48 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS Friday, May 11, 1984 Fermat), Boo, i Bird 's ,f0fIlERSET • • •e*es•ip• • • • DINER • THERTRE ..... • detroit's Original dinner theatre 45 Family Dining • • ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • Alfredo Jimmy Launce PROductions, Inc. • • • • • • • • • presents • 21411 SOUTHFIELD (N. If 11 Mile) 559-1091 • AwBUTTON A Comedy Thriller by Ben Starr GROUP RATES & PERFORMANCES AVAILABLE FRI & SAT PERFORMANCES Cocktails 7.00 PM Dinner 7 30 PM Show 8 45 PM Reservations 643 - 8865 Lower Level Somerset Mall, Troy •••• ••• • ••••• • • 00041 • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • PINE HILLS 7 a.m. to 11 a.m. s ea S s Since 1914 FRANKLIN SHOPPING CENTER 358-2353 29221 NORTHWESTERN, N. of 12 Mile 111 0% OFF SENIOR CITIZENS ANYTHING ON OUR MENU %. ANY HOUR! ANY DAY! BREAKFAST—LUNCH—DINNER SPECIALS • BROILED WHITE FISH • LOX & SABLE PLATES • BAKED LAMB • RED SNAPPER • SCROD • PICKEREL • CHICKEN • LIVER • VEAL CUTLETS • BAR-B-Q RIBS • ETC. Sun. 7 a.m.-10 p.m. Mon.-Sat. 7 a.m.-11 p.m. I COMPLETE CATERING 1 OPEN 1 DAYS I 4 179 1 5 FROM $ 3. INCLUDES: SOUP, POT., VB. BREAD & BUTTER gelemsormosissirol COUPON I ' FREE 1 I GLASS OF HOUSE WINE I WITH ALL COMPLETE DINNERS 1 II I FROM 4 p.m. I 1 I 1 AND THIS COUPON 1 1 I 1 1 I Good thru May 31, 1984 CHINA GATE PINE LAKE MALL I 4343 ORCHARD LAKE RD. I BET. LONG LAKE & LONE PINE i I I 1 851-5540 MON.-THURS. 11 to 10 11 II FRI. & SAT. 11 to 11 'SUN & HOLIDAYS 12 noon to 161 as imelers•mus•=1.11 P NOW AVAILABLE FOR YOUR FAVORITE OCCASION EVERY SUNDAY ALL DAY SATURDAYS ALSO . . . 12 Noon to 5 p.m. I I 7 DAYS A WEEK I One of Metropolitan Detroit's Most Beautiful and Exciting Restaurant-Lounges • Bat Mitzvah • Banquet • Sweet 16 Special to The Jewish News LUNCH & DINNER SPECIALS Czcati6ur • Bar Mitzvah • Shower • Birthday BY ELLYCE FIELD I le LOPOI 1 DAYS — i a.m.-10 p.m. Restaurant SELECT WINES & LIQUORS. • OPEN 7 DAYS Live Piano Entertainment Tues.-Sat. Mites $ • 2 Eggs (any style) • 3 Strips of Bacon or 3 Unks of Sausage • Potatoes, Toast & Jelly (Formerly Honey Tree) ORCHARD LAKE RD. BET. 12 & 13 MILE • Farmington Hills • 851-1310 THE BEST FOOD IN TOWN INCLUDING GOURMET DINING AT POPULAR PRICES!!! What is 'twinning'? BREAKFAST SPECIAL • Wedding • Anniversary • Reunion We Also Make Party Trays I Call Your Host, PAT ARCHER: 358-3355 28815 FRANKLIN ROAD AT NORTHWESTERN & 12 MILE • Southfield Q: We have recently heard a lot about "twinning" a bar or bat mitzvah. What exactly is this? Can my son partici- pate in this program? A: Twinning is a symbolic ceremony in which an American bar/bat mitzvah shares his or her service with a Russian child of re- fusenik, or Prisoner of Con- science, parents. The Rus- sian child, unable to study Hebrew or affairm his or her Judaism openly, is able to become a bar/bat mitzvah in absentia. The first Detroit twin- ning took place 3 1/2 years ago at the suggestion and direction of the Detroit Soviet Jewry Committee of the Jewish Community Council. Beverly Yost, the com- mittee's community affairs associate, oversees the twinning experience as part of an extensive, well- planned Soviet Jewry advo- cacy program. She has seen twinning grow from several in 1980, to 18 during 1981- 1982, to 126 in 1982-1983 and she predicts even more during 1983-1984. Twinning was primarily developed as a means to provide moral support for the Jewish community in the Soviet Union. Joel Ger- shenson, the committee's co-chairman, describes this goal: "An American family creates a personal bond with a refusenik, or Pris- oner of Conscience, family. Through his twin, the Soviet Jewish child is able to feel part of the Jewish people. Twinning also fo- cuses our community's at- tention on the plight to the Soviet authorities, telling them they can't act with impunity and that we know these people exist. As Bev Yost explains, twinning becomes "a mitzvah both ways. The American child is allowed to learn what it is to be a Jew, responsibility for another Jew, at an early age." Responsibility and mutual sharing are at the heart of the twinning pro- gram. Rabbi Efry Spectre of Adat Shalom Synagogue has a strong, personal com- mitment to the twinning program. Actively involved with the Soviet Jewry advo- cacy movement for the last 20 years, he gives his con- Editor's note: This new column seeks to provide an- swers to questions concern- ing the Jewish community. If you have a question about Jewish communal life, write to: "Just Asking," The Jewish News, 17515 W. Nine Mile Rd., Suite 865, Southfield, Mich. 48075. gregation weekly updates on Soviet Jewish affairs, as well as introduces each bar/bat mitzvah to the twinning concept. In the last three years, Rabbi Spectre has been in- volved with more than 30 twinnings. Of these chil- dren he says, "There is no one typical child who chooses a twin bar/bat mitzvah. Some are the chil- dren or grandchildren of Holocaust survivors. Some have a special feeling for oppressed Jews. All chose twinning to make his/her bar/bat mitzvah more meaningful." Cindy Friedman, daugh- ter of Melvyn and Susan Friedman, and a Hillel ninth grader, celebrated her twin bat mitzvah at Con- gregation B'nai Moshe in November 1982. Her twin was Olga Kogan, only daughter of Yacov and Tanya Kogan, Soviet Jewish refuseniks. Cindy still basks in the emotional memories of her twinning. "It felt good to be able to help someone. I remember most our phone call to Rus- sia and hearing Olga laugh- ing." The twinning, with its preparatory requirements, emotional ceremony, and follow-up has far exceeded the Friedmans' expecta- tions. The Friedmans carefully followed the guidelines set up by the guidelines set up by the Detroit Soviet Jewry Committee to prepare for their twin bat mitzvah. They wrote several regis- tered letters to the Kogans and also to the two Kogan relatives who had emi- grated six years ago to Is- rael. Cindy's bat mitzvah invitation included her twin's name. Her ceremony was publicized in th synagogue bulletin as weli as The Jewish News. At her bat mitzvah serv- ice, Cindy's Dvar Torah cen- tered around the plight of Soviet Jewry. She urged guests to send congratulat- ory letters to the Kogans and contributions to the Soviet Jewry Committee. On the bimah, there was a special chair set apart and roped off, holding an enlarged' picture of Olga and a Russian-Hebrew prayer book. The Friedmans' commit- ment to their twin family did not end with the bat mitzvah service. During their summer trip to Israel, they met with Olga's aunt and spoke on the telephone to Olga's grandfather. Re- cently, 14 months after Cindy's bat mitzvah, they were surprised to receive a carefully - worded letter from Olga's father. Twinning heightens our sense of freedom and re- sponsibilitiy. It shakes us out of our complacency. It allows us to become person- ally involved with a Soviet Jewish family that has been denied its basic rights. Twinning is a beautiful way for a bar/bat mitzvah to take his/her place as a re- sponsibile member of the Jewish people. If you would like to set up a twinning, first contact your rabbi when setting your bar/bat mitzvah date. Or call Bev Yost at the Jewish Community Coun- cil, 962-1880. Passion Play topic of talk "The Oberammergau Passion Play: An Interreli- gious Dilemma" will be the topic of a program to be held at 8 p.m. Thursday at North Congregational Church, 26275 Northwestern High- way, Southfield. Guest speaker will be Rabbi Michael J. Cook, pro- fessor of Intertestamental and Early Christian Litera- tures at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Rabbi Cook is a member of the Society of Biblical Literature, the Association for Jewish Studies and the Catholic Biblical Associa- tion. He has written a book on "Mark's Treatment of the Jewish Leaders," and sev- eral of his articles have been published in the Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Union Seminary Quarterly Re- view, "Encyclopedia Americana" and the "In- terpreter's Dictionary of the Bible." He served as a textbook consultant for the Archdio- cese of Louisville. For two years he was on the execu- tive board of the Central Conference of American Rabbis. Other participants in 0 - program include Rev. Mt P. Jensen, senior minister; North Congregational Church; Rev. James R. Lyons, director, Ecumenical Institute for Jewish- Christian Studies; and Sr. Anna Marie Erst, SHCJ, di- rector, National Institute for Catholic-Jewish Educa- tion. Funding for the program was provided by a grant from the Samuel and Isabelle Friedman Charita- ble Trust. For information, call the Ecumenical Institute for Jewish-Christian Studies, 353-2434.