The Jewish Century

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HARRY KIRSBAU1v1

Staff Writer

I

n a single climactic Sunday, the
Detroit Jewish community's
largest philanthropic organiza-
tion — and 3,000 or so guests
whose lives it has touched — celebrat-
ed both a year and a century.
The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit marked the end
of the organized Detroit Jewish com-
munity's centennial celebration at the
Jewish Community Center's Jimmy
Prentis Morris Building in Oak Park.

Harry Kirsbaum

can be reached at
(248) 354-6060 ext. 244, or by e-mail
at: hicirsbaum@thejewishnews.com

6/11
1999

22 Detroit Jewish News

The anniversary had begun with a
family picnic last September at the
JCC's Kahn Building in West
Bloomfield.
The series of seven major events
ranged from an Itzhak Perlman con-
cert at Detroit's Orchestra Hall to a
display at the Kahn Building chroni-
cling Detroit Jewish life and the
accomplishments of its major agencies
and philanthropies.
The celebration has provoked
thinking about how and why the
agencies have grown from the 1899
founding of United Jewish Charities
and about where they and the com-
munity are going next. Some commu-
nal leaders anticipate a profound new
relationship with Israel; others see a

continuing affect of the agencies on
how Diaspora Jews see themselves and
their society.
The year was intended both as a
form of celebration and a type of out-
reach, said Michael Maddin, centenni-
al chairman.
"Each event was an attempt to
bring Jews of all persuasions together,
so they could feel something in a non-
threatening way," he said. Although
his goal was to reach 10,000 lesser- or
non-involved Jews, he admitted that
the figure was hard to judge because
not every event had registration.
Most of those participating in
Sunday's Walk for Israel and the
Kosher Food Fair were far from
under-involved.

Amos Gil of Farmington Hills, for
example, belongs to the JCC and to
Young Israel of West Bloomfield. The <
Israeli citizen said he attends all
Federation activities involving Israel.
Similarly, Eileen Dunn of Oak Park
has participated in the walk every year
in recent memory. A member of
Temple Beth El, her mother-in-law
lives in Hechtman Jewish Apartments
in West Bloomfield.
Alayna Bialick, 16, of the
Congregation Beth Shalom's United
Synagogue Youth chapter, said a con-
tingent from her Oak Park group was
marching in the Walk for Israel because
"USY supports the growth of Judaism
— and Israel is the center of that."
Bill Beres of Southfield, a Young

