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This We

Staff Notebook

the Max M. Fisher
Federation Building in
Bloomfield Township.
Executive Director
Harvey Finkelberg
told the group that
Below: Dr. Mark Smiley,
about 30 percent of
headmaster of Hillel Day
the young people who
School of Metropolitan
attend Tamarack
Detroit, and Rabbi Joseph.
Camps come from
Krakoff of Congregation
families unaffiliated
Shaarey Zedek, hear presen-
with
any congregation.
tations on Tamarack Camps.
"This may be the only
Judaic experience they
will have," he said.
Added Fresh Air
Society board member
Sharon Hart of West
Bloomfield, "If your
kids are not going to a
movement camp, we'd
like them to come to
our camp over an
Indian-name camp."
The Fresh Air
Society is seeking to hire a rabbi or rabbinic student
to supplement its Judaic staff, which is led by Dina
Shtull-Leber of Ann Arbor.
"The Judaism in our camps is not just Shabbat,"
Shtull-Leber said, as she listed many organized
Judaic activities for different age groups and genders.
"Even if people come on a Wednesday, they'd know
it's a Jewish camp."
— Diana Lieberman

Left: Family Camp weekend
at Tamarack Camps allowed
ffnai Moshe families to prac-
tice songs for Shabbat Odyssey.

B'nai Moshe Launches
`Shabbat Odyssey'

Families from Congregation B'nai Moshe got a jump
on the shul's new Friday night service during a Family
Camp weekend at Tamarack Camps last weekend.
Cantor Earl Berris led the group in lively song and
prayer before Shabbat dinner.
"2001: A Shabbat Odyssey" officially begins at
B'nai Moshe this Friday evening at 5:45 p.m. and
will continue throughout the summer. The part of
the service before sundown will include the playing
of instruments. Synthesizers, guitars and tam-
bourines will be used to enhance melodies by
Debbie Friedman, Craig Taubman and others.
Participants are encouraged to sing, clap, dance and
bring the Shabbat in with joy, giving a kick start to
the full 25-hour Shabbat experience each week.
A light snack will be served at 5:45 p.m., with
Kabbalat Shabbat running from 6-7 p.m. Future plans
include kosher box suppers and services outdoors.
Cantor Berris prepared a user-friendly prayer
booklet for the service, including instructions and
choreography, transliterations of the songs and
selected English readings.
"Shabbat Odyssey" is open to all looking for a lively
Friday night Conservative Shabbat experience. Alisa
Peskin-Shepherd heads the project committee.
— Keri Guten Cohen

Fresh Air Assessing
Judaic Programming

David Harold of Bloomfield Hills, immediate past
president of the Fresh Air Society, fielded a few com-
plaints about Tamarack Camps last year when he
presented his agency's annual report to the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
"People on the board told me, 'There are those
who think the camps are not religious enough.' "
"I said, 'There are those who think we have too
much Judaism,'"' he remembers.
Studies have shown that a Jewish camping experi-
ence is among the best ways of maintaining Jewish
identification, Harold said. "Everyone who wants to
attend a Jewish camp should have access to one."
To better serve its constituency, Tamarack Camps,
part of the Fresh Air Society, sought input on Judaic
programming from Jewish religious and educational
leaders. On May 1, about 20 of these leaders met
with Fresh Air Society staff and board members at

5/4

2001

32

West Bloomfield
Seeking Students

The West Bloomfield Public Schools will accept a lim-
ited number of students who live in other Oakland
County communities for the 2001-2002 school year.
Students admitted through the Schools of Choice
program are guaranteed a place in the West
Bloomfield Schools until they graduate, said district
spokesman Steve Wasko. No fees will be charged,
but students must provide their own transportation.
According to the state law governing Schools of
Choice, students living within a specific county may
rake advantage of the tuition-free program only to
attend another school district in that county, unless
the accepting district is on the border between two
counties.
Members of the West Bloomfield board of educa-
tion have determined that no more than 100 out-of-
district students will be accepted this fall, Wasko
said. However, building principals will be asked
whether their buildings have room for more students
and at which grades.
For the 1999-2000 school year, West Bloomfield's
Schools of Choice program accepted 68 students in
the fall and another 24 for second semester.
The West Bloomfield Schools have been accepting
Schools of Choice students for five years, Wasko
said. "It's an opportunity to enhance revenues in a
district whose budget is stressed by the relative flat-

ness of our enrollment," he said.
The district receives a per-pupil allotment from t
state, either West Bloomfield's $8,382 or the stu-
dent's home district allotment — whichever is love
Wasko said the program has been very successful
with Schools of Choice students fitting "seamlessly
into all aspects of school programming.
"It's a win-win situation," he said. "We maintain o
academic program for our residents while being able
offer this unique academic program to non-residents
To obtain applications, call the district at (248)
738-3568. The deadline for returning applications
3 p.m. May 14, 2001.
The district will hold a lottery to draw applicant
for these openings on May 16.
— Diana Lieberm

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Top Notch
On Honors

The University of Michigan threw quotas and affir
mative action out the window last Saturday, April
28, when it handed out honorary degrees at its
spring commencement ceremonies at Michigan
Stadium in Ann Arbor.
At least four of the six honorees were Jewish:
• William Davidson, U-M alumnus, philanthropist
owner of Guardian Industries, the Detroit Pistons
and Palace Sports and Entertainment, and former
chair of Detroit's Allied Jewish Campaign and for
president of Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg, associate justice of the U.
Supreme Court.
• Adam Michnik, Polish journalist, political priso
and a founder of the Solidarity movement.
• Robert Pinsky, U.S. poet laureate, 1997 to 2000
Other honorees: Marshall Sahlins, a U-M profess
from 1957 to 1973, when he joined the University
Chicago. Sahlins is known for his cultural and social
theories based on studies of Fiji and Hawaii.
Also, Bill Ivey, chair of the National Endowmen
for the Arts.
— Alan Hi

Corrections

• In "American Jews, Germany And the
Persistence Of Memory" (April 20, page 14), the
film students quoted in Los Angeles are all at the
University of Southern California, not UCLA.

• The spelling of the name of Rabbi Elimelech
Goldberg of the Young Israel of Southfield was
incorrect in "What A March It Should Be!"
(April 13, page 5).

• The incorrect address of the Conversion to
Judaism Resource Center ran with a letter by
Barbara Shair, outreach director, "Serving Up A
Taste of Judaism" (March 16, page 6). The cen-
ter is located in Commack, Long Island. Its Web
site address is www.convert.org

• In "Remembering The Fallen" (April 27, page
16), co-chair Judy Loebl and event co-coordinator
Kellee M. Robinson were inadvertently omitted.

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