ever could, the
way it began — with the eyes of the world still
upon it. ❑
IN FOCUS
Russian Roots
Rufina Veklser, Liya Gozlove Tskaya and Elena Lubenskaya
enjoy lunch at the Sinai Hospital Guild's fourth annual pro-
gram for New Americans last month at the Jimmy Prentis
Morris Jewish Community Center in Oak Park. DMC's Sinai
Hospital Guild and the Jewish Community Center of Metro-
politan Detroit's Russian acculturation program co-sponsored
the event, presented in Russian with no interpreters. The Mar-
lene and Jerome Gropman Fund for New Americans under-
wrote the cost.
LETTERS
Emanu-El Seniors
Also Take Part
It was great to see the annual
seniors luncheon featured so
prominently in your Sept. 25
issue, but you did fail to men-
tion all 42 of us from Temple
Emanu-El EMES (Emanu-El's
Mature & Exciting Set).
We have been attending
this wonderful get-together
for many years.
Walter M. Stark
EMES president
Temple Emanu-El
Synagogues
Need Support
Reference is made to the Oct.
2 letter writer who says, "Pay
to pray? No thank you."
The writer is happy that
there is a synagogue or tem-
ple to attend during the
High Holidays at no charge.
Does he realize that the
building is there and the
professional staff is, there
because hundreds of people
gave large sums of money to
build it and thousands pay
dues to engage a professional
staff? That is why he could
attend the service — because
of others' generosity.
Many people want the ser-
vices of clergy only on specific
occasions, but do not want to
'
10/9
1998
Detroit Jewish News
35