THE JEWISH NEWS
SERVING DETROIT'S JEWISH COMMUNITY
THIS ISSUE 75cP
West Bloomfield
Accepts B'nai Moshe
SUSAN GRANT
Staff Writer
A
dmitting they were
wrong to deny Con-
gregation B'nai
Moshe a building permit,
West Bloomfield Township
trustees last week welcomed
plans to build the synagogue
on Drake Road.
After a short executive
session on April 6, trustees
approved a special use per-
mit to build B'nai Moshe on
the condition it raises a
berm on the south side of the
property by one foot.
"I just felt I made a bad
decision," West Bloomfield
Supervisor Sandra Draur
said. "I didn't ask the right
questions earlier. I guar-
antee it won't happen
again."
The approval comes about
a year after B'nai Moshe
first brought its $5.5 million
construction project before
the board and a week before
Oakland County Circuit
Court Judge Hilda Gage was
scheduled to hear the case.
After repeated rejections,
B'nai Moshe had appealed to
the court.
After a meeting in late
January when the township
board voted to continue the
fight in the courts, Draur
said she sensed something
"We got caught in
the political games
of the township,
which was very
unfortunate."
Robert Roth
was wrong. She asked the
township planning depart-
ment for answers.
When she discovered the
adjoining property to the
south of the proposed site
would need a variance to
build single-family homes no
matter what was built on
B'nai Moshe's land, Draur
said she questioned her
original decision.
She then called a special
executive session, informing
the other trustees she would
change her vote on the syn-
agogue project. She also ask-
ed B'nai Moshe to increase
the berm to provide more
screening between the two
properties.
"The solution has nothing
to do with the proposal of a
one-foot berm," said Robert
Roth, the synagogue's at-
torney and former president.
Instead, he believes the
issue was political.
Raising the berm one foot
between the B'nai Moshe
property and a five-acre
parcel to the south owned by
Tony and Marianne Iafrate
does not change the screen-
ing, Roth said. At Friday's
meeting, the Iafrates said
they did not object to the
synagogue itself, but how it
would interfere with the
development of their property.
"They (the trustees) never
had any reason to deny us,"
Roth said.
Roth is convinced the deci-
sion is related to the recent
Continued on Page 14
Surplus Food Pickup
Will Start In July
ALAN HITSKY
Associate Editor
T
he Detroit Jewish
community's third
major effort in recent
years to help feed the
hungry is expected to begin
operating July 1.
Forgotten Harvest will
pick up surplus food from
restaurants, caterers and
private homes for distribu-
tion to area food banks. A
donor covered the $18,500
cost of a refrigerated van,
which has been ordered, and
the organization is hiring a
driver-administrator.
The organization expects
to collect and redistribute at
least 24,000 pounds of food
in its first year, said presi-
dent Nancy Fishman, who
based the estimate on fig-
ures from the Philabun-
dance service, a similar pro-
gram in Philadelphia.
Forgotten Harvest has ap-
plied for several grants from
private foundations to cover
first-year operating ex-
penses and is beginning a
$55,000 fund-raising drive.
CLOSE-UP
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• •
•
e
Some local Jews are
using astrology, gurus and
channeling to find their way
through the New Age.
•
APRIL 13, 1990 / 18 NISAN 5750
The group has been given
office space at Temple Israel,
but is using 31275 Nor-
thwestern Hwy., suite 243,
Farmington Hills 48018 as
its mailing address.
Forgotten Harvest is an
outgrowth of the Mazon -
Jewish Response To Hun-
ger effort in the Detroit area
to raise funds for Jewish and
non-Jewish hunger projects
throughout the United
States. Last year, a Mazon
council was formed to coor-
dinate efforts of local syn-
agogues. Mazon asks for a
contribution of 3 percent of
the cost of any party.
Fishman and others
within Mazon began draw-
ing up plans for Forgotten
Harvest. A separate group
worked on Yad Ezra, the
kosher food pantry, which
has opened on 10 Mile Road
near Greenfield. The three
independent organizations
share some leadership.
Forgotten Harvest's board
includes rabbis Paul Yed-
wab, A. Irving Schnipper
and Dannel Schwartz, Lucy
Continued on Page 14