Co m munity

Mazel Toy!

cladi for hope

Photos by Bill Hansen

Twins turn bat mitzvah party into a mitzvah party benefiting kids with cancer.

SUSAN TAWIL
Special to the Jewish News

A

s parents, "our objective in
bringing children into the
world is to make it a better
world," said Billy Levin.
He and his wife, Joanne, celebrated
their twin daughters' bat mitzvah Feb.
10 with a classmate party that reflected
this philosophy.
About 30 Beth Jacob School for Girls
seventh-graders joined Sora Rochel and
Rivkah Leah Levin, 12, for the festivities
in their Oak Park home. Following a
spaghetti dinner and congratulatory
toasts with sparkling Zinfandel grape
juice, the girls stuffed and sewed toy
frogs to donate to cancer patients at
Children's Hospital of Michigan in
Detroit. They also wrote cards to the
unknown young recipients, bearing mes-
sages of encouragement and heartfelt
wishes for recovery
Pat Sachs, Oakland regional director
of the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer
Institute, came to speak to the girls.
"It's a high form of tzedakah (right-
eous acts) to do something for someone
without even knowing who they

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2002

44

she said. "These toy frogs will help lift
the spirits of the children and give them
hope."
Joanne tells how her daughters brain-
stormed to come up with the project.
"They wanted to do something mean-
ingful for their bat mitzvah, something
to elevate it from just a party," she said.
In past years, the twins have helped
organize backyard summer carnivals to
raise money for JARC, the Farmington
Hills-based agency that assists those with
developmental disabilities, and Yad Ezra,
the Berkley-based kosher food pantry
"Sora and Rivky are very special and
kind girls," observed classmate Basya
Durden of Oak Park.
Joanne, Sora and Rivky cut out the
green and calico frog patterns ahead of
time. Some staffers from Opinion
Search, Joanne's Southfield-based market
research firm, also pitched in to help.
Local seamstress Marina Calhoun of
Marina's Alterations Inc. in Oak Park
donated her time to sew up the frogs
three-quarters of the way.
At the party, each girl turned her frog
right-side out, filled it with dried pinto
beans, hand-stitched the opening closed
and glued on craft-project eyes.

Meanwhile, the girls laughed, shmoozed
and spilled enough beans for next week's
chblent (Shabbat stew).
When the frogs were completed, Sora
and Rivky passed out note cards on
which their classmates wrote poems and
stories about their particular frog. They
decorated the cards and envelopes with
hearts, flowers and expressions of friend-
ship, love and encouragement, such as
"Get Better Really Soon!" "Be Strong!"
"Don't Give Up!" "Hugs and Kisses to a
Very Special Friend" and "If you are ever
feeling sad and alone, just hug Hopper
and be full of hope."
"I'm really proud of their accomplish-
ments and their thoughtfulness for oth-
ers," said Joanne's mother, Grandma
Bobbi (Roberta Schare of Oak Park),
who helped out at the party
"It's nice to start off as a bat mitzvah
by doing a mitzvah like this," said class-
mate Tzipi Krupnik of Windsor.
"I hope getting the frogs will make the
children happy," said Mushky Nachlas
of Oak Park.
Said Malky Kresch of Southfield: "We
learned that we can give instead of
always getting:1-1

A bove left: Sandwiched between the bat

mitzvah twins Rivkah, left, and Sora
Levin, right, is their younger brother
Ari, 7. They hold a drawing of the trio
made by Sora.
Top: Pat Sachs of Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Institute talks to
the party goersabout working with
children with cancer.
Bottom: Gitty Ruginfeld, 12, of
Southfield fills a frog with beans.

