750
THE IEwisti
"GUYS, THIS IS THE PURIM SPOOF. GET
Neon lights, big bets to jettison Center deficits.
Wrestling Match
To Determine Buyer
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
LEFTY SKLAR THE FAR-OUT BEAT
I
he Jewish Community roulette tables, Mr. Bloom a leg up," Mr. Aronson said.
Casino JCC is expected to
Center last night opened smiled and mouthed an elusive
its doors to a pulsating "I told you so" to Rabbi Elim- generate nearly $1 million this
mob of high rollers who, elech Goldberg, who was stand- year. The revenue, said Dr. Plot-
nick, first will go toward paying
for the past six months, have ing nearby.
Rabbi Goldberg, a feather off the dancers' costumes of
awaited the chance to toss
dice where they once pumped protruding from his yarmulke, shimmering blue plumes and
attended the gala with several white-sequined tiaras.
iron.
Senior-citizen homes on the
At the blackjack table stood disheartened congregants from
Maple-Drake Jewish Commu-
Executive Director Morton Young Israel of Southfield.
nity campus nalso are in store
"Running Deer" Plotnick, in full
for
a change. By May, contrac-
headdress, with members of the
tors with the Jewish Home for
Casino JCC board. Doug "Gur-
Aged expect to have put finish-
gling Brook" Bloom, chief of the
ing touches on Hotel Hechtman
reservation, referred to the oc-
and Fleischman. The world-
casion as "nothing less than
class accommodations will
spectacular."
feature two Olympic swimming
"This evening represents a
pools, workout facilities
gamble, to be sure," he said.
"This," he said, "is a shande." and a nightly cabaret starring
"But the stakes are high, and
Not everyone shared his mis- former nursing-home adminis-
the JCC board is ripe for risk.
ery. Hillel Day School Principal trator Carol Rosenberg. An oc-
We have no other choice."
Chief Bloom, shuffling in his Rochelle Iczkovitz believes the togenarian choir will sing
moccasins, said revenues from casino will be a great place for harmony.
Casino JCC will go toward
eliminating the Center's
projected $450,000 deficit
and reinvigorating the in-
stitution's Jewish pro-
gramming, particularly the
library and Discovery
Room.
"Are we bucking the
book?" Chief Bloom asked.
"Yes. But only for a while."
Last January, the Cen-
ter's board announced
that its health clubs in
West Bloomfield and
Oak Park had lost a total
of 200 members since
1993.
"We knew we had to
turn things around," Dr.
Plotnick said. "I love gam-
bling. Doug loves gam-
bling. Let's face it, Jewish Morton "Running Deer" Plotnick discusses his big win with a member of the tribe, Linda
communal involvement is "Dances With Wolves" Lee.
just one big gamble."
Such reasoning led JCC
"The board thought this was
board members to rethink us- field trips.
"It will afford our students a an innovative way to improve
age of Allied Jewish Campaign
allocations. After modifying its chance to learn about the mean- our grades on state surveys and
mission statement, the board ing of money. It will enhance improve our image," said Robert
axed most religious and cultur- their arithmetic skills," she said. Naftaly, JHA president.
Back at Casino JCC, young
al activities. Monies have been "It will primarily help with sub-
and old gathered in the neon-lit
redirected to salaries of bar- traction."
Federation Executive Vice Shiffman Hall for a special ap-
tenders, game operators and
President
Robert Aronson said pearance by Wayne Newton
dancers.
"We believe the (metro De- he will vote in favor of Jewish crooning the Beatles' ballad
troit Jewish) community has fi- community scholarships to "Can't Buy Me Love" in Hebrew.
Scheduled performances by
nally figured out," said Mr. Casino JCC. The scholarships
Bloom, "what it wants the Jew- would award 20 gambling chips Noa and Gil Dor were cancelled
to local Jews who cannot afford to save time for Yeshiva Beth
ish Center to be."
Yehudah's stage debut of
Pointing toward the scores to purchase their own.
"There is so much need out "Bugsy Siegel Comes To Mo-
of Jewish young adults and
other members of the tribe sip- there. If we want Jewish con- town."
ping kosher margaritas at tinuity, we need to give people
The JCC is
turning things
around.
❑
00
LO
A
kiva Hebrew Day
School and Darchei
Torah leaders will
settle the dispute
over which school can buy
the building that now
houses the Agency for
Jewish Education. The
event will be open to all
community members.
Slated for high noon
April 31 at Sara's Glatt
Kosher Deli, the dispute
will be resolved by Akiva
headmaster Barry "Bub-
ba" Eisenberg arm
wrestling Stuart "The
Slugger" Sandweiss.
On either side of the
table will be an $8 tuna-
fish sandwich. The one
whose hand touches the
sandwich first forfeits the
right to buy the building
but is allowed to eat the Morris Goodman: Expand business?
sandwich.
"We tried everything to
come to a decision on who can buy the building. We thought of cut-
ting it in half," said Jane Sherman, chairwoman of the Federa-
tion task force on day schools.
The task force even set up a sub-committee to study the possi-
bility of Jell-0 wrestling. "In the end we found that it was treife
and we couldn't have that. I mean we got rid of the bagels at Fed-
eration meetings because they weren't kosher. We couldn't ex-
actly have Bubba and Slugger sliding around in something that
wasn't kosher," she said.
The two have been training for the event for weeks, practic-
ing on first-graders who compete for bathroom passes.
"You get one of those little guys who has to go and you have
quite a challenger," said Mr. Eisenberg.
Morris Goodman, owner of Sara's, hopes arm-wrestling for build-
ings will become a new tradition for Federation and the Jewish
community.
"Think of the mitzvah of settling disputes. Think of the big
splash we could make if they used our soups instead of tuna fish.
I wouldn't have to go out of business," he said. "We could expand.
We could do gefilte fish baseball, blintz tosses ..." ❑
PHOTO BY GLENN TR IEST
JCC Gamble
Darchei Torah Merges
With Continental Cable
y
eshivas Darchei Torah,
desperate to find a new
space for its school, has
agreed to a merger with
Continental Cablevision.
As part of the deal, Darchei
students will be required to find
the local CBS affiliate on the ca-
ble dial without the aid of a di-
rectory.
The merger represents a com-
plete change in the school's phi-
losophy, which in the past has
been to ban the ownership of
televisions by school families.
"It's not the greatest move we
could have made," said one
school official, "but we needed the
space. So we'll watch a little Let-
terman." LI