(
World
FRIDAY OCTT 22009
I
at the DETROIT ATHLETIC CLU
,
H OSPICE
0
MICHIGAN'S
24th Annual
Ruth Messinger from page 19
•
Congratulations to our 2009 Awardees!
OUTSTANDING COMMUNITY LEADERS
HOSPICE
Paul and Barbara Czamanske
of michigan
OUTSTANDING VOLUNTEER
Judy Trepeck
For tickets, or to make a
tribute gift in honor of one
of our awardees, please
contact Rae Anne Cinder,
313-578-6268 or email:
rcinder@hom.org
OUTSTANDING CORPORATE PARTNER
Campbell Ewald
-
OUTSTANDING COMM
Mad River Post -
1tEXIFFRIDAY'rSATORDAY.
ba bettell
TRUNK SHOW
2009 HOLIDAY/TRANSITION
COLLECTION
SEPT. 11 & 12
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
10am-5pm
Come in and experience a unique
collection of jackets, dresses,
pant suits and more.
248-855-9545 • Telegraph at Maple in Bloomfield Plaza
E MUSA
• Fresh He-aithy and Del'iC-iOUS Foods
he Original Rbil Up Sandwiches
• A Variety of Fresh Salads, Fruit
and Veggie Trays
• Delicious Hot Dinner
• Tasty Hors D'OeuvrP:-. and more!
UPTOWN
CATERING
20
September 3 • 2009
Any order over S150. Exp 9/30/09
excludes rentals
2038 r:::'JS3.
Lake
F, , - :c-cd, #9
0
248,681.9092
Horbor
• How does the Jewish community react
to an organization that spends a great
deal of resources helping non-Jews?
Messinger: We wouldn't have built a
list of 70,000 activists or 3,000 alumni
and face a demand for more service
programs if people weren't attracted to
our mission. Part of being Jewish is to
put Jewish values into practice where the
poorest people are.
This is not some new piece of
Judaism: The rabbis and Jewish leaders
have discussed the balance between
helping Jews and non-Jews, the balance
of working with different communities,
the balance of showing who we are and
building a better world not only our-
selves but for others. It doesn't say,"Build
justice for Jews:'
• Why do you think AJWS missions
appeal to younger Jews?
Messinger: I don't think ifs surpris-
ing that many young people — but not
just young people — are interested in
finding out the makeup of the entire
world. The global changes of the last
decade have helped people understand
that we are all dependent on each other;
what happens in one place has repercus-
sions around the world.
Congregations ask me to come
and speak: What's our position in the
broader world, what's the Jewish lens in
understanding that? What does it mean
in 2009 to help heal the world and how
shall we use our history and our posi-
tion as educated, influential players to
try and make a difference?
• AJWS is kind of like a Jewish peace
corps, assisting developing countries.
Is the volunteer work important for the
countries themselves or more for the
volunteers?
Messinger: The projects that engage
with us want 15 volunteers. They under-
stand that more hands will get more
work done faster. The projects with the
community might have been put aside,
their lives taken up with their own farm-
ing, with their own efforts to earn $1 or
$2 a day.
They are so appreciative of having
someone volunteer because a library
needs a roof. They recognize the value
of having young Americans in Uganda
or Thailand or India or El Salvador,
having their communities see that
there are people from the West, from
America, from the Jewish community,
that care about them and care about
being helpful.
I want the volunteers to understand
the Jewish mandate for social justice, I
want them to have direct personal expe-
rience in the developing world where
they live and make friends, where they
understand other people in other coun-
tries so they will come back to America
and write about it and talk about it in
the Jewish community, in their Jewish
community
• With so many challenges facing the
Jewish community right now — educa-
tion funding, assimilation, intermarriage
— how can helping developing coun-
tries be a priority?
Messinger: The American commu-
nity has serious problems now and the
Jewish community has some particular
problems of our own. On the other
hand, this is a community that has the
experience of being an outsider; and
we know what happens when no one
responds, when you call for help and no
one's there.
Comparatively we are a prosperous,
affluent and influential community and
we want to be sure that Jews think about
helping those that haven't gotten to that
level, as well as working in the Jewish
community, too. There's time and space
and energy for all of that.
• You have said it's important for Jews to
be seen doing this kind of work. Why?
Messinger: It helps people in the
rest of the world who have never met a
Jew, or have never heard of the Jewish
religion. It's important for them to see
Jews in precisely the way we ought to be
seen: as people committed to social jus-
tice, coming into their communities and
working with their local people to help
get work done.
Answering
Israel's Critics
The Charge
Lebanon's Amal political party
charged last week that Israel
is committing "innumerable,
repeated and flagrant" violations
of Lebanese sovereignty.
The Answer
On the contrary, it is Israeli sover-
eignty along the Lebanese border
that has been repeatedly violated
by Hezbollah, the same group that
had instigated the 2006 war with
a cross-border incursion and kid-
napping.
- Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Relations Council
of Metropolitan Detroit
Sept. 3, 2009 Jewish Renaissance Media