S E
Synagogues
List .. .
Torah
Portion .
Neil Benchik,12„ and Mattison
Ch0117SA.4 13, both of Southfield,
Molly IZ1kel., 11, Daniel Shemin',
12,, and ZackWdker, 13, all of ak
Park, tvork the mishloach manot
zissembly line.
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Beth Shalom youth create a Purim package assembly line.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
A
s Congregation Beth Shalom's youth
group Purim fund-raiser grew, its
leader devised a new system for creat-
ing the mishloach manot (Purim food
packages) they sold.
"Each year, we receive more and more orders as
people see an opportunity to perform a mitzvah,"
said Mandy Garver of Bloomfield Hills, youth
adviser for Beth Shalom's Kadima, the middle
school affiliate of United Synagogue Youth.
With the continuing increase in orders, Garver
looked to her professional life for a more efficient
approach for creating the two basket sizes: Uncle
Mordechai's Delight and the larger, Ahasuerus
Supreme.
With both Garver and her husband Allen Wolf
employed by Ford Motor Company, Garver con-
verted the pingpong table in the synagogue's
youth lounge into an M&M-, licorice-, nuts- and
hamantashen-covered mishloach manot-making
assembly line.
"For the kids, this project teaches about the
holiday of Purim and also about the mitzvah of
giving — -since, in addition to the baskets made
for deliveries, we also make baskets to donate to
those in the community who are less fortunate,"
said Garver.
"A nice part of the project is that someone can
put in an order for mishloach manot to be sent to
a friend or relative, and some Kadimanik's show
up at the door with a basket and a note that says,
"chag sameiach (happy holiday)."
Most orders are personally delivered by youth
group members to the metro Detroit and Ann
Arbor areas. This year, "we added shipping and
it's been very popular," said Wolf.
Former Detroiter and regular customer Ronna
Widenbaum, who now lives in California, was
slated to receive a shipped basket this Purim. "It
will be a surprise to her," Garver said. "She is
usually the one to send the mishloach manot."
In fact, this year, she increased her order to
half-a-dozen baskets. 111
ClarVer, Beth Shaloln
atIvisci., shows off
coinpleted baskets.
I
3/21
2003
59