E IE Celebrating 50 years o growth with the Detroit jewtsW -Umufwirr'mmr;wiwi41 6 ELUL 5752/SEPTEMBER nside ENTERTAINMENT Back To Roots David Syme's interviews have brought him home page 67 WORLD Kmart Shopper A business center in Israel creates a bridge to Europe. page 14 After Andrew The Jewish community rallies around Florida. page 35 Contents on page 5 Hillel Teachers Walk Hillel's opening day is postponed as teachers go on strike. 1 t was the much-awaited first day of school, but nobody showed up. In the midst of negotiations over salaries, Hebrew and secular teach- ers at Hillel Day School went on strike Tuesday, the day the school was set to open. The issue was money. Teachers say they are underpaid, and called administrators' proposed 1992-93 raise for them too low. School officials offered a three-year contract, with a 4 percent raise each year. An additional 1.5 percent bonus would be added at the signing of the contracts, to be allocated the first year. Teachers originally requested a 10 percent raise each year, then came back with a counter offer of a 20 per- cent raise over three years. The ad- ministration "was not interested at all" in such a package, according to Hebrew teacher Ella Moskovitz. Martin Gene, Hillel president, would not discuss details of the talks, but said, Competition There were glitches, and a 12-hour bus ride. And there were great sports events and plenty of parties. The Maccabi Games in Baltimore was a week-long carnival for the 166 members of the Detroit team. Goodbye, Mr. Baseball Irwin Cohen was asked to leave the Tigers. ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR C Edging The Story on page 28 4 , 1 9 9 2 E S ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR nown to many simply as "Mr. Baseball" is still reeling. For the past nine years Irwin ohen has worked in group sales at Tiger Stadium. It was enough to make a grown man giddy, that job. Mr. Cohen loved everything about it. The game. The team. The fans for whom he often gave stadium tours. "Babe Ruth sat in this very dugout," he would tell them. But everything changed last week. That's when Mr. Cohen was told his services were no Hillel teachers picketed the school on Tuesday. longer needed. It started out like any other day. At 7 a.m. Mr. Cohen attended ser- "We're bargaining in a fair and open vices at Young Israel of Greenfield, manner, and expect to be back in the then returned home for a quick break- classroom very quickly." On Tuesday, teachers took turns fast. Next he hit the freeway, heading south to Tiger Stadium. picketing outside Hillel. Written on He went to his office, where he had yellow posterboard and taped to yard- a large picture of Hank Greenberg sticks, their signs read, "Teachers `11' looking wistfully onto the field. Soon the school" and "Let's negotiate." The school parking lot was empty after, Mr. Cohen was told he was fired. HILLEL STRIKE/page 32 MR. BASEBAWpage 14