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Global-Minded

Mauch 28, 1998

FAVORITE MITvMI

Working at Kai Ezra

Above: Amy Miller at her bat mitzvah party.

Left: A table centerpiece.

A West Bloomfield teen "tours" the world for her bat mitzvah.

JULIE EDGAR
News Editor

my Miller decided to go
global when she and her
mother were planning her
bat mitzvah.
A fledgling world traveler — she
went to Rome and Paris for the first
time last summer — the seventh-grade
Hillel student and track team member
decided on a rather cosmopolitan
mitzvah project to celebrate her special
occasion.
Amy and her mom, Sandi, wrote to
40 synagogues from Copenhagen to
St. Petersburg to Curacao to
Farmington Hills (Adat Shalom) offer-
ing donations in honor of the bat
mitzvah. They heard back from 17 of
the shuls, and displayed their letters,

A

enlarged, at the bat mitzvah party at
Adat Shalom on March 28.
The theme of Amy's bat mitzvah —
"Tour the World with Amy" — was
reflected in the multi-ethnic cuisine
— Mexican, Chinese, Italian, Israeli
and American — and the tables, each
of which represented a synagogue
from around the world. Every partici-
pating synagogue received a cash
donation made in honor of each of
the adult guests who sat at that shul's
designated table. Donations also were
made to Yad Ezra, Amy's favorite char-
ity, for each children's table. The
money came from gifts she received
on her big day.
"It's important to do mitzvahs, so
you can help people when they need
your help," Amy said. Her work with
the kosher food bank has included

delivering Passover food packages and
packing boxes at its storage warehouse
in Oak Park.
Amy, who plans to go on to West
Bloomfield High School after she
leaves Hillel, also has donated her
time to the Jewish Association for
Residential Care (JARC).
"At JARC, I talk to people and
make them happy," she said.
Her centerpieces — stuffed animals
in wicker chairs — were donated to a
children's cause.
Amy got a little more than she.
bargained for at her bat mitzvah:
Because one rabbi was ill and the
other out of town, she read five
Torah portions.
"It was a beautiful service," said
her mother. "Amy did a great
job." El