Staff Notebook/News Digest

Massaging Olympians

ulie Wineman is bound for Salt
Lake City, Utah — one of 200
massage therapists (nine from
Michigan) selected to assist athletes at
the 2002 Paralympics Winter Games,
March 4-20.
The Paralympics Games showcase the
world's premier athletes with disabili-
ties. Some 1,000 athletes and team offi-
cials from 36 countries will participate.
"It's an honor to be chosen," says
Wineman, 37, of Novi, a member of
the American Massage Therapy
Association since 199'0.
Originally, the Paralympics commit-
tee didn't want to offer massage, she
says, but athletes sent letters request-
ing the service.
"We're not paid, we're all volun-
teers," she says.
Wineman is seeking sponsorship
donations for her airfare, uniforms
and food expenses. Therapists will stay
with host families.
Massage helps athletes by preventing
the buildup of lactic acid, she says, which
causes soreness and muscle fatigue. "Pre-
event massages can warm up muscles and
enhance their performance. After a game,
massage can cool down athletes, stretch
their muscles and bring them down from
their high energy level."
Wineman has provided massage
therapy to professional athletes,
including New York Knicks basketball
players. She works with her brother,
William Finn, at his chiropractic office
in Wixom.
To be a sponsor for her trip, call
Wineman at (248) 669-0681.

— Sharon Zuckerman

Youth Meet Israelis

T

2/22
2002

32

he United States-Israel Youth
Ambassadors Exchange hasn't
gone away — it has just mor-
phed into a new and potentially less-
dangerous form.
For 25 years, this national program
has enabled non-Jewish American stu-
dents to live with Israeli families in the
fall, while Israeli teens visit their
American partners in the spring. But
with the current intifada (Palestinian
uprising) now a year-and-a-half old,
American teens and their families are
less willing to risk a trip to a place
many regard as a war zone.
So the American-Israel Friendship
League, which sponsors the program,
has moved everything to Washington,
D.C. For six days beginning Feb. 24,
young people from Israel and the
United States will meet to discuss

world issues, learn about each other's
cultures, and simply hang out together.
•Among them will be five local stu-
dents, sponsored by the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit and the Detroit and Oak Park
public schools. Detroit Public School
students are Abdul Muhammad of
Northern High School, Torey Henry
of Western International High School
and Taralyn Sanders of Cass Tech High
School. From Oak Park High School
are Michael Habbo and Jenisha Evans.
Martin Kaye, social studies teacher
at Oak Park High, helped choose that
school's student representatives, who
are both in 12th grade.
"We wanted students who were very
good as far as academics are concerned,
and who would be able to report back
to their schools and the Council," said
Kaye. Evans will attend the University
of Michigan next year, he said, while
Habbo has not yet selected a college.
Sponsors from Detroit's Jewish com-
munity have underwritten the cost for
local students.

— Diana Lieberman

Financial Rainbow

A

fter a year of financial
upheaval, both nationally and
locally, Michigan Region B'nai
B'rith Youth Organization has
achieved a record in fund-raising. But
it may need another record this year to
maintain programming.
BBYO, with nearly 1,000 Jewish
teen members in metropolitan
Detroit, Windsor and Ann Arbor,
raised $85,000 in 2001, a 27 percent
increase over 2000.
In 2001, BBYO spun off from B'nai
B'rith International. Independence

cost Michigan BBYO $78,000 in BBI
funding towards the region's $345,000
budget.
In July, four philanthropists pledged
a total of $1 million to national BBYO
to make up the BBI cut. The four
included Michael Steinhardt, chairman
of Jewish Renaissance Media, parent
company of the Jewish News.
Arnie Weiner, BBYO Michigan
Region director, said BBYO Inc. later
agreed to fund the salaries of all
regional directors.
As an additional source of BBYO
Michigan funding, the B'nai B'rith
Great Lakes Region pledged $40,000
out of its funds plus $10,000 raised
from its annual golf classic. But, said
Weiner, BBYO has received only
$10,000. "It's still their intent to give
us the rest by June," he said.
Sherry Kanter, chairman of
Michigan BBYO, credits Great Lakes
B'nai B'rith President John Rofel for
making BBYO a priority. She also
credits the community's efforts and
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit for saving the program.
Federation gave BBYO a $25,000
grant last year to help make up for the
loss of BBI's funding. Michigan BBYO
also received an $86,000 allocation
from Federation's Annual Campaign.
But the next allocation is expected to
increase by only 1 percent.
Rick Segal, local BBYO vice chair,
said it will be at least a month "before
we know what BBYO Inc. is going to
do" financially for its regions. And
Kanter worries that the economy will
affect Michigan Region BBYO's fund-
raising effort this year.
"I'm more cautious than last year,"
she said. "We need people in the com-
munity to help us out."

Non-Orthodox
Conversions Ok'd

Tel Aviv/JTA — Israel's High Court
of Justice ordered the Interior
Ministry to formally recognize non-
Orthodox conversions.
In a 9-2 decision Wednesday, the
court ruled that the ministry recog-
nize Reform and Conservative con-
versions for the purpose of registering
converts as Jewish on Israeli identity
cards. The ruling applies to Reform
and Conservative conversions per-
formed in Israel as well as abroad.
Previously, non-Orthodox conver-
sions performed in Israel were not
officially recognized.
The ruling did not address conver-
sion policy for purposes of marriage
and the Law of Return. Reacting to
the ruling, Israel's Chief Ashkenazi
Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau said the
Orthodox Chief Rabbinate would not
recognize non-Orthodox conversions
for the purpose of marriage.

AJCommittee Helps
Afghan Refugees

New York/JTA — The American
Jewish Committee gave $50,000 to
the U.N. High Commissioner for
Refugees for relief in Afghanistan.
The contribution is the second
major donation from the
AJCommittee to the U.N. agency,
and the second time the group has
worked with them to aid Muslim
refugees. In 1999, AJCommittee sup-
ported the High Commissioner's
efforts on behalf of Kosovar refugees.

— Alan Hitsky

Corrections

Palestinians Killed
In Reprisals

• In "Heart To Heart" (Feb. 15, page 86), the name of JARC's office build-
ing was misspelled. The correct name is the Paul and Lois Katzman
Administration Building. Also, the name of JARC's Independent Living
Divisio-n is the
Shetzer Division.
• In "Light The
Candles" (Feb. 15,
page 50), the photo
of Rachel Zemmol,
7, of Huntington
Woods was misiden-
tified. She is shown
with Golda
Rosenstein, 16, of
Oak Park lighting
Shabbat candles.

Jerusalem/JTA — At least 14
Palestinians were killed Wednesday in
Israeli reprisals.
The air, sea and ground reprisals on
Palestinian security positions across
the West Bank and Gaza Strip fol-
lowed the killing of six Israeli soldiers
at a Ramallah-area roadblock Tuesday
night. Twelve of the dead were
Palestinian security officers.
In one of the Israeli reprisals, a mis-
sile struck a short distance from
Palestinian Authority leader Yasser
Arafat's offices in Ramallah, shatter-
ing windows near his desk, but leav-
ing him unharmed. Israeli troops

NEWS DIGEST on page 24

