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Committee in Detroit Hopes to Solve Jewish Community Center Dispute

September 7, 1961
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An informal citizens committee named by the president of the Detroit Jewish Welfare Federation to resolve the long-standing dispute over Sabbath programing at the Detroit Jewish Community Center expressed hope today that a solution could be found in the controversy.

The Federation president, Max M. Fisher, said he had named the committee not in his capacity with the Federation but as a public spirited citizen anxious to end communal controversy which might harm overall community programs. The dispute had led to formation of a Committee for Center Sabbath closing. Members of the informal citizens committee include Federal Judge Theodore Levin and Philip Stollman, Orthodox leader. The committee has held one meeting with representatives of the Center and the Sabbath closing committee.

The Detroit rabbinate, however, charged, in a statement to the Jewish News of Detroit, that the Detroit rabbinate was being ignored in the proceedings. Rabbis Leizer Levine and Haskel Gruber, speaking for the rabbis, said they should be consulted and the Center should be closed Saturday preceding the meeting to discuss plans to solve the deadlock.

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