750

s
r.
THE IIENM ti N S

DETROIT

12 ADAR

Inside

HEALTH

Casket Question

What does Judaism say
about donating bodies?
Page 44

HEBRON CRISIS

The Aftermath

One man's action affected
people here and abroad.

The mitzvot
and the meshuga
of Jewish police
officers.

Story on Page 62

5 7 5 4/MARCH 4, 1994

Borman Plan Approved

De-Fusing

Jewish Federation officials announce a plan for Borman Hall.

Local Jews express sorrow.

RUTH LITIMANN STAFF WRITER

ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR

he Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit last
week contracted with an
independent nursing-
home operator to provide
a new place for the frail
Jewish elderly now re-
siding at Borman Hall.
The contract stipu-
lates that the MediLodge
Group, which operates six skilled nurs-
ing homes in southeastern Michigan, will
buy Mount Vernon Nursing Center in
Southfield. Mount Vernon is a 170-bed
skilled nursing facility located on
Greenfield, south of 11 Mile Road.
Frank Wronski, the owner of
MediLodge, has promised to run the fa-
cility as a Jewish institution once he buys
Mount Vernon. The purchase will be fi-
nalized in the near future, said Mr.
Wronski and the facility's current own-
er, Isidor Eisenberg.
The Jewish Federation, which an-
nounced last November that it would no
longer run Borman Hall, will finance
and supervise the relocation of Borman
residents. Officials said they expect the
move — to begin next November and end
before 1995 — to be expensive, though
they have yet to calculate definitive costs.
First, extensive renovations to Mount
Vernon must occur. The Southfield nuts-

rab leaders in Detroit area
interfaith groups were in-
undated with sympathetic
calls from Jews in the
wake of last weekend's
massacre of Arab wor-
shipers in Hebron.
The local leaders were
encouraged by the outpouring of sup-
port, but a hastily called interfaith meet-
ing in Dearborn had to be postponed.

Janice Shalzman: Finding an alternative.

ing home will undergo a Jewish "face-
lift" to include a kosher kitchen and cul-
tural decor. Federation has agreed to
furnish the new home with a sanctuary
for services and simchahs.
Federation also will continue its role of
funding and coordinating Jewish pro-
gramming (while maintaining its opera-
tions at the Jewish Home for Aged's Prentis
Manor and Fleischman Residence). But
that's where Federation's role ends.
BORMAN HALL page 8

Additional coverage
of the Hebron tragedy
on pages 4-5, 21-23
and 54-61.

"We tried to pull all the principals to-
gether on short notice," said Robert
Arcand, executive director of the Detroit
Interfaith Round Table of the National
Conference of Christians and Jews.
The Sunday night meeting was post-
poned because many religious leaders
were unavailable and Muslims were at-
tending services to break the daily fast
of Ramadan. The Round Table, the
American Arabic and Jewish Friends,

DE-FUSING page 57