What's In
A Name?

Beth Hayeled preschoolers
learn the significance of
their Hebrew names.

PHOTOS BY BILL GE MMELL

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER

Top:
Shaarey Zedek's vice president Alan Schwartz
hands Michael Adelman his certificate.

Above:
Marla and Amy Sternberg display Marla's
Hebrew name certificate.

Right:
Rabbi Leonardo Bitran leads the children in a
Havdalah service.

aria Sternberg
was so excited
about a preschool
ceremony cele-
brating her He-
brew name that
she called her
grandma, Merrill
Saidman, to re-
mind her to come.
"She called me
at 8:30 in the
morning and told me to get in
the car," Ms. Saidman said. "She
didn't want me to be late."
Marla and 95 of her
fellow 4-year-old class-
mates at the Beth
Hayeled preschool at the
Shaarey Zedek B'nai Is-
rael Center in West
Bloomfield celebrated
the conclusion of their
studies on Hebrew
names at a ceremony
there Saturday evening.
A similar service is
planned later this month
for children at the
Southfield campus of the
preschool.
Rabbis Irwin Groner,
William Gershon and
Leonardo Bitran called
the children by their He-
brew names to the
bimah and presented
each with a certificate
commemorating the
event. About 300 moth-
ers, fathers, uncles,
aunts, grandparents and
siblings joined the cele-
bration which concluded
with a Havdalah service.
The students began
the names unit shortly
after Chanukah, said
Janet Pont, director of
the preschool program at
Shaarey Zedek. The chil-
dren learned what their
Hebrew names are, for

whom they were named as well
as how to say the prayers for the
Havdalah service. They also
made Havdalah sets, complete
with spice boxes.
The service was the brain-
child of Ms. Pont who, together
with her staff and Rabbis
Groner, Bitran and Gershon,
worked to teach and prepare the
children.
"This was a dream of mine
since I heard about the ceremo-
ny at another school seven years
ago," she said. "This is some-
thing that I anticipate will be-
come a tradition."
Parents said other children
wanted to take part in the ser-
vice after seeing what their sib-
lings did. Heidi Fischgrund is
co-chair of the nursery school's
parent group, which had a hand
in the planning.

An
Anticipated
Tradition

"My 3 year old is so excited to
have it next year and my 5 year
old who is at Hillel was disap-
pointed she couldn't have it
while she was here," she said.
Perhaps most excited was
Marla's little sister, 2-year-old
Leah Sternberg. As she pranced
around with cookie in hand af-
ter the Havdalah service, she
told anyone who would listen
that she was 4 years old, not 2.
"She kept saying, 'I want a
certificate. Where's my certifi-
cate?' " said her mom, Amy
Sternberg. "She can't wait to be
4." El

