( 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