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.)