Conference Papers

CONFERENCE PAPERS Annual Conference of the National Association of Jewish Center Workers June 8-12,1968 Detroit, Michigan NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH CENTER WORKERS 15 East 26th Street • New York, N.Y. I 001 0 י י G> iA .3 ~ ע H£ A//UaiCMN JEWISH COMMITTEE־1 Biaustein Library {׳"־ PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE AH of us who had-the privilege of taking part in the 1968 , י -V ' ' NAJCW Conference in Oetroit are exceedingly grateful to I Mi 11iam Kahn and Rose Movitch, Chairman and Co-Chairman respec- tively pf the Conference Program Committee. They and their co-workers developed a program which was most relevant to the times and, therefore, to the theme of the Conference, "Society in Crisis: The Response of the Jewish Community." The papers contained in this volume were presented at the plenary meetings and at the institute and workshop Sessions. We express our deep appreciation; to the writers of the papers, as well as to Herman 1. Sainer •for guiding the preparation of this volume. A particular word of appreciation is due to Mrs, Ethel Greenwaid for her skillful and dedicated service as office secretary for NAjCW. The cooperation of Mrs. Pearl Goldstein, and of the production staff of JWB is also noted with deep appreciation. The publication of this edition of the Conference Papers per- petuates the Idea conceived by Louis Kraft, Honorary President of NAJCW, that it is of great value to the Jewish Community Center field to preserve the product of NAJCW's Annual Conferences through such an annual volume. HERBERT MlLLMAN President INTRODUCTION It was a good feeling once aga(^: seeing old and new colleagues and having the opportunity to share experiences of the past year. So the י ־ much had happened since our 1967 Atlantic City Conference heroic struggle of our Israeli broilers during the six day war and the problem of achieving a genuine peace with the Arab nations. During the year we saw the conditions of .the,!nner city further erupt; we were witness to the Negro people's^s^ruggie to be and livens men. During the past year we've seen wanton violence and the murder of two Americans who had vision, leadership and beautiful hopes for the future - the Rev. Dr. Martin Lusher King and Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. Our Conference theme, "Society,j,n,Crisis - the Response of the Jewish Community,11 was indeed appropriate as was the setting for our Conference - , a city which, during the pafct year, still carried the scars -י Detroit ..,«״, .of urban upheaval In our Conference pjannigg, we wanted to take a hard look at our Jewish community and Its response to the crises in Israel and in the American inner city within the context of Jewish living in the Diaspora. When our Program Comnjlttee^t in late October, tasks were given out with the hope that our Conference theme would be related as closely as possible to practice. With few exceptions, our speakers, chairmen, sub* committees and all those responsible for the shaping of this year's program, carried out the change admirably. Eph Goldstein and his hard working committee organized excellent concurrent sessions oriented to practice. Harry Rosen's subcommittee on institutes planned well and innovated ad- van<;e registration for the Wednesday morning institutes which concluded the conference on a high note. The approach with open NAJCW Committee meetings resulted in seven NAJCW committees enjoying the participation of the majority of Jewish Center workers attending the Conference. It was exciting and thrilling to see rank and file NAJCW members partici- pating in the inner workings of their professional body. Exciting general NAJCW sessions on Such topics as "New Responsl- bititles and Opportunities for Jewish Community Centers in Light of the Israel Crisis" and "The Jewish Community Center for the Jewish Family in Today's Times and for Tomorrow" were well received. Joint sessions with Community Relations colleagues on riots, with colleagues from the Aging field, and with colleagues from the Family Agencies on early childhood education, further rounded out a varied and professionally stimulating Conference. The Gridiron, revived and given a fresh injection through the fine efforts of Mark Feder and Bernie Rosen, was enjoyed by all Conference participants. Sessions on research were well planned and executed by those perennials, Joel Carp and Bill Welnstein. As to next year, there is a file full of recommendations, the result of an almost all-night evaluation session by the Program Committee* Next year's committee will be charged with offering fewer sessions and emphasizing greater depth in discussion. _ II - One final word In summary » •%thts Conference so clearly illuS- trated that our Jewish concerns and our deep commitment for a healthy Jewish community are completely in consonance with the challenge facing all of us In better understanding the Negro, helping him to help him- self and the struggle and the stake we Jews have In the Inner city, r Last words of appreciation to Irwin Shaw, our Detroit colleague, whose many-faceted hospitality created a warm feeling towards Detroit; to Herb Ml 1lman, our President, who was always supportive and available for guidance, and to oar wonderful NAJCW secretary, Mrs* Ethel Greenwaid, who is not only a fine secretary but is also dedicated to the NAJCW, We do appreciate Hy Sainer's work in complling these Conference papers. WILLIAM KAHN Chairman Program Committee ft0$£ MOVITCH Co-Chalrman Program Commlttee PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Herbert Mil!man INTRODUCTION William Kahn and Rose MovItch SECTION I - RESEARCH PAPERS THE CENTER OF THE CENTER: THE PARTICIPATORY COMMUNITY Howard W. Polsky THE JEWISH IDENTIFICATION OF CHICAGO JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER MEMBERS AND NON-MEMBERS Bernard Lazerwltz Summary Discussion OBSTACLES IN THE INTEGRATION OF 0RTHOPEDICALLY HANDICAPPED CHILDREN Harold W. Robbins and Regina Schattner THE IMPACT OF ALTERNATIVE JOB OPPORTUNITIES FOR MSWs UPON THE MANPOWER RESOURCES OF THE CENTER FIELD C. Bernard Scotch Supplementary Discussion SECTION 2 - CENTER PROGRAMMING THE CRISIS IN GROUP WORK AND JEWISH CENTER PRACTICE Earl Yaillen THE PURPOSEFUL USE OF PROGRAM Ruth R. Middleman THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER FOR THE JEWISH FAMILY IN TODAY'S TIMES i Benjamin Kaplan SUPPORTING AND ENHANCING FAMILY LIFE THROUGH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTfiR Bernard Warach TACHLIS ־ JEWISH PROGRAMMING Sy Hefter and Richard Rabin JEWISH ETHICS AND TEENAGE MORALITY David Eskenazi TEENAGERS — A SOCIETY IN CRISIS Hans Mayer : י SOCIAL WORK WITH TEENS IN THE LOUNGE Zev Hymowitz '—^ י •ז V י,׳ ו 'ד ״• I / ן.,׳ די.. ׳ T י" י J,, < 'J'•(-• \ 1 • ; f-^O— 'מ־ י ־ י _ י י • .־ \ imiwtt * v h יי.-, י, V I׳- 'x'i־י-י ד׳ ,, ד 189 י SEX EDUCATION FOR TEENS ! A BEGINNING ANDFOLLOW-TKRQUGH Estelle Nemoy SEX EDUCATION: • \ - SOME GUIDELINES AKID QUESTIONS FOR THE CENTER 218 Allan Gelfond THE CENTER AS AN AGENCY SERVING THE OVERALL JEWISH COMMUNITY 231 Phi 1ip J. Cohen 1 237 '־**•־/ PROVIDING CENTER SERVICES TQ NON-MEMBERS Bernard R. Marks HELPING ADULTS PREPARE FOR THE LATER YEARS 2^0 Harold Agrast A, 1 INTERPRETING THE PRE-SCHOOL Rose Schwartz 258 :SCHOOL PROGRAM •׳THE CONSULTANT IN THE PRE A STEP TOWARDS COMPREHENSIVE FAMILY SERVICE Gerald Beallor 262 SECTION - ISRAEL ן י 3 י 1 !IMPACT ON MEMBERSHIP, LEADERSHIP AND STAFF 27 ״ ISRAEL CRISIS Marvin Lieberman PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT AS A RESULT OF THE ISRAEL CRISIS 27^ Arthur Rotman י" יי', THE ISRAELI SHALIACH IN THE JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER 278 Irwin Shaw and Asher Tarmon THE URBAN CRISIS ־ SECTION k י׳ל RIOTS - THE FIRE THIS TIME: RESPONSE FROM THE JEWISH COMMUNITY 297 Hyman Bookbinder JEWISH COMMUNAL RESPONSE TO THE URBAN CRISIS 302 Gladys Singerntan SPECIAL CONCERNS ־ SECTION 5 SENSITIVITY TRAINING: EXPERIENCE IN STAFF DEVELOPMENT 305 Jack Dauber and Jack Goldowitz DRAFf COUNSELLING IN JCA , 319 Gerald B. Bubis \ ־׳ (Additional copies of CONFERENCE PAPERS 1968 are available at $3.00 each, postpaid.) ״ -v • The Center of the Center: The Participatory Community Howard W. Polsky Associate Professor, Columbia University School of Social Work Social System Analysis and Social Service The classic story of the Synagogue-Community Center hybrid is about the two little girls sitting on its front steps and the veteran asking the newcomer, "Do you pray, or swim?" That's the end of the qtory, but I have an updated version.; The newcomer responds instead: 1'Neither, I demonstrate." Events are moving so fast within and. outside of the Jewish Community that professionals are finding it difficult to accurately describe what is happening, I'm reminded of the story about the plane in a terrible storm and the passengers becoming very uneasy. The captain suddenly appears to allay their anxiety. He tells them that he haS bad and good, n^ws and will tell them the bad news first. Very gravely, he announces that the plane is lost. The passengers hush and become even more uneasy. Then brightening, the captain says, "now for the good news. We are proceeding full speed ahead." I feel a little like that captain, or perhaps better, Fortunately, my task is not ״like an out-of-town agitator to offer solutions to the dilemmas that American Jews and our major institutions like the Center are in, nor define precisely what that dilemma is. You have among your ranks many more knowledgeable experts in theory and practice, who can perform this exceedingly complex operation, if they put I may be able to ־their minds to it on a sustained basis suggest a framework to think more fruitfully about our current organizational situation. Now, if an idea, as Kurt Lewin was fond of saying, is the most practical thing in the world, a network of connected ideas can be an even more potent tool for understanding and influencing our human lot.

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