Staff Notebook Student Advocacy Session jr Movie mogul Irwin Winkler, IPO conductor Zubin Mehta and Nancy Mehta at a Dec. 4 Beverly Hills, Calif, benefzt that raised $300,000 for the orchestra. IPO To Ann Arbor L ocal fans of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (IPO) will have a chance to hear the group without booking a flight to Israel — if they can wait until March 20, 2004. The University Musical Society, an independent arts presenter affiliated with the University of Michigan, will feature the IPO in a performance on the Ann Arbor campus as part of the 2003-2004 concert sea- son, said Angela Duryea of Shuman Associates, the New York firm that represents the IPO. Although the IPO's 2003-2004 tour schedule is not yet complete, the orchestra has confirmed book- ings Dec. 10-16, 2003, for Los Angeles, Costa Mesa, Calif , Newark, N.J., Washington, D.C., and Carnegie Hall in New York City, Duryea said. The Israeli group, which began as the Palestine Orchestra in 1936, had been scheduled to perform at Detroit's Fox Theatre Aug. 24, 2002. That tour was canceled at all eight United States venues. So far, the Fox Theatre has not booked any IPO concerts for 2003-2004, said Kathleen Kennedy, public relations director at Olympia Entertainment. — Diana Lieberman Belgian Compensation D wring World War II, 25,000 Belgian Jews were imprisoned in the Dossin barracks in Malines, northern Belgium, awaiting depor- tation to German death camps in Poland. In the latest round of compensation claims, Belgian Jews who lost property during the Holocaust and those Jews' heirs have until March 19, 2003 to file restitution claims with Belgium's Indemnification Commission. Following the Belgian government's final report of its Study Commission on Jewish Assets, an indemnifica- tion act relating to the plundered, surrendered or aban- doned assets of the Belgian Jewish community during the Holocaust formally took effect in March 2002. In July 2002, a further indemnification agreement was reached between the Belgian Jewish Community and the Belgian Banks Association. Application forms are available at vvww.premier.fgov.be the Web site of Belgium's prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt. For more information, call Jewish Family Service in Southfield at (248) 559-4566. — Harry Kirsbaum 2/7 2003 32 ewish student leaders from throughout Michigan are gathering at Michigan State University this weekend to become better cam- pus advocates for Israel and to learn how to counter bias from campus student groups and the media. MSU Hillel's second annual Conference on Israel is expected to draw 100 students from MSU, the University of Michigan, Western, Central and Eastern Michigan universities, Kalamazoo College, and Thomas M. Cooley and MSU's law schools. Speakers at the Feb. 7-9 event include David Roet, deputy consul general of Israel; Ben Harris, United Nations speechwriter and press officer; Michael Schneider of the Twelfth House advocacy group; and Neil Lazarus of Awesome Seminars, a Mideast expert. — Alan Hitsky A Place Of His Own T here's a new option for families seeking a summer camp experience. Harvey Finkelberg, former executive director of the Fresh Air Society, has announced the opening of Wooden Acres Camp, locate _ d at the Double JJ Resort in Rothbury, Mich. It's a three-hour drive from both Detroit and Chicago to the camp, which occupies 1,500 acres of the year- round conference site. Finkelberg, Wooden Acres' owner and executive direc- tor, also will run a teen travel program. "We're looking forward to opening this summer, and we hope it will be a worthwhile endeavor," said Harvey Finkelberg Finkelberg, a 25-year vet- eran of Jewish camping. About the Fresh Air Society's Tamarack Camps, which he ran for 10 years, Finkelberg said, "It's been around for 100 years, and it will continue to be an excellent organization. Two-thousand kids go to Tamarack every summer; we can take 200-300 on site. There's room for both of us." — Diana Lieberman News From Camp T he Fresh Air Society, which has been run- ning summer programs for Detroit-area Jewish children since 1902, has a new start- ing lineup. Leading the team as interim executive director is Jonah Geller, who joined the staff in May as assis- tant executive director. Geller came to Detroit after two years as director of Camp Tel Yehudah, the national senior leadership camp of Young Judea and Hadassah. Previously, he had served as the camp's assistant director, Israeli program leader and coun- selor. The newly reorganized staff also includes Debbie Landau and Missy Siegler, junior side and senior side directors, respectively, at Camp Maas; Beth Sonne, Agree Outpost Camp director; and Susie Zaks, teen travel director. Each of these directors has 15-25 years experience with Fresh Air Society camp- ing programs. In addition, the Fresh Air Society is opening a new village at its Tamarack Camps in Ortonville. Called Ruach Village, it will serve older campers. — Diana Lieberman Direct From Israel R achel Kohn, a 2002 graduate of Yeshivat Akiva in Southfield, is studying in Israel at Michlelet Orot. She was the subject of an Editor's Notebook column on Sept. 13, 2002. She had asked Editor Robert A. Sklar if she could be a student correspondent for the JNwhile she studied in Israel. He encouraged her to e-mail her observa- tions. This week, as news broke about the shuttle disas- ter, Kohn sent Sklar an e-mail with quotes from people — Israelis and Americans — she'd spoken with about the astronauts. It seems the Columbia tragedy was on people's minds, but so was a stabbing in the Rova (Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem), where, after a verbal dispute, Arab assailants inflicted light-to-moderate stab wounds on three Jews. Two suspects were appre- hended. Kohn talked with two students from Michigan who found the stabbing more relevant to them. For example, Sonya Brystowski, 18, of Oak Park described the story of the space shuttle to Kohn as something distant from students studying in Israel. "I felt what happened in the Rova was more rele- vant to me; it's something I deal with every day," she said. "The thing with the shuttle was history in the making, while what happened in the Rova was more of a practical disappointment; it's scary." When Joshua Kimmel, 19, of West Bloomfield, spoke to Kohn, he said, "No matter how it hap- pened, I think it was God telling us, as Jews and as people, that we should fix our problems at home before we worry about our 'neighborhood' in space. The Rova definitely hit closer to home. It's some- . place I've been to, unlike outer space." — Keri Guten Cohen New Assistant Whip s tate Rep. Andrew Meisner, D-Ferndale, is the new assistant whip in the state House. He was named to the post by House Democratic Leader Dianne Byrum, D-Onondaga. His new duties include monitoring Democratic caucus positions on bills and sharing concerns with the full leadership team. The former aide to U.S. Rep. Sander Levin, D- Royal Oak, is active at Beth Shalom Synagogue in Oak Park. . Meisner's district includes Berkley, Ferndale, Hazel Park, Huntington Woods, Oak Park and Pleasant Ridge. -- Robert A. Sklar