\\\

■

•

Wk•'

The computer as
shadchan; Weisel at
MSU; a hawk for the
Zionists

Data Match, Data Match make me a
match. Find me a find, catch me a
catch.
Okay, they weren't crooning Fiddler
On The Roof songs, but 130 eager-for-
love Jewish students turned out March
12 for University of Michigan Hillel's
first-ever "Shidduch Shabbat."
The somewhat fancier than usual
Friday night dinner, complete with
flowers and live a cappella music, was
basically a communal blind date, with
students seated by those whom a com-
puter matching company had deemed
compatible for them.
U-M sophomore Micah Peitz
dreamed up the idea at a meeting in
which people were trying to figure out
how to attract new people to Hillel. "I
said, 'Let's think why people are really
going to Hillel: because they want to
meet nice Jewish boys and girls,'" he
recalled.
He acknowledges that the comput-
er questionnaire, which asks things
like "What type of deodorant do you
prefer?" and "Would you rather be the

person who vomits or cleans it
up?" may not be the best way to
find your bashert. Nonetheless, it
did serve as a good icebreaker,
ushering many people through
Hillel's doors for the first time.
"A lot of people ended up
having good conversations with
people they never knew before,"
said Peltz. "As
for relationships
Right:
that come of it,
Daniel
Pipes
that remains to
Below:
be seen. But I've
Elie Wiesel
asked that if
anything hap-
pens, I want to
be invited to the
wedding."

Nobel laureate,
human rights
advocate and
Jewish scholar
Elie Wiesel will
be Michigan
State University's
spring convoca-
tion speaker.
"Elie Wiesel,
through his
work, immense
insight and
unbelievable life experiences, is one of
this century's guiding lights," MSU
President M. Peter McPherson said.
"It's a tremendous honor to have
Wiesel as our undergraduate convoca-
tion speaker."
Wiesel, who will participate in the
graduation ceremony at MSU on
May 7, has received 90 honorary
degrees from colleges around the
country. He was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1986.

MSU has
announced
plans to
expand its
Jewish studies
program, at
least in part to
make the cam-
pus more invit-
ing for Jewish
students.

Speaking of
speakers,
Daniel Pipes,
editor of the
Middle East Quarterly and
senior lecturer at the
University of Pennsylvania,
will share his hawkish views as
the highlight speaker for the
annual meeting of the Zionist
Organization of America
Metro Detroit District in a
free public lecture at 3 p.m.
Sunday, March 28, at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield.
Pipes lays Israel's current
problems to a "mood of weak-
ness" that includes fear of ter-
rorism, anti-Zionism among
the Israeli elite and the aspira-
tions of many Israeli soldiers to "[come]
home in a single piece," he wrote in a
recent guest column for the Wall Street
Journal. "Unless the country rediscovers
its Zionist soul — not 'Enough is
enough' but 'Never again!' — it is head--
ing for serious trouble," he wrote.
The Harvard University graduate
and Middle East expert's resume
includes service in the U.S.
Departments of State and Defense
and authorship of 10 books.

Marking 100 Years
Of Detroit Jewry

Gearing up for the 1931 Allied Jewish
Campaign are, standing: Nate S. Shapero,
Milford Stern, Mrs. Abe Srere, Aaron
DeRoy, Maurice J. Caplan and Adolph
Finsterwald. Seated are: Mrs. Sidney J.
Allen, Edwin M Rosenthal, Mrs. Henry
Wineman and Clarence H. Enggass.

Photo courtesy of the Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community
Archives/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. If you have
information about this photograph. please call Heidi Christein,
Jewish community archivist: (248) 642-4260.

3/19
1999

26 Detroit Jewish News

Remember
When • • •

From the pages of The Jewish News
for this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.

1999

Rabbi Norman Roman of Temple
Kol Ami, back from Italy and
Romania, reports Soviet Jews in the
Italian transmigration center of
Ladispoli are discouraged by delays
in gaining U.S. refugee status.
Rabbi Roman, whose family comes
from Romania, reports freedom to
practice Judaism and a sense of
Jewish pride there.

"PEACE" is the banner headline on
page one of The Jewish News as
President Carter, Prime Minister
Begin and President Sadat emerged
from the Camp David summit with a
peace agreement between Israel and
Egypt. President Carter said, "At this
historic moment, I want to congratu-
late the great leaders of both countries
for their leadership and the courage
they have consistently demonstrated."

Regarding the disparaging image of
the "Jewish mother" raised by the
book Portnoy's Complaint by Philip
Roth, Jewish News editor Philip
Slomovitz writes "Enough already!"
and suggests that new Israeli Prime
Minister Golda Meir could restore
admiration and respect to the role.

In his anti-Communist book
Masters of Deceit, FBI Director J.
Edgar Hoover says, "The silence of
the Soviet leaders on the outbreaks `Thi
of Nazi anti-Semitism completely
misled Eastern European Jews as to
the real character of the Nazi threat
and hence, some two million
Russian and Eastern European Jews
made no attempt to escape the
Nazis during the early months of
the German invasion of Russia."

1949

Five members of Congress, with the
help of the American Jewish
Congress, have proposed a Group
Libel Bill aimed at preventing
defamatory literature, including
anti-Semitic material, from crossing
state lines.