A mixed bag of
candidate forums;
a conference on
intermarriage;
a statue in the rain.
With two candidate forums under
his direction this election season,
Jewish Community Council of Met-
ropolitan Detroit governmental
affairs liaison Allan Gale has mixed
feelings about their success.
"On the one hand, these kinds of
events are difficult. You never know
how many candidates will show up
or how big the audience will be," he
said. "On the other hand, it's impor-
tant to expose candidates to the Jew-
ish community."
A July forum at Temple Shir
Shalom, which attracted three candi-
dates for governor . and some state
House candidates, drew about 200
people. Attendance at an October
forum at Congregation Beth Abraham
Hillel Moses, which invited candidates
for selected U.S. and state House races
and for governor, was about 100. Sev-
eral local Jewish communal groups co-
sponsored the forums.
for them," said Interfaith Connec-
The Council will continue to
tion Director Sue Stettner. "Inter-
organize candidate forums. "Over-
marriage is not perceived to be an
all," said Gale, "I think it's a service
issue in those
we need to provide. The co-
communities."
sponsorships we secure help
Stettner hopes
broaden interest in the commu-
to follow up on
nity, which is important."
this week's sym-
Of particular concern, he said,
posium by offer-
is the notion of ballot falloff—
ing future meet-
voters knowing less and less
ings on inter-
about candidates as they move
marriage.
down the ballot to state universi-
According to the
ty board and judicial races.
1990 National
"Many voters don't seem to know
Jewish Popula-
these candidates, so don't vote in
tion Study, over
these races. We need to do some-
half of American
thing to make voters more aware
Jews
marry gen-
of everyone on the ballot so we,
Sue Stettner
tiles.
in turn, improve the democratic
process."
An umbrella thief is on the loose in
B'nai B'rith and Birmingham
Oak Park.
Temple also held candidate forums.
- The statue of a mime holding an
umbrella on a tightrope that stands
More than 80 Jewish communal pro-
in front of the Jimmy Prentis Morris
fessionals and 20 lay leaders from
Jewish
Community Center has been
every local Reform and Conservative
vandalized three times since artist
synagogue turned out Monday for a
Jerry Soble designed it.
first-ever communitywide sympo-
"It's sad that someone would van-
sium on dealing with intermarriage.
dalize a public sculpture," said Leslie
Sponsored by The Interfaith Con-
Magidson, JPM managing director.
nection, a program of the Jewish
"We're investigating different meth-
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
ods
of protecting [it], but we're
and the Agency for Jewish Education
unsure
of what the best way is." ,
of Metropolitan Detroit, the two-
Soble, who has repaired it each
hour symposium featured lectures
time, is concerned that the 35-pound
and workshop discussions led by
bronze umbrella will fall and hurt
national experts. Topics included
someone. "I feel obligated to repair
outreach in the Conservative and
it," he said. "It's my center, too, and
Reform communities and "Sensitive-
I want it to look right. I'm disap-
ly Raising a Jewish Child in a Reli-
pointed
that kids are destroying this,
giously Diverse Family."
and they need to be held account-
Orthodox leaders were not.invited
able."
and did not participate in the event.
"It would have been uncomfortable
100-Year Celebration
Of Detroit Jewry
Dr. Harry Saltzstein opened the North End Clin-
ic in Detroit in 1922, offeringfree medical and
dental care to needy Jews. The nonsectarian, out-
patient North End Clinic moved from Holbrook
Street to Sinai Hospital in 1953. In 1959, the
outpatient clinic became the Shiff-man Clinic, but
still part of Sinai, according to Sidney Bolkosky in
his book "Harmony & Dissonance, Voices of Jew-
ish Identity in Detroit, 1914-1967" This picture
of a North End Clinic pediatrician examining a
chiles with other children waiting their turn,
dates to the 1930s. Photo courtesy, Leonard N
Simons Jewish Community Archives/Jewish Feder-
ation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Remember
When
4•0
From the pages of The Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.
1988
West Bloomfield police said that a
bomb threat against Temple Israel
was not an act of anti-Semitism. No
explosives were found.
Israel's civil defense chief said gas
masks would be distributed in two
areas in response to reports of chemi-
cal warfare in the Mideast.
In Silver Spring, Md., a group calling
itself the Supreme Rabbinic Court of
America excommunicated Jewish
apostates in missionary groups, which
the "court" said were falsely stating
that Jews for Jesus and other groups
are a continuation of Judaism.
Herbert Weichmann, the Jewish
mayor of Hamburg, West Germany's
largest port city, was elected president
of the Bundesrat, the upper house of
German parliament. He is the first
Jew in postwar Germany to be elect-
ed to such an office.
An underdog Israeli soccer team bat-
tled the Bulgarian team to an upset
1-1 tie in the Olympic contest in
Mexico City.
The widow of Lord James de Roth-
schild laid the cornerstone for a per-
manent Knesset building in
Jerusalem.
In New York City, Conservative and
Reform rabbis joined with Orthodox
leaders in protest against New York
Post Office regulations that require
new postal employees to work on
Saturdays.
410
Rachel's Tomb, located near Bethle-
hem, was hit by a shell and partly
ruined. The shell apparently came
from an Arab gun behind the Bethle-
hem lines and fell short of an Israeli
target.
Before the carpool era, the Women's
Auxiliary of United Hebrew Schools
organized to provide transportation
for the pupils of the Philadelphia-
Byron Hebrew School as well as
Parkside and Beth Aaron schools.
41
1 1 /6
1998
26 Detroit Jewish News