Holiday Message

Head First

Tishrei. The first month of the Jewish
new year. A month that is not just the
beginning of a new calendar, but the
"head" and nerve center, setting the pace
for the entire year. Head first.

A month of beginnings. A month in which
an act, a thought, a resolve, is that much
more effective. A month of reassessment
of our objectives and priorities in life - our
own lives, our families, friends and
community.

And it is in this spirit that the festivals of
this month are celebrated, the earnest
Roth Hashana and Yom Kippur, and the
joyous Sukot and Simchat Torah.

Here in Michigan and around the world
our rabbis, our representatives, our
supporters and our friends are all looking
back in pleasant astonishment at three
years of unprecedented expansion,
expansion which has utterly confounded
the prophets of gloom who foretold
deterioration and disintegration (G-d
forbid) after the Rebbe's passing, on
Tammuz 3, 5754 (1994).

What is the secret of this success? Perhaps
the following can provide a clue:

The Zohar declares that after the passing
of Moshe Rabbeinu (Moses), his soul
continues to shine its light to the "general
souls" of the Jewish people in the same way
as the sun illuminates the planets.

After nightfall in our part of the world, we
no longer see the sun. But this is only due
to a shift in our position, a change in our
stellar perspective. In fact, the sun
continues to shine with undiminished
warmth and light on the other side of the
globe. What is more, even here - where it
is now might - we too can see the sun's
radiance as reflected in the shining planets
above.

The analogy to the passing of a tzadik is a
powerful one. The nightfall of the Rebbe's
passing results from a shift in position, a
change of perspective. The tzadik has
risen to a lofty spiritual plane. We have not
risen to that plane, so we cannot see him.
But the light and warmth of the Rebbe's
spiritual presence continues to shine
undiminished, not only "there", where he
"is", but also here, through the shining stars
of those men and women charged with
completing the Rebbe's agenda of bringing
all our people back to their roots.

Who are these "stars"? Not only the
Rebbe's followers, students and shluchim -
the representatives of Lubavitch - but also
every member of the community. Each of
us is charged with the mandate of Jewish
outreach and, by discharging it glows with
a reflected light.

10/10
1997

104

May this month bring blessings of a happy,
healthy and sweet year for everyone.

LUI3AVITCH FOUNDATION

Sports

The Trailblazer

"The First Lady of
Boxing" talks about her
career as a manager,
author and
commissioner.

LONNY GOLDSMITH
StaffWriter

IVIT

pound super middleweight class to
win the IBF belt in 1993. He also
won the World Boxing Union light
heavyweight (175 pound) belt in
1995.
" Jackie put together one of the
best teams in the state since
Emmanuel Steward put together
Kronk," Kirschenbaum said.
Also in 1995, Toney's contract with
Kallen expired, and despite the suc-
cess, the pair went their separate ways.
"He felt he needed a change," she
said. "We had been together day and
night for six years.
"There are no bad feelings though.
We had a great run and made a lot of
money together."
Local fight promoter Bill Kozerski
thought that Toney's ring success was

hen Jackie Kallen was a
child growing up in
Detroit, she didn't know
anything about boxing.
But as a reporter for Channel 2
news in 1978, she did a story on a
young boxer from the Kronk Gym
named Thomas
Hearns, who would
become the most
famous Detroit boxer
since Joe Louis and
Sugar Ray Robinson.
And she got hooked.
"I became the publi-
cist for Hearns for the
next 10 years," Kallen
said. "It was almost
forbidden for women
to be in boxing, so I
was even more deter-
mined to succeed."
The Mumford High
School graduate wanted.
to move up when a
Chicago fighter named
Bobby Hitz came look-
ing for a manager.
Kallen couldn't turn it
Joseph Kiwanuka with manager Jackie Kallen.
down
Being a manager,
Kallen explained, is an all-inclusive
due to Kallen.
job to begin with. But she took it a
"He was destined to be just anoth-
step further.
er Detroit-area boxer," Kozerski said.
"I became a surrogate mother to
"She willed the beginning of his
many of my fighters," she said. "I
career, and talked him up in maga-
also did what a manager needs to do:
zines, and got him the chances to get
coordinate their travel, fights, spar-
a belt."
ring partners as well as their general
In addition to Toney, Kallen has
day-to-day activities."
managed three other fighters to world
Kallen's first big fighter was Ann
titles: World Boxing Organization
Arbor's James "Lights Out" Toney.
(WBO) light heavyweight (175
"Toney was a good prospect," said
pound) champ Bronco McKart, Tom
Stuart Kirschenbaum, Michigan state
Johnson at flyweight (125 pounds) in
boxing commissioner from 1981-92.
the IBF, and North American Boxing
"But not many thought he could go
Federation super middleweight
where he went."
champ Joseph Kiwanuka (168
In 1991, two years after he signed
pounds).
with Kallen, she steered him to his
In her career as a manager, Kallen
first world championship, the
was twice nominated as Manager of
International Boxing Federation mid-
the Year.
dleweight (160 pound) title.
"It showed that my peers had real-
Toney moved up to the 168-
ly given me my due," she said.

"Being nominated made me feel like
I had won.
"At first, people said I was a good
manager 'for a woman.' Now I'm a
good manager."
All of Kallen's fighters had a com-
mon tie that told people who their
manager was: They all wore a Star of
David on their trunks.
"I thought that it was good luck,"
she said. "I'm proud of my heritage
and proud that I'm Jewish. I wouldn't
trade it for anything."
Kallen, 51, is still very much
involved in boxing, but now as the
commissioner of the International
Female Boxing Association (IFBA).
"As a general rule, women put on a
better show than men do," Kallen
said. "They train very hard, and the
public enjoys watching
them fight."
Kozerski feels that
the right woman was
picked for the job of
commissioner.
"It's right up her
alley," he said. "She
works well with the
media. Women's boxing
is destined to succeed
and she can be influen-
tial in it."
At the beginning of
the year, Kallen moved
to Los Angeles follow-
ing her divorce from
her husband of 30
years. She has been
back to Detroit five
times since then to see
her sons, Brian, 28, and
Brad, 27, as well as her
father and grandchild.
"I just finished my book that I've
been working on for the past nine
months," she said. "I took all the
metaphors I learned from boxing and
turned them into chapter names, and
talked about how to apply those prin-
ciples to life."
Scheduled to be released this
month, Hit Me With Your Best Shot is
a motivational and self - help book that
helped Kallen get through the time
following her divorce. Paramount
Studios is also doing a movie based on
her life and career that is currently in
the developmental phase.
"So much good came out of writ-
ing the book," she said. "Everyone
goes through ups and downs in life,
and it can help you navigate them.
"A boxing match is merely a micro-
cosm of life in general. Good against
evil, and always odds to overcome." ❑