This Week

Insight

Updates

For Arts Sake

From the pages of the Jewish News for
this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.

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The National Council of Jewish
Women closed its thrift shop on
Van Dyke and Eight Mile Road.
Matthew Citron of Congregation
Beth Abraham Hillel Moses was
chosen for the 1990 Youth Award.
Plans were made by Congregation
Shaarey Zedek to honor Cantor
Chaim Najman on his 10 years of
service to the congregation.

Supplementary schools
receive two-year grant
from the DeRoy
Foundation.

DIANA LIEBERMAN
StaffWriter

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n 1997, students at a West
Bloomfield congregational
school created a colorful tile
wall, a work of art they'll be able
to show their grandchildren with pride.
The Children's Wall makes a stun-
ning entryway into Temple Shaarey
Zedek's Irving and Beverly Laker
Education and Youth Complex. And,
significantly, it represents the work of
many children creating a sophisticat-
ed, long-term project with a Jewish
theme.
Later this year, 13 local supplemen-
tary schools will have an opportunity
to begin creating artistic projects in all
of the fine and performing arts. Grant
funding will be available in September
through the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's Alliance for
Jewish Education.
The DeRoy Testamentary
Foundation has approved a two-year
renewable grant that will supply up to
$55,000 annually for specialists in art,
music and drama. Although this grant
first will be used for projects involving
pre-teens and teens, future plans likely
will involve younger students as well,
said Federation Alliance director
Harlene Appelman.
Young people learn through all their
senses, she said, not just by reading a
book. And methods that motivate learn-
ing in one child will not appeal to all.
"Some schools have dedicated art
teachers on their staff," she said. "But
none of them have specialists in each
discipline."
The project will begin with stu-
dents of b'nai mitzvah age because
that's where interest in Jewish educa-
tion begins to drop so precipitously.
"If we are going to carry the Jewish

Remember
When • • •

Vandals in Normandy desecrated
the graves of 22 Canadian Jewish
soldiers.
The Central Region USY conven-
tion began under the chairmanship
of Elyse Jacobs and Sharon Manello.
Harold Shapiro was invested as
U-M's 10th president.

Above: The completed
Children's Wall.

Left: In 1997, students
at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek's religious school worked
on tiles for the newly opened
Laker Complex.

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Arava, the first plane designed and
produced in Israel, made its inau-
gural flight.
Mayor Norman Feder of
Southfield proclaimed this week as
ORT Week in his city.
Howard S. Danzig, executive
director of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek, has been elected president
of the National Association of
Synagogue Administrators.

•

heritage on to the next generation, we
need to be creative in our program-
ming," Appelman said.
The Children's Wall at the Laker
Complex was the inspiration of syna-
gogue members and teachers, led by
volunteer Beth Rubinstein and artist
Carolyn Wilson.
The wall consists of about 500
ceramic tiles, each 4 inches square,
representing the Jewish calendar in
loving detail and vivid color. It begins
with Rosh HaShana and the fall holi-
days at the top, and runs counter-
clockwise, changing theme and color
scheme as the year progresses. Finally,
it ends with predominantly blue col-
ors, representing Shabbat.
"There are so many schools that
would benefit from doing something
like that with their children,"

Rubinstein said.
"Now that computers have taken over,
kids don't get enough of that hands-
on contact. They eat it up like candy."
The DeRoy grant will encourage
projects with an organized, thematic
approach, like the Children's Wall.
For example, Connecticut-based
artist Sasha Bergmann Lichtenstein, a
consultant to Federation's Alliance
project, has proposed a collaborative
art project with a Chanuka theme that
uses plaster casts of children's hands,
linked together in creative ways.
Local artists who will be participat-
ing in the schools' projects will
include jazz musician Jeff Haas and
stained glass artist Danny Katsir.
An Alliance subcommittee will
determine details of the program,
Appelman said. ❑

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Ben Levenson, president of
Franklin Mortgage Co., was grant-
ed an audience with the pope.
Work was slated to start on a
regional water plan for settlements in
the Beisan Valley in Israel, replacing
waters from a tributary of the Jordan
River being diverted by Jordan.

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Terry Radkin was elected president
of the junior congregation of
Congregation Beth Itzchock in
Detroit.
Julius Weinberg of the Jewish
Community Council urged restau-
rant owners to mark Israel's second
anniversary by putting an Israel
Day sandwich on their menus.

— Compiled by Sy Manello,
Editorial Assistant

j14

4/21
2000

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