Staff Notebook
Long-Lying Vandalism
No Dig
V
locally coordinated six-week
archeological excavation in Israel
that college students can attend
for credit has been canceled due to lack
of interest — not increased Mideast vio-
lence — according to staff members.
The University of Michigan-Zippori
archeological excavation combines tour-
ing Israel with studying ancient and
modern history, working on an archeo-
logical dig and living on a kibbutz.
"The interest level wasn't there for the
program itself," said Federation's
Michigan/Israel Connection Missions
Coordinator Trudy Weiss. "It's a very
specific trip and it doesn't appeal to a
lot of people."
Staff from Hillels in Michigan and
faculty from the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem supervise the program. It is a
coordinated effort to bring Michigan
students to the Central Galilee, Detroit
Jewry's sister region in Partnership
2000, a people-to-people exchange
between Israeli Jews and Jews in the
diaspora.
Weiss said at least 20 students must
sign up for the trip, but only about a
dozen signed up for the excavation pro-
gram in the Jezreel Valley this year.
"The first year or two, it was a new
concept," she said. "But the program's
gone down progressively over the last
five years."
isitors on Sunday — Mother's Day — to
Workmen's Circle Cemetery in Clinton
Township may not have noticed a row of I 5
toppled tombstones.
The vandalism at the eastern end of the cemetery
is near the turn-around circle for the single-lane road
that goes through the cemetery, on the north side of
Hebrew Memorial Park.
Caretaker Sharon Mac Lean, whose family has
lived on the property [JFl]for 54 years, said the van-
dalism occurred in February in the Yiddish Folks
Farein section. "It's a favorite place for underage kids
o drink beer," she said.
The families of the
eceased have been
sked to pay the $35-
75 cost of up-right-
ng and cementing
ach headstone in
lace.
"The organization
so small," said Mac
ean, "they don't have
the reserves to do it."
She said teens park
n the business lot
a orth of the cemetery
and then walk back
:o the secluded area
Sharon Mac Lean
':o drink. She said
:here have been no
)ther incidents so far
:his year, "but it's early in the year, too."
Ls
l
❑
— Alan Hitsky
A
— Harry Kirsbaum
Above: Zippori archeological
excavation, 1998.
Boosters Of Volunteerism
Southfield couple known as much for their
volunteerism as their philanthropy have
seen Michigan's only kosher food pantry
lame a new volunteer recognition award in their
ionor.
Yad Ezra has created the Diane and Emery Klein
/olunteer Recognition Award to be presented
.nnually. The Oak Park-based agency feeds 1,150
seedy Jewish families every month thanks, in large
)art, to the efforts of its volunteers.
"Diane and Emery Klein have helped spread the
Nord about the needs of the hungry and are work-
i ng on ways to ensure that this vulnerable popula-
tion's needs are addressed," said Lea Luger, devel-
pment director.
This year's award winner is Dorothy Last, a four-
.ay-a-week volunteer since Yad Ezra opened in
990.
"Choosing Ms. Last as the first recipient is a fit-
ing tribute to the Kleins' efforts and to the differ-
nce that Yad Ezra is able to make in the lives of
hose less fortunate," Luger said.
'
— Robert A. Sklar
Corrections
• In "Let Music Ring" (May 11, page 43), Dr. Tor A.
Schwayder, a physician and violinist who will perform
at the main Detroit Public Library May 19, is a mem-
ber of the first violin section in the Birmingham-
Bloomfield Symphony Orchestra. The orchestra's con-
certmaster is Hai Xin Wu.
• In "Hail To The Jewish Victors" (May 11, page 7), lead-
ers of the University of Michigan Hillel's Conservative
Shabbat minyan should have included Stevan Rosenberg.
• In an anniversary announcement that appeared April
20 (page 56), Dr. Bruce and Elissa Fishman acknowl-
edge the recent celebration of his parents, Sheldon and
Marilyn Fishman's 50th wedding anniversary. The
information regarding their daughter Nina's upcoming
nuptial is incorrect.
• Lillian Jaffe Oaks of Southfield, a patient in a photo-
graph with Rabbi David Nelson ("Building
Compassion," May 11, page 14), was misidentified.
5/18
2001
11