Temple Israel Hosts
Alternative Services

Womens ORT Hosts
Dr. Gideon Meyer

In hopes of making Shabbat more
meaningful for elder-
ly congregants,
Temple Israel has
introduced monthly
alternative morning
services.
Cantor Harold
Orbach led the first
two musically rich
services in the tern-
Cantor Harold
ple chapel. "We're
Orbach
appealing especially
to seniors who don't
drive or go out at night and so are
unable to attend our popular Shabbat
evening alternative services."
Forty worshippers attended the first
service in November. Last week's drew
63 under the watchful eye of Alan Ellias,
temple program director, and Carolyn
Marks, Shabbat Senior Committee
chair.
"We invite all of the seniors who have
worshipped with us to invite their
friends next time so they, too, may share
in the warmth and richness of this spe-
cial service," said Rabbi Joshua Bennett.
Although the hour-long service is
geared mainly to seniors, it is open to
anyone who wants to worship in a less-
formal setting.
A highlight of last Shabbat's service
was Cantor Orbach's tracing of Jewish
music in history. The Kiddush included
a light buffet lunch.
For information about the next
Shabbat morning alternative service, call
the temple office at (248) 661-5700.

Patti Aaron, national board member of
Women's American ORT, hosted a Dec.
5 brunch in West Bloomfield to wel-
come Dr. Gideon Meyer, an Israeli citi-
zen who is deputy director general of
the World
ORT Union
headquarters
in London.
Aaron and
15 local lead-
ers of
Women's
American
ORT,
Michigan
Region,
Dr. Gideon Meyer and
heard a talk
Patti Aaron
by Dr.
Meyer, who
heads the technical and vocational
training program for ORT worldwide.
He brought news of recently established
training centers and schools in Kosovo,
the former Soviet Union and Ukraine.
ORT and the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee (JDC) have
joined forces to train returning Kosovar
Albanian refugees, preparing them for
life after war. Previously burned-out
schools are being refurbished and cours-
es are being conducted in computer
skills, English language, masonry,
plumbing, carpentry, tailoring and fur-
niture making.
With ORT running two schools in
Kosovo, some of the 2,500 children,
aged 6-14, are attending their first class-
es in years. More than 1,200 adults
have registered for English classes. The
government has requested that ORT
take over all 14 schools in Pristina, the
capital of Kosovo. Once the schools are
repaired, ORT will equip each school
with computer laboratories and provide
teacher training.
In Moscow, the ORT Technology
Center was opened in 1994. Students
ages 10-17 have a standardized curricu-
lum, with high technology and Jewish
education. The latter makes up 29 per-
cent of the curriculum. ORT operates a
college in Moscow, where more than
570 students study design, economics
and advertising.
Since 1995, ORT has opened
schools and technology centers
throughout the former Soviet Union
and Eastern Europe.
Prior to the Holocaust and the
spread of Communism, ORT programs
served 400,000 men and women
throughout eastern Europe.

Swim Classes
For Children

The Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit is offering
infant/toddler swim classes starting
the week of Jan. 23 at the D. Dan
& Betty Kahn Building in West
Bloomfield. The class is offered for
parents and their infants, ages six
months to 3 years.
Instructors will work on begin-
ning kickboarding, floating, bubble-
blowing, arm strokes and safety.
Children should wear a swim diaper
or a cloth diaper with snugly fitting
rubber pants.
For information, contact Wendi
Douville, (248) 661-7658. To regis-
ter by Visa or MasterCard, call the
Sports and Recreation Department,
(248) 661-7683.

12/17
1999

54

Happy Chanuka From Israel

Jezreel Valley — has
For 200 families in the Detroit Jewish
engaged in exchanges Festiv
community, Chanuka brought an unex-
OfT
with Detroit and
pected gift from Israel: 200 long-distance
Ann Arbor business-
friendships.
es, academic institu-
Several days prior to the holiday, the
tions and groups concerned with such
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
issues as education, Jewish identity, eco-
Detroit received two cartons of packages
nomic development, health, community
from the central Galilee, the region
leadership and women's empowerment.
teamed with Michigan in the Partnership
Each package from Israel included a
2000 people-to-people program. Under
letter to the recipients, inviting a pen-pal
the local auspices of Federation and
through the Jewish Agency for Israel,
Partnership 2000 is a cultural, educa-
tional, social and economic exchange
between American and Israeli regions.
In each gift package from Israel was
a tape of Chanuka music and a dreidel
with the Hebrew letters nun, gimmeh
hey pey, which stand for the words nes
gadol haya po — "a great miracle hap-
pened here." (In America and the rest
of the diaspora, the last Hebrew letter
on the dreidel is shin for the word
"there," because the miracle of the oil
At the Kahn Building of the West Bloomfield
took place in ancient Israel.)
JCC, Manisa Katz and Jacob Allen .spin drei-
The gift packages were distributed
dels receivedfrom Israel's central Galilee region
at Chanuka programs arranged locally through the Jewish. Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Partnership 2000 program.
by Jewish Experiences For Families,
the Jewish Community Center of
friendship with a central Galilee family
Metropolitan Detroit, the Jewish Parents
as a "stepping stone for you to become
Institute and two classes at Hillel Day
involved in a true partnership by and for
School of Metropolitan Detroit.
our communities here and abroad."
The volunteers who sent the packages
Lisa Soble Siegmann, JEFF director,
referred to the "human bridges" that are
said the hope was that Detroiters would
being built through Partnership 2000.
"become pen pals with the Israeli fami-
For the past five years, the central Galilee
lies" who sent the gifts.
— which includes the municipalities of
Nazareth Ilit, Migdal Ha'Emek and the
–Shelli Dorfman

i ~its

Kol Ami Slates Chicken Soup Fest

Temple Kol Ami will host its second
annual Ultimate Chicken Soup Contest
at noon Friday; Feb. 25, at the temple.
Contestants must send or fax their
recipes with an entry form and may
include a brief explanation of the soup's
origin, if possible, to the temple by 5
p.m. Friday, Jan. 28. All mailed entries
must be postmarked not later than Jan.
28. A panel of judges will select the top
10 finalists, who will be notified by Feb.
11.
"We're starting now, in December, to
search for great chicken soup recipes
from long-time and new relatives,
friends, anybody who makes a great
chicken soup," said Rabbi Norman
Roman. "Nearly every family has a clas-
sic chicken soup recipe from their great-
great-great grandmother, aunt, mother
or other relative. Here's the chance to see
how that recipe stands up to others in

the community."
Judges for the contest include Sylvia
Rector, Detroit Free Press food editor;
Chef Keith Famie of Adventures in
Cooking on WDIV-TV, Channel 4;
Keely Wygonik, Observer Eccentric
newspapers food editor; Paul Wertz of
Excellence Too Catering; and Rabbi
Roman.
First prize is a feature segment on
Famie's Adventures in Cooking, as well as
a deluxe soup pot from Kitchen Glamor.
Second prize is dinner for two ar
Restaurant Di Modesta in Southfield.
Third prize is a cookbook from Kitchen
Glamor. The winning recipe will be
served at the Capuchin Soup Kitchen in
Detroit.
Entry forms are available at Temple
Kol Ami, 5085 Walnut Lake Road,
West Bloomfield, or call (248) 661-
0040.

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