Acts Of
Friendship

irnai Irrith Supporters
Fund Israel Scholarship

and tour guide at Berkley Tours and
Travel in West Bloomfield and a past
president of the Morgenthau
Chapter of B'nai B'rith Women.
ith a strong, long-term
She spoke with pride of her hus-
connection to B'nai
band's
awards and said their den
B'rith and a love of
includes
"a wall lined with B'nai
Israel, Louis and Sara
B'rith
plaques."
Lee Segel sought out a project that
He has been a volunteer at the
would combine both, and at the
Veteran's Administration and for the
same time benefit others.
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
By making an endowment to the
Detroit Telethon. The Segels have
Michigan B'nai B'rith Hillel Fund,
both volunteered at the Jewish
annual awards of $1,000 will be
Community Center in Boca Raton,
offered, in their names, to college
Fla., where
students for
she
is a
trips to Israel
docent.
Mr.
in
innina
bea0
Segel also
the early b fall.
was a volun-
Nathan D.
teer at the D.
Rubenstein,
Dan & Betty
Michigan B'nai
Kahn Jewish
B'rith Hillel
Community
Fund president,
Center of
said members
Metropolitan
of any
Detroit in
Michigan Hillel
West
of Metro
Bloomfield.
Detroit chapter
He is cur-
will be eligible
rently a
to apply for the
Louis and Sara Lee Segel
member of
Louis and Sara
the Charles
Lee Segel Hillel
Shapiro
Foundation
Jewish War Veterans Post.
Israel Scholarship Fund.
The West Bloomfield residents
Louis Segel approached the Hillel
have
two sons, Dr. Mark Segel, a
Fund, whose focus is on activities that
physician,
and attorney Lenny Segel,
concern Jewish college students.
and three grandsons. The Segels
Rubenstein said Segel "has an ongoing
were long time members of
history of achievement in B'nai B'rith,
Congregation Beth Achim, and are
his synagogue and the community."
currently affiliated with Adat
Louis Segel, a retired accountant,
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington
also received a college degree as a
Hills.
certified shopping center manager,
Several years ago, the Segels
working for many year in the shop-
attended a B'nai B'rith International
ping center industry and with com-
convention in Israel. They visited the
mercial real estate.
Martyrs Forest outside of Jerusalem,
His B'nai B'rith involvement
where each had an area of trees
includes past president of the Bloch
planted in honor of their individual
Lodge, the Detroit Metropolitan
contributions to B'nai B'rith. She
Council of B'nai B'rith and the
said they were so moved that they
Hillel Foundation of Metropolitan
began planning for the endowment.
Detroit at Wayne State University. It
Their wish is for the scholarship
was through this association that
to be awarded annually to a college
Sara Lee Segel said her husband met
student for travel or study in Israel.
many college students. The couple
Rubenstein said that what the Segels
had made several visits to Israel; she
want
most is to know that "through
said her husband felt that "there
them,
kids will always be going to
were Hillel students who would like
Israel." ❑
to go but couldn't afford it."
Sara Lee Segel is a travel agent

SHELLI DORFMAN
Editorial Assistant

6/18
1999

46 Detroit Jewish News

Drama class offers children
a chance to perform a special play.

SHELLI DORFMAN
Editorial Assistant

I

n the hot basement of a local
synagogue, the atmosphere is
hectic and somewhat chaotic.
An extra practice has been
added to the already full play-rehearsal
schedule because a cast member
dropped out three weeks before the
show. This is the replacement's first
rehearsal.
k>s.IWA,
The cast is small, only eight mem-
bers, and the players are young, one of
them not yet 5. They know their parts
and they know their places — they
Lauren Ettinger, 12, wears a crown at the
just aren't in the mood for a second
play
practice.
full rehearsal in one afternoon.
Suddenly there is order, as the
director sits in front of
the group and begins to
sing. The cast is mesmer-
ized. Looking into her
eyes, some clap, some
sing along, some laugh,
but they're all sitting now
and all of them pay atten-
tion. After the song, the
rehearsal begins.
The director is Laura
ReVelle Schwartz, whom
the kids call Miss Laura.
The cast is a Friendship
Circle drama class corn-
prised of children
between 4'/2 and 13
Brandon Rosenblatt, 41/2, and his sister Stephanie, 8'/2,
years old. Some have
rehearse for the play
disabilities, some do not.
But no one is singled
out. They work together
because their 15-minute play,
Our One and Only Hats, is going
to be presented at the Friendship
Circle's annual dinner on
Monday, June 21, at the
Michigan Inn in Southfield.
Rabbi Levi and Bassie
Shemtov founded the Friendship
Circle, a privately funded
Michigan Lubavitch Foundation
organization, to provide services
for special needs children. The
drama class meets each Sunday
Bassie Shemtov goes over the script with cast
morning and integrates special
member Michael Goldberg, 13.
needs kids with other children.