viewpoints » S end letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com DETROIT JEWISH NEWS theJEWISHNEWS.com editorial Arthur M. Horwitz Publisher / Executive Editor ahorwitz@renmedia.us Jewish Fund Results Underscore Need For Full Population Study F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us T he Jewish Fund should be thanked for providing the leadership and funds necessary to complete a major assessment of the community’s most pressing social welfare needs. (See story on page xx.) By wisely investing $86,700 in the study, the Jewish Fund now has data and insights that will enable it to bet- ter prioritize the grant requests it receives from Jewish communal organizations. In its 2014-2015 fiscal year, the Jewish Fund awarded $3.5 million, 64 percent of it to meet health and welfare needs within the Jewish community. The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit will also benefit from the Jewish Fund’s study, providing opportunities for improved coordination among some of its beneficiary agencies. In its 2014-2015 fiscal year, funds mostly attributable to Federation’s Annual Campaign provided $5.3 million for community services, mostly benefiting the elderly and those with other health and welfare needs. This study, with its limited focus and non-scientific sampling technique, is not meant to be a replacement for a thorough Detroit Jewish community population study, last undertaken in 2005. Rather, it underscores the need for a new one. Much has changed over the past 11 years: • Detroit and its Jewish community were battered by a steep economic downturn that slammed the automobile, housing and banking industries; • Michigan was at or near the top of the list of states losing population; • Detroit’s Jewish population of 20-some- things — already extremely low based on data reported in the 2005 study — declined further; • Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life now estimates that a major- ity of self-identifying Jewish students on America’s college campuses have one Jewish parent; • A 2013 Pew study shows that 80 per- cent of Reform movement children are intermarrying; • Trends continue to show decline in the Conservative movement, growth of Orthodoxy, an expanding frail elderly popu- lation and a weakening embrace of Israel by younger generations of Jews; • Meanwhile, a revival of business activ- ity along Detroit’s Woodward Avenue spine — much of it triggered by the companies of Dan Gilbert — is creating expanded oppor- tunities for employment and urban-style living; • And family foundations are now play- ing more prominent roles in determining community needs — and funding them — based on their own interests and criteria. Federation CEO Scott Kaufman is cor- rect in stating that until the community has an updated and scientifically sound population study, it will be basing some decision making on anecdotal informa- tion. Good demographic studies aren’t cheap — they can easily surpass $400,000. However, Federation’s fiduciary respon- sibility to the community is to assure, as best as it reasonably can, that charitable dollars it raises are being used efficiently to address the community’s current and emerging needs. Considering what’s at stake, we are both hopeful and confident that family founda- tions — and Federation itself — will dig into their wallets to assure that an overdue survey of the Detroit Jewish community occurs in the 2017 calendar year. It’s time to know. * | Editorial Managing Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Story Development Editor: Keri Guten Cohen kcohen@thejewishnews.com Arts & Life Editor: Lynne Konstantin lkonstantin@renmedia.us Senior Copy Editor: David Sachs dsachs@renmedia.us Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar rsklar@renmedia.us Contributing Writers: Ruthan Brodsky, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Adam Finkel, Ryan Fishman, Stacy Gittleman, Judy Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Harry Kirsbaum, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein | Creative Services Corporate Creative Director: Deborah Schultz dschultz@renmedia.us | Advertising Sales Sales Director: Keith Farber kfarber@renmedia.us Account Executives : Kathryn Andros, Wendy Flusty, Andrea Gusho, Annette Kizy, Paige Lustig Sales Manager Assistants : Joelle Harder, Karen Marzolf | Business Offices Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner Collections Analyst: Hazel Bender | Production By FARAGO & ASSOCIATES Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Amy Pollard, Pam Sherevan, Michelle Sheridan, Susan Walker commentary U.S.-Israel Memorandum Of Understanding: An Unbalanced Deal A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is an agreement between two parties — in this case, the governments of Israel and the United States. It is less than a treaty, more than a handshake. The first MOU was signed in Shoshana 1981, recognizing “the common Bryen bonds of friendship between the United States and Israel and builds on the mutual security relationship that exists between the two nations.” The current MOU, signed in 2007, represented a 10-year commitment. The Obama admin- istration and the government of Israel have been negotiating a new 10-year agreement that will come into effect in 2017. It is hard to get the nuance right in a secu- rity arrangement between a superpower and a small country, even if the small country is a first-world democracy in terms of education, income, technology and political structure. It is harder when large sums of money are involved and harder still when the small country is, in military terms, a “security producer,” one that provides more security to a region than it requires in assistance, but is still uniquely threatened in the world. The Obama administration is making it harder, perhaps because one of the president’s goals has been to remove the United States from its role as security guarantor not only for Israel, but also for the region, and possibly, it seems, for the rest of the world, such as the South China Sea, Crimea and the Balkans. The administration proposes somewhat more money for Israel — from $3.1 billion to close to $4 billion — but with important caveats: 1) 100 percent of the money will be spent in the U.S., while Israel is presently able to spend 25 percent in Israel. This is a subsidy for U.S. defense indus- tries and constrains Israel’s defense choices by forcing the IDF to exclude weapons from Europe and elsewhere. While some think of Israel as an expense to the U.S., the fact is that Israeli R&D innovations — shared with the U.S. by agreement — have helped miti- gate the decline in the U.S. missile defense budget in an era of growing threats. Without the ability to spend some money in Israel, it will be harder for smaller defense and high- tech industries to keep up. 2) The total figure will include money for missile defense, which in this administration has been an add-on from Congress. That makes the increase substantially less than it appears to be. This could be particularly problematic: An administration that opposes missile defense in principle — as does the Obama admin- istration — could effectively stifle Israel, which protects its people with a layered missile defense system. As Iran continues to violate U.N. prohibitions on ballistic missile testing, and Hamas and Hezbollah increase their arsenals, the consequences could be devastating. 3) Israel will be prohibited from asking Congress for additional funds, effectively removing a bipartisan center of support for Israel’s security from the equation and reduc- ing Israel’s flexibility in addressing rapidly emerging threats. This year, Congress wrote in $42.7 million for anti-tunnel cooperation — something that emerged as essential only after the 2014 Gaza war. In deference to the outsized threats and acknowledging Israel’s status as an American ally, it has been U.S. policy for decades and | Detroit Jewish News Chairman: Michael H. Steinhardt President/Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz ahorwitz@renmedia.us Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett kbrowett@renmedia.us Controller: Craig R. Phipps Corporate Creative Director: Deborah Schultz dschultz@renmedia.us | Fulfillment circulationdesk@thejewishnews.com Customer Service Manager: Zena Davis | Departments General Offi ces: 248-354-6060 Advertising: 248-351-5107 Advertising Fax: 248-304-0049 Circulation: 248-351-5174 Classifi ed Ads: 248-351-5116 Advertising Deadline: Monday, 2 p.m. Editorial Fax: 248-304-8885 Deadline: All public and social announcements must be typewritten and received by noon Tuesday, nine days prior to desired date of publication. 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