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HAPPY HEALTHY
NEW YEAR
This Week
Year In Review — 5763
STRENGTH AMID STRIFE from page 151
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A Little Bit Of New York
Right Here In Bloomfield Hills
9'
6646 Telegraph at Maple • Bloomfield Plaza • 248•932-0800
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Best Wishes to our Customers &
Friends for a Healthy & Happy
New Year!
Richard Abel carries a Torah donated by his family through a children's arch into the
new Shul synagogue, west of the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.
happening."
Ve Wish Our Friends and Customers
A Healthy and Happy New Year
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2003
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757200
NJPS On Hold
One of the more startling moments
came in November, when the United
Jewish Communities — the umbrella
organization of North American
Jewish federations — suddenly can-
celed the presentation of its long-
awaited National Jewish Population
Survey.
The NJPS was to have been the
most extensive — and, at $6 million,
the costliest — demographic study
ever conducted of the American
Jewish community. Lost data that
forced the UJC to postpone presenta-
tion of the study also cast a cloud on
the ultimate results, whose release was
postponed several times throughout
the year.
Meanwhile, the same issues that
have dogged American Jewry for gen-
erations continue to occupy a high
place on the agenda.
"Assimilation, intermarriage, Jewish
knowledge, passion, commitment and
their opposite — indifference, apathy
and ignorance," Rabbi Wolpe said.
One new issue was the prospect of a
Jewish president: Connecticut Sen.
Joseph Lieberman announced his can-
didacy for the Democratic nomination
for president, hoping to build on the
momentum he established as Al Gore's
running mate in the 2000 election.
Toward the end of 5763, a glimmer
of hope for American Jews appeared
from the east: Violence ebbed in Israel
as Palestinian terrorists temporarily
suspended their murderous operations.
American Jews were divided on
whether the Palestinian Authority's
new prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas,
really had managed to marginalize P.A.
President Yasser Arafat, whether Abbas
could deliver on his promises and to
what degree President Bush would
remain involved in the peace process
set in motion by the "road map" plan.
When it comes to Bush, observers
are waiting to see if the Jews will line
up behind the incumbent in 2004 or
throw their weight behind the
Democratic presidential candidate.
"There's a feeling that we owe him, to
repay his kindness for going out of his
way in a way we didn't expect," Rabbi
Ganchrow said, referring to Bush's
unexpectedly strong support for Israel.
"But there's also an uneasiness over
how much pressure he may now
place" on Israel.
Yet it is the matter of Iraq — still
wracked by chaos and mounting U.S.
casualties — that looms as the key
issue both for Israel and American
Jewry, Rabbi Yoffie said.
"Putting aside questions of who was
for and against the war, it would be a
blow to our hopes and to Israel's secu-
rity concerns if the U.S. failed to cre-
ate a democratic government in a
major Arab country and Iraq returned
to dictatorship," he said.
"This will determine the character
of the neighborhood in which Israel
will live," Rabbi Yoffie said. "Our
well-being as Jews, our mental state,
our sense of ourselves is directly tied
to the welfare of Israel."
❑