Jewry's Role in
Human Affairs

This

LEADERS OF GREAT NATIONS

Within the last two centuries, statesmen of Jewish extraction served as
heads of government in nine countries on three continents. Australia
elected Sir Isaac Isaacs, a distinguished public official, as its governor-
general. Italy was represented by Prime Minister Luigi Luzzati and twice
during a single decade by Prime Minister Sidney Sonnino. Austrian
Bruno Kreisky was both foreign minister and chancellor of his nation, and
Kurt Eisner served as Bavaria's head of state.
Bela Kun took the helm of the post-World War One revolutionary
Hungarian government. And Palestine was led by Sir Herbert Samuel,
while The Marquis of Reading administered India under the British
regency. England and France also offered seats of power to:

BENJAMIN DISRAELI
(EARL OF BEACONSFIELD)
•
(1804-81) b. London, England Prime Minister
The founder and leader of his nation's
Conservative Party was a dominant figure in the
political life of England. Equally, his essays and
satirical novels, particularly Coningsby (1844)
and Sybil (1845), earned a permanent place in
English literature. As a prime minister for two
terms (1868 and 1874-80), the astute and witty Disraeli mesmerized the
country with his dream of England's imperial future.
Largely through his efforts, Britain became the dominant owner of
the Suez Canal (1875), and Queen Victoria assumed the title of Empress of
India one year later. Her deep affection for him was legendary, and she
raised him to peerage. Although baptized at twelve, his admiration and
sympathy for kinsmen never waned. Disraeli strongly supported Jewish
Emancipation in Parliament and insisted that Semitic values formed a
strong bond between the English and Jewish peoples.
His second administration was memorable for social justice (trade
union and health acts) and international diplomacy. Disraeli quelled
European unrest after the Turkish-Russian conflict, and helped enrich
England via its vast colonial empire. In fierce political opposition was the
Liberal Party's William Gladstone, a prime minister on four occasions. A
great orator and moralist who irritated the queen, he often crossed swords
with Disraeli who more than held his own in stinging debates.
Adding more dimension to a vivid life, he married and remained
deeply devoted to a descendent of Italian Jews twelve years his senior.
.
LEON BLUM
(1872-1950) b. Paris, France Premier In the
image of Disraeli, Blum entered politics and
helped reconstruct the French Socialist Party for
which he acted as parliamentary spokesman.
From that history-making event forward, he rose
in rank and became premier in 1936, representing
a coalition called the Front Populaire which he
had organized. And Blum also enjoyed a second
career as a writer: as an essayist, poet, and literary and drama critic.
The first Socialist and Jewish premier of France left his office
thirteen months later when Parliament denied his request for emergency
powers to end his nation's steep economic decline. He previously enacted
such reforms as the 40-hour workweek, paid vacations, collective
bargaining and state bank nationalization. His progressive legislation
angered right-wing business interests which ignored Germany's growing
threat. Their political slogan more than hinted at anti-Semitic hostility:
"Better Hitler than Blum."
A month-long return to high office coincided with Austria's
downfall, and Blum was arrested, tried and imprisoned by the Vichy
government after the Nazi takeover in 1940. Eventually transferred to
Buchenwald, he was rescued after five years' internment by American
troops and was hailed as a courageous patriot by his countrymen.
Following liberation, he reemerged as a politically moderate senior
statesman who served as vice-premier and as special ambassador to the
U.S. Blum had blazed the way for others of Jewish descent who later led
his nation: Rene Mayer and Pierre Mendes-France.
- Saul Stadtmauer
Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org

1 1/20
1998

COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field, Chairperson
Harriet F. Siden, Chairperson

10 Detroit Jewish News

The Vision Thing

New Alliance for Jewish Education
committee sets its first meeting.

JULIE WIENER
StaffWriter

n Tuesday, Dec. 1, a diverse
group of 40 people is sched-
uled to sit down together to
begin articulating a broad
vision for Jewish education in Detroit.
The newly formed Alliance for
Jewish Education, a committee of-the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, starts its work six months
after outside evaluators reported wide-
spread dissatisfaction with the Agency
for Jewish Education of Metropolitan
Detroit. The study also found a
"fuzziness" in the Detroit community's
overall planning for Jewish education.
Formed to remedy past problems
and serve as a force for innovation,
the Alliance is made up of many long-
time Federation and AJE insiders. Led
by Federation's immediate past presi-
dent, Robert Naftaly and AJE
President Lynda Giles, the new corn-
mittee also includes rabbis, lay leaders
and professionals from area day
schools, congregations and the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit, as well as some philan-
thropists.
According to Naftaly and Giles, the
40 members were selected to represent
a broad cross-section of the communi-
ty in terms of age and denomination.
Of the Alliance's six rabbis, two are
Conservative, two are Orthodox and
two are Reform. Lay leaders from
Hillel Day School of Metropolitan
Detroit and Yeshiva Beth Yehudah are
on the Alliance, but no one appears to
represent Akiva Hebrew Day School,
Yeshivos Darchei Torah or the com-
munity's network of Lubavitch day
schools. The Alliance also does not
include representation from area
, youth groups.
The Alliance will spend several
months studying the issues facing
Jewish education, then will break into
working groups and ultimately devel-
op a long-range plan for all aspects of
Jewish learning in Detroit. It also will
oversee the AJE, educational initiatives
and the Jewish Life Fund, an endow-
ment for new initiatives in Jewish
education and culture. Launched last
spring, the campaign for the Jewish

Life Fund has raised $9 million of its
$25 million goal.
Paul Magy, an executive committee
member of Adat Shalom Synagogue
and former Hillel Day School board
member, said the two major issues fac-
ing the Alliance are helping small,
financially struggling congregational
schools survive and enabling day
schools to make tuition affordable to
all interested families.
Although she's coming to the Dec.
1 meeting with "open eyes," Temple
Israel Education Director Fran
Pearlman envisions the Alliance help-
ing smooth the wrinkles of the com-
munity's transition several years ago
from United Hebrew Schools (central-
ized religious schools) to synagogue-
based education.
Pearlman said the Alliance should
develop a one-, three- and five-year
plan for the community. Magy said it
was vital that the Alliance be `a work-
ing committee, not a blue-ribbon panel
of rubber stampers or yes people."
Another Alliance member, Dr.
Richard Krugel, said he hopes the new
committee can improve congregation-
al schools. "I think we need to give
our children better education and get -
a better system for teacher training,"
he said. "Hopefully, this will be a
vehicle to do that and to improve rela-
tions between synagogues and the
Federation system."
Rabbi Aaron Bergman of
Congregation Beth Abraham Hillel
Moses cited adult education as a neces-
sary Alliance priority and shared Magy's
concern for helping small congregation-
al schools. He said the Alliance could
bring about meaningful change.
"We've already gotten past the
hardest part, which is getting people
committed to education," said
Bergman. "We don't have to sell any-
one. It's just a matter of figuring out
the best way of delivering and paying
for services."
Michaelyn Silverman, director of
Temple Emanu-El's early childhood
program, also expressed optimism.
"I have high hopes that there will
be some concrete results, and I feel
the fact that they've included a nurs-
ery school voice is really great," she
said.

❑