TAKING TEE LONG ROAD

Future lawyer Owen Alterman maps out

an adventurous and meaningful journey.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StaffWriter

N

ames of Detroit's young leaders can be
found among the alumni of Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit, on the
list of Peace Corps participants, in the
acknowledgments of Alan Dershowitz's newest
book and even in the bylines of articles printed in
the Jewish News.
But if you're Owen Alterman, your name appears
in all of these places and your passport is plastered
with stamps from worldwide journeys taken amid
each milestone. The 26-year-old has acquired
incomparable life adventures on the road from
Bloomfield Hills and Andover High School to the
classrooms of Harvard Law School in Cambridge,
Mass., where he is a second-year student.
A love of travel, of Judaism and of repairing the
world comes naturally to Alterman, the only child of
Irwin and the late Susan Alterman, who died in 1997.
Alterman spent two years in the Peace Corps fol-
lowing graduation from Princeton University in
New Jersey, where he earned a degree in Near

Sometimes when a question is raised, he pauses for
a moment and you can see the mind working —
and then he always comes up with something
interesting."
Describing Alterman as
polite, indispensable
and with boundless
energy,
Dershowitz pre-
dicts, "He will
become a major
leader in the
Jewish communi-
ty and a major
leader of the
legal community.
There are
great

Rosh Hashanah he spent in Romania, attending
services in both Suceava and Radauti. The latter
once had been 50 percent Jewish, but had been
reduced to a tiny Jewish community.
"There was a huge, gorgeous synagogue there but
inside there were only three men, all in their 80s.
When they started davening (praying), I brought
out the siddurim (prayer books), but they didn't
seem interested in using them."
It turned out none of the men could see well
enough to read them and apparently knew the
service by heart. "Afterward, I was able to stay and
hear their stories of their lives and the war," he
says.
After his time with the Peace Corps, Alterman
embarked on his dream adventure, retracing Marco
Polo's Silk Road, once the primary trade route
between China and the West, travelling from
Turkey to Xi'an.
His summer job in 1998 was working in the
Hong Kong office of Time magazine, and last year
he combined travel with a law internship, working
for a Sierra Leone-operated human rights organiza-
tion.

The Writer, The Lawyer

While Alterman's journalism experience
brought him briefly to the Jewish News
during a winter break from Princeton,
most of his writing was done for
his college papers, including the
Daily Princetonian and the
Harvard Law Record.
Given Alterman
His first column at Harvard
merited mention in the
Washington Post.
have a lot of interests and a lot of things I want to do. I don't think in terms of where I'll be in 20, 30
"I wrote about a professor who
or 40 years. I tend to look at the immediate future for things exciting and worthwhile." —OwenNterman
intrigued me, who did a lot of off-
beat stuff, like assign scavenger
hunts." While the story focused
Eastern studies.
things in store for him."
on the professor's philosophies and teaching meth-
Working as an English teacher at a high school
The two are looking forward to working together
ods, it was Alterman's inclusion of the professor's
in Romania, he fund-raised to purchase a machine
on Dershowitz's next book, a still-untitled work of
confirmation of rumors that he had smoked mari-
to help diagnose asthma in children. He also start-
advocacy, targeting young adults in response to the
juana that brought the unexpected attention.
ed a volunteer club encouraging students to help
recent condemnation of Israel on college campuses.
Alterman's father, Irwin of Bloomfield Hills, a lit-
out at local organizations, including a day care cen-
On Sunday, March 2, Alterman will be in
igator practicing business law, sees Owen's future as
ter, an old-age home and a hospital ward for aban-
Detroit to run "The Palestinian Argument and
"using his God-given talent and working hard to
doned babies.
Their Strategy," a session for high school students
maximize everything he does."
through Detroit Jewry's Seminars for Adult Jewish
Despite his love of journalism, Alterman plans a
Enrichment. The program, says Alterman, will
law career.
Researching Israel
"look at arguments made by the pro-Palestinian
"I have a lot of interests and a lot of things I
Between his sophomore and junior years at
campus movement and how pro-Israel students can want to do," he says. "I don't think in terms of
most effectively respond."
Princeton, Alterman interned in the foreign policy
where I'll be in 20, 30 or 40 years. I tend to look
issues department of AIPAC (American Israel
at the immediate future for things exciting and
Public Affairs Committee) in Washington, D.C.
worthwhile."
Far From Home
In November 2001, he answered a small ad for a
Next up for Alterman will be an internship in
position as a research assistant for Harvard Law
While Alterman's love of travel began as a child,
international law at the New York City law firm
with sightseeing trips with his parents, it was after
Professor Alan Dershowitz for work on his book,
where he hopes to work following his 2004 gradua-
Why Terrorism Works.
spending a semester studying at Hebrew University
tion. But because the job will take up only a part
"He was looking for students to help him
in Jerusalem that his passion soared.
„
of this summer, he will spend the rest of it doing
"I went initially because I was vet), interested in
research attitudes of Islamic clerics toward terror-
what he does naturally
travelling and attaining
Jewish history and Israel
ism," Alterman says.
and
, unique goals.
"' ' `'
"But, in addition to having the experience I hoped
Not only was he accepted for the job, but, says
To c'Onipteie liis plan ievisitihg"dll of America's
I would have, I - alsocame back with an awareness
Dershowitz, "I wouldn't do anything without
50 states, "I'm hoping to take the train from
checking with Owen first. He did more than just
and excitement of how easy it is to travel cheaply."
Chicago to Glacier National Park and travel
One of Alterman's favorite travel memories is the
research. I bounced every good idea. off of him.
through Montana and North Dakota." El

_,Lt,

2003

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