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TAW
AIWA
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NaV
AMIA
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Ma Nitibtana...

Why is this store d?fferent from the rest?

It's still not too late to find out.
Passover begins Monday evening, April 21.

SHMURA MATZAH

Hand nzade round matzah,
a must for your seder:

HAGGADOT
SEDER PLATES
WHAT ELSE?

.A large selection

Traditional and Contemporary

.Ifiddroh cups for the seder, matzah
covers, cookbooks, CD :f, cassettes
and videos.

FREE PASSOVER GIFT with any purchase over $25.00

AT SUGAR TREE PLAZA
North of Maple • West Bloomfield • (810) 932-3377

Watch for our upcoming Website at www.esthers.com

the
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JUDRICH

GIFTWORLD

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COMING SOON!
ESTHER'S BAKESHOPPE

Complimentary Gift Wrapping
We Ship Worldwide

Hours: Sunday: 10:30 - 5:30 • Monday, Tuesday: 10:00 - 6:00 • Wednesday: 10:00 - 7:00
Thurs: 10:00 - 8:00 • Friday: 10:00 - 3:30 • Closed Saturday

CHARTER HOUSE
BARBER SHOP

ON THE BOARDWALK
Management and Employees

Extend Sincere Wishes
To Their Customers and Friends
For A Very

"AMY

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PPY

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The Big Leagues

GOURMET

ERICA MEYER RAUZIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

A

Tar
ARM
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Because Of Your
United Way
Contribution,
A Lot More
People
Can Read This.

SSOVERII

Orchard Lake Rd., South of Maple (2 doors from Stage Deli) • 851-HAIR

United Way

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Consultation • Sales • Service • Concert Rentals
23225 Woodward Avenue • Ferndale • (810) 541-6334

Cold Fur Storage

Spring Prepaid Special: $27

In Downtown Birmingham
(810) 642-1690

I

realize that baseball is a
durable sport, having sur-
vived countless bad movies,
political in-fights, and
ballplayers with impolite urges
to spit and scratch on national
television.
Baseball has endured, and
thrived. Tee-ball, on the other
hand, may be an endangered
species. It may not survive our
child.
Our 7-year-old son joined a
tee-ball team recently. All he
has done so far is practice drills
in throwing, catching and hit-
ting. There isn't any pitching
because the ball is hit from a
child-height tee that looks
like a giant golf tee. I don't
know if the tee was adopted
on the theory that no first-grad-
er can pitch worth a darn any-
how, or if it was created because
some wise adult realized that
it isn't safe to let bouncy little
boys hurl hard objects at each
other.
Our team is a true urban
blend. It has two little boys, in-
cluding our son, who run and
slide with their tzitzits flying
and their yarmulke clapped on
their heads. Then, the team has
for other little boys: Sean,
Matthew, Jose and Juan.
If you are head-counting, you
realize this kid-world melting
pot does not constitute enough
bodies to play baseball. You're
right. We practice on Tuesday
and Thursday, but we play with

the Monday and Wednesday
children.
This takes some intricate car-
pooling, but we manage. If you
can manage multinational prac-
tices, rolling schedules don't faze
you. In fact, fitting the two week-
ly practices into an already
jammed parental schedule is the
only hard part of Tee-ball.
I have to do meal planning
days ahead to be out of the house
from 5:30 to 6:30 on a weekday
evening. That means homework
time with my miniature-Man-
tle's sisters is lost until nearly 7;
it means a thaw-it-out dinner
from the freezer (unless we or-
der pizza, a far more popular
choice).
But, on good days, it means
Dad can leave the office in time
to be the practice-parent. That
delights him ... and me! And it
means we get a decent dinner.
However, I actually enjoy go-
ing to Tee-ball practice. Watch-
ing these youngsters try to play
ball is like watching a bunch of
puppies play. They miss the ball
and chortle as they skip after it.
They build sand castles in the
outfield while waiting for the
coach (a true saint) to throw to
them.
Returning his puff-ball pitch-
es, they hurl with all their
strength and release balls that
bounce and dribble and ricochet
in all directions.
They do run bases; that's an-
other drill. But they get dis-