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Giving Thanks
he Detroit Jewish community has
much to be thankful for this
Thanksgiving weekend.
Richly diverse and at least 96,000
strong, we're a model for North American
Jewry in many ways:
• Religious pluralism. While inter-stream
disharmony infects spiritual life in Israel, Detroit
Jews are busy bringing the streams together in
learning, in the arts, in social justice and in tzeda-
ka. Inter-stream friendships have overcome inter-
stream tensions, in many instances.
• Jewish learning. While many Jewish com-
munities flail for the right religious education
formula, Detroit's aggregate of classroom and
enrichment experiences for Jews of all ages is a
national envy. As a community, we've backed
up this blueprint for learning Jewishly with
healthy financial support.
• Eldercare services. The jury is out on the
community decision earlier this decade to pri-
vatize management of senior housing services,
but Detroit's brew of independent living,
skilled nursing, busing and cultural services for
seniors is nonetheless strong. That's heartening
because the elderly are the heartbeat of our
community.
• Communal leadership. We're the ninth
largest Jewish community in America, but the
fourth most generous in federated campaigns.
And that's because of a unique mix of big machers
(Yiddish for doers) and small donors. Such grass-
roots unity among Jews of all backgrounds has
helped elevate Detroiters like Max Fisher, Joel
Tauber, David Hermelin, Dr. Conrad Giles and
Robert Aronson to national communal stature.
• Ties to Israel. Land-for-peace backers
thrive in Detroit, but so does the Zionist
Organization of America, signaling that we can
differ politically but still share a love for the
Jewish homeland. Beyond that, thousands of
us have nurtured that love on Michigan's adult,
young leadership and teen missions to Israel.
And the Michigan-Central Galilee education-
al/cultural/economic partnership, known as
Partnership 2000, is a promising venture to
build bridges of understanding.
• Synagogues. Synagogues are territorial by
nature, but ours, more times than not, grab
headlines for building alliances, not barricades.
They need to do more to attract the under-
affiliated, to share resources and to inspire fam-
ily learning, make no mistake about that, but
our synagogues are largely successful in invigo-
rating collective spirituality.
• Jewish Community Center. Some of its bud-
get and programming practices have drawn the
glare of public scrutiny, as well they should, but
the JCC remains Detroit Jewry's central address.
It not only offers a potpourri of on-campus pro-
grams and services, but also co-hosts some of the
larger community's biggest success stories, such as
the Walk for Israel, Jewish Book Fair and Semi-
nars for Adult Jewish Enrichment.
Like any Jewish community, we face a pepper
pot of challenges to our survival as a people. But
we also have plenty to be thankful for. I I
Caring For Our Children
B
irthright Israel, an ambitious plan to
increase the number of teenaged and
young adult Jews from the diaspora
who spend at least a few weeks in
Israel, is an attractive idea — and, at least initial-
ly, a successful one. Since it was first proposed
about a year ago as a partnership between philan-
thropists, the state of Israel and local agencies all
around the world, it has been enthusiastically
embraced. In the United States alone, more than
20,000 college-aged Jews applied for financing
under the plan, more than double the number it
could immediately serve.
Last week, Birthright proponents renewed
their pitch to members of the United Jewish
Communities General Assembly in Atlanta to
support the plan. Their plea was generally well
received, although some federation officials
cautioned strongly that the initiative had to be
closely linked to the work of local agencies and
that it should not supplant those efforts.
Another major concern is the pre- and post-
framework of Birthright Israel. Can one expect
to send assimilated young adults to Israel and
walk away with an inspiring experience? What
are the limits of cultivating their Jewish identi-
ty upon return? Should such a program be
more based on need than lack of affiliation?
(In most cases, previous visitors to Israel are
not eligible).
We share such concerns and are encouraged
that the national sponsors seem to be listening.
But we continue to think that it will be a
sorry outcome if all that the plan produces is
thousands more young people who can say
"I've been to Israel," but who don't ultimately
connect with their Jewish identity. It is always
tempting to sit back and think that a nice
magic bullet," like a low-cost trip to Israel,
will get us as parents and community leaders
off the hook of our continuing responsibility
to build that identity.
• A trip to Israel ought to be a capstone in
the building, the experience that firmly cements
all the previous work — at home, in school and
synagogue, with youth groups — by letting
young people see first hand and by our daily
example why this covenanted land of Israel is so
important to them and their future. Our chil-
dren deserve our strongest efforts to help them
love Judaism. That, even more than a trip to
Israel, is their birthright. FII
CC
IN Focus
-
aking Music
Jana Robbins, right, who was appearing in Detroit at the Fisher
Theatre's production of the musical Footloose, performed Nov. 3
at the Prentis Apartments in Oak Park. Here, she's joined in
singing "My Yiddishe Mama" by resident Sylvia Halliburton, 78.
LETTERS
Committee
Unites Families
On Oct. 21, the Tri-Syna-
gogue Committee hosted its
second Women's Night Out
dinner. The committee is
made up of representatives
from Congregation Beth
Shalom, Young Israel of Oak
Park and Temple Emanu-El.
Activities take place with
the guidance and invaluable
assistance of the Neighbor-
hood Project, a program of
the Jewish Federation of Met-
ropolitan Detroit. The pur-
pose of the committee is to
bring together families and
individuals from our commu-
nity.
The women's night is one
of many successes in the past
two years. Many of the pro-
grams are focused on Jewish
holidays and mitzvah projects.
Last month's dinner took
place at the
Jewish Com-
munity Cen-
ter in Oak
Park. Seventy
women
attended
with equal
representa-
tion from all
three congregations. There
were three speakers: Rachel
Berg, Barbara Klein and Alicia
Nelson. Each spoke on Jewish
women they admired.
At each table, women
from all three congregations
sat together. Every table was
filled with spontaneous dis-
cussion as all the women
shared ideas and concerns
about preserving the Jewish
home and raising children,
as well as about our schools,
health care and care for the
aging. The speakers were
moving and articulate.
11/26
1999
37