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Rhode Island Jewish l Historica l Assoc . 136 Sessions st. Inside: Prov. R . I. 02906 From The Editor, page 4 Around Town, page 8 THE ONLY ENGLISH-JEWISH WEEKLY IN R.I. AND SOUTHEAST MASS. .. VOLUME LXXIII, NUMBER 27 FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1986 35¢ PER COPY JCC s Emerging As Dr. Raquel Shapiro: Recent Boston University Community Leaders Graduate Reflects On A Life In Progress by Murray Zuckoff Jewish community. The JCCs, by Susan Bostian (Part One of a Two-Part Series) they said, are the retaining walls of Raquel Shapiro remembers NEW YORK (JTA) - The the Jewish community and the feeling so ashamed of being a little Jewish Community Centers cement that holds the walls Jewish girl among her many (JCCs) of North America are together is Jewish education. Catholic friends in Cuba that she embarked on an ambitious and The JCC leaders have, therefore, hid her religion from them. She innovative plan to prevent ethnic undertaken what amounts to a also recalls the anguish of being amnesia from erasing the Jewish revolutionary effort to revamp and put in a special education class at past and distorting the image of to restructure the JCCs in North Nathaniel Greene school when she the Jewish future. America as institutions of came to this country at 15, unable The JCCs are mobilizing their intensive, all-pervasive Jewish to speak English. But Raquel forces and resources to prevent the education, not only for members Shapiro also speaks of the pride next generation of Jews from but for professional staffs as well. she felt last week, when shortly becoming "disappeared Jews," The JCCs must become more after her sixtieth birthday, she was Jews for whom Judaism will no intensely the Jewish connection, hooded at graduation ceremonies longer be a matter of pride and linking the past with the future, at Boston University. The JCC leaders told the JTA at the fulfillment and no longer a matter occasion marked the culmination of concern in their daily lives; Jews JWB convention which was of a lifetime of personal struggles attended by some 1,000 delegates from whom Judaism will be a and ultimate triumphs. In between matter of irrelevance and from the United States and there was a "very beautiful Canada and abroad, including irreverence. marriage" to a man who was her Th~ is an imperative concern Israel, many of them in their 20's, loving companion and encouraged 30's and 40's. among Jewish communal leaders her always to take action, even The days when JCCs were that ' "-.meaningful and planned when it was not fashionable to do primarily institutions of action must be taken now to so. reinforce and reinvigorate Jewish recreational activities with Raquel Shapiro is an energetic relatively incidental Jewish traditions, culture and values. presence in the colorful halls of educati~n qua Jewish education is Jewish communal leaders Henry Barnard School, on the involved in the JCCs are of the no longer sufficient to meet the changing needs of today's Jewish Rhode Island College campus. The opinion that the continuity of children recognize her and call out Jewishness in an open democratic communities in a world marked to her as she passes. As School increasingly by the society which characterizes the Counselor, Shapiro holds the computerization of the human United States and Canada is not distinction of being an Assistant condition and the trivialization of automatic nor guaranteed. There Professor and is a certified School the Jewish ethos. The old type are too many enticements to Psychologist. Her dedication to JCC is obsolete and an albatross assimilation, too many her students is evident as she tells around the neck of the Jewish inducements to ignore, if not to of handgrading their test scores. fo rget, the rich heritage that is community, JWB leaders averred. · Steps In Maximizing The walls of Shapiro's office are a Judaism. It is all too easy in an coll age of memories and Jewish Education open society for the Jewish inspirational messages. It's a long Thus, the JWB last year, after memory gears to be stripped and way from the time she was an IS-month study by a blue for ethnic amnesia to ensue. considered a discipline problem. friend introduced her to her the road to success. ribbon commission of lay and Assuring Jewish Continuity Her parents were from boyfriend's brother and a '·most She continued on, receiving' her professional leaders experienced in To assure Jewish continuity, Lithuania. In 1923, they fled the beautiful and loving relationship Master's degree in Counselor Center work, Jewish education and JCC leaders interviewed in terrifying situation in Europe. was born." Her overly protective Education, her certification as Federations, representing a broad Toronto by the Jewish They were refused immigration by parents felt that boyfriends and school psychologist and school range of Jewish interests and Telegraphic Agency at the recent the United States and sought school were incompatible and principal, and in 1972 was awarded ideologies, issued a report and biennial convention of the JWB, refuge in Cuba, choosing to wait insisted she choose between the a Certificate of Graduate Studies. recommendations on Maximizing the continental association of there for their American Visa to be two. There was no decision to She accepted her current position Jewish Educational Effectiveness JCCs, asserted that there must be approved. Cuba was never home make and the following January at the Henry Barnard School in of Jewish Community Centers. It a massive infusion of what several and the wait was to become much she married the man who would 1973. Four years later she enrolled was presented to a special JWB of them referred to as "Jewishkeit" longer than anyone anticipated. become her lifelong companion in Boston University at night, convention in Miami in February into the bloodstream of the The family lived in a Roman and friend. again at her husband's urging. 1985. The blue ribbon commission American Jewish community. Catholic section of Havana. Being They initially lived in a small "After work, we would drive up to was chaired by Morton Mandel of That objective, t hey said, can Jewish meant having done third floor flat while her husband Boston together. He would bring a Cleveland, a past president of the only be achieved by maximizing something wrong, so Raquel lived pursued an accountants degree at brief case full of work and busy JWB and presently chairman of the effectiveness of Jewish with the shame of hiding her Bryant College. Being himself while I was in class. Then the ,Jewish Education Committee education, and the place to do so is identity. She devoted herself to her economically impoverished with we would go out to dinner end talk in the JCCs, the " home" of the (t·u11! llllH'd on pa~.- ~JI studies and made good grades. no marketable skills, she lived a or enjoy some treat. All the while Finally, 18 years after her parents life with few friends. She fe lt he was encouraging me to continue emigrated to Cuba, the papers self-conscious and ashamed of on with my education. He made it arrived and the family's dream their Spartan residence. They all seem very special." finally came true. waited for four years before they Then in 1981 her husband died. They settled in Rhode Island felt t hey could afford to conceive. It was sudden and unexpected. where Raquel was inappropriately Still , she recalls her husband as a The shock sent Shapiro to Ohio to labeled and put in a classroom with treasure. "If ever there was a be with her son, who was studying special education students. Within disagree ment between us," she to be an experimental a couple of months she was in a says wistfully, "and I don't think psychologist. As she dealt with the regular classroom reading there ever was, it would have been loss, she knew what she must do. Shakespeare. She credits two over his insistence at helping me She was determined to return lo teachers with "seeing beyond the around the house. He wanted to sc hool and finish her doctorate. forest and the trees." Florence help me with the household chores She would finish it as much for Cooper offered to teach Raquel and cooking and at that time I felt herself as for her loving companion some English in exchange for that those were my jobs." who believed so totally in her. Spanish lessons. Dr. Teresa Trifari With her husband's Last week she was hooded at the insisted that Raquel enroll in all of encourage ment, she returned to ceremony at Boston University. "I her courses. The two women school in 1956. She could not almost didn't go to the guided her through high school. imagi ne commuting to URI and gradual ion," she says. "But I Raquel graduated from Hope instead applied to Rhode Island decided it was a completion of a High School in 1945 end began College to continue studying certain circle and would mark the Representing the many students helped by ORT's world-wide coll eKe in the fall at URI. An music . RIC did not offer such a accomplishment of my goal.'' Her echoolll, two young girls -m &o reach out or a po11ter held by accomplished vocalist she was program, so she studied education. mentor and major advisor. who has Joan Perlmutter, Honor Roll vice president. At right, Charlotte encouraged by her music teachers In spite of 3 'h years of completed since left the sc hool, returned to Levin, District One Region president, narraletl the ORT story.

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