The Big Story

Seth, 7, and Cheri
Blazofiky of West
Bloomfield check
out Apples 6-
Honey's beehive
display.

Carrie Suvelsky,
12, of Farmington
Hills helps Lorne
Newhouse, 6, of
West. Bloomfield
make bath salts.

Rose Rubin, 8, of
Farmington Hills
gets a whale
c5
painted on her
face by Peter
Cooper of Oak
Park.

9/27
2002

100

magic show. The event was co-
sponsored by the Agency for
Jewish Education's Jewish
Experiences For Families
(JEFF), Michigan Coalition on
the Environment and Jewish
Life, the Jewish News and the
Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit.
The crowd loved it.
One boy, about 3, was drag-
ging around a multi-colored
chain — a chain that reached
halfway across the room (a
sukkah decoration). Nathan
Chomsky, "almost 9," of
Southfield was having fun creat-
ing his own "Seven-Species
Mobile."
Designs, showing the seven
species native to Israel, had been
printed on a sheet of acetate.
Volunteer Allison Berlin
explained that children first col-
ored the designs, then cut them
out and hung them. The results
"look a lot like a sun catcher."
"I think it was this," Nathan
said when asked about his
favorite activity this evening.
The family sukkah isn't up
yet; that's tomorrow's project.
"Me and my dad are going to
do it," Nathan said. "It's made
of wood."
Is it a lot of work getting it
built?
"Kind of," he admits.
But once it's done, there are
lots to use for decorations.
Nathan attends Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit
in Farmington Hills, which, like
any decent Jewish day school in
the world, affords students
many opportunities for making
sukkah decorations. By the time
a student has gone through five
years of a day school he may
have, say, tvvo million of these.
But the family loves attending
the "Apples & Honey" events.
So Nathan's Mom, Susan,
laughs if you ask, "Do you have
any of Nathan's projects to use
in the sukkah?"
"O0000h yes," she says.
At other tables, guests could
make a "Tree of Life" out of
foam, with cutout apple shapes
for the name of each family
member. Or they could write
their dearest wish on the "Wall
of Wishes," made of cereal

boxes covered with brown paper
(think: recycling).
The wishes ranged from "I
want to marry Brett" to a hope
that a father would "return safe-
ly from Florida" to a wish for "a
sucker, a peppermint patty and
my rock" to "peace in Israel" to
the tender hope for "a baby
boy."

Etrog Salts

Everything around volunteer
Mimi Markofsky smelled deli-
cious.
Though she is best known

Matthew
Hamill, 2,
of Waterford
colors a
Simchat
Torah flag.

for her cooking expertise, this
evening Markofsky was helping
everyone get ready to get
soaked.
Standing beside a table cov-
ered with a purple plastic cloth,
Markofsky had the idea of let-
ting children make bath salts.
But don't even think about —
ho hum — vanilla- or straw-
berry-scented salts. Instead,
children could make almond-
(one of the seven species native
to Israel) or etrog- scented salts.
"We're not putting Ahava out
of business," Markofsky said.
(Ahava is one of Israel's leading
producers of Dead Sea cosmetic
.products, including lotions and
bath salts.) "But this is a great
craft for kids."