Staff Notebook Rumplestiltskin Skyline & The Back Street Horns Simone Vitale Band Hot Ice • Cassens Murphy , The Shun. new building • Rave JoyRide Nightline • Radio City Higher. Ground Persuasion • L'USA Cheers • intrigue pening services at the Shul-Chabad Lubavitch brought a full house of Rosh Hashanah congregants. "It was the first time we opened our doors and we used every inch of our building," says Itty Shemtov, who directs the Shul with her husband, Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov. "We filled all 200 seats in our sanctuary and had five chil- dren's programs going." The worshippers came from "all different parts of Judaism and many were not affiliated with other syna- gogues," she says. For those unfamiliar with the Orthodox service and the separate seating for men and women, ushers and greeters were on hand. "After Yom Kippur, two girls who had been to our service came back with a camera," Itty Shemtov says. "They had a school photography assignment to take a picture describing •the word 'serene' so they came back to take a picture of the Shul." After eight years of services held in the Shemtovs' West Bloomfield home, the congregation is settling into its new building, also in West Bloomfield. Last Shabbat, Sept. 21, was the first bar mitzvah service — that of Isaac Adler of West Bloomfield. Next up at the Shul are Simchat Torah services, 7:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 28. "We've called the evening, `Saturday Night Live at the Shul,'" says Itty Shemtov. 0 Nouveaute Sun Messengers Teen Angels The Jerry Ross Band Call for a free video consultation Lorio Ross Entertainmentinc Call (248) 398-9711 9/27 2002 12 Standing Room Only At New Shul 505 S. Lafayette • Royal Oak www.lorioross.com Oc00621.0j — Shelli Liebman Dorfman Where Have All The Flowers Gone? embers of Detroit's Jewish community who visit- ed Machpelah Cemetery during the High Holidays were disturbed to find no flowers at the graves of their relatives. Barbara and Leslie Hubert of West Bloomfield, who have more than 20 relatives interred at Machpelah, said that, in most years, the flowers at the Machpelah graves are "skimpy and not adequately watered." This year, they said, the Ferndale cemetery "did not have flowers planted before Father's Day in June, and now, in September, before the High Holidays, they have been removed." According to Paul Saville of Machpelah Cemetery, where about 16,000 people are buried, the cemetery grounds had an unusually severe problem with weeds this year. "We had about 25-30 complaints about the weeds on the graves," he said. "We had to get the weeds while they were active. In the future, we will be spraying for weeds before the flowers go in." Saville said he had looked at the flowers a week before the holiday. "The flowers were in such bad shape because of the drought, it would have been a. bad thing for. families to come out and see the graves like that," he said. "I wrote a letter to my board members telling them I was taking out the flowers." Machpelah Cemetery is in the midst of an improvement project, and this project further complicates maintenance in the short term, Saville said. By the end of November, the cemetery intends to straighten about 6,000 monuments. Hundreds of yards of topsoil are being dumped on the cemetery grounds for this project. Barbara Hubert was not satisfied with this explanation. "The cemeteries to the north and south of Machpelah had flowers," she said. 'And my family is buried at Chesed Shel Emet in Clinton Township, and their flowers were in beau- tiful condition." • Diana Lieberman Man Sentenced In Arson Attempt ared Bryan Goldenberg, who pleaded no contest to two charges stemming from a March 30 fire at the National Shrine of the Little Flower, was sentenced Sept. 18 in Oakland County Circuit Court. The charges were burning property valued at $20,000 or more and eth- nic intimidation. Judge Fred Mester placed Goldenberg on probation for 24 months, in lieu of 183 days in jail. In addition, the Huntington Woods resident was placed on a tether that monitors his movements and requires him to spend the majority of his time at home. Goldenberg, 26, must pay $1,200 in restitution and write a letter of apology to the church, a landmark at 12 Mile and Woodward in Royal Oak. "He's a nice young man and the judge recognized that," said Richard Lustig, Goldenberg's Birmingham-based attor- ney. "This was an aberration in his life, and hopefully he'll never see the inside of a courtroom again." The church sustained minimal smoke damage from the fire, which had been set in a basement restroom wastebas- ket. No one was hurt. In addition, Stars of David were found spray-painted on the walls of the men's restroom. — Diana Lieberman J Correction In "L'Shanah Tovah," (Sept. 6, page 14), the Torah given to the Marvin and Betty Danto Family Health Care Center in West Bloomfield was donated by the Saginaw Jewish community.