Shotar The ith B'nai B'rith Youth Organization Shevat 5743, February 1983 Aleph Zadik Aleph (AZA) B'nai B'rith Girls (BBG) nt, MEMBERSHIP ANTI-SEMITISM: m MACCABIAH THE CRIMES a e IN HIGH GEAR AND THE RESPONSE is e The BBYO Membership Maccabiah is This issue of the Shofar includes the by Geoff Stearn. S'gan, D.C. Council, entering its final phases. According to December results, as reported to the Mac- Northern (East Coast) Region ), Cheryl Rose and Andy Shaevel, coordina- cabiah's coordinators. In several regions, tors of the Maccabiah, the Membership there were two or three chapters which These past three weeks have thrust me tz, program will culminate in a "Membership succeeded in "sweeping" several events. into a strange new world-reality. It start- Madness Month" during the course of There were several regions which did ed when it was discovered that my syn- March. not submit monthly results. The campaign agogue, Shaare Tefila Congregation, had coordinators have called on all regions been descerated. This was no small act of to make full reports to International Head- graffiti pranksters. The walls of the syn- quarters. a agogue were strewn with anti-semitic slo- The Maccabiah focuses on competi- gans, phrases, and symbols. The police tion among chapters within a region. The are almost certain that it was the work of events are geared so that small chapters six people. Five have so far been arrested. have an edge in some of them, and large Over 500 people from all parts of the Membership Maccabiah chapters have an advantage in other community attended a ceremonial events. A special feature is that regions are "cleansing of the walls" at Shaare Tefile. The Maccabiah is a six-month campaign encouraged to make innovations in the It still didn't change the fact that it to improve membership recruitment and rules in order to accomodate them to spe- happened. retention. cial needs of the region. The next week, a highly publicized Ku As of January, the Membership Monthly The result has been seen in novel de- Klux Klan "Support Your Local Police" reported that many regions were report- velopments in some regions. Michigan Re- rally took place in a public park in ing very positive results to the local cam- gion, for example, has divided the Montgomery County. Twenty-four robed ng paign. By December both North Star and Maccabiah into two parts, with the first Klansmen appeared. There were over one Cornbelt Regions were able to announce running from October till December, and hundred police officers there to protect that they had surpassed their closing the second from January till March In ad- the Klan's civil rights The policement let it Local young people, including totals of last June. In addi- dition, awards are being given to chap- be known that they resented the KKK BBYOers, helped scrub away the anti- tion, Red River BBG had passed last year's ters and to individuals for outstanding using the park for a display of the hatred semitic symbols and slogans. Photo: total. membership recruitment. which the Klan stands for. For reasons of Edwin B. Shykind safety, the public was not allowed into the park. Over three hundred people did how he could join the Klan. The conversa- es 5,000 BBYO'ERS hold an anti-KKK rally several miles away. tion continued. with the Armenian saying It still didn't change the fact that it that the KKK doesn't hate just blacks, they happened. also hate Jews, Chicanos and Orientals. ATTEND REGIONAL A week later, a recent immigrant to the He went on to say that it was a good thing United States who had just opened a they didn't know about Armenians, or kosher butcher shop found a freshly- they would hate them, too. He then said CONVENTIONS painted swastika on his store window. This that the Klan was getting weaker. He was "small" act of vandalism received wide wrong! The Klan is well organized, its media coverage. members know about every minority The writer-producer of television's ty Center, where for five days they at- It still didn't change the fact that it group in the country, and it has been get- popular Archie Bunker's Place was tended leadership workshops, participated happened. ting stronger. In Montgomery County amazed. Before him were some 200 young- in seminars, argued, sang, danced, com- Two days later, I was sitting in my there were over 150 criminal acts of racial g sters, part of more than 5,000 members peted in contests and elected new officers. school library. I saw someone reading a and anti-semitic hatred in the first eleven of the B'nai B'rith Youth Organization who Arnold J. Weiner, BBYO Detroit regional paper. It was called The Klansman. I months of 1982. That compares with about were holding regional conventions in director, said that he believes that the se- don't know if he brought it to school or 25 three years ago. Sure, the guy was un- two dozen cities from coast to coast. cret of the conventions success is the found it there. He was talking to a friend informed. ful Every year-for decades-BBYOers like mixture of serious and social activities. "I of his, who happened to be Armenian. The It still didn't change the fact that it these have gladly given up part of their think that the idea of fun and games is person with the paper said he wondered happened. Christmas holiday to learn about, discuss what attracts most of these kids, but once After I finished a draft of this article, I and debate such issues as mixed mar- we get into the serious aspect of the opened up today's Washington Post and g riage, nuclear war, anti-Semitism, Soviet convention, they become intensely in- read: "Jewish School Defaced in Latest Jewry and the like. Fred Rubin has been volved," Weiner said. Anti-Semitic Incident". No action has yet W1 participating in these conventions since The Detroit convention conducted been taken by the Jewish community. Is it the early '70s, when he was assistant re- workshops on prejudice and anti-Semi- a coincidence that the Klan plans to gional BBYO director in Chicago. This day tism, with well-known authorities leading march in the Nation's Capital next week- he was meeting with a group in Phila- the discussion. Rabbi Elie Finkelman, di- end? I think not. The walls can be delphia before going on to another session rector of the B'nai B'rith Hillel Foundation scrubbed down and painted over. in Baltimore. at Wayne State University, spoke on anti- TAKE It will never change the fact that it "If these kids are willing to give up Semitism in America; Betty Roth, commu- happened: their free time to try to understand these nity affairs associate of the Anti-Defama- A So why am I writing about Montgom- kinds of problems, then I can do no less tion League of B'nai B'rith, spoke about ery County, Maryland? Because it's not than try to help them," said Rubin, who "Caricatures, Stereotyping and You;" Bob went to Hollywood in the mid-'70s to write Dugas, director of religious education at SHOWER supposed to happen here. I always thought that this sort of thing happened comedy. St. Marks Catholic Church, discussed deal- only in small towns and rural areas where Scheduled in between lectures, semi- ing with stereotypes; Prof. Jacqueline Zeff nars and workshops are numerous con- of Wayne State, spoke on "Prejudices and JEW ignorance supposedly runs rampant. It just shows you how ignorant I was, just a tests-writing, oratory, literature, art, Jewish Women:" and Alan Lebow, execu- short time ago. It shows how ignorant you photography, dramatics, games and athlet- tive Director of Fathers for Equal Rights in are, if you think that it couldn't happen ics-as well as opportunities to social- America, talked about the rights of fa- in your county. It doesn't matter where ize. The program has been conducted with thers and other males. you live live twenty-five minutes by car growing success since 1925, when BBYO In Philadelphia, where attendance was from the White House! was just a year old. up about 60 percent over a year ago, one The defilers of Shaare Tefila inten- It's time for action. It's time to plan In recent years, the biggest regional major topic was "The Impact of the Media tionally reminded us of the Nazis' programs on all levels to combat this re- convention in terms of attendance has on Our Lives," with Rubin as keynote methods of murdering millions of Jews cent surge of anti-semitism. We must com- been Detroit's and this year's was no ex- speaker. As he would later do in Baltimore, in gas chambers disguised as show- bine all our resources to show these hate ception. More than 600 youngsters flocked Rubin gave a retrospective slide-show on ers, in Auschwitz and other extermina- groups that we will draw the line now We to the West Bloomfield Jewish Communi- Continued on page 2 tion camps. Photo: Edwin B. Shykind will not allow them to go any further.