Newspaper Page Text
Changing demographics
signify changes for JCCs
NEW YORK—American Jews
have become users rather than
members of Jewish Community
Centers and YM-YWHAs, Dr.
Gary A. Tobin of Brandeis Uni
versity told a meeting of the JWB
board of directors on Saturday
evening, Sept. 27 in New York.
The noted demographer’s in
terpretation of changing Ameri
can Jewish demographic patterns
and their significance to the Cen
ter movement was the featured
presentation in a weekend series
of JWB board and committee
meetings. Other highlights of the
three-day gathering of some 150
North American Center and Y
leaders included presentation
and initial consideration of a
three-year plan for maintaining
and enhancing gains in Jewish
education programming, and a
detailed account of the structure
and functions of the newly estab
lished JWB/Jewish Chaplains
Council.
JWB President Leonard Roch-
warger of Buffalo characterized
the three-day assembly as chal
lenging and provocative. “In the
weeks and months ahead,” he
stated, “the JWB board will tho
roughly study the actual and
potential impact of the demo
graphic factors cited by Dr.
Tobin. We will also carefully
monitor the testing of the new
chaplaincy structure and of the
three-year Jewish education plan.
Basing his contention on data
developed in demographic stu
dies conductec early in this dec
ade by more than a dozen major
TEL AVIV (JTA)—Two West
Bank Arabs were sentenced last
week to life imprisonment by a
military court for the strangula
tion murder of an Israeli soldier,
19-year-old David Manos, in
November 1984.
Mahmound Karoush and Tew-
fik Ibrahim Abdullah, both from
Deir Balach village in the West
Bank, were arrested in March
1985 followinga police investiga
tion that began when the missing
soldier’s body was found. Ac
cording to the prosecution, they
and intermediate-size American
Jewish communities, Tobin found
that Center constituents today
care primarily about service, not
membership.
While most American Jews prefer
to use a JCC or Y over private
services, he noted, membership can
turn over 100 percent in any
given five-year period. When and
if dropped memberships are later
resumed by young couples, it is
invariably on the basis of the ser
vices they want, preferably no
more than half an hour distant
from their homes.
A key current demographic
factor impacting on Center op
erations, according to Tobin, is
the steadily increasing pool of
constituents among persons over
75 and over 85. Of broad future
significance is a major baby boom
no in progress.
As delineated by Tobin, the
American Jewish family served
by Centers has changed consid
erably over the past decade and a
half. Families consisting of two
parents and children have become
a distinct minority, outnumbered
now by single, divorced or separ
ated adult households; married
households from which the chil
dren have departed; widowed
households with children; and
widowed adults living alone, with
a relative or other older adults.
The three-year plan for max
imizing the Jewish education
component of Center program
ming was presented at a meeting
of the JWB Committee on Jew
ish Education and Continuity.
killed Manos after giving him a
lift in their car near Ben-Gurion
Airport.
Relatives of the murdered
soldier created a scene in the
court when the sentence was
pronounced. They screamed in
vectives at the convicted men and
struck one in the head with a
large rock.
Manos’ family was angered
apparently because one member
of the three-judge panel who
asked for the death penalty was
overruled by his colleagues.
Featured elements in the plan
are: visits by committee members
to 27 communities over three
years, beginning in 1987; publi
cation of progress reports on
innovative approaches being
carried out by visited Centers;
ongoing dialogue with other
North American organizations
involved in Jewish education; de
velopment, testing and dissemi
nation of educational materials
and identification and testing of
field models, in support of lay
leadership Jewish learning pro
grams; and development, publi
cation and testing of a model
curriculum indentifying basic
Jewish knowledge needed by
Center professionals.
The new JWB/Jewish Chap
lains Council was organized in
August of this year by represen
tatives of the three major rabbin
ical groups in American Jewish
life: Rabbinical Council of Amer
ica (Orthodox), Rabbinical As
sembly (Conservative), and Cen
tral Conference of American
Rabbis (Reform). It is chaired by
Rabbi Barry Hewitt Greene of
Short Hills, N.J.
As confirmed at a meeting of
the JWB Armed Forces and
Veterans Services Committee,
the newly established council will
provide a wide range of services
to Jewish chaplains in the mil
itary and Veterans Administra
tion, and to Jewish military per
sonnel, their families and patients
in V A hospitals; will maintain an
active liaison with the Chiefs of
Chaplains of the Army, Navy,
Air Force and V A; and will act as
an advocate for Jewish personnel
in all branches of the armed
services.
In addition to its role as the
U.S. Government-accredited
agency for providing those cha-
plaincy-relate services, JWB is
the association of 275 Jewish
Community Centers, YM-YWHAs
and camps in the U.S. and Can
ada and is a major provider of
Jewish educational and cultural
resources for North American
Jewry.
JWB is supported by Jewish
Federations, UJ A-Federation of
New York, JCCs and Ys, and
JWB Associates.
Two sentenced to life for
murder of Israeli soldier
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SO, NOW THAT YOU KNOW
SHAKESPEARE, IS HE GOING TO
HELP YOU PICK A COLLEGE?
If you’re working hard in high school you’re
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All very interesting people. But will they
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.«• i>< v Charlie Mitchell