PhoTo StorY

eller,
ater
Ings

Nursery school graduates
return to where learning began.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer

W

hen 7-year-old A.J. Litt of Birmingham
heard that his little sister Mollie Rose, 2,
was going to participate in her first
school seder, his mother said he begged
and pleaded to join her.
Ellie Smith-Lift gave in, explaining, "This new found love
and interest in his sibling was hard fought." Even when
&l.'s five-year wish for a sister finally came true, when Mol-
lie was adopted from a Russian orphanage at 8 months,
the reality of having to 'move over,' as it were, from center
stage" came as "a shock," their mother said.
Rena Cohen, assistant director of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek Beth Hayeled Nursery School in Southfield, was
pleased to see kJ. and three or four other alumni at the
seder "singing their hearts out, being so enthusiastic, get-
ting right in there with the group."
Smith-Litt teaches an interactive classical music class
called "Mozart, Mommy and Me" at the school. She
described the April 14 seder as "particularly meaningful,"
spending it with her children in the synagogue whose
founders include her grandfather, Louis Smith. In 1922, he
also established Moies Chetim, an organization supplying
Passover meals to the needy. She said, "He simply thought
no Jew should go without food on Passover." lil

Clockwise from bottom:

Jacob Gluski of
Huntington Woods
joins his mother Cheryl,
one of many mothers
who helped set up
the seder, and
sister Rachel, 2, both
Beth Hayeled students.

Aj. Litt, 7, of Birmingham
instructs his sister
Mollie Rose, 2,
on the finer points of
attending her first
model seder.

Susan and Rabbi
Joseph Krakoff of Southfield
enjoy the nursery school
seder with their son
Micah, 7 months.

Hannah Cohen, 2,
of Huntington Woods,
shares a hug with friend
Mollie Rose Litt, 2,
of Birmingham.

5/5

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