COMMUNITY VIEWS
Where Have All
The Young Folks Gone?
when it comes to a hospitable envi-
ronment, communities don't come any
better. It's that Midwestern cache.
The Jewish community feels our
pain. For every young adult of
Chicago
promise who leaves Detroit for a bet-
He s 26, a promising intern at a
ter job or a more exciting (so they
major hospital in the east and consid-
think) social life, our community loses
ering offers from Detroit, Philadelphia
a future leader. A future parent. A
and Atlanta. Newly married to a
future contributor of energy and skill.
Detroit girl, he chooses ... Atlanta.
So how do we get the kids to listen?
What's a mother to do?
Pro-Detroit hopes it
Fellow parents and grandpar-
can get them to do just
ents out there,
are you
listen-
,
that. This new Jewish Fed-
•
ing?
eration program wants to
Visiting my children
retain our young adult
around the country, I've col-
population and get them
lected enough frequent flyer
involved in the Jewish
miles to qualify for a flight
community.
aboard the Space Shuttle Dis-
It also intends to make
covery. You, too?
the Jewish community
After they graduate, why
more accessible to young
PENNY
don't more of our kids come
adults moving back here
BLUMENSTEIN
home?
after being away for some
Special to
This is a great community,
time.
The Jewish News
after all. There is an incredi-
Where do we begin?
ble variety of cultural and
First, with paid summer internships
recreational opportunities, as well as
and career seminars that will enable
Jewish-sponsored social and educa-
college students to gain experience
tional programming. If you doubt it,
working in their chosen or related
just check the pages of The Jewish
fields, while learning more about
News each week.
employment opportunities in the
Excluding those careers that can be
Detroit area.
pursued only in specific geographic
This piece of the Pro-Detroit pro-
areas, this is a good employment mar-
gram, which already has internships
ket, with as many opportunities — or
available, is administered by the Jew-
more — as other large cities. And
ish Vocational Service in partnership
with
campus Hillels throughout
Penny Blumenstein is president of the
Michigan.
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Second, the Pro-Detroit Communi-
S
he's 22, fresh out of the Uni-
versity of Michigan and ready
for the world of work, an
exciting social life and ...
.
'
>
Detroit.
Federation's new Pro-Detroit program is aimed at helping more young Jewish
Detroiters make their home here after college 6 graduation.
ty Connection will serve as a clearing-
house for information about existing
community opportunities and pro-
grams. We have a good product; we
have to make it more visible, especially
to those young adults moving back
into the community or newly arrived
in metropolitan Detroit.
Is our community really all that
welcoming? Is it really all that easy for
a newcomer to break in and get to
know us?
Once a student graduates, the sup-
port system he or she has known for
four or more years disappears. Sud-
denly, there are adult things to worry
about: looking for job and a place to
live, finding socially rewarding things
to do, meeting people.
For Pro-Detroit to work, many sec-
tors will need to pitch in: synagogues,
businesses, young adult groups, agen-
cies. Yes, you and I will, too. At every
opportunity, we must let our young
people know that we value their pres-
ence among us, that we need their
participation and their ideas.
With the goal of making the
Detroit Jewish community "a compet-
itive and welcoming option for young
adults," Pro-Detroit sees its multi-
faceted approach as an investment in
our community's future.
Are we ready to meet the competi-
tion head on? Clearly, there are other
cities with more glamour. But it's only
skin deep. There's no community with
more heart than Detroit's or a deeper
pride in who we are.
Bring on the competition. We're
ready.
There's no place like home. ❑
LETTERS
reported on allegations against
David Tenenbaum that, it now
appears, allegedly had an anti-Semit-
ic basis.
On Nov. 6, less prominently exhib-
ited, was a very weak article bringing
our attention to the suit filed by Mr.
Tenenbaum against the government.
Missing from your story was a sense
of outrage that this incident should
have ignited. Why do we, as a Jewish
community, refuse to recognize a great
injustice?
Today in the Afro-American com-
munity, an accusation of the type
brought against Mr. Tenenbaum
would generate protests that no one
could ignore.
I well remember the weak whispers
of protest against the Nazi atrocities
during World War II. I have in front
of me the program for a "Non-Sectari-
an Public Meeting" against "Axis mas-
sacres of innocent civilians" on Feb.
28, 1943. This was at a time when the
mass murder of Jews was a well-
known fact. Yet Jews were unwilling to
protest in a manner that this tragedy
demanded. They did not want to
cause waves. They did not want to
create a Jewish cause.
So, they hid behind the skirts of a
non-sectarian meeting sponsored by
10 organizations and the Jewish Com-
munity Council.
Has nothing changed?
Benno Levi
Oak Park
A Struggle
It Wasn't
In his update of returns from elec-
tions across the nation ("Holding
Their Own" Nov. 6), James D. Bess-
er noted that California's Democrat-
ic Sen. Barbara Boxer barely won re-
election against her Republican chal-
lenger in the race, Matt Fong.
Mr. Besser referred to Ms. Boxer
as having "struggled to retain her
seat."
The numbers tell a different story,
however. With all precincts counted,
Senator Boxer won handily with 53
percent of the 7,357,413 votes cast,
while Mr. Fong polled 43 percent.
We Californians consider a greater
than 750,000-vote margin some-
thing less than a "struggle" to retain
one's U.S. Senate seat.
Helene Buchman
San Pedro, Calif
U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer celebrates her
re-election.
11/
19'1
Detroit Jewish News