Prudential Visit Chamberlain-Stiehl REALTORS West Bloomfield 248 85 I -4400 Us at www.prudential-michigan.com Take a Virtual Tour or View our Open House Gallery WEST BLOOMFIELD-GREEN LAKE CHARMER • 1 acre of manicured grounds with beautiful gardens • 3 bedroom ranch with 2 kitchens, 3.5 baths, 4 fireplaces • Hardwood floors, dining room with built-in bar • Oversize garage, boat house. Remodeled in 1996 $998,900 (WA293) 248-851-4400 FARMINGTON HILLS • Sharp updated Rolling Oaks colonial backing to the park • Numerous improvements. 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths • Large family room with fireplace. Rec room in basement • Custom landscaping with accent lighting $326,500 (0L350) 248-851-4400 • • FRANKLIN • Frank Lloyd Wright's impression designed by his own student! Grand & beautiful Roman Garden entry • 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths. finished basement with family room • Circle drive, brick pavers, fountain, lighting accents $850,000 (0A306) 248-851-4400 WEST BLOOMFIELD-ASPEN RIDGE CONDO • "NYC Penthouse feel." 2 bedrooms, 2.5 baths • Dramatic built-ins in great room and master bedroom • Hardwood floors. Finished basement with den & office • Secluded location at back of complex $259,900 (AS632) 248-851-4400 BIRMINGHAM CLASSIC OPEN SUNDAY 1-4 P.M. Move right in to this 3 bedroom, 2 bath home with numerous updates. Large family room with fireplace, fabulous kitchen with top-of-the-line appliances. Brick paver walks and patio, fenced yard. West Bloomfield, 3577 Highview • S. of Commerce/W. of Green Lake. Fantastic home in desir- $229,900 (DE159) 248-851-4400 Virtual Tour technology by 4$1.4.X able Twin Beach. Large kitchen with built-ins, fireplace in living room. separate dining room, 2 closets in mas- ter bedroom. Extensive decking, 2-car garage. $174,900 (H1357) 248-851-4400 lir An Independently 0%∎ ned and Operated Member of Prudential Real Estate Affiliates. MJL CORPORATE TRANSFEREE SERVICE, INC. • QUALITY SERVICE AWARD WINNING OFFICE BIRMINGHAM SCHOOLS Desirable location in West Bloomfield. Walnut Lake privileges. 3 bedroom, 2 bath colonial with finished walk-out basement. $199,900. MOVE-IN CONDITION Custom home. 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, first-floor master suite, gourmet kitchen with granite by Rutt, finished walk-out, approximately an acre. Must see! S599,900. NEW LISTING FARMINGTON HILLS SPRAWLING BRICK RANCH Beautifully updated, 3 bedrooms, 2 full baths, almost half an acre wooded lot, new Pergo-like floors, open floor plan with cathedral ceilings. Sharp! $204,900. 4/20 2001 118 Ask Wendy 7115 kluird Lake Rd.. Suite I(X 30110 Orchard Lake Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 BUILDER'S OWN HOME Custom-built, 4-5 bedroom, 3.5 bath colonial, full finished lower level, 2 Plus 90 furnace, pro- fessional landscaped yard, vac system, 2 air con- ditioners. $439,000. 248 851 6700 Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated Readers Differ On Teacher's Role 0 my three words are needed to intro- duce the theme of this week's column: from science. — Rabbi Brian D. Fox, Manchester, England I was wrong. Wendy could have sug- Below is the question that gested that this was an oppor- elicited such a vigorous tunity for a good-spirited response from readers. There debate over the nature of mir- is no need to reprint my acles, the relationship between WENDY original advice since the gist science and religion, the possi- BELZBERG of that answer will become bility (or the purpose) of Special to immediately obvious upon "proving" the miracles, or the the Jewish News reading these excerpts. different views within Judaism Suffice it to say that there regarding miracles ... is no conflict between Judaism and a Stripping someone of their teach- scientific explanation for the Passover ing job simply because they expressed miracles. I do, however, stand by the ideas with which you disagree respects last line of my original column: "To the rights of no one: not the teacher, all you Hebrew school directors out not the students and not the modern there: Class is in session. Do you Jewish community, which derives know what your teachers are teach- strength from its pluralism. I pray to ing?" Hebrew school teachers should God the mother did not act on not be setting curriculum. That Wendy's advice and endanger the responsibility belongs to Hebrew teacher's job. As for Wendy Belzberg, school directors, in consultation with she has a long and public history of an active parent body. Which may dispensing inappropriate and ill- mean you. informed advice that ranges all the way from grotesque and dangerous to Dear Wendy: the merely banal. My 10-year-old daughter attends — Jeremy Jacobs, Valhalla, NY Hebrew school at our synagogue. She recently reported that her religion ". .. A lost opportunity by you to teacher said that the Passover miracles stress that the importance of the story never happened and that she saw a is not its literal, but rather figurative, TV show "proving" that the splitting metaphoric value. This would allow of the Red Sea was the result of a vol- for the teacher to stress healthy skep- canic eruption. The teacher intends to ticism about the biblical stories being show the video to the class. "absolutely" true ... Meanwhile, my daughter is distraught Instead, you chose to judge the and feels that she won't enjoy the teacher and pit the child against that seder this year, thinking that the story teacher, siding with the notion of the of Passover is a fraud. I'm not sure literal truth of the story. I hope the what to do. mother did not take your advice for if — Not sure what to do she did, and the child later recognizes * * * what the real meaning of all of the As an admiring reader of your col- stories are, alienation from her her- umn, I could not believe that you actu- itage is a possible outcome — her say- ally advised the firing of a teacher in a ing "none of it is really true, so why religious school for teaching 10-year-old bother with any of it." You missed a children the scientific basis of the split- golden opportunity! ting of the Red Sea. Surely the survival - - Dr. S.H. Kardener, Santa Monica, of the Jewish people is a miracle in Calif: Calif: itself! Is that not reason enough to enjoy the seder? The teacher should be con- Write to "Ask Wendy" at 954 gratulated for making the lesson excit- Lexington Ave. #189, New York, NY ing and living. The child took some- 10021, or e-mail thing of value home to the parents: the askwendy@thejewishnews.com lesson that Judaism has nothing to fear