Save with the highest available rates on your financial needs & receive a FREE gift of your choice! BIROBIDZHAN from page 71 Earn the highest available rates on Certificates of Deposit, Totally Free and Classic Checking, IRA. Premier Money Market and Home Equity accounts! Stop in today for complete details on all our high-yielding interest bearing accounts. Premiums shown below are subject to change without notice. I --- .04 Roadside Car Safety Nit `I‘vin Sandwich Alaker Deluxe Travel Duffel Bag 70 pc. Household ibol Set "Papa Joe" Stalin's motivations weren't altruistic. Check out the advances: The best checking value around from Michigan Heritage Bank! Cei High Yielding Interest Rate tefFREE! Telephone Banking Unlimited Checking Yi FREE! First Box of Checks yi FREE! ATM/Debit Card Novi 21211 Haggerty Rd. North of 8 Mile (888) 437-8243 Troy 1917 East Big Beaver At John it Rd. (248) 619-0264 Today, Birobidzhan is undergoing an odd transition of sorts. With pere- stroika and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Jews there suddenly found they could explore their Jewish identi- ties in ways not permitted under Stalin's no-less-Stalinist successors. Today, students can take Hebrew and Yiddish lessons, as well as Jewish culture classes at schools and rwo insti- tutes in town. Most of the Jewish pop- ulation has left for Israel, Europe or the United States, and by some esti- mates, only 3,000 of the some 40,000 Jews who lived in Birobidzhan in its heyday remain. But Strom shows us a panorama of this small community, with a young rabbi and schoolchildren and student teachers who are eagerly absorbing Yiddish. (And why not? After all, it's the official language.) In the end, the documentary asks us to consider whether the J.A.R. was a Yiddish. utopia or a Jewish reservation? and nd his wife, EC-bairn writer- producer Elizabeth Schwartz, think it's both. "It's historically significant as a Jewish state founded on Yiddish secu- larism," Schwartz said. "But it's also a bit like the fake TV suburb in the film Pleasantville, where everythin-g seems perfect but reality starts to bleed through." Strom, nevertheless, maintains his youthful fascination with what he calls "the first Jewish state established since 70 BCE." "These were pioneers who made aliyah to the end of the world," he said. I 1 4Free Advantage Club Account yiNo Monthly Service Fees $1.000 minimum balance required Farmington Hills 28300 Orchard Lake Rd. Suite 101 (800) 914-3524 tl TOW ft l a A _1_44 jIRE MICHIGAN HERITAGE Please call by April 4th to join us for our SPRING BOUQUET MAKING AND LUNCH ON APRIL 11TH! Exceptional Senior Living means an exceptional lifestyle Imagine a retirement community that provides the security and peace of mind your family deserves. The Heritage offers Independent and Assisted Living, one affordable monthly fee, spacious apartments, full service dining, housekeeping services, transportation, events and/or outings daily, 24 hour concierge and more. Call about our Apartments now starting at $1,250! — Naomi Pieffi. 1112a77 of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles contributed to this article. Limited availability THE HERITAGE 4/14 3/28 2003 72 Of SOUTHFIELD 248-727-2008 The Heritage of Southfield 25800 W. Eleven Mile Road • Southfield, Ml 48034 www.theheritage-southfield.com Lrhayirn, Comrade Stalin screens 7:30 p.m. Monday, March 31, at MONO Pa 6B 67 BROOKDALE the Detroit Film Theatre at the Detroit Institute of Arts. $6.50. (313) 833-3237.