Walking Shoes
Thousands
of Detroit
Jews
demonstrate
their
support
for Israel.
Above: Mike and Barb Aronow head for
the Temple Israel rest stop.
RUTH LITTMAN
Taking it easy —
Left: Sarah Baruch gets a ride.
Right: Debbie Finkelstein and Amy
Miller.
STAFF WRITER
Photos by
GLENN TRIEST
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
E
84
any morning drizzle
didn't ruin plans for ap-
proximately 5,000 peo-
ple who donned their
walking shoes and showed up
at the Maple-Drake Jewish
Community Center on Sun-
day to participate in the an-
nual Walk For Israel. The
3.5-mile trek showed support
for the 45th year of Israeli in-
dependence.
Samuel Attar, who is vis-
iting from Israel, took part.
Impressed with the large
turnout, he said more Israelis
should know about Detroit's
interest in the Jewish state:
"All the time, Israelis hear
about New York or Los An-
geles. But there is a lot of
community here."
Walkers congregated un-
der blue skies outside the
JCC. Israeli music sounded
from a loudspeaker while vol-
unteers instructed people to
gather behind a red starting
ribbon. Young and old par-
ticipated. So did roller
bladers, children in strollers
and dogs on leashes.
Some walkers, like Arthur
Slabosky from Oak Park,
held signs wishing Israel a
"Happy 45th." Thousands of
others wore blue-and-white
hats, distributed by the Jew-
ish Federation of Metropoli-
tan Detroit, which sponsored
the event.
"I think that as we grow
older and the generation that
connected us to Israel grows
thinner, people's feelings
about Israel grow less," said
Mr. Slabosky, who belongs to
the Labor Zionist Alliance.
"Israel is the Jewish state. It
is the realization of the end
of 2,000 years of exile for all
of us. We should always sup-
port Israel because we never
know what will happen in the
rest of the world to Jews."
Hillel Day School seventh-
graders showed up to see
friends and show their sup-
port. Bree Kessler, Mira Frei-
lich, Alana Zaks and Adam
Grant joked about attending
"because our parents made
us." But they had some seri-
ous reasons, too.
"To show our solidarity,"
Adam said. "This is like a
gathering place for the entire
Jewish community. We're ed-
ucating people about Israel.
That's our Jewish homeland."
Hundreds of Michigan Mir-
acle Mission participants also
marched. They gathered to-
gether before the Walk began
and joined the rest of the
crowd to form a line extend-
ing nearly a mile.
Mission-aire Esther Kraft,
joined by her friends Dorothy
Braiker and Howard and
Debbie Silverman, said the
Miracle Mission intensified
the Walk's aura of cama-
raderie.
'e were excited about Is-
rael before the Mission, but
now there's an incredible up-
lifting feeling," she said. ❑