Day School Boosters

Workmen's Circle
Honors The Bergs

Yeshivat Akiva honors gymnasium donors and a longtime
volunteer with Torah Builder, Chesed awards.

Oak Park-based Workmen's Circle-
Arbeter Ring-The Circle of Jewish
Culture paid tribute to sculptor
Irving Berg and his wife, choreogra-
pher Harriet Berg, at the organiza-
tion's annual
event, A Shenere

DIANA LIEBERMAN

Copy Editor/Education Writer

he first time Edward Meer of Bloomfield
Hills walked into Yeshivat Akiva, the
school's honors choir was practicing.
"I could have built a whole building for
Akiva I was so taken by the choir," he said. Instead,
Meer and his wife, Gloria, gave the Orthodox day
school what they really needed — funding for a new
gym.
For their generosity to Akiva, and to many other
Jewish schools and organizations throughout the
Detroit area, the Meers were honored May 5 with the
Akiva Torah Builder Award. The occasion was the
Southfield school's 38th annual banquet, held this year
at Burton Manor in Livonia.
The event also honored one of the school's longtime
volunteers, Sanford Eisenberg, with the Community
Chesed Award. In presenting the award, former Akiva
president Dr. Stuart Teger said he was unable to think
of anyone who could accomplish as much as Eisenberg
"with as much class.
'At the end of the day, whatever he does has become a suc-
cess, because he wouldn't have it any other way."
Along with brother Barry, Eisenberg has been instrumental
in organizing Akiva's annual Chinese auction. Among his
other contributions to the community, he is a past president of
both Young Israel of Greenfield and Young Israel of Southfield,
and serves on the board of the Berkley-based kosher food
bank, Yad Ezra. 'All I ever talk about is Akiva," Eisenberg said.
"In an ever-changing world and society, AkiVa has remained
unchanged in its mission."
The evening also included a performance by the choir •
Edward Meer heard on his first visit to the school, formally
known as the Gedalya Mitchell Kol Haneshama Youth Choir.
At the close of its program, the choir welcomed the Meers
with a special version of Andrew Sisters' standard, "Bei Mir
Bist Du Schon," beginning with the lyrics: "Mr. and Mrs.
Meer, we're glad to have you here ..."
On the plaque the couple received from Akiva board mem-
ber Dr. Joseph Greenbaum was an inscription praising them
for their "uncommon goodness and generosity." In accepting
the award, Edward Meer said he was thrilled with the enthusi-
asm of the school and its students, and happy to be able to
contribute to its academic progress and devotion to Judaism.
"You've got to feel good in order to study well," he said.
The gym donated by Edward and Gloria Meer, to be built
adjacent to Akiva's building on 12 Mile Road in Southfield,
should be ready for use by the start of the new school year. The
Meers have also donated a gym to Oak Park's Beth Jacob School
for Girls, a division of Southfield-based Yeshiva Beth Yehudah.
"While many have contributed to the community, it's the
Meers' willingness and desire to do so that is unusual," said
Dr. Greenbaum. "I'd like to thank them for allowing us to
point to them as an example of what Akiva Day School
stands for."

❑

Related editorial: page 33

Above: Gabriel Faber
of Southfield sings a
solo with Akiva
Gedalya Mitchell Kol
Haneshama Youth
Choir.

Left: Yeshivat Akiva's
2002 Torah Builder
Award honorees
Gloria and Edward
Meer.

Below left:
Akiva's immediate past
president Dr. Stuart
Teger presents the
Community Chesed
Award to Sanford
Eisenberg.

Un A Besere
Velt, May 5, at
the Oak Park
Community
Center.
The Bergs of
Detroit were
honored for
their many con-
tributions to
the Jewish and
Irving and Harriet
general com-
Berg
munities as
master artists
and teachers.
During the evening, the communi-
ty viewed a narrated slide show of
Irving Berg's sculptures at Camp
Maas in Ortonville and watched a
performance of Harriet Berg's adult
dance troupe, the Festival Dancers,
which is associated with the Jewish
Community Center of Metropolitan
Detroit.
For information on Workmen's
Circle, a secular Jewish organization
dedicated to promoting social justice
and Jewish (particularly Yiddish) cul-
ture, contact Michigan District
Director Ellen Bates-Brackett, (248)
545-0985.

Forbes Addresses
Historical Society

Charles A "Chuck" Forbes, chair and
CEO of Forbes Management Inc.,
will be the keynote speaker at the
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan
meeting 10:45 a.m. Sunday, June 2, at
Adat Shalom Synagogue, preceding a
luncheon.
Forbes, a native Detroiter, will
speak on "A Preservation Story" about
his involvement in developing a mas-
ter plan to preserve and revitalize the
Detroit Theater District. The presen-
tation will include a video showing
the relocation of the Gem Theatre-
Century Club building.
There is a charge of $25 for the
luncheon. For reservations and infor-
mation, call Rob Kaplow, (248) 827-
1869, or Jim Grey, (248) 540-9070.

5/17
2002

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