HOLIDAYS
Street hockey and volleyball took up part of the street.
Spring Break
Jeanette Street hosts a block party in honor of Lag B'Omer.
oys in helmets and
kneepads were speed-
ing up and down
Jeanette Street in Southfield
on roller blades, slamming
hockey pucks into homemade
nets. Hebrew music filled the
air.
Girls played machanayim,
B
a kind of dodge ball. Babies
waddled safely across
neighbors' lawns. Moms
prepared fresh salads and
fruit trays and brought out
hamburger patties and hot
dogs. Dads barbecued.
This wasn't an ordinary
afternoon on Jeanette
Street. Or was it?
This was Lag B'Omer —
time for loud music, new
clothes, first haircuts — and
on May 21, about 20 families
got together and had a block
party in the Ten Mile -
Greenfield area.
"I wanted to do something
special for the kids on Lag
B'Omer," said Gil Stebbins,
23, who asked the city to
close the street between
Fairfax and Kingshire from
3 p.m. to 8 p.m.
During the Omer, the
seven-week harvest period
between Pesach and
Shavuot, observant Jews
refrain from weddings, bar
and bat mitzvot, getting
their hair cut and listening
to live music. The Omer
marks the time during the
first temple when hundreds
of Rabbi Akiva's students
mysteriously died.
STORY BY
AMY J. MEHLER
•
PHOTOS BY
GLENN TRIEST
Zvi Kresch finds a frog outside.
Henchi Wiener prepares to throw the machanayim ball.
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