EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
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Proud To Be A Detroiter
"When we go our separate ways, we may go astray; let us join
hands and look for the way together:"
—Rabbi Chaim of Tzanz, chasidic
y
ou're from Detroit?" a woman asked me after
noticing my entry badge as we rode the elevator
at the Reform movement's biennial convention
in Boston. "I hear it's a great place to be Jewish."
"It is," I responded.
And I meant it: I'm proud to be a Jewish Detroiter.
A native Detroiter whose family roots here go back a
.
century, I've never tried to buffer my ties to the city by say-
ing I'm from "the suburbs of Detroit."
When asked, I say simply, "I'm from
Detroit." It's the city my mother was born
in during the 1910s, the city my father's
family chose to ultimately settle in after
fleeing the Cossacks in Minsk in 1906 and
the city I grew up in through high school.
Sure, the central city has lost some of its
luster
since its heyday in the mid-20th
ROBERT A.
century. But there's no doubt that we're a
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richer, more deeply rooted community
Editor
because of Detroit's history and heritage.
So it's heartening to see a new
Reconstructionist congregation open downtown, to notice
growing
growing interest in revisiting Old Jewish Detroit, and to
so many Jews involved in the city's rebirth, either
through investment or politics.
Given the abundance of buildings, cemeteries and neigh-
borhoods with Jewish roots there, Detroit is still the core
for the region we call the "Detroit Jewish community"
And as a region rather than just a city, there's no denying
that we, the Detroit Jewish community, have collective pri-
ority challenges. Meeting the basic needs of our elderly,
whom we should revere for what they have done to inspire
the way of life that we enjoy today, is a never-ending bat-
tle. So is providing adequate scholarship funding for our
growing network of day, congregational and supplemental
schools. Ditto for creating a replenishing base of younger
communal leaders and donors.
The Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit's financial hurdles, which have caused a shift in
priorities and serious budget cuts during this 75th anniver-
sary year, also should rattle us, especially in light of the
closing of five JCCs in Los Angeles.
Upward and Onward
But we've got much to smile about.
Adult Jewish education is on the upswing. Synagogues
are striving to be more of a communal green rather than
just a house to pray. The Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and its constituent agencies
together serve as a national model for the federated
world. The JCC has undergone a two-campus facelift
while upgrading Jewish programming; its Jewish Book
Fair is the best anywhere.
It's no surprise that though we're the 11th largest in
population (96,000) among Jewish communities nation-
wide, we rank fourth nationally in per-capita communal
giving.
Though some exceptions exist, we're definitely becom-
ing more accepting of pluralism, ecumenism and inclu-
siveness. The traditional and liberal streams of Judaism
have become more open to one another, synagogue and
church partnerships have grown, and gay Jews, Jews
with HIV-AIDS and interfaith couples no longer have
to hide who they are.
As we approach a new year as Jewish Americans, and
reflect on all the lures of assimilation, I pray that we
resolve to do more to affirm our identity as Jewish
Detroiters. Each of us will have a different path. And
that's fine. How we shape our Judaism is highly individ-
ual. It's rooted in family teachings, community influ-
ences and neshamah, our innermost soul. But ideally,
we'll all move in the same direction, learning from each
other along the way.
Think, Think!
Arnold Eisen is a professor and chairman of religious
studies at Stanford University in Stanford, Calif. He's
also one of America's most cogent thinkers about con-
temporary Jewish life.
Rather than "worrying" about intermarriage and
assimilation, "preying" on our guilt about how many
Jews died in the Holocaust or "haranguing" us about
obligations that we don't relate
to, Jewish leaders should "work
harder at providing experiences
of meaning and community,
ideally together," he writes in
his 1997 book Taking Hold Of
Torah: Jewish Commitment and
Community in America.
"That task," he adds, "requires
re-imagining the tradition in ways
that speak profoundly to the
minds and hearts of American
Professor Eisen
Jews as they actually are, and re-
designing our community to meet
the needs they have rather than the
needs which rabbis or federations think they should have."
That's powerful stuff.
Eisen wants us "to fashion a community that helps
Jews live rightly and live well without abandoning full
participation in American society, and to describe a
Judaism that assists their quest for wholeness and tran-
scendence."
He sees Torah, a common thread to all of Judaism's thought
streams, lighting the way.
For American Jews, he says, there's no better way to recali-
brate for a new century than "to turn for new direction to
Torah, the ground of every Jewish past, and take hold of it
anew."
Much of what Professor Eisen says mirrors Jewish Detroit.
We as a community talk fervently about "meaning" and
community" — and about building a vibrant, "speak to me"
Judaism that embraces Torah and resonates with Jews no
matter what their level of observance. We've also begun to
"give back," in a substantial way, to the city of Detroit,
instead of abandoning it.
We can do more in these pursuits. We must do more. But
we're not waiting around for help to magically come. We're
providing help ourselves.
Clearly, to be a Jewish Detroiter is to be someone special.
"
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