This
A prayer book for the
record book; a donor
for the JCC gym;
a boost for literacy.
Fifth graders at Cong. Beth Shalom's
religious school bucked the less-is-more
trend last week when they completed
what their teacher, Joe Lewis, wagers is
"the world's biggest siddur."
The approximately 30-foot-long
prayerbook contains 19 pages, one for
each blessing in the weekday amidah,
or thrice-a-day central prayer.
Working in teams over the course
of two months, the class wrote out the
Hebrew prayers on flattened card-
board boxes, freely decorating with
poster paint and any other art supplies
they could get their hands on.
Student Adam Barth of Oak Park
described the project as "fun and
somewhat educational."
"It helped us learn the parts," he
explained. "Since we read them so
much while were copying it out, we
got used to them." Perhaps even more
valuable, Barth said the project taught
him "that Hebrew isn't always boring."
Now that it's finished, the giant
siddur makes its home in the class-
room; when students aren't using it,
it folds up like an accordion.
The fifth grade's next larger-than-
life venture? Lewis is planning "The
Dikduk [Grammar] Jungle," a colos-
sal mural highlighting the various
Hebrew prefixes and suffixes that
change the meanings of words.
The new gymnasium at the
Jewish Community Center's D.
Dan & Betty Kahn Building in West
Bloomfield now has a name, reports
the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
Lillian and the late Samuel
Hechtman provided a $1 million
donation to name the soon-to-be-
built gym. The new facility will dou-
ble the size of the existing gym.
Construction is scheduled to begin
by the start of next year.
Samuel Hechtman, who died in
1994, was an attorney who helped
form Practical Home Builders Inc., a
company that built more than 10,000
single-family homes and 4,000 apart-
ments in metro Detroit. He was also
involved in the planning and con-
struction of the JCC in West
Bloomfield and the neighboring
Holocaust Memorial Center.
As president of Jewish Apartments
and Services, Mr. Hechtman's generosity
spurred the creation of Hechtman
Apartments I and II on the Maple/Drake
Jewish Community Campus.
.
The People of the Book are being
invited to share their skills.
Under the auspices of the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit, a new Detroit Jewish Coalition
Remember
Wh en
• III
From the pages of The Jewish
News for this week 10, 20, 30, 40
and 50 years ago.
1989
Joe Lewis' class surrounds itself in prayer.
for Literacy will send volunteers to par-
ticipating elementary schools to read to
kids and have them read back.
The council has hired an
AmeriCorps intern, Lauren Marcus,
to help staff the coalition as it signs
up the local groups that will be enlist-
ing the individual volunteers. Each
organization will be linked with a spe-
cific elementary school, said David
Gad-Harf, executive director of the
council. So far, 14 local groups have
pledged their assistance, including
Birmingham Temple, Hadassah and
the Neighborhood Project.
"We're still in the organizing
phase," Gad-Harf said. The formal
kickoff will be April 5, when the
founder of the national Coalition for
Literacy, Leonard Fein, will speak at
the council's delegate assembly.
.
Marking
100 Years
Of Detroit Jewry
William Kristol, son of leading
L\
Jewish neo-Conservative Irving
Kristol, has joined Vice President
Dan Quayle's staff as assistant for
domestic policy. Kristol hopes to
improve the vice president's image
among Jews, noting that Quayle
"has close ties to the Jewish com-
munity in Indianapolis. But
beyond the Beltway, he's not par-
ticularly well known in the Jewish -Th
community."
1979
The 100th anniversary of Albert
Einstein's birth will be celebrated
in Bern, Switzerland, Jerusalem,
Washington, Paris and New York.
A 15-cent U.S. stamp will be
issued in Princeton, N.J.
1969
Two additions to the Passover
seder are suggested to show soli-
darity with Soviet Jewry. One is
the "Matzo of Hope" statement:
"As we observe this festival of
freedom, we know that Soviet
Jews are not free... They can only
sit in silence... We shall be their
voice." Jews also are urged to
leave an empty chair at the table
each year until the gates of the
USSR are opened.
0-59
B'nai David Religious School will
hold a unique group bas mitzvah
of 22 girls. Rabbi Hayim Donin,
noting this will be the first bas
mitzvah ceremony in the congre-
gation's 67-year history, said "it
becomes imperative in modern
times to give some recognition
and pay formal honor to (the)
girls (in) religious study."
1949
Members of the Halevi Musical Society,
founded by the Sholem Aleichem
Institute, are shown, circa 1925.
Photo courtesy of Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community
Archives/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. If you
have information about this photograph, please call Sharon
Alterman, Jewish community archivist, (248) 203-1491.
3/12
1999
28 Detroit Jewish News
Columnist Danny Raskin relays a
request for sheet music from Air
Force troops stationed in Japan.
"We've got a five-piece Japanese
band to play for us and we're
dying to hear any kind of
American music," they write.
Danny will forward all donations.