Publisher's Notebook

Building A Greater
Jewish Community

S

nowballs and throwing them at moving targets ...
what does this have to do with the future of our
Detroit Jewish community? Actually, more than you
might think.
Most of us learned as children the difficulty of hitting a
moving car with a snowball. Snowball leaves hand, car moves,
snowball misses (or perhaps hits the trunk or rear fender if
you've got a strong arm). Anticipate
where the car is going; throw the
snowball to that spot, and the results
are much better.
As a Detroit Jewish community, we
are facing unprecedented challenges
to assist those in our midst — includ-
ing friends, neighbors, family — who
are being walloped by the economic
downturn in our region, state and
Arthur M.
country. When volunteers working for
Horwitz
our Jewish Federation's 2009Annual
Publisher
Campaign claim "the needs are greater
than ever:' they truly are.
As a community, we have tucked our
chins into our chests and are throwing
snowballs at today's target. It's important.
It's necessary, and we are scoring some
direct hits. However, it must be done
within a framework of a vision for the
future — an understanding of where this
moving target is taking us in a year or
three years or five years.
The 2005 Federation demographic
study revealed a Detroit Jewish communi-
ty of 72,000, approximately 24,000 fewer
than Federation's 1989 study uncovered.
Based on extrapolation of trends from
the 2005 study (which was fielded before
the current economic meltdown), today's
Jewish community is below 65,000. Does
anyone want to guess where it will be in
2012?
With apologies to President Barack Obama and his
"audacity of hope we must paint a picture — now — of
what will make Detroit the greatest Jewish community in
America with a population of 55,000. In that framework,
how will we educate our children? Take care of our elderly?
Keep our children here or bring them back from Chicago,
Los Angeles or wherever they have moved for economic and
social opportunity? Attract families who choose Detroit for
the strength of its Jewish community? Raise the needed
philanthropic dollars? Influence the development of the rest
of our region so that jobs can be retained and created?
Why 55,000? Because it's a target. And without a target
down the road, there's nothing to shoot for ... nothing that
places a psychological floor beneath our feet. Otherwise, we
will slip to 50,000, 45,000 or lower and never see it coming.
Does anyone expect the city of Detroit to return to its glory
days as a city of 1.8 million? Well, natural population growth

and in-migration patterns will not push Detroit's Jewish
community anywhere near 72,000 or 96,000, either.
In looking down this road, we must envision that picture of
greatness at 55,000. Otherwise, none of the day-to-day actions
we take will link. Imagine working successfully on a jigsaw
puzzle without looking at the box cover first? You can't.
An example: Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield is a piece of the
community jigsaw puzzle. It is a very good school that is
modern Orthodox and Zionistic. Unless it can continue to
lure new families to the area, it has few prospects for grow-
ing its current pre-K through 12th-grade enrollment beyond
300 students. Its high school is small (50 students in total),
and its endowment and financial support from individuals
in the general Jewish community is modest. It has a nice
facility, including an impressive new gymnasium. Without a
hard-working and committed parent body, dedicated educa-
tors and significant Federation financial support, it might
have already closed its doors.
Now, can anyone picture a great Detroit Jewish communi-
ty of 55,000 that doesn't have a vibrant, dynamic, attractive
modern Orthodox community as one of its building blocks?
Of course not. We must view Akiva as
more than a school. It is THE Center
for Modern Orthodoxy of Metropolitan
Detroit. Within that framework, the Akiva
facility becomes a hub for learning, rec-
reation, multiple minyans, social services
(Rabbi Dannel Schwartz's "The Corners"
concept in the former Laker Center in
West Bloomfield that brings job train-
ing, substance abuse, lifecycle counsel-
ing, wellness comes to mind), an anchor
for the neighborhood and an enduring
Jewish presence in Southfield.
The discussion shifts from, "Is Akiva
viable as a school? Can its children go to
one of the other Orthodox schools as a
way to save some money and eliminate
duplication of resources?" to "The picture
of a great Detroit of 55,000 Jews requires
a center for Modern Orthodoxy and the entire Jewish corn-
munity must support Akiva financially in making that
transformation."
As we continue to support the day-to-day needs of our
Jewish community, let's remind our leaders that we also
require a vision, a picture like the one on the cover of a
jigsaw puzzle box, to guide us toward a new model of great-
ness. We have the snowballs. Let's aim more of them further
down the road. Our Detroit Jewish future is at stake. ❑

We must paint
a picture now of
what will make
Detroit the greatest
Jewish community
in America with
a population of

55, 000.

1

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How best can we sharpen our communal
vision for Jewish Detroit?

Is there an innovative model for
supplemental day school funding?

ACE Animal Control Experts
Kerry Streng
Action Video & Imaging, Inc.
B. Michael Grant
Advance Packaging Technologies
Ronald M. Applebaum, Esq.
Danny Aronovitz, D.P.M. and
Marvin Aronovitz, D.P.M.
Automatic Apartment Laundries
Blossoms, Inc.
Bodman LLP
Cheryl Melamed Photography
Cohen, Lerner & Rabinovitz, P.C.
Steven Z. Cohen
Detroit Popcorn Company
Dykema
Evolution Media
Fran Victor and Bill Harder
Faces in the Air, Ltd.
FASTSIGNS of Farmington Hills
Barry W. Feldman, M.D.
The Frankel Organization, LLC
Full Circle Graphics, Inc.
Gayle's Chocolates
Glenn Triest Photographic

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jam

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JARC salutes its

Business Buddies

for donations of goods and services
over the past 12 months.
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Great Lakes Landscape Design, Inc.
Harry's Garden Centers, Inc.
Hersch's Lawn Spray
Honigman Miller Schwartz
and Cohn LLP
Jo Bruce Corporate Training
Associates
Joe Cornell Entertainment
KT Group, Inc.
Lighting Supply Company
Lipton Law Center
Maddin, Hauser, Wartell,
Roth & Heller, P.C.
Matt Prentice Restaurant Group
Nicole Meadows, D.D.S.
Metro Air, Inc.
Jeffery Meyers, M.D.
Michael A. Jonas Photography
Mobile Dentists
Dr. Marcy Borofsky and
Dr. Margo Woll
Miller Canfield
Bobbie Miller
Re/Max in the Hills
Gary D. Miller — Miller Systems
Pascucci Marble and Granite
Pest Arrest, Inc.
Pitt, McGehee, Mirer,
Palmer and Rivers, P.C.
Resource Data Systems Corp.
Sam's Plumbing
Specialties Appliances &
Plumbing Fixtures
Star Trax Events / Pulse 220
Kayla Stein, C.P.A.
Tarnow Doors
Technihouse Inspections
Tracey and Associates
Vision Specialists of Birmingham
Walker Printery, Inc.
Steven Traison
Wallside Windows
West Friendship Materials
Wolverine Alarm
Zack and Chandler, C.P.A., P.C.

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