The year 5759 in pictures.

he year 5759 was different for each of us. Some of us
celebrated births and b'nai mitzvot, others marked
anniversaries or remembered deaths. We studied as we
always have, cared for our families and friends, worked
and vacationed in the ordinary and satisfying routines of our lives.
But some of our extraordinary moments were shared by a larger
community — our neighborhood, our shul, our nation and our
homeland, Israel. There, the government changed hands and
Binyamin Netanyahu's reluctant approach to making peace with
Arab neighbors was replaced by Ehud Barak's enthusiasm for "a
peace of the brave" that is likely to include recognizing a Palestinian
state and returning the Golan Heights to Syria.
America witnessed the horror of hate-driven shootings of children
and adults at a Jewish community center in suburban Los Angeles
and of Orthodox men and other minorities walking in a Chicago
suburb. It also saw the formation of a new national entity to merge
the fund-raising efforts of major Jewish organizations and witnessed
controversy over an award by Hadassah to First Lady and senatorial
candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton. Both the Conservative and
Reform movements in this country took steps to reaffirm the
importance of ritual observance. And the nation mourned the death
of King Hussein of Jordan.
Locally, communal leaders put a new focus on Jewish education at
every level while celebrating an unprecedented surge in both annual and
long-term giving to major institutions. They mourned the closing of
Sinai Hospital but hailed Yeshivat Akiva's move to a- newhome, in the
former Beth Achim synagogue, and the selection of a headmaster for a
new Jewish high school, the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit.
The Jewish News captured many of these public moments — and a
few of the private ones — in photographs. On the following pages, we
look back at the pictures that vividly recall the high points of 5759.

— Jonathan Friendly

Editor's Note: Jonathan Friendly was News Editor during 5759. He now serves as Contributing Editor.

9/24
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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