COMMUNITY VIEWS
Building An Inspired Community
r
opmental cycle. What does the fami-
ederation's Alliance for
ly with small children need in order
Jewish Education has been
to be involved in and excited about
in business" since January
our Jewish community? What do
1999. It began with a call
families with children in lower and
from community leadership to create
upper elementary school
a strategic vision for formal
need? The workgroups
and informal education for
included families with up
our community, and a call
to 4 year olds, 5-11 year
from some Jewish leaders to
olds, 13-18 year olds, col-
create an "inspired" Jewish
lege and young adults, and
community.
empty nesters. In brief, we
In responding to these
are looking to create a
calls, the Alliance faced sev-
community of life-long
eral challenges:
learning using all of our
• How do we make cer-
institutions, from the
tain that our plans integrate
DR. L YNDA
Fresh Air Society and the
formal and informal educa-
Jewish Community Center
GI LES
tion?
to the congregations and
Spec ial to
I How do we see and
the day schools. Our goal
the Jew ish News
understand the accomplish-
is to create portals so indi-
ments and needs of educa-
viduals can enter our community
tional institutions and groups with
through any door, from a congrega-
whom we may be unfamiliar?
tion to the Internet.
• Finally, how do we begin a
This is not simple. We know that
process that will stimulate the com-
key factors in the process should be
munity to dream along?
a careful examination of the cost,
Since May, the Alliance — affili-
accessibility and retention within
ated with the Jewish Federation of
our institutions. We also know that
Metropolitan Detroit — has expand-
the professionalism of our educators,
ed its participants from 40 to 80
teachers and youth group workers,
members. It has enlisted 80 educa-
as well as the quality of our pro-
tors, rabbis, congregants, youth
grams, needs to be reviewed again.
group workers and experts who pre-
Because we have repeatedly heard
viously had not been involved in
from every part of the community
helping us dream. These people were
with whom we have spoken that
divided into five small workgroups
professionalism is paramount, our
concentrating not on individual
committees have begun with that
institutions but on the family devel-
issue. How can we recruit and
retain, inspire and re-train profes-
sionals
in all walks of Jewish educa-
Dr. Lynda Giles, Ph.D., is co-chair of
tion?
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
The first round of recommenda-
Detroit's Alliance for Jewish Education.
,
tions is expected by the end of
December. Those recommendations
will have come through the work-
groups and the Alliance in coopera-
tion with the appropriate planning
and allocation divisions of the Fed-
eration. The recommendations will
be presented to the
Board of Governors
of our Federation.
Our next tasks will
be to examine not
only affordability
and accessibility, but
also how to keep
people engaged after
they've entered our
institutions, while
accessing the quality
of the services that
we deliver.
It is important to note that
although we are in a process of cre-
ating new collaborations and syner-
gies, the Alliance has maintained a
healthy respect for what has already
been established. The Detroit Jewish
community has led the way in a
variety of fields of Jewish education.
Without becoming self-congratula-
tory, it is important to understand
what we are already doing well.
Maintaining a strong sense of the
unique nature of our institutions at
the same time that we are trying to
retool for the year 2000 and beyond
has been a difficult feat. However,
we also learned from one of our con-
sultants that "the greatest block to
change is full enrollment." When
our programs continue to boast
enrollment with waiting lists, we
sometimes believe that they are
beyond reproach. This balance
between honoring establishments
and institutions and striving to do
better is one of the most difficult
challenges facing the Alliance.
Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski teaches
us that although frequently translat-
ed as "dedication,"
Chanuka also means
"renewal." Renewal
assumes that the
gateway to a better
future requires a
backward look at the
importance of what
we have built. How-
ever, the way that we
celebrate Chanuka
teaches us that
renewal requires
more than returning
to a former state, even if that state
itself has been satisfactory. Renewal
requires advancing beyond the previ-
ous state. To achieve renewal, we
must progress.
Adding a Chanuka candle every
night symbolizes this concept in a
spiritual way. Remaining at a plateau
is utterly unacceptable for people
who seek progress. And progress is
not only essential for growth, but
also for survival.
As the High Holiday season
comes to an end, and our shorter
days direct us toward the light of
Chanuka, we need to keep this in
mind. The community has charged
Federation's Alliance to bring us to
the next level, to help build an
inspired community that will con-
tinues its progress toward a greater
Jewish life. ❑
their own way, can make a meaning-
ful, positive impact upon the society
in which they live.
• That social crises can be solved
and their repetition in future genera-
tions avoided, only by confronting
them head-on and seeking a better
way.
• That dialogue and coalitions must
be nurtured and strengthened across
boundaries of ethnicity and class, else
we tarnish and ultimately destroy the
very mechanism that allows the most
successful among us to achieve and
excel.
The Stanley and Margaret Winkel-
man Fund for Social Justice will carry
its namesakes' legacy into future gen-
erations. The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit will administer
Winkelman Social Justice Fund-
endowed programs, which will be
carefully designed to best perpetuate
their vision.
Stanley Winkelman's commitment
to social justice was active and public.
The Winkelmans' specialty store
chain, which was well known to the
community, offered its shares for pub-
lic trading in 1966.
Shortly thereafter, Detroit was
rocked by one of the nation's most
devastating urban riots. It would have
been easy for the Winkelmans' corpo-
Alliance's goal:
a community
of life-long
learning.
A Fighter For Social Justice
s
tanley J. Winkelman spent
much of his remarkable life-
time affirming the need and
right of our society's newcom-
ers, ethnic and religious minorities,
and the economically disadvantaged to
share in America's unique culture of
opportunity.
In a full partnership of ideals with
his wife, Margaret, Winkelman repeat-
edly demonstrated that the great
human obligation to family does not
end with those who are closest to us.
When Winkelman died in August,
Robert Aronson is chief executive offi-
cer of the Jewish Federation of Metro-
politan Detroit.
10/8
1999
36 Detroit Jewish News
his widow and his
children founded
a profoundly fit-
ting tribute to a
man who Would
have liked to be
remembered not
as an enterprising
businessman —
which he was —
ROBERT
but as someone
ARONSON
who understood
Special to
several vital truths
the Jewish News
and who sought
at every opportu-
nity to increase their resonance in the
community at large:
• That individuals, besides making
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38