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- For Openers

From Australia ... On Holiday

fArt-c?'cha
t Know

© 2002

A

ustralian Ruth Amzalak turned a
recent visit to her family in Oak
Park into an artistic adventure,
creating a display to teach about
Jewish holidays.
.
The three-dimensional, multicolored
depiction of the celebrations of the Jewish
month of Tishrei actually was the idea of her
daughter-in-law Miriam Amzalak, president
SHELLI
of the Lubavitch Women's Organization of
LIEBMAN
•
DORFMAN Michigan.
The display, illustrating the symbols of
StaffWriter
Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and
Simchat Torah, will be on view through
Tuesday, Oct. 1, in the lobby of the Jewish
Community Center in Oak Park.
Miriam Amzalak says she knew if she could describe what
she had irt mind, her mother-in-law, an artist from
Melbourne, could do the rest. "I just asked her to portray each
of the holidays in an artistic way," she says.
The next thing she knew, the exhibit was up and running.
"The display was set up to teach people about the holidays
because many people learn in a visual way," Miriam Amzalak
says.
The display lures visitors with portrayals of Rosh Hashanah
apples; honey and a shofar, a Yom Kippur yahrtzeit candle
and a miniature sukkah, lulav and etrog for Sukkot. 'And for
Simchat Torah, there are people dancing around a big Torah,"
Miriam Amzalak says of colorful cut-out, brightly-hued fig-
urines. Printed recipes for the holidays also are on hand.
"The display is completely self-explanatory," sayS Oak Park
JCC staffer Judy Rosen, who has watched while the exhibit
has been surrounded by interested learners. 'And that's good
for the many Russian-speakers who come into the building. It
is easy to read and understand for anybody wanting to know
about the holidays — Jews and non-Jews."
Holiday brochures available to visitors were doriated
Rabbi Yochanan Polter of the Birmingham Bloomfield Chai
Center. "The 15-page colored newspaper contains laws, cus-
toms and stories about the upcoming holiday," Rabbi Polter
says of the pamphlet that he also mails to about 5,000 homes
near his synagogue.
Next up for the women's group, which in the past has set up
displays to teach about mezuzot, tzedakah, keeping kosher and
running a Jewish home, will be exhibits celebrating the
approaching Jewish months.

IV

Quotables

Above: Jacob Brull
and Joseph Bruell,
both of Southfield,
view the holiday
display.
Right: A Simchat
Torah scene.

"Mitzvot are not ideals; they are corn-
mandments addressing each one of us.
In this new year, I call upon all of us
to dream, to create, to build, to give,
to act and to risk ourselves for the
sake of our families, our community
and the people of Israel."

The next display
will be set up on
the first day of the
Jewish month of
Cheshvan, coincid-
ing with Monday,
Oct. 7. With no
Jewish holidays
occurring during
the month,
Amzalak says the
display will focus
around birthday
celebrations.
"There will be balloons, party hats, streamers and a birthday
cake," she says. "It is an exciting Jewish birthday display,
where you can find out your Jewish birthday and learn how to
celebrate it in a Jewish way"
So that Ruth Amzalak will not have to return here each
month to create upcoming exhibits, 10th-grade students at
Beis Chaya Mushka Girls High School in Oak Park have vol-
unteered to take over where she lekoff.
For information on subjects in previous displays, call
Miriam Amzalak at (248) 967-5056.0

Women's Organization.

Candlelighting

Candlelighting

Friday, Sept. 13: 7:28 p.m.

Friday, Sept. 20: 7:15 p.m.

Shabbat Ends

Shabbat Ends

Saturday, Sept. 14: 8:28 p.m.

Saturday, Sept. 21: 8:13 p.m.

and information on Shabbat

(248) 967-5056 or e-mail:

amzalak@juno.com

— Robert Aronson, chief executive
officer, at the annual meeting of the
Jewish Federation and United Jewish
Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit.

"I don't let fear limit me. A terror
attack can happen anywhere. I can't
start making graphs to figure out
where and when the next one is going
to happen."

—lizlya Flint, 17, of Kochav Yair, a
suburban community near Kfar -Saba
and very close to the West Bank border,
as quoted by JTA.

"The enemy that we have to fight is
not the Palestinians. It's the unbeliev-
able ignorance of most Jewish young
people to the beauty and centrality of
Israel in their Jewish lives."

— Richard Joel, president of Hillel: The
Foundation for Jewish Campus Lift, as
quoted by JTA.

Yiddish Limericks

Hurray for the red, white and blue;
For freedom for me and for you.
Through ashes and fears,
Past terror and tears,
The goldeneh medineh* shines true.

— Martha Jo Fleischmann

Sponsored by Lubavitch

Amzalak of Oak Park at

UO AUOLUaIDD (SSDUQAIS

tp Su!molloj panitpneis
St tptim cualDrtio alp pu ‘papunos sr
(rjotis) wog asotIm 'urea - atu :Jamstry

— Gabi Aharonov, 13, of West Bloomfield, an eighth grader,
at Beis Chaya Mushka Girls High School in Oak Park

candlelighting, call Miriam

AEp aT.p

-.10J) Sa4067/ a

"I feel the warmth of Shabbos coming from the flickering candles. I feel
a connection with my soul getting holier and higher."

message or to receive
complimentary candlesticks

— by Goldfein

LUOA

Q.10pC1

Shabbat Candlelighting

To submit a candlelighting

hich animals have spe- -
cial meaning and use
during the High
Holidays?

* (literal) golden country
(idiomatic) United States

311

9/13

2002