EDITORIAL BOARD:
Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz
Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett
Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar

>> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com

Publisher's Notebook

Editorial

A Year In Transition

A New Communal Strategy
Should Be Federation Goal

Preserving our past to inform our future.

A

s we enter the Jewish New Year 5772, we
take stock of our relationship with God
and community. We are thankful for the
health of loved ones, wish complete healing for
those who are ailing and view with concern a
world that is currently indifferent or hostile to
Israel and our peoplehood.
At the Jewish News, this
New Year takes on added
meaning. Aside from
the seasonal uptick in
advertising and editorial
content, the accompany-
ing early deadlines
and the informal
exchanges of food
recipes among staff,
we are entering our
Arthur M.
70th year of service
Horwitz
to the Detroit com-
munity.
Since its inaugural
issue on March 27, 1942, the Jewish News
has carried forward the founding principles
of legendary Publisher and Editor Philip
Slomovitz:
• The need, right and correctness of a
Jewish state; and
• The importance of community, as a Jewish
people and as citizens of the greater commu-
nity.
The pages of the 1942 editions of the Jewish
News tell a remarkable story of a Detroit Jewish
community caught in the crosscurrents of his-
tory. Virtually every week, there are accounts
of Nazi brutalities and the slaughter of Jews.
Raging debates between pro- and anti-Zionist
Jewish forces. Pleas for contributing dollars to
the annual Allied Jewish Campaign and for pur-
chasing War Bonds to strengthen America in its
battle against Axis forces.
In the face of the world's trou-
bles, the pages show the Detroit
Jewish community grappling
with local issues, too. Improving
the quality of Jewish education,
planning for a growing and frag-
ile elderly population, request-
ing greater transparency and
Philip
accountability in the allocation
Slomovitz
of communal funds are not 2011
inventions.

The Times Remembered
The pages also reflect the stuff of life. Birth and
death announcements. Social calendars. Sales at
Hudson's. Weekly "Jewish Youth's Listening Post"
columns by Danny Raskin (yes, he is going on his
70th year of service to the Jewish News). One edi-
tion carries notice of the wedding announcement
and the overseas military deployment of the same
man. Must have been quite a wedding night ...

To preserve our community's
history and to make every page
of the Jewish News since 1942
accessible to the public, we will
be digitizing our entire archive
and will make it available
online.

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cover from Dec.18,1942, a little over a year
JN
A after
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

The cover of the 1942 Jewish
News Rosh Hashanah issue is also illuminating.
It consists of a full-page drawing of a man in
ritual garb carrying a Torah and a hybrid Statue
of Liberty-looking warrior gazing into the hori-
zon, where the words "Peace Through Victory"
are emblazoned. The headline over the illustra-
tion says, "The Vision of a Better Day." In smaller
type, adjacent to the Torah, are these words:
"Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye justice and do
righteousness, for My salvation is near to come,
and My favor to be revealed." — Isaiah, 56:1.
In his Rosh Hashanah message to the Jewish
community, titled "On the Threshold of 5703,"
Slomovitz writes:
" ... As we greet the coming of 5703, we have
no illusions about the future. It will be a grim and
serious year. It will be a year full of challenges

Transition on page 81

80

" ' "

T

he Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit is
our central planner and chief fundraiser. But as
it transitions to a new president, deals with the
weak economy and addresses shifting demographics,
Federation faces the urgent challenge of resetting its
strategic compass.
Not only has our aging and declining population
reduced the yield of Federation's Annual Campaign, but
also our changing community picture shouts out for a
clear communal plan for the future – a compelling vision
for what a vibrant yet smaller Detroit Jewish community
looks like.
Federation is committed to meeting expanding current
needs while what CEO Scott Kaufman calls "building a
vibrant future." It certainly has the financial resources.
The $29 million it raised in 2010 makes ours the fifth-
largest federation campaign in the U.S. And ours remains
first in per-capita giving among the 18 North American
federations in the "large city" division. Include the $4.45
million from the Jennifer and Dan Gilbert Challenge Fund
and Federation's 2010 total achievement is $33.45 million.
Federation's Young Adult Division drove up the number of
donors – essential to assuring a continuing pool of givers.
For its part, Federation cut staff and allocations last
year to compensate for fewer operational and allocation
dollars while applying technology to grow contributions.
So Federation isn't standing pat.
Still, a compelling vision, shaped by the community,
is pivotal to keeping the Campaign dialogue fresh and
putting the impressive 2010 achievement to work for
all Federation needs – locally, in Israel and elsewhere.
Thinking bigger strategically would excite longtime
donors and attract new givers.
One mechanism for creating such a vision would
be a series of town hall-style meetings, like the one
Federation's CommunityNEXT held this year in downtown
Detroit with Dan Gilbert's Quicken Loans to imagine a
bustling urban environment and a hub of Jewish life. The
meetings would generate ideas from a range of Metro
Detroit's Jewish and secular communities.
With the Jewish New Year of 5772 nearing, it's a good
time to consider what a Federation wish list should spot-
light. Beyond a vision looking out three to five years, the
list would do well to feature new and updated priorities
for Federation resources and funding. What were top of
mind last year aren't necessarily so now.
Further, Federation should outline a timeline for imple-
menting what would become our vision and priorities
for rebuilding (a vigorous but shrinking) Jewish Detroit.
There's urgency.
Federation also must embrace open communication,
viewing the Jewish community and Campaign donors as
stakeholders in our communal enterprise and fundraising
apparatus. Lack of full communication leads to lack of
understanding, involvement and, ultimately, fundraising
paralysis. Choose transparency.
Federation and its beneficiaries have important, vital
day-to-day work. But collaboratively, they must find the
wherewithal to overlay a bold and dynamic vision and
strategy so we as a Jewish community discover a more
secure future that yields richer dividends. II

