WHAT BRINGS US TOGETHER
ASA PEOPLE?
A SHARED HERITAGE,
A SENSE OF FAMILY
AND A COMMON LANGUAGE!
they can help others. [My son]
Seth says he feels 'all nice inside
and tingly' when he does."
At the end of the month, the
family holds a meeting to discuss
I the contents of their JEFF scrap-
' book. "We sit and say, 'What
did we do special this month?
I What did we do to help others?'"
Sometimes, it's little moments,
like when Seth, a fourth-grader at
Berkley's Avery Elementary School,
I and Tamara, a second-grader at
!Avery, wrote about working
together to rake the leaves. Some-
times, it can mean a bigger corn-
1 mitment, such as when the chil-
Idren went to visit their grandmoth-
er in the hospital. And sometimes,
I it's a major step; this year, Seth
"got to fast on Yom Kippur," his
mother recalls.
Mrs. Greenberg likes that the
scrapbook provides opportunities
I to write down a diverse collection
of thoughtful deeds. You can't con-
:duct a major food drive every
day, she notes, but you can
always take a few moments to be
I kind.
The Greenbergs, who belong to
Congregation Beth Shalom, have
a long history of volunteering in
I the community. When Gail, a
:native Detroiter, was just 6 years
;old, she watched her first Jerry
Lewis Muscular Dystrophy
Telethon.
"I decided I wanted to help,"
she says. So she and her brother
opened a Kool-Aid stand, earned 1
38 cents, and sent it to the
I telethon. Later, she worked at a
camp for children with muscular
dystrophy.
Each year, Mr. And Mrs. Green-
: berg continue helping MDA by
making a pledge and by working
at the telethon phone center,
which is overseen by her mother,
Shirley Nachman, and her broth-
: et-, Michael Nachman.
Howard, a technical consultant
for General Motors, was in
charge of his son's Cub Scout
I
food drive, which recently collect-
ed more than 100 bags of food
to donate to the needy.
The Greenberg family also are
active at their synagogue, where
they are involved with the Hebrew
school and the PTA. Every Purim,
the Greenbergs help take a group
of Beth Shalom students to visit
seniors at Menorah House in
Southfield.
Mrs. Greenberg scoffs at the
notion that being a "mitzvah hero"
is demanding.
"First of all, you get back 100
times more than you give; it makes
you a whole person," she says.
"And really, it takes no time and
no energy. Sometimes, it's just a
matter of passing someone, catch-
ing his or her eye, and smiling.
Or maybe it means taking an hour
a month and offering to help out.
Maybe it's a matter of eating out
one less meal, or taking one less
morning to sleep late."
The best place to start: children.
She recalls an afternoon at the
senior facility where she works. It
was a special event — a talent
show.
One elderly man stood up and,
for his talent, recited the Sh'ma.
Among those who sat, attentive
and delighted, in the audience,
where two young children named
Seth and Tamara Greenberg.
Why not, Mrs. Greenberg asks,
since they have come to view the
seniors not as old people, not as
men and women with brittle
bones who move slowly and who
may seem to live in their own
world, but as "grandmas" and
grandpas."
In turn, the residents value every
moment being with their young
guests — like at the talent show,
or when a man who spent most of
his day sleeping, and who rarely
smiled, suddenly came to toss a
ball with Seth and Tamara.
"It was truly a blessing, seeing
all this," Mrs. Greenberg says.
"Children can do that."
"
JOIN AN AJE
HEBREW ORYIDDISH CLASS
AND SPEAKTHE LANGUAGE
OF OUR PEOPLE.
Hebrew Language Classes
13 weekly courses are offered from Beginner
Hebrew to Advanced Language and Literature
at various times of the day throughout the week.
Classes run two hours and are taught by our
community's outstanding Hebrew instructors:
Nira Lev, Corrine Ben-Ami, Tziona Ragowsky and
Nurit Sallen.
For more information about a Hebrew class that
meets your needs, contact Nira Lev, Director of
Hebrew Programs at AJE (248) 645-7860.
Tuition: $225 includes materials
Yiddish I
An elementary class designed to develop basic
skills in speaking, comprehension, reading and
writing.
Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Instructor: Rabbi Ahron Davidson
Tuition: $160
Advanced Yiddish
A course designed to develop accuracy and fluency
in oral expression and reading comprehension,
and to introduce topics in Yiddish and literature.
Students must have basic knowledge of Yiddish
(or a combination of Hebrew and German).
Thursday, 7:30 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Instructor Rabbi Ahron Davidson
Tuition: $160
Classes run for 14 weeks
and begin the week offanuary 15, 2001.
Location: Max M. Fisher Federation Bldg.,
6735 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills
Please note: Sunday's 1.J a.m.
Advanced Language anclUterature class
meets at Akiva Hebrew Day School,
2100 West 12 Mile Rd., Southfield
Registration for Winter/Spring 2001 semester has begun
Call Debbie Ornstein at the AJE office, (248)645-7860
or register on-line at www.eRegister.com
❑
agency or
jew sh education
•
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2000
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