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July 16, 2009 - Image 47

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 2009-07-16

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

Thoughts

Dry Bones 4=

A MIX OF IDEA

HOW CAN YOU DENY
THAT YOUR GOV'T
HAS CRUSHEO FREE
SPEECH IN IRAN?!!

JCC Builds Jewish Identity

denominator in our Jewish community
M fission vs. margin. It's one of
where all gather to participate, to learn,
the perpetual struggles of any
to enjoy, to share and to express our pride
board overseeing a nonprofit
in being and living Jewish. When we walk
charitable organization. Do you align with
through the doors at the D. Dan & Betty
the literal reading of your mission state-
Kahn Building in West Bloomfield or the
ment on every occasion in the hope that
Jimmy Prentis Morris Building in Oak
the margin will be in place to support that
Park, we are, in fact, walking through the
direction or do you manage the margin
gateway to our own Jewish identity.
and adjust the mission accordingly? In
The mission of our Jewish
essence, is it mission then mar-
Community Center must be
gin, or margin then mission?
protected and must continue
Our Jewish Community
to evolve to serve the changing
Center of Metropolitan Detroit
needs of our members and the
is in no different position. In an
Jewish community at large. It
era of economic transformation
must be the basis for the critical
and heightened transparency,
decisions that we will collectively
it is the responsibility, of the
face over the next number of
JCC executive management and
Mar k
years. The leadership of your JCC
board to navigate these difficult
David off
is committed to this approach.
currents.
Comm unity
In addition to clarity of mission,
Our JCC is well-positioned to
Vie w
the JCC is supported by a founda-
balance the mission-and-mar-
tion built on a legacy of leadership.
gin equation and to emerge
The Metro Detroit JCC has always attracted
stronger as the economy turns in a more
"best in class" professionals who have
favorable direction. Why? Clarity of mis-
dedicated their careers to the field that is
sion and a legacy of leadership.
the Jewish Community Center movement.
With over 1 million visits to our facilities
Today is no different. The professional team
per year, when someone in our community
leading us today, under the guidance of
says they are "going to the Center," we all
Executive Director Mark Lit, continues to
know exactly what that means. The con-
innovate, create and execute in areas critical
nection to the term "the Center" is much
to keeping the programs and facilities of our
more than simply a linkage to a venue for
JCC on the leading edge.
enjoying the arts, enriching one's children,
The past presidents of our JCC are
or toning one's mind and body.
a
unique
breed of leaders and their
The Center is, in fact, the common

recognized talents
have propelled them
to the top ranks of
the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan
Detroit and the United
Jewish Foundation of
Metropolitan Detroit and
into national and inter-
national leadership roles.
These leaders continue
to support our mission
today through their active
involvement and philan-
thropic support.
Our donors as leaders
are no different. Our facili-
ties are adorned with the
names of individuals and
families who have sup-
ported the mission of the
Center since Curtis and Meyers in Detroit
and before. Our programs and initiatives
are likewise enhanced with the names of
those who share our vision for Jewish con-
tinuity as a cornerstone for all we do.
The hallmarks of our JCC as noted
above are not without challenges. Our
JCC is confronted with many of the same
challenges as others organizations here
in Metro Detroit and across the country.
Our endowments are subject to market
risk; our donors are feeling the impacts of
the economic downturn, yet the need for
financial support to assure access to our

DryBonesBlog.com

programs is at record levels.
As the JCC executive leadership and
board of directors prepare the agenda
for the next year and beyond, our clarity
of mission and our legacy of leadership
will serve us well. We will work to convert
challenges into opportunities and protect
our "gateway to Jewish identity" for the
generations to follow. E

Mark Davidoff is the new president of the

Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan

Detroit and former executive director of the

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. He

is a partner with Deloitte LLP in Detroit.

Reality Check

True North

A

friend who winters in Florida
was coerced into going to dinner
with a couple from New York. He
already realized that like many New York
Jews they considered themselves mavens
on everything under the sun, which
included, as it turned out, health care.
They knew for a fact that the Canadian
system was the best on the planet and
that the United States should adopt its
main features as soon as possible. My
friend begged to differ.
"I live near Detroit;' he said, "and
Canadians have to cross the border all
the time to get medical procedures and
treatments they'd have to wait months for
at home."
The New Yorkers' response was simple.
"That's a lie," they said, and that ended
that discussion. I think my friend passed
on dessert.
Like my friend and many other
Americans, I have serious reservations

about the health care plans out-
lined by the Obama administra-
tion. Mainly, I am afraid that
by setting up a system run by
the government in competition
with private insurance we will
inevitably have health care that
resembles the Canadian model,
with all its bureaucratic black
holes.
I have a very direct reason for
my concern. If we had such a
system in effect now, in all like-
lihood I'd be dead. I try to be
broad-minded about these things but I've
got to admit, I take this personally.
A man in his late 60s with two very
costly ailments would not be a favorable
candidate for treatment. If the primary
purpose of such a system is to get a handle
on costs so that a wider range of people
will have coverage, there will have to be
some rationing. That's a given.

During a similar debate on
this issue 25 years ago, Richard
Lamm, who was then governor
of Colorado, said "We have
more of a duty to a 10-year old
than to a 60-year old. Common
sense says we should reserve
the expensive machines and
technology for those who have
the chance of a longer life."
Waiter, check please. I'll be
leaving now.
Lamm's statement caused a
furor and elderly voters made
sure that he had little chance of having
a longer political life. Still, he was only
speaking the truth, which is a rare but
usually fatal disease for politicians.
There should certainly be a threshold of
coverage in which compulsory insurance
is made available for catastrophic illness.
But a government mandated plan would
be the worst possible way to contain cost

inefficiencies.
In Canada, it can take weeks to get an
MRI, several weeks more to get in to see a
specialist and more time to schedule sur-
gery. But as long as you don't get very sick,
it is an absolutely wonderful system.
It was his defeat on health care and the
subsequent Republican resurgence of 1994
that forced Bill Clinton to start govern-
ing from the center. I don't think history
repeats itself in such neatly predictable
patterns, but President Obama has been
trading on an enormous amount of per-
sonal good will so far.
Sooner or later, he's going to have to
listen to what the poll numbers are telling
him about his policies. A health care plan
that comes before Congress funded by
hocus-pocus economics may go a bridge
too far. ❑

George Cantor's e-mail address is

gcantor614@aol.com .

July 16 • 2009

Cl

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