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December 13, 2002 - Image 14

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 2002-12-13

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

This Week

Cantor's Case Resolved

C

antor Samuel Greenbaum of
Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park,
charged six months ago with operating a
motor vehicle under the influence of
liquor while driving to perform a bris, pleaded
guilty to a lesser charge of reckless driving.
The cantor was originally charged June 18 after
being stopped by Oakland County Sheriff's
deputies as he was headed to the bris of Matthew
Gutman in Commerce Township. Last week in
52-1 Division District Court in Novi, he pleaded
guilty to the lesser charge,
which is non-alcohol -related.
The Gutmans rescheduled the
bris with another mohel (ritu-
al circumciser).
Sheriff Capt. Michael
McCabe said the cantor
admitted to having a couple
of glasses of wine at a bris he
performed earlier that day.
But the cantor maintains that
alcohol was not the cause of
his erratic driving. He said his Cantor
Greenbaum
driving pattern was caused
because he was having diffi-
culty with directions and was using his cell
phone.
"I said all along that alcohol was not a factor in
the incident," Cantor Greenbaum said Wednesday
in a telephone interview with the Jewish News.
In a letter written to his membership at Beth
Shalom this week, he wrote: "If I had not been
detained, the bris ceremony would have been per-
formed in my usual meaningful and expert fash-
ion."
The cantor said he was satisfied with the lesser
charge. The plea was brought before Judge
Michael Batchik on Dec. 2 by Prosecutor Lisa
Hamameh and the cantor's attorney, Gerald
Gordinier of Rochester Hills.
"The fact that Jerry is my son-in-law made the
whole process more bearable," the cantor said of
Gordinier.
The Dec. 5 sentencing by Judge Batchik
includes one year of probation. According to
Joyce Renfrow, deputy court administrator of the
52-1 Division Court, during this time, "he may
not be charged with a criminal offense, may have
no alcohol or illegal drugs, must attend a victims
impact panel and must submit to both drug test-
ing at the request of his probation officer and to
pre-treatment outpatient substance abuse counsel-
ing."
Court administrator Michelle Bilger said the
judge had the latitude to tailor the sentence to
this specific case.
The cantor was fined $360 in probation over-
sight expenses and $655 in other costs and fines.
Throughout the past six months, the cantor has
continued to be a part of the Beth Shalom clergy
and has continued to work as a certified mohel, a
position he has held for 28 years.
"People have had faith in me," he said. "People
have been nice and supportive — especially my con-

12/13

2002

14

Staff Notebook

gregation. I have not had even one negative call."
In his letter to his congregation, Cantor
Greenbaum included an apology and expressed
deep regret for embarrassment caused to the syna-
gogue and the Detroit Jewish community. He also
expressed gratitude for support he received.
With the understanding that there are still some
who may have doubts, he wrote, "I will work
toward re-establishing your trust. Throughout my
career, there is nothing I have valued more than
the respect and love of the Jewish community." ❑

— Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Greetings From The Past

eremy Wernow of Reston, Va., sent us an e-
mail looking for help in identifying a loca-
tion in Detroit that may have been visited
by his great-great-great-grandfather circa 1910s.
He sent along a vintage photograph that includes
his relative and another man seated at a small
table. Their photo is in the form of a Rosh
Hashanah card and has a traditional Hebrew
greeting at the top.
A Yiddish inscription on the back provided
clues to the identity of Wernow's relative. Under
the photograph is this name and address: J.
Gorman, 410 Hastings St., Detroit.
"This is very interesting to us because my fami-
ly is from New York and we don't have any family
in the Michigan area" that they know of, Wernow
said.
Anyone with information for him is invited to
e-mail jeremy_wemow@yahoo.corn

— Keri Guten Cohen

Schindler In Battle Creek

B

attle Creek is not generally known as a
hotbed of Jewish culture.
But on Dec. 28, the city in southern
Michigan will become the only site in the state so
far to host a prestigious traveling exhibit about
German-Catholic Holocaust rescuer Oskar
Schindler. The 600-square-foot exhibit, assembled
by the Washington, D.C.-based U. S. Holocaust
Museum, will be housed through Jan. 29 at Temple
Beth El, 306 Capital Ave. N.E..
Area schools have signed up to tour the exhibit dur-
ing the week, with retired teachers and temple members
acting as guides. The exhibit will be open to the public
from 1-4 p.m. Sunday-Monday, Dec. 28-29; with dates
next month: Jan. 4, 11-12, 18-19 and 25-26.
The effort to bring the show to Battle Creek was
spearheaded by Margaret Lincoln, media specialist at
the city's Lakeview High School.
Lincoln is a Mandel Fellow of the U.S. Holocaust
Museum, one of 15 educators accepted each year
from throughout the United States to participate in
an all-expense-paid summer institute at the muse-
um. Following the intensive five-day institute, par- .
ticipants are expected to create and implement an
outreach program at their schools, communities or
professional organizations. In May of the following
year, they return to Washington to assess their
efforts and continue their study of the Holocaust.
In addition to her Mandel Fellowship, Lincoln
received a W.K. Kellogg Foundation grant to bring
the Schindler exhibit to Battle Creek.
Along with the exhibit, the city will host a talk by
Holocaust survivor Nesse Godin, who is a member
of the U.S. Holocaust Museum Speakers Bureau.
Godin's talk will take place 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 7, at
the Battle Creek Federal Center.
Admission to the talk is by advance ticket only. For
information, contact Margaret Lincoln, (269) 565-
3730, or e-mail mlincoln@bc-lakeview.k12.mi.us

— Diana Lieberman

Scrolls Scholar's Books Sold

ove Booksellers in Dearborn reports it has a
buyer for the remainder of the library accu-
mulated by Harvard Professor John
Strugnell, former editor of the Dead Sea Scrolls
Project ("Rare Volumes," page 20, Nov. 22).
"A newly organized seminary in California has
agreed to buy all remaining volumes," said book-
store co-owner Jeffrey Ball. Dove Booksellers is a
new and used bookstore that deals in academic
materials, including early Judaism and Christianity
as well as the rabbinic period just before and after
the time of the Second Temple.
Ball said the staff will be shipping about 3,000
books still unsold from the collection he secured
from the ailing professor in Cambridge, Mass.

— Esther Allweiss Tschirhart

The mystery Rosh Hashanah card.

(Editor's Note: financial information and the name of
the seminary were not disclosed by the book seller, pend-
ing conclusion of the deal.)

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