This Week Insight Remember When • Connecting With Victims From the pages of the Jewish News from this week 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years ago. B'nai Moshe members aid an Israeli family devastated by terrorism. DON COHEN Special to the Jewish News I In late November, B'nai Moshe members Len and Ann Wanetik and Jeff and Cindy Diskin. met Korin dur- ing a visit to Israel and gave her Chanukah gifts and a check for $7,000 to help meet family needs in the wake of the tragedy. The funds were raised in the 10 days between approval by the syna- gogue's board of directors — which guaranteed a congregational contribu- tion of at least $5,000 — and the Wanetiks' departure for Israel. After just two Shabbat appeals and a con- gregational e-mail, the funds presented to the family were raised. Fund-raising am so happy that people who do not know us care about us." That's how Korin Ben-Aroya reacted upon learning that Congregation B'nai Moshe of West Bloomfield had "adopted" her and her children through the Mishpacha Achat (One Family) program. The program raises funds and pro- vides moral support for Israeli victims, in the wake of the horrendous "Passover Massacre" March 27, 2002, that killed 29 people and wounded 133 others. On that evening, five mem- bers of the Ben-Aroya family had sat down with relatives for a Passover seder at the Park Hotel in the Israeli coastal town of Netanya when a Hamas terrorist entered the dining room crowded with 250 people and detonated a bomb packed with nails and shrapnel. Korin's husband, Shimon Ben-Aroya, 42, was killed immediately and the rest of the je Diskin, Len Wanetik, Korin Ben-Aroya, family was seriously wounded. Korin's sister-in-law Sigalit, Ann Wanetik and Korin, also 42, was knocked Cindy Diskin. unconscious, with shrapnel penetrating her lungs. Daughter Sherry, 20, lost her right eye and is para- continues and letters, e-mails and vis- lyzed on the right side of her body and its from congregation members are 13-year-old Hila and 9-year-old Elad being encouraged. still suffer from the physical and psycho- "The sense of isolation of the aver- logical wounds they received. age person walking down the street is All eight of their relatives, including tremendous. I can't begin to imagine several children, also were seriously the sense of isolation of families of . injured. those who have been murdered or The West Bloomfield congregation wounded," said Len Wanetik, a for- was connected with the Ben-Aroya fam- mer president of the congregation. ily through Mishpacha Achat, a non- "The psychological aspect is very profit organization created in response important. There is tremendous grief to the ongoing tragedies affecting fami- and tremendous healing that needs to lies and children in Israel caused by ter- occur. Both Ann and I felt we touched rorism. The One Family Fund pro- the family in a way they needed to be motes the long-term physical and emo- touched; that we helped make a real tional health, educational, housing, difference in the lives of real people." income maintenance and other needs of Locally, support for Mishpacha survivors and their families. Achat is coordinated by Daphna Feldman of West Bloomfield, who teaches Judaic studies at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills. This past summer, Feldman, together with fellow teachers Malka Littman of West Bloomfield and Fay Kruet of Farmington Hills, spent three weeks in Israel volunteer- ing with Mishpacha Achat. When she returned, B'nai Moshe's Rabbi Elliot Pachter was so impressed by.Feldman's story he asked her to address the congregation on Yom Kippur and, in a most unusual move, she spoke in his place during Kol Nidrei services. This led to B'nai Moshe becoming the first local con .- gregation to adopt a family. To date, besides B'nai Moshe, Shomrey Emunah of Southfield, Hillel Day School and many local individuals have adopted families or otherwise pro- vided support for the work of Mishpacha Achat. The religious schools at Temple Israel and Shaatey Zedek and a class at Adat Shalom are also taking part. The need is great. According to the Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as of Jan. 11, 723 people have been killed and more than 4,500 injured by Palestinian violence and terrorism since September 2000. "Given the tight budget situation in Israel, and the methods by which funds are currently distributed, only an outpouring of individual support for individuals can bridge the gap," says local coordinator Feldman. "There are few places for these peo- ple to go and little money to support them." ❑ An educational, fund-raising event will be held at a home in West Bloomfield at 7 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 9. Dr. Jack Weinberg, a rehabilita- tion psychologist from Israel, will speak about the needs of terror vic- tims. His wife, Batia, will talk about the work of Mishpacha Achat. For an invitation, contact Daphna Feldman at (248) 626-1451. A Jewish mail carrier wins a two- year battle with the U.S. Postal Service to make rounds while wear- ing a yarmulke, without covering it with a regulation postal service cap. Greg Khaykin, formerly of Russia and an 11th-grader in a government class at Akiva Hebrew Day School, provided impromptu interpreting services in a case at the Southfield dis- trict courthouse on a class field trip. ',;*gteikkr,' Sir Immanuel Jakobovita, chief r rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the British Commonwealth, will speak on Jewish medical ethics at the fourth annual Myer Teitelbaum Lecture at Wayne State University in Detroit. 47,0134A 77,3 ' Dr. Irving S. Bernstein of Flint presents a key to the city of Flint and a letter from Mayor Frances E. Limmer to Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek during the Alpha Omega Conference in Israel. 7. • "Operation Tennis in Israel," a pro- gram designed to build 50 tennis courts in Israel this year, was launched by 75 tennis celebrities. The Israel Medical Association calls on Jewish physicians and scientists throughout the world to protest the campaign launched by the Soviet Union against Soviet Jewish physi- cians. Local rabbis affiliated with the Rabbinical Council of America will meet at the Detroit home of Rabbi I. Halpern. .11111.111111111111111111111.1 National commander of the Jewish War Veterans, Benjamin Kaufman, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, will be honored by the Detroit community at the Book- Cadillac Hotel. — Compiled by Holly Teasdle, archivist, the Rabbi Leo M Franklin Archives of Temple Beth El 1/17 2003 31