ewish Fathily Service invites you to the
ANOTHER CHANCE from page 39
The Entertainment Industry's Assault on American Values
Dessert reception
following program
Jewish Community Center
Marion & David Handleman Hall & Auditorium
D. Dan and Betty Kahn Building
6600 W. Maple Road
Eugene and Marcia Applebaum
Jewish Community Campus
RSVP by April 1
to Marianne Jones
(248) 559-1500, ext. 236
Questions? Contact Dave Moss at
(248) 559-1500, ext. 222
or e-mail: dmoss@jfsdetroit.org
**g4kVt:,177-‘
Zee the Vele
Seel
No Appointment
Necessary
Now Accepting
Spring & Summer
Fashions & Accessories
Clothing should be
laundered & on hangers.
Open 7 Days
Fast Turnover
CONSIGNMENT Ceoet
3/29
2002
40
Highland Lakes Shopping Center
42947 W. 7 Mile Rd. - Northville - (248) 347-4570
tracted by other interests when they
come home, another challenge has
been the fear by many Birthright offi-
cials of turning off alumni by coming
on too strong when they return or by
immediately asking them for money.
"The last thing we want is to do a
typical Jewish community routine on
these young people, which is to say,
`Hey you've been to Israel, now we
have all these things for you to do
back here,' "Zimmerman said.
For that reason — and to the frus-
tration of some in the Jewish world —
Birthright has been highly protective
of participants, releasing the names
and contact information to only a
handful of Jewish groups.
It is now releasing contact informa-
tion to Jewish federations, but on the
condition that federations agree not to
solicit funds from Birthright alumni
for at least a year after they return.
A variety of follow-up efforts — and
success stories — are out there, but
most of them are on the grass-roots
level. Among them:
• For Birthright's first two years,
Hillels took two approaches to alumni
— both attempting to mainstream
them in ongoing Jewish activities and
offering reunions and other special
programming for them.
In the past year, it has run an inten-
sive pilot project in Los Angeles,
Baltirriore and San Francisco. Called
She'arim Gateways Initiative, the proj-
ect involves a combination of Jewish
learning and social activities.
• Mayanot, which provides
Birthright trips and is sponsored by
Chabad, encourages participants to
stay in Israel an extra week to study.
Nationally, the group distributes regu-
lar e-mail newsletters to alumni, and
its network of Chabad houses around
the world have stayed in contact with
trip alumni through reunions, special
Shabbat dinners and movie nights.
• For the past year and a half, the
New York-based Avi Chai Foundation
has offered Birthright returnees their
choice of two free Jewish-themed
books and hosted an online Jewish
book discussion group.
About one-third of the North
American alumni reached by e-mail —
3,468 people — have ordered the
books, with the Historical Atlas of the
Jewish. People and the first volume of
the Steinsaltz translation of the
Talmud the most popular choices. [A
listing of the books may be found at
www.jewish.com ] ❑
For more on this story, please visit
www.jewish.corn