For Openers
Colors Of Unity
I
t was hard not to notice the display of Israeli blue
and white while traveling through the University
of Michigan grounds on Yom HaAtzmaut.
His T-shirt project is just one of several pro-Israel
student initiatives financially supported by U-M Hillel.
Hamagshimim, the university Zionist movement
sponsored by Hadassah, donated $750 to bring the cost
of the shirts down to $5 each.
The memory of a campus dotted with blue-and-
white shirts sporting the flag of Israel will no doubt be
a lasting one for students who know they are making a
difference with their support of Israel.
"This is a time for action," Brooks says. "These diffi-
cult days will indelibly shape the Jewish identities of
this generation of students." ❑
On April 17, Israel Independence Day, 700 students
literally wore their support for Israel on their backs in
the shape of specially designed T-shirts.
The plan to create the shirts came from U-M sopho-
more Jacob Cohen, 20, of West Bloomfield after an
Israeli-born friend, Ron Alkalay, 19, of West
— Shelli Liebman Dorfman, staff writer
Bloomfield draped an Israeli flag over his shoul-
ders at an April 10 pro-Israel rally on the Ann
* *
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Arbor campus.
****.'
Within hours, classmate David Binswanger,
20, of Atlanta was working on a design for the
shirt and Cohen was at an Ann Arbor T-shirt
company getting purchasing information.
Next, with the help of their fraternity brothers
at Alpha Epsilon Pi and other classmates, they
started canvassing the campus, taking orders for
the shirts.
Just 36 hours after the idea was sparked,
Cohen placed the order for 700 shirts, with the
wording: "Wherever we stand ... we stand with
Israel," echoing the theme of the April 10 rally
that brought together 400 students. In Hebrew
block lettering is the line, Am Yisrael Chai (the
nation of Israel lives).
Adam Jahnke, Jacob Cohen, Adam Linkner and Ari Scharg, all
The words signal "that however much we may of West Bloomfield wear Yom HaAtzmaut T-shirts.
disagree on our political and philosophical posi-
tions about what is happening in the Middle
East, we all unequivocally support Israel's right to live
in peace and security," says Michael Brooks, executive
director of U-M Hillel. "These words have been adopt-
©2002
ed by International Hillel as the theme of the national
student presence at this week's [April 15] rally in
Washington, D.C."
The T-shirt project is one of many initiated by stu-
dent Israel activists at the school this year, according to
he Passover seder plate sometimes has a
Brooks. "Large numbers of students have been tirelessly
place for a food named chazeret. Do
active," he says. "It is exhilarating to see so many of
you
know what this is?
them taking the lead."
Cohen found support from U-M Hillel came in the
form of more than just praise.
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pro- and anti-Isra4<lemonsira,tfons as
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wvvw.detroitjewishnews.com/opinion
www.jewish.com
) Mideast Update
The latest news from the war-torn Middle East.
www.jewish.com
Quotables
"To my knowledge, this is the first time a person
has been attacked in Berlin for looking Jewish
since 1945."
— Werner Schmidt, a spokesman for the German
consulate in New York City, responding to the New
Jersey yeshivah student who was seriously hurt when
attacked in a Berlin hate crime. He was there as
part- of a Lubavitch outreach to help Russian immi-
grants hold a seder
"Our tradition speaks clearly regarding what our
response must be. As Jews, we are called to
action."
— Rabbi Harold Loss of Temple Israel, in response
to this week's Stand With Israel Shabbat in the
Detroit Jewish community.
Yiddish Limericks
Each time I consider a get*
I urge myself not to forget
That Pnipple** my frau
Has built up by now
Could retire the national debt.
— Martha Jo Fleischniann
* Jewish divorce
a secret cache kept by a wife; nest egg
4/19
2002
11