Last night, I attended the Michigan Region of the Anti-Defamation
League's annual event at Knollwood Country Club in West Bloomfield,
Michigan. Knollwood is one of three Jewish country clubs in the Metro
Detroit area and the fact that this event is held at a country club
every year wasn't lost on me. There was a time in the not so distant
past that local country clubs (including Oakland Hills Country Club just
down the road from Knollwood) had unwritten rules barring Jews from
membership. Thanks to the work of the ADL, such discrimination is
virtually unheard of anymore.
As the ADL prepares to mark its centennial year, it is important to
remember that the ADL is unique as a national Jewish communal
organization in that it wants to be able to go out of business.
Unfortunately, so long as anti-Semitism exists in the world -- and sadly
it still does -- the ADL will have to stay in business. I first became
involved with the ADL as a college student when, through the Jewish
Student Union, I helped organize a one-day conference on anti-Semitism.
Later that summer I served an internship at the Michigan regional office
of the ADL and was directly mentored by Dick Lobenthal, a national
legend in the fight against prejudice, racism, and intolerance. This
year I am once again finding myself actively involved with the ADL as a
Glass Leadership Program participant.
Sitting in that Jewish country club last night with several hundred other supporters of the ADL's important work, I considered the reasons that Jewish country clubs are still in existence. At a time when Jewish men and women are no longer restricted from membership at country clubs, these Jewish clubs remain throughout the country. While Jewish hospitals (Detroit's Sinai Hospital closed several years ago) and universities (Brandeis is only about 60% Jewish today) are no longer in existence, Jewish country clubs have endured. In the Metro Detroit area there are three Jewish clubs within a five mile radius of each other...
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