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Torah Portion

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'Barrie's
Mitzvah
Team'

Barrie s Mitzvah Team" :

Bat mitzvah unites

A TtEAJA to

TO

FIGHT CANCER

adult responsibility

with the mitzvah of

Besides being a cause for celebration,
Bat Mitzvah means - Daughter of the C.ommandment"
adulthood implies a responsibility
to the greater community.

caring for others.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StaffWriter

lthough Barrie Schwartz's bat mitzvah cele-
bration will include the expected partying,
music and dancing, the focus and site of her
bash will be anything but ordinary.
"At first, I said I wanted a bat mitzvah like everyone
else's," says Barrie, 12, of West Bloomfield of her mom's
suggestion that the festivities be held during the annual
American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay for Life event.
"At first, I didn't want to do it, but now I realize I
don't have to have a big blowout. What I'm doing is
actually what a bat mitzvah means — and it made peo-
ple realize that," Barrie says.
The Relay will take place over 24 hours, from noon
Saturday, June 8, to noon Sunday, June 9, at West
Bloomfield High School. It's actually a team affair. At
least one team member will be walking, jogging or run-
ning on the school's outdoor track throughout the
event.
Guests receiving Barrie's invitation to see her
called to the Torah as a bat mitzvah, Aug. 31 at
Adat Shalom Synagogue, also were given a matching
lavender-printed announcement of the formation of
"Barrie's Mitzvah Team."
Asking guests to attend the Relay, the card explains:
"Besides being a cause for celebration, bat mitzvah
means 'daughter of the commandment.' Adulthood

implies a responsibility to the greater community."
Not only is Barrie not having a typical party, she is
also not expecting typical gifts. While the Relay is
designed to celebrate survivorship and remember those
who have died from cancer, it is also the single largest
fund-raiser each year for the cancer society
So, each of Barrie's guests has been sent a special
note that reads: "The goal of my 'Mitzvah Team' is to
raise money in the fight against cancer. So, in lieu of a
gift, please make a tax-deductible donation to the
American Cancer Society." Ten days before the Relay,
donations in honor of Barrie had already exceeded
$5,000.

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service that Adat Shalom Rabbi Daniel Nevins will
lead.
Barrie, a seventh-grader at Walled Lake Middle
School, will participate in a sundown Luminaria
Ceremony, a tribute held in memory of those who lost
their lives to cancer and in honor of those who have
won their battle with the disease.
"I will walk in the ceremony for my grandma,"
Barrie says.
She is named for her Grandma Blanche Brasch, who
died of breast cancer 17 years ago. "I never met her,"
Barrie says, "but when we decided to do something for
charity, we leaned more to cancer because of her."

Everyone's Invited

Special Planning

Included among Barrie's 400 expected guests at the
Relay will be her parents, Karen and Robert Schwartz,
and brothers, Josh, 10, and Mitchell, 7, as well as
grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins — and many,
many friends.
"We sent invitations to everyone we know," Karen
Schwartz says. "Then we passed out the donation card
to 100 more people."
To assure the track is continuously filled with Barrie's
guests, the adults were asked to attend at times specified
on the invitation. Her friends were invited to come any-
time, bring a sleeping bag and plan to spend the night.
All of Barrie's guests are invited to join in a Havdalah

While the months before a b'nai mitzvah party usually
involve ordering theme-based centerpieces and booking
a D.J., Karen Schwartz spent her time differently.
"I didn't have to meet with a caterer or a florist.
Instead, I was out there renting a tent and ordering a
rock-climbing wall," she says of her family's contribu-
tion to the carnival theme of. the Relay.
"We're hoping if each team has a carnival-like activi-
ty at their campsite, it will give participants an excuse to
go visit with each team," says Jaimi Tarnow, community
development director from the ACS Great Lakes
Division in Southfield.
And it's that type of connection that brought the

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