There's a World to See With the JOG
The Scent
F:w q:! !!!!.!•;!!!!! ,
Sign up now for these exciting trips:
Ahu.4 Youdffi
July 14-22
Informational Meeting
Sunday, May 23 • 2 p.m. • D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building
of St stern
4gvilA Wilmtn0
October 4-18
Informational Meeting
Tuesday, June 1 • 7 p.m. • D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building
Thursday, June 24 • 10 a.m. • Jimmy Prentis Morris Building
dew 10?1
November 14-18
Informational Meeting
"
Monday, June 7 • 7 p.m. • D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building
Tours include most meals, deluxe accommodations, guides, transfers
and taxes. Room rates based on double occupancy.
NO* miss out on these and other exciting travel opportunities!
For more information, please call Marilyn Wolfe at (248) 661-7636.
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit
D. Dan & Betty Kahn Building • 6600 W. Maple Rd. • West Bloomfield, MI 48322
Jimmy Prentis Morris Building • A. Alfred Taubman Campus • 15110 'N. Ten Mile Rd. • Oak Park, Mr. 48322
LANA GORDON TRAVEL
Experienced and personal service
FOR ALL YOUR
TRAVEL NEEDS
CALF.: LAN.
248 • 626 5800
Fun, Affordable & Exciting!
Lana, enjoying the Lemurs
in Madagascar
* 4- * * *STAIRWAY LIFTS* *** *
THE CAREFREE WAY TO
CLIMB STAIRS
When you're disabled, or just not able to move around
as freely as you once could, stairs can be a real prob-
lem, ii.rihere is a simple answer. The powered stairway
lift. Easily installed to fit curved or straight stairs. They
give you back the ability to move around your own
home. Folds back-gets in nobody's way.
CALL OR STOP BY FOR A FREE DEMONSTRATION
.
5/21
1999
I love my
Stairway Lift!
It takes me up
and down the
stairs With the
push of a but-
ton. Call for
details!
ACTON RENTAL & SALES
(3 1 3) 891-6500 (248) 540-5550
LARRY ARONOFF
41111/7121111111111211111111101111•111.11,
••••••••• ■••■•■■ ••,
News-
of
studies major, and a minor in psychol-
ogy and sociolog. He is spending this
year at Hebrew University of
Jerusalem in a program for overseas
students.
Adelman was among 23 North
American students who embarked on
a mission to conduct seders through-
out Passover in 40 small towns and
shtetls in the Ukraine as part of a
much larger effort. The students in
Jerusalem and their counterparts in
Kiev had been working for months
through Project Elijah to bring
Passover to Jews in the Ukraine who
otherwise would not have had the
opportunity to celebrate.
As part of being accepted into the
project, Eric took a class on the histo-
ry of Russian Jewry from '1917-1999.
"Thousands of elderly Jews in the
Former Soviet Union (FSU) are liter-
ally imprisoned in their homes,
explains Rabbi Yossie Goldman,
founder and director of Hillel in the
FSU. "The communist regime gave
Jews the least desirable apartments,
the upper floors, with no*elevators.
As these Jews age, it has become
physically difficult for them to leave
their own apartments. "Many have
become virtual prisoners in their own
homes," the rabbi said.-
Adelman arrived in Kiev two days
before Passover to meet the 25
Ukrainian students that he would be
traveling with. They prepared their
respective roles, reviewing rituals and
songs.
On the third day, Adelman
boarded one of nine Pesach
Hillelmobiles laden with matza,
wine, Haggadot and other Passover
necessities. The Hillelmobiles each
had three North American students,
three Kiev Hillel students, a driver
and a security guard.
Adelman's first stop was Birdichev,
two hours west of Kiev. The group
made several home visits and led a
seder for 150 people. On average,
Adelman and his team conducted
three to four seders. a day, with 10-15
elderly Jews at each seder. During
breaks, they visited the homebound
elderly.
"These are people who for two gen-
erations were not allowed to have a
seder, bar mitzvah or Jewish wedding,
things most of us take for granted,"
said Adelman. "They lack what most
American Jews call 'basic' Jewish
knowledge.. For them, our coming was
something they never thought possi-
ble.
"Some of the people were learning
about Judaism and the seder for the
first time, while for others it was a
wonderful flashback to a forgotten
memory that had been buried for 70
years under the communist regime.
"Seeing this memory come back to
them and watching their faces light up
while hearing the familiar tune of
Dayenu or the forgotten words of
MaNistana was amazing," said
Adelman.
"We met a woman who had not
left her home in nine years due to a
medical condition. On the other
hand, we met a sharp woman in her
80s who could recite Mishnah like a
Talmud scholar."
"These were incredibly strong peo-
ple who have lived interesting, yet
depressing lives," Adelman said.
"People were eager to share their expe-
riences of war and the Holocaust, exe-
cution, communism, capitalism, and
their Jewish upbringing, or the lack
thereof"
At a seder in Zhitomer, the lead-
ers explained in Russian the mean-
ing of the kiddush, karpas, matza
and maror. At the time for the Four
Questions, Adelman was beginning
to sing when "from the kitchen, a L---\
little blond girl ran into the -room
and stood at the head of the table
and sang at the top of her lungs the
exact words of 'MaNishtana.' On a
night celebrating the Israelites' free-
dom from Egypt, that little 6-year-
old Ukrainian girl was proving to
me that the miracle of Pesach was
still happening ; " he said.
"This Pesach, I explored my roots
and gained a greater knowledge of our
history through these people, - said
Adelman. "Bur it is the people in the
Ukraine who'really received the bene-
fit. We were able to give them a. taste
of their forgotten and unknown
Jewish heritage.
"Unfortunately, a generation has'_,
-‘1
been lost in the Former Soviet
Union. Slowly but surely, though,
Jewish life is coming back. The Jews
still remaining in the FSU cannot be
Foramen."
The Pesach Project was sponsored
by the United JeWish Appeal, Beit
Hillel and the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee. Some:800
FSU Hillel activists led Passover cele--10
brations in more than 300 FSU com-
munities.
Said Adelman: "For all of the Jews
of the FSU, and especially for that lit-
tle girl, we offered a glimpse 'of hope:
Next 'ear in Jerusalem. Ne\i. year, -
may we be free." n