This Week

A Call For Help

This year's Super Sunday broke records for a reason.

HARRY KIRS BAUM
Staff Writer

T

he Detroit Jewish com-
munity came through
— big time.
Record-breaking
amounts of pledges were given as
Super Sunday kicked off the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's 2002 Annual Campaign.
Preliminary numbers showed
400 volunteers collected a record
$1.2 million in pledges, a 25 per-
cent increase over last year, said

Hannan Lis of Farmington Hills,
who co-chaired the event with
Sharon Lipton of West
Bloomfield. Scott Eisenberg of
Franklin was associate chairman.
For the first time, volunteers
worked from two different loca-
tions, the Max M. Fisher Federation
Building in Bloomfield Township
and the Jewish Community Center
in West Bloomfield.
"From an administrative point
of view, our staff overcame logisti-
cal difficulties," said Lis. "The
services we provided the volun-

teers and the entire flow of the
day was Federation at its best."
Federation provided training,
very little paperwork and an
administrative flow "so people
weren't wasting time," he said.
"We were greeted politely and
enthusiastically on the phone."
Lis attributed the politeness to
trying times.
"People who we called were
receptive to our message," he said.
"They cared about the cause that
we represent, especially in a time
like this."

Rev. Al Sharpton at Yad Vashem.

More Controversy

Rev. Al Sharpton adds meeting with
Arafat to his Israel visit.

❑

PETER EPHROSS
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

r,

New York

Left: Joyce Sherman
of Southfield files
pledge cards.

Above: Harold Samuels
of Southfield works
the phones.

or a trip that was not supposed to involve
foreign policy, the Rev. Al Sharpton's visit
to Israel has turned out to be pretty politi-
cal — and controversial.
On his three-day visit to Israel this week,
Sharpton visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust
Memorial and an Ethiopian immigrant absorption
center, and met with Israeli politicians, one of
Israel's chief rabbis and relatives of terror victims.
Yet his most noteworthy meeting may turn out
to be the one without any Israelis.
Rev. Sharpton, who is trying to improve his
public image after years of controversy, also report-
edly passed on some diplomatic messages from
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres to
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser Arafat.
When Rev. Sharpton announced his trip to
Israel last week, he indicated he would not be
meeting with any Palestinian officials.
But after telling Peres he wanted to meet with
Arafat, Peres agreed, urging him to press Arafat to
end violence against Israeli civilians.
"The Rev. Sharpton met with Yasser Arafat and
conveyed a very clear message to him: Put an end
to violence," said Ido Aharoni, spokesman at the
Israeli Consulate in New York. "We welcome any
leader who wants to send such a message."
Despite the official approval, some U.S. Jewish
leaders are upset about the meeting.
"If I were looking to reconcile with the Jewish
community, my first overture would not be sitting
down with Yasser Arafat," said Rabbi Marc
Schneier, president and co-founder of the
Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.
Rabbi Schneier was supposed to be one of Rev.
Sharpton's chaperones, but says he pulled out after
he sensed Rev. Sharpton was wavering from his
original intent to visit Israel to build ties to the
Jewish community.
MORE CONTROVERSY on page 23

