Idea Sharing

Bridging The
Cultural Divide

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

T

he Dawning of a New Era in
ewish-Arab Relations" will
be the subject of a dialogue
shared by David Gad-Harf
and Tim Attalla with attendees of the
Midwest Area Cooperative Conference
of Hadassah.
Gad-Harf, executive director of the
Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit, and Attalla,
board member of Seeds of Peace, will
cover issues involved in the relation-
ship between the local Arab and Jewish
communities as well as the Middle
East peace process.
The program begins at 6:30 p.m.
Sunday, April 30, at the Troy Marriott.
"We will talk about the past, pre-
sent and what we hope the future
holds," says Gad-Harf, who has
helped raise money for the Seeds of
Peace International Camp in Maine,
where young people from Mideast
nations come together with
American youth to develop under-
standing, friendship and cross-cul-
tural programs. _
"It's becoming more common now
to invite Arab leaders to speak, and
we hope our audience will take back
some of these ideas of working
together," says Gad-Harf. "We will
talk about perceptions and examples
of cooperation."
Attalla, a Dearborn attorney who -
served as the first Arab American and
Muslim member of the Michigan Civil
Rights Commission, credits his parents
for instilling his desire for peace.
"This will be the first time I will be
speaking to a group of 300 women of
any kind," says Attalla, who also is
involved with the Southfield-based
Children's Sports for Peace. This is
another Jewish-Arab initiative toward
developing understanding in the
Mideast.
"David Gad-Harf and I will talk
about the evolution of Arab-Jewish
relations in Detroit," Attalla says. "I
will recall my time as a student at
Wayne State University and the lack of
interaction then.
"I think progress on our relation-
ships depends on focusing on the simi-
larities we all share, and I think the
best way to make peace is by average
people working together. My mom
and dad always described Jewish peo-
ple as our cousins." ❑

.

Ruth Gruber To Recount Career

were Alex Margulies, who developed the
radiology devices, and Rolph Manfred,
who worked on the missiles.
The mini-series, scheduled for
uth Gruber claims no
showing in February 2001, is about
expertise in medical tech-
nology, rocket
Gruber's success with that
science or film-
wartime mission. Natasha
making, but she had an
Richardson will star.
important role in the devel- .
Before the filming gets
opment of the CT scan and
underway in Canada, Gruber
MRI, Polaris and
will address the locally con-
Minuteman missiles and an
vening Hadassah members as
upcoming television mini-
their chosen Woman of
series about a journalist
Achievement. "I'm going to be
who secretly escorted 1,000
speaking about the truth and
Jews from Italy to the safe-
the beauty of Jewishness and
ty of America during
about survival," says Gruber,
Ruth Gruber
World War II.
89, who continues to keep her
Her connection to the
busy schedule of speaking
radiology and space initiatives goes back
engagements and writing. Her books
include Ahead of Time: My Early Years as
to the war years, when she was asked to
a Foreign Correspondent and Haven,
suspend her work as a foreign corre-
spondent for the New York Herald
which relates her experiences bringing
Tribune and United Press International to
the so-called visitors to America.
look out for refugees being rescued in a
"There's so much that we can do to
special mission.
make better lives for people around
us. We can help them live with dignity
Congress had refused to lift the quota
on Jewish immigration so President
and decency and without hunger and
fear," she says.
Franklin Roosevelt invited them to
After the war and with her career
"visit" America and stay as his "guests" at
Fort Ontario in New York. The secretary resumed, Gruber traveled to the dis-
of the interior had asked Gruber to be
placed persons camps to report on the
with them. Among the refugees who
terrible conditions. She went on to cover
ultimately became American citizens
the movement of Ethiopians to Israel.

SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News

R

fif f MW AR NAO

,

4-5:30 p.m.
• A Journey Through the History
of Photography: Monte Nagler

p.m.
• The Dawning of a New Era in
Jewish-Arab Relations:
David Gad-Flarf, executive director
of the Jewish Community Council
of Metropolitan Detroit, and Tim
Attalla, Seeds of Peace board member

Monday, May 1
8-10 a.m.
• Breakfast at Neiman Marcus,
Somerset Collection in Troy

10:30 a.m.-noon
• Jewish Women in Non-Traditional
Professions
• Wellness — The Body/Mind
Connections

12:1 5- 1 :30 p.m.
• Tribute to Big Chapter and Region
Presidents: Bonnie Lipton,
national president

1:45-3:30 p.m.
• Yesterday and Today ---
What Would Henrietta Say?

A pioneering woman news corre-
spondent, Gruber says, "I always
believed that as a journalist, I couldn't be
just an observer. I had to be a partici-
pant. I had to live the story to write it,

and I lived all these stories.
"I think the guys [covering the
events] knew I was just as serious as
they were," she adds. "I never felt I
was being put down. I was working
hard, and they respected it."
Gruber, a guest author at book fairs
sponsored by the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield, remem-
bers the favorable reviews printed in
the Jewish News. Now, the activist is
making preparations for her stay in
Canada, where she will be an adviser
as the film about her life is shot.
"Natasha Richardson is beautiful
and a great actress, and I think it's
wonderful that she will be portraying -
me," says the twice-widowed Gruber,
whose two children have followed
her into positions of communication
and public service.
"Natasha doesn't look like me, but
she's a delightful, charming young
woman," Gruber says. "We've had such
a good time talking in my New York
apartment. One of the producers said,
`I'm so sure we're going to win an
Em-my, I've already ordered my
gown.'"0

3:45-5:45 p.m.

• Young Women/Young Leaders
• Small Cities
• Life Cycling
• Study Groups

8:45-10:15 p.m.
• A Promising Future:
Focus on Our Youth

Tuesday, May 2
9:30-11 a.m.
• Hadassah Leadership Academy

11:15-11:45 a.m.
• Yom HaShoah Commemoration

Noon-2:30 p.m.
• Women of Achievement
Presentation to Ruth Gruber

The Midwest Area Cooperative
Conference, hosted by the Greater
Detroit Chapter of Hadassah, is open to
the public. Most events are at the
Marriott Hotel in Troy, on the northwest
corner of Big Beaver and Livernois.
Registration and meal fees for any of the
following sessions can be arranged by
calling (248) 683-5030.

