This Week
Insight
Remember
When •
Ideas & Issues
From Pushke To Power Suit
From the pages of the Jewish News for
this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.
Jewish Womens Foundation changes the way women give.
1991
The Israeli navy test fired the new
Barak anti-missile missile.
Anne Gonte Silver was elected
the first woman president of the
Zionist Organization of America's
Metropolitan Detroit District.
SHARON LUCKERMAN
Staff Writer
D
etroit Jewish women are in the vanguard of
women funding philanthropic collectives bur-
geoning around the country, said Susan Weidman
Schneider, a noted consultant in the United States
and Israel on women's charitable giving and leadership roles.
Schneider spoke at the open board meeting of the Jewish
Women's Foundation (JWF) board of trustees Aug. 20 at the
Max M. Fisher Federation Building in Bloomfield Township.
The group's goal, said JWF director and trustee Helen
Katz of Bloomfield Hills, "is to impact women's and girls'
lives and to seek ways to empower women especially as
fund-raisers and as agents of change."
And change is what women are achieving in the area of giv-
ing. Women philanthropists, surveys show, ask more questions
and get more involved in projects they support than men,
Schneider said. "Women also support projects that make a
change, while men tend to support the status quo."
Already JWF has flexed its young muscle and built an
endowment with $10,000 and $100,000 contributions by
85 trustees.
At the luncheon program, chairperson Margot Halperin
of Birmingham announced it awarded seven grants totaling
$50,340, and has additional commitments for the next
grant cycle totaling $1.6 million.
History of Tzedakah
In her talk, Schneider, originally from Winnipeg,
Manitoba, encouraged the 115 women to see themselves as
new role models for giving.
Women have contributed, especially to political move-
ments, said Schneider. But now women can address their
special concerns and opportunities through groups like JWF.
Formed by the Jewish Federation and the United Jewish
Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit, JWF grants support
to a range of projects.
One provides temporary help for families in crises
because of the death or serious illness of the mother.
Another aids older residents (89 percent women) to help
them "age in place" rather than move to full-care facilities.
A third provides funds for a B'nai B'rith Youth
Organization-B'nai B'rith Girls International Mind, Body
and Attitude Convention for high schoolers.
Jewish women draw on a history of giving, of tzedakah,
said Schneider, founding editor-in-chief of Lilith, the inde-
pendent Jewish women's magazine. She also wrote three
books including Jewish and Female and Head and Heart,
about money in the lives of women.
Until the last 100 years, she said, Jewish women were not
allowed to participate in public programs or to become
scholars. But they found "alternative paths to power."
Committed to community organizing, Jewish women
8/24
2001
20
1981
Beverly Liss, JWF associate chair, greets speaker
Susan Weidman Schneider.
were problem solvers. They were in the marketplace inter-
facing with the outside world, learning other languages.
"Women were not afraid to be outspoken — not for them-
selves — but spoke out to right wrongs," said Schneider.
Outspoken against Jewish women stereotypes, Schneider
reclaimed the image of the yenta. She is not simply a busy-
body, but "a person who saw who needed what in the com-
munity ... It's precisely that kind of work we're doing
today," said Schneider, who has won numerous awards
including Hadassah's Golden Wreath and American Jewish
Congress' Eleanor Roosevelt Prize.
Changing The Stereotype
The district attorney in Los Angeles
asked the state of California to
reverse the decision to parole Sirhan
B. Sirhan in 1984; Sirhan was the
killer of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
West German Chancellor Helmut
Schmidt cabled congratulations to
Israeli Premier Menachem Begin on
his reappointment as premier.
The Westland-based SS Action
Group, a Nazi organization, gained
approval to hold a rally in Detroit's
Kennedy Square.
1971
A portrait of Detroiter Barbara
Linden and her teenage theater com-
pany was featured on a Channel 56
presentation of "Artists in America."
Nadine Levine of Oak Park
received a bachelor of arts degree in
political science from Eastern
Michigan University.
1961
American women in general have barriers to overcome
before taking control of their finances for philanthropic use,
Schneider said. "Women have a ladylike notion that it's not
OK to stand out or to speak about money.
Jewish women, however, have particular "anti-Semitic
and misogynist stereotyping" to overcome.
"Some women have to deal with the guilt of having
money to give away," Schneider said, though others have
learned the pleasure of giving to make a difference.
Jewish women fear appearing "too inquisitive, loud or self-
centered," added Schneider, who has lectured on the perni-
cious stereotype of the JAP (Jewish American princess).
She prefers to envision these women as empowered.
"I see Jewish women opening doors for men," Schneider
said, "because we give in a more collective spirit that's not
competitive."
Jewish women like to do things in a group, she added.
"We join organizations more than other women in this
country ... and we like to act collectively, which gives us a
place to share our emotions."
"This is all about creating a Jewish community that's more
participatory and egalitarian for women and men," Schneider
concluded. "It's about tikun olam [repairing the world], and
consistent with the values in Judaism and feminism."
❑
The government of Tunisia severed
postal communications with Israel.
Rabbi David Asseo was chosen to
become chief rabbi of the Turkish
Jewish community in Istanbul.
Detroiter Henry Wartosky retired
after 34 years as Recorder's Court
deputy.
1951
The father of Jewish financier
Bernard Baruch was revealed to
have been a member of the Ku
Kluz Klan in the Civil War days.
In appreciation of the patronage
of its Jewish clientele, the Chinese
Village restaurant on Livernois in
Detroit bought a $100 Israel bond.
Detroiter Rabbi Joseph Elias was
named principal of all educational
departments at Yeshivath Beth Yehudali
—Compiled by Sy Manelb
editorial assistai