Detroit QUALITY YOU CAN BUILD ON... Vandalism Strikes Hillel In Lansing RUTH UTTMANN STAFF WRITER T A NAME YOU CAN TRUST. Recognized by Remodeling Magazine for excellence in design and construction. Quality craftsmanship. Whether it's for your home or business, we take your ideas and bring them to life... with creativity and cost efficiency. Where perfection is always in the plans. MI! QUALITY CONSTRUCTION RESIDENTIAL — COMMERCIAL N INR ECO O umwm We specialize in design & build for Americans with Disabilities. ADA... Barrier free construction. Call for a free estimate - 846-5735 7937 Schaefer Road • Dearborn, MI NATIONAL ASSOCIATION of the REMODELING INDUSTRY Regional "Contractor of the Year" COLO „L,ORKS STUDIO OF INTERIOR DESIG\ As you've heard by now, we're making news in design! Whether it's planning your new home, remodeling your existing one, or furnishing a room - we invite you to explore the difference in interior design and encourage you to interview one of our designers for your next project. Barbi Krass allied member ASID Linda Hudson • Linda Bruder • Wayne A. Bondy • Jo Meconi The Courtyard 32500 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills • 851-7540 here was a shattering. It seemed to go on for a few minutes, like a shower of broken glass. Everybody was paralyzed." Jennifer Epstein, program- ming director for the B'nai B'rith Hillel in East Lansing, was working in her office Mon- day night when vandals threw a brick and a stone through the large window near Hillel's front door. "I ran out of my office to see what happened," she said. "By the time I called police, a neigh- bor had already reached them." The episode took place at 9:30 p.m. Witnesses had seen a car with four unidentified males drive up to the Hillel building, then depart. On Tuesday, police had no suspects. Damage to the win- dow is estimated at $150. Cap- tain Stephen Chubb of the East Lansing Police Department said the word "Palestine" was writ- ten on the stone. "It's been a long, long time since we've had an incident of this nature in East Lansing," he said. Hillel's windows are broken at least once a year — usually with beer bottles thrown by drunken party-goers, Ms. Ep- stein said. But this instance of vandal- ism struck an especially disso- nant chord in Jews at Michigan State University. It came on the eve of a campus-wide Holocaust memorial event, sponsored by six different university organi- zations, including Hillel. The highly publicized memo- rial, which took place Tuesday, commemorated the 55th an- niversary of Kristallnacht — the night of the broken glass. In No- vember of 1938, Nazis went on a rampage, destroying the homes, businesses and syna- gogues of Jews in Germany and Austria. "I know it's different now. I know it's not state-sanctioned. But the vandalism against Hil- lel made me realize that anti- Semitism is still out there," Ms. Epstein said. "We don't have those kinds of rocks in our front yard. The vandals must have brought the stone with them. It had to be premeditated." Mark Finkelstein, executive director of Hillel, said he also believes the vandals intended to send a message. "There are times when it is simply a product of drunkness and times when the vandalism is a product of anti-Semitism. This is one of those times," he said. Lee June, assistant provost for racial, ethnic and multicul- tural issues at MSU, called the incident regrettable. Students expressed dismay. Staci Bloch, an MSU student involved in Jewish groups on campus, said: "I think it's disgusting that 55 years later, in America, on a college campus — which is sup- posed to be open to free speach — that nothing has changed. It's still the night of the broken glass." "It's still the night of the broken glass." —Staci Bloch An impetus for Tuesday's memorial was a letter to the ed- itor in the State News in mid- October. The letter was written by revisionist Bradley Smith, who represents the Committee for Open Debate On the Holo- caust. In the letter, Mr. Smith denies that historians can prove that Nazis tried to perpetrate genocide against the Jews. Mr. Smith wrote a similar let- ter that was published in the University of Michigan Daily in October. ❑ Happy Simchah! The Jewish News would like to print news of a bar or bat mitzvah in your family. Please send us a one-page, typewritten, double-spaced account of the simchah. We welcome photographs of the bar/bat mitzvah as well (a $10 processing fee must ac- company photographs). Send the information to News Dept., Jewish News, 27676 Franklin Road, South- field MI 48034.