This Week

For Openers

i g An Opportunity
Maximizin

I

Dow

© 2001

n the weeks before starting seventh grade at Berkshire Middle
By Goldfein
School in Beverly Hills in August, 13-year-old Max Neistein
did more than his share of school supply shopping.
nlike Yom Kippur, which cannot
After learning the kids at Lessenger Elementary School in
begin on a Saturday night, which
Oak Park needed help getting school supplies, he turned his bar
25-hour fast observed during the
mitzvah project into a drive to collect the items. His West Bloomfield
Jewish year can begin on a
home became a crowded storage site.
After distributing more than 10 dozen fly-
Saturday evening?
ers explaining his plan, Max was over-
.auqqmis Jo uoIsnpuoD
whelmed with contributions.
alp Surmolloj urSaq treo Av,q ELisn uo isuj aqa
He took the $500 in donations to area
‘.Triddr-N tuox 03 .rood paambai sr sE caEqq-etis
stores, where he bargained for discounted
ami
uo paJEclaad aq lou pinop LIDTLIM
pencils and paper from Office Max and
-saj qapn. uISaq aou paau QST1EDD ill :.13MSIW
sidewalk chalk from Warren's Prescriptions,
both in Farmington Hills.
At the request of Lessenger Principal Ron
Payok, Max also secured a book for each
SHELLI LIEBMAN child. The school is supported by Jewish
There once was a woman named Shmeer
DORFMAN
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
Who said to her husband, "Look here!
Staff Writer
Neighborhood Project, where Max's mom,
My tummy tuck's done."
Amy, is director.
He said, on the run,
Lori Fidler, director of Oak Park Business
"A gezunt dir in pupik,* my dear."
and Education Alliance, suggested he contact American Express
about their First Day of School
— Martha Jo Fleischmann
America grant.
"He wrote to them and said,
(literal) Good health to your bellybutton.
`My parents always take a picture
(figurative) Thanks for your favor.
of me wearing my backpack on
the first day of school,'" his
mother said. "Then he asked for
backpacks for all 300 students at
A totally different experience, but maybe it pre-
Lessenger, and they said yes."
pared
me for such shock."
Max was present at the school's
—Fred
Gompertz, 77, a survivor of Kristallnacht,
open house when American
comparing the 1938 pogrom in Germany to the
Express representatives distrib-
Sept. 11 terrorist attack. He lives in New York
uted the backpacks.
Max Neistein and the boxes and ba g
s o f
neighborhood of Battery Park City, just yards away
"The project took a lot of
school supplies he delivered to Lessenger
from the World Trade Center.
time, but it was very worth it to
Elementary School.
see the kids when they got their
"My father called while I was doing the show He
backpacks," Max says.
I
said,
'You know I don't interfere in your work,
(lesson)
at
his
Oct.
13
bar
mitzvah
service
at
In Max's dvar Torah
but this show you're doing, are you sure about the
Temple Kol Ami, his mom says, "He told everyone that the project
tide?'"
taught him how happy people are to help and that a kid can really
—Stephen Engeh executive producer of the new
make a difference." ❑
TV show "Inside Schwartz," which is built around a
Jewish character.

U

■

Yiddish Limericks

r • r.• e w

AeL

) On Jewishidelitity----

A World Jewish Congress poll shows
IsraelifeeLitkreasingly worried about
-itisrna d
worldwide anti:Sein
for r-esesCung-
qmselyes as re
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Jews in dan
ishitiw
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www. detrortieWn

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Jewish?

in
The two JeWiMOW.
Afghanistan are it'irs4o:k:-2,700-year-
old Jewish presence that' May include
members of the tribe that makes up
the ruling Taliban.
www.detroitjewishnews.com/news

Qinotables

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Toti.(1 1 .5 SERMoM is ENTITLED

SECRET TO HAPPINJGSS."

wi'APevi:` THE SECRET TO
H A PPIN ESS 15 TO BE A

GO0P peRSOki

American Red Cross President
Bernadine Healy is embraced by Jackie
Frederick, Red Cross senior vice presi-
dent for biological services.

) To Mat For Israel

"Deep principle" of Israel issue
pushed Red Cross leader to quit.

www.detroitjewishnews.com/news

) Survivor Nightmares

A group of Czech Holocaust survivors
has traveled to Poland to mark the 60th
anniversary of the first Czech transports
to Lodz.

www.detroitjewishnews.com/news

(A)61-1., THAT'S lT... STAB TUNED
FOR NEXT WEEK'S MUCH
1.-ONGER SERMON, ENTITLED
"lAY-4U THE SECRET To HAPP-
(NESS IS A 1,1TTLE MORE CO/1P-
1,1CATG17 THAN SOU MI G HT
THINK"

) What's Eating Harry
Xirsbaum?

Times are tough here and around the
world, but what explains this feeling of
dread?
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— Joshua ,Paul Cane,
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