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the area's Jewish community.
"I relocated from Virginia and
was a Hadassah member there,"
Levine, 33, explains. "The bilk:est
difference between the two states is
that Michigan has groups split up by
age and interest, while Virginia
_
groups are strictly geographic.
"Part of the focus of Mitzvah is
issues that deal with children,"
Levine says. "Every year, we have a
family Chanuka party and a family
picnic. We've had speakers that focus
on parenting and developmental
subjects.
"The only person I knew when I
moved here was my Realtor," she
adds. "I met a large number of my
friends through Hadassah. My hus-
band made friends through my
friends. There have been other peo-
ple who joined for the same reasons
I did, and I've been able to recom-
mend doctors, dentists and places to
shop for Passover food."
Muzich, 32, started out in

Leadership
Builder

Special to the Jewish News

S

oon after Wendy
Kohlenberg moved to
Michigan from Niagara
Falls in 1988, she began
looking for ways to become active in
the Jewish community and make
new friends.
Kohlenberg decided to attend
meetings of different organizations.
Finding she felt most comfortable
with Hadassah members, she joined
the Mitzvah Group.
Hadassah, the largest women's
and the largest Jewish membership
organization in the United States,
has 5,300 members in the Greater
Detroit Chapter, including 500
members in the two local groups
designated for younger women —
Mitzvah and Ruach. Besides aiding
health and education programs in
. Israel and locally, the Zionist organi-
zation advocates in Washington on
behalf of women and Jewish causes.
"They invited me to be on the
nominating committee, and I began
selling Entertainment Books," says
Kohlenberg, 39, of West Bloomfield,
recalling her early experiences with
the organization. "I was elected co-
president for two years, and I was
chosen to go on the 1998 mission to
Israel."
Although Kohlenberg had been
to Israel while she was in college and
after graduation, she found that
going there again as a wife
and mother while repre-
Hadassah member fall's luncheon fund-raiser
senting Hadassah was one
Wendy Kohlenberg that featured opera singer
and cultural leader
of the best experiences of
visits M as .
Beverly Sills, Kohlenberg
her life.
is planning the chapter's
"We learned about the
opening meeting in September that
hospital services supported by
features L.A. Law TV stars Jill
Hadassah in neonatal, cancer and
Eikenberry
and Michael Tucker. She
trauma units," Kohlenberg says. "We
also is looking forward to Hadassah's
had all types of women in the group,
Midwest convention, April 30-May
and I made many friends that I e-
2 in Troy.
mail daily. Some of my closest
"Hadassah allows me to keep
friends in Michigan are my
Judaism strong for my husband and
Hadassah friends."
children," Kohlenberg says.
Kohlenberg, who had traveled the
Beverly Apel of West Bloomfield
country in a public relations posi-
is
president
of the Greater Detroit
tion, is now the leadership develop-
Chapter. She says she makes a point
ment coordinator for the Greater
of keeping close to all 12 of the
4:
Detroit Chapter. Co-chair of last

60

Hadassah allows women to help others while
strengthening their Jewish ties.

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I-known for being a
ist-based Jewish women's
nization, Hadassah
yes on communal-service
vity and friendship.

chapter's membership groups so that
each of
can have meaningful
experiences.
"A young woman becomes a
member of Hadassah to join forces
with other women to socialize, net-
work, connect with their Jewish her-
itage and become involved with
health, social action and advocacy
issues in the United States and
Israel," Apel says.
Evie Levine of West Bloomfield,
co-president of Mitzvah, and Laura
Muzich of Farmington Hills, a
facilitator for Hadassah's Life
Cycling program that teaches about
Jewish celebrations, also joined
Hadassah to become involved with

Hadassah by going to special events
and then was nominated cone-
sponding secretary. She went to a
national convention in New York,
became fund-raising vice president,
worked on a local health project and
went on a mission to Israel.
"Hadassah has offered me oppor-
tunities to develop leadership skills,"
Muzich says. "I've been able to
develop other sides of my persona."
Sue Luria of Bloomfield Hills
joined Hadassah 17 years ago
after being asked by her new sis-
ter-in-law. Although Hadassah
membership has been a tradition
in her family, she wasn't very _
active at first because she was

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3/31

2000

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