COMMUNITY

Purim Connection Brings
The Holiday To Emigres

Campaign Close-Up:
Independent Goal

HOWARD A. SALTER

Special to The Jewish News

Editor's note: Jewish Voca-
tional Service is one of the
Jewish Welfare Federation
agencies that assist area
residents in a variety of ways
— from job training to counsel-
ing and helping the disadvan-
taged learn everyday living
skills. JVS is supported by the
Allied Jewish Campaign.

D

enise Daskal is a
champion. Maybe not
in the class of boxing
king Mike Tyson, but she
packs as powerful a dose of
perseverance as Tyson does in
one of his famed left-hooks.
A developmentally disabled
adult, Denise, 36, has severe
psoriasis and arthritis, which
causes swelling in her legs
and arms and forces her to
use a walker.
She has experienced what
many would consider an un-
conquerable challenge. But
Denise doesn't think so.
"I believe you can make it
regardless how you feel,"
Daska said. "There are
always people out there in
worse shape than you. I've
never had a low mood in my
life . . . I really don't know
how I stay so positive. I just
do."
She came to Jewish Voca-

Howard Salter is a staff
associate of the Jewish
Welfare Federation.

tional Service five years ago
and has made great strides in
adapting to everyday life over
that period, according to her
case manager, Sher Kaplan.
Like many JVS clients,
Denise has as a goal to gain
"maximum independence" —
something she is getting
closer to achieving each day.
In October, Denise moved
into a group home in Pleasant
Ridge operated by JARC
(Jewish Association for
Residential Care for Persons
With Developmental Disabil-
ities). She lives with six other
adults who help each other
with daily chores. From cook-
ing, to doing dishes and
housework, everyone chips in,
Denise said.
Learning daily living skills
has been on Denise's agenda

"I believe you can
make it regardless
how you feel,"
Daska said. "There
are always people
out there in worse
shape than you."

since she became a JVS
client. In its Southfield office,
JVS conducts a variety of
skill training sessions.
Clients are taught to cook,
clean, operate computers and
work in different workshop
settings.
Each day, Denise arrives at
JVS at 9:30 a.m. and works in
the Occupational Resource

Technion To Bring
Sephardic Jazz Band

The Piamentas, an Israeli
Sephardic rock/jazz band, will
perform March 24 at the Lila
R. Jones-Johnson Theatre in
Royal Oak. The concert is
sponsored by the Detroit
Chapter of the American
Technion Society. Yosi
Piamenta and his younger
brother Avi were influenced
by Jimi Hendrix, Led Zep-
pelin and Deep Purple. When
jazz great Stan Getz came to
Israel, Getz postponed a trip
to Europe to record with the
brothers. Two months later
Getz invited them to the
United States.
Yosi lived with Getz for six
months, and many jazz musi-
cians "were intrigued by the
Oriental flavor of our music.
They had never heard it
before," said Yosi.
The sabra brothers also
became more religious, and

they believe the combination
of music and Judaism sends a
positive message.
For concert ticket informa-
tion, call Technion, 559-5190.

SZ Men's Club
To Hear Speaker

Vladimir Yanin, attache
from the Russian Embassy in
Washington, D.C., will be the
guest speaker at Congrega-
tion Shaarey Zedek Men's
Club at breakfast 9:30 a.m.
Feb. 25. His topic will be "Are
all these changes for real?"
Mr. Yanin has held posi-
tions in Soviet Embassies all
over the world. His present
assignment in Washington,
D.C., is as an arms control
expert.
There is no charge for the
program.

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

A

Denise Daska

Center. After filing news-
papers and helping out in
other ways, she spends an
hour in the workshop, where
she is currently assembling
Chip-Clips, a plastic items
used to close potato chip bags.
Later, in the Community Liv-
ing Skills room, "We learn
math, reading and current
events," Denise said. "I like
when we talk about the
Pistons . . . especially John
Salley. He's my faorite."
Twice a week in the after-
noons, Denise attends a class
helping her deal with the
disability of arthritis. As
3 p.m. rolls around, it's time
to go home.
"I really love it here (at
JVS). The staff is so in-
credibly good to everyone,"
she said. ❑

JCC Hosts
Conference

The Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan
Detroit will host the 1990
Spring Conference for the
Central Region Association of
Jewish Center Professionals,
March 4-6 at the Maple-
Drake building.
One hundred Jewish com-
munity center professional
staff will attend from centers
throughout the Midwest and
east coast. The keynote
speaker will be Dr. Gary
Tobin. He will address issues
relating to the future of our
Jewish communities and the
roles which centers will play
in serving the community.
Dr. Zvi Gitelman will speak
on Soviet Jewish immigrants
and their impact on the
Jewish community.
There will be three themes
for this year's conference: the
changing Jewish family, Rus-
sian acculturation and im-
proving customer service
within the Jewish communi-
ty center.
"Professional of the Year
Awards" will be presented.

local youth group
wants to welcome
Soviet Jews into the
community by helping them
celebrate their first Purim.
Bnei Akiva spokeswoman
Annette Appel said the Or-
thodox youth group is no
stranger to helping Soviet
Jews.
When Jews had difficulty
leaving the Soviet Union,
Bnei Akiva staged demon-
strations at Soviet em-
bassies and hunger strikes
to help refuseniks like Yuli
Kosharovski gain their
freedom, Appel said.
Now that the Iron Curtain
has opened and allowed a
record number of Jews to
leave the country, Bnei
Akiva is switching gears by
starting programs to make
the refugees comfortable in
their new home.
Two Bnei Akiva members,
Miriam Gitelman and
Rachel Karlin, did some
research, Appel said, and
found that more than 200
families have arrived in
Detroit since last April.
"These 200 families have
never celebrated the holiday
(Purim) in the United States
if at all," Appel said.
Bnei Akiva wants to
remedy that by organizing
the 1990 Purim Connection
project.

Carrying on a Purim tradi-
tion, the group will send
each of the 200 families a
Purim basket filled with
hamantashen, wine, a
grogger, cookies, candy and
a letter written in Russian to
explain the significance of
the holiday. During Purim,
Jews traditionally exchange
food — shalach manot —with
their neighbors.
"By sending them a basket
of food we want to share with
them the joy of the holiday,"
she said.
To fill the 1990 Purim
Connection baskets, the
group is seeking $6 con-
tributions for each basket.
"This is not a fundraiser,"
Appel said. "It's just to offset
the cost."
Bnei Akiva members will
pack the baskets a few days
before Purim. Then on Mar-
ch 11, the day of Purim, vol-
unteers, using a list of Soviet
Jews from Jewish Family
Services, will deliver
baskets to the homes.
More than just a way to in-
troduce the holiday to Soviet

Jews, the Purim Connection
is designed to welcome the
refugees to Detroit's Jewish
community.
"We want them to know
we care," she said. "It may
help them to see other people
are thinking about them."
A similar program, the
Great Purim Parcel Project,
sponsored by the Jewish
News L'Chayim section and
Jewish Experiences for
Families, will deliver purim
baskets for the general Jew-
ish community.
Bnei Akiva wants to do
more for the refugees by
welcoming Soviet teens to
the group activities. No
Soviets are among the 180-
member group, but Appel
hopes outreach programs
like the Purim Connection
will change that.
"We hope the families will
see this as a personal invita-
tion to join our youth ac-
tivities," she said.
Appel does not want these
newcomers to forget their
Jewish roots.
"We should do all that we
can to make them feel
welcomed. We don't want
them to drift away from the
Jewish community. We want
them to experience the holi-
day and see what it's all
about." ❑

Beth Achim Men
Host Program

The Men's Club of Con-
gregation Beth Achim will
host an Art of Jewish Living
Program, "The Passover
Seder," 9 a.m. to noon Feb. 25,
at the synagogue.
The program will include
"The Hows and Whys in the
Kitchen" conducted by
Marylin Berman, and "The
Seder Process" conducted by
Les Goldstein."
There is no charge for the
program.
For reservations by Feb. 21,
call the synagogue, 352-8670.

Young Israel Group
To See Play

The Young Israel Young
Couples will meet 8 p.m. Feb.
24 at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield to
see the Jewish Ensemble
Theatre production of The
Man in the Glass Booth.
There will be an afterglow.
There is a charge. For infor-
mation, call Avigail and
Aryeh Posner, 968-2915; or
Debby and Hershy Wrotslav-
sky, 353-6833.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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