COMMUNITY
Soviet Jews Show Happiness
At JCCouncil Freedom Seder
RICHARD PEARL
Staff Writer
T
Sam Lerner
Party Honors Lerner
On JFS Retirement
"Celebrate Sam," a recep-
tion in honor of the retire-
ment of Samuel Lerner, ex-
ecutive director of Jewish
Family Service and Resettle-
ment Service, will take place
on May 4 at 7:30 p.m. at Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek.
A native of New Jersey,
Lerner assumed his position
with JFS in 1963. Previously,
he had been the director of
casework service of Wayne
County Juvenile Court, direc-
tor of the Battle Creek Child
Guidance Clinic, casework
supervisor at the Jewish
Family Service in St. Paul,
Minn., and a psychiatric
social worker at the Jewish
Child Guidance Clinic in
Newark, N.J.
During his 26 years at JFS,
Lerner has been involved in
the agency's Housing Reloca-
tion Project for inner-city
Jews, the Poverty Project,
resettlement of Soviet Jewry,
in-home respite care and
group apartments for the
elderly.
Lerner received the first
Berman Award for Outstan-
ding Professional Service in
1988. Under his ad-
ministrative leadership,
Detroit's Jewish Family Ser-
vice received a 99.7 rating
(out of a possible 100) from
the (national) Council on
Accreditation.
Plans for "Celebrate Sam"
include a wine, hors d'oeuvres
and dessert reception and
entertainment provided by a
four-member Michigan Opera
Theatre troupe who will per-
form a special Broadway
salute to Lerner. There is a
charge. For reservations, call
Betty Barach or Marilyn
Solomon, 559-1500, by April
28.
Israel's 41st
Celebrated
The Jewish community of
metropolitan Detroit will
celebrate Israel's 41st birth-
day May 7 with an event-
filled day at the Maple/Drake
Jewish Community Center.
There will be a children's
crafts activities area spon-
sored by the Jewish Center
and Yavneh Academy; a pet-
ting farm sponsored by
Hadassah and Young Judaea;
the Great Israeli Kumsitz,
sponsored by the Anti-
Defamation League, Jewish
Experiences For Families,
L'Chayim section of The
Jewish News The entetain-
ment will be the Dudaim.
Bring a blanket, lounge chair
and a picnic basket.
Food will be available for
purchase. There will be two
films. Decorations will be pro-
vided by B'nai B'rith Hillel
Foundations and BBYO.
At 3:30 p.m. a Quiz Bowl,
sponsored by the Jewish
religious school of
Metropolitan Detroit, will
take place.
The day will begin with the
annual walk for Israel.
he snow and cold of
last Sunday afternoon
were in Detroit rather
than Kiev, and Vera Ludyan-
skaya couldn't have been
happier.
Standing in the chill wind
that blew through the park-
ing lot of Congregation Adat
Shalom, the Soviet Jewish
immigrant marveled at how
she and her family had been
received in their newly
adopted city.
"The Jewish people here
are so nice to us — they give
us so much, and for what?"
said the former Kiev teacher.
"We gave them nothing. We
gave in Russia and we got
nothing for it."
Ludyanskaya's comments
followed the second annual
Freedom Seder for Soviet
Jewry, sponsored by the
Jewish Community Council.
More than 125 people, in-
cluding numerous recent im-
migrant families and their
children, attended.
Ludyanskaya arrived in
mid-December with her hus-
band, Grigory Shvarthburg,
her son-in-law and daughter,
Arkady and Galena
Shargorodsky and their sons,
Josef, 9, and Alexander, 3. Lu-
dyanskaya felt the brit milot
of both youngsters since their
arrival underscored the fami-
ly's commitment to Judaism.
Living freely as Jews also
was on the minds of Igor and
Faina Zolaterevsky, formerly
of Kharkov in the Ukraine,
who noted their son Eugene,
9, is attending United
Hebrew Schools ' and their
daughter Alisa, 3, is enrolled
at the Jewish Community
Center kindergarten.
"I knew this word 'Pesach'
but not the meaning of this,"
said Faina Zolaterevsky after
Sunday's seder. Her father, Si-
meon Vaysberg, 78, who with
his wife Bella accompanied
Soviet Haggadah
Available Free
A new Haggadah in modern
Russian and Hebrew is now
available free in limited
quantities. The Haggadah is
illustrated with instructions
on how to prepare and con-
duct a Seder. It includes com-
mentary and definitions of
Hebrew terms.
For information, call Rabbi
Yosef Lange, 968-0836.
the Zolaterevskys to Detroit,
said the impossibility of get-
ting matzah during and after
World War II made it too hard
to teach about the holiday.
Igor Zolaterevsky said
before his family left for
America, a semi-official, anti-
Semitic letter had been
issued by the school at which
he was studying. His wife said
the family was told by their
gentile neighbors to get out.
"This is our first good feel-
ing about being Jews again,"
she said. "Before, we were
Jews only when they (non-
Jews) would scream and yell
at us."
On this evening, the
Zolaterevskys and Vaysbergs
enjoyed listening to Eugene
ask the Four Questions in his
native Russian.
Paul. D. Borman, JCCouncil
president, told the audience,
"We should not be sidetrack-
ed by the Soviet Union's
glasnost and the re-
appearance of Jewish culture
because there still are Jews
who cannot leave due to ar-
bitrary regulations.
"Let our generation be
remembered for its strong ad-
vocacy on behalf of Soviet
Jews and for taking action in
resettling them," he said. 111
Bonds Attorneys Unit
Cites Gage, Lippitt
Judge Hilda Gage
Judge Norman Lippitt
The Israel Bond Attorneys
Division will hold its annual
tribute dinner on behalf of
Israel's economic develop-
ment at 6 p.m. May 16 at Con-
gregation Shaarey Zedek, it
was announced by division co-
chairmen Saul Bluestone and
Sheldon L. Miller.
Honored at the event will
be Judge Hilda R. Gage and
Judge Norman L. Lippitt,
recipients-elect of State of
Israel Eleanor Roosevelt
Humanities Medals, "in
recognition of their outstan-
ding support of the Israel
Bond program." Dinner chair-
man is Henry Baskin.
Judge Gage has been on the
Sixth Judicial Circuit Court
of Michigan since her election
in 1978. She served as presi-
dent of both the Michigan
Judges Association and the
National Conference of State
Trial Judges (ABA).
She serves on the board of
directors of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, Children's
Hospital of Michigan and the
Michigan Multiple Sclerosis
Association.
Judge Lippitt, counsel, Car-
son, Fischer, Potts and
Hyman, served on the
Oakland County Circuit
Court Bench, by appointment
of Gov. James Blanchard,
from 1985 to 1989, when he
resigned to return to private
practice.
Prior to his judicial appoint-
ment, Judge Lippitt was in
private practice from 1967 to
1985, served as legal counsel
for the Detroit Police Officers
Association from 1965 to
1985 and, earlier, served as
an assistant Wayne County
prosecuting attorney from
1961 to 1965.
Judge Lippitt is a trustee of
the Detroit College of Law,
and a director and vice presi-
dent of the Detroit College of
Law Alumni Association.
A dinner tribute committee
is in formation. For dinner
reservations, call Israel
Bonds, 352-6555.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
45