Metro

A mortgage payment behind.
Just how long will it take to get ahead?

Faithful
Support

Clergy rally
behind Detroit's
embattled auto
manufacturers.

Robert Sklar
Editor

T

Mr. and Mrs. J. never expected to be in this position.

Mr. and Mrs. J. are ot,
The nurnber of HFL-
loan requests has increase
39 percent in the past yea

They were living a comfortable life when the economy
turned, and his computer business failed. He could
only find a low-salaried part-time job in retail sales to
support his wife and three young children. Then the
debts piled up. When his property taxes and mortgage
payments came due at the same time, he couldn't pay
both. He asked Hebrew Free Loan for assistance to
catch up on his bills.

In ways you may never know or predict, your gift to
the Jewish Federation adds strength and value to our
endeavors, because it goes to support 19 local agencies,
including Hebrew Free Loan, where miracles large and
small happen every day.

When you give, you give more than money.
You give hope.

If you act before December 31, you may realize
a tax advantage.

Three ways to give now:

1. Hotline: 800-GIVE-HOPE 2. Online: jewishdetroit.org

3. Mail: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

P.O. Box 2030 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303-2030

A20

December 11 • 2008

i!

Jewish
Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit

jewishdetroit.org

he federal govern-
ment should not deny
Detroit's automakers
emergency loans and force them
into bankruptcy, presumably as a
solution to their financial plight,
said Rabbi Daniel Syme, who was
among a Metro
Detroit inter-
faith group that
united behind
the beleaguered
auto industry last
week.
"I think bank-
ruptcy would
Rabbi Syme
be economically
devastating, not only for Detroit,
but also the entire country," said
Syme, spiritual leader of Temple
Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
Thirteen religious leaders
— Christians, Muslims and Jews
— assembled at Sacred Heart
Major Seminary in Detroit on Dec.
4 at the behest of Cardinal Adam
Maida. He sought ecumenical soli-
darity in the wake of Michigan's
economic distress.
The assembled group represents
3.5 million people locally. The group
has become a lobbying alliance in
hopes that each faith's national orga-
nizations could lobby Congress on
behalf of the auto industry.
A one-hour private, free-flow-
ing idea exchange was followed by
a press conference. Rabbi Norman
Roman of Temple Kol Ami in West
Bloomfield joined Rabbi Syme in
representing the Jewish community.
One focus of the closed discus-
sion involved the food banks,
soup kitchens, job banks, housing
needs and other social programs
already in place that could benefit
Michigan residents who have lost
their jobs. The clergy agreed on an