T s
For Openers
Sharing His Birthday
SUSAN TAWIL
Special to the Jewish News
T
alk about sharing your toys! Yisroel Meir
Green of Oak Park wanted to help the Israeli
terrorist victims he had heard about, so he
turned his ninth birthday party into a mitz-
vah project.
In lieu of presents, he asked his classmates at Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah to bring a gift to send to the children of
an Israeli terrorist victim.
"Yisroel Meir is a very special boy, a special neshamah
[soul]," said Rabbi Moshe Levinson, Yisroel Meir's
teacher. "He's always thinking of others; he has a lot of
heart. We talk about the matzav [situation] in Israel —
age appropriately, of course — and about how we have
to daven [pray] for them; but it's unusual for a child
this young to take it so to heart. Of
course, it comes from the
home, too."
The boys who
attended the birthday
celebration played
party games, then
wrapped the presents
they brought, which
Yisroel Meir's par-
ents, Rabbi Reuven
and Sharon Green,
will send on to Israel
Afterward, the boys
recited tehillim
(psalms), traditional
prayers for the recovery
of the sick and wounded.
"It was beautiful to see such young boys be so con-
cerned with the plight of their fellow Jews," said Rabbi
Green, executive director of the Kollel Institute of
Greater Detroit.
"I'm very proud of my son," Sharon Green said.
The toys included arts and crafts kits, Lego sets, toy
trucks and cars, puzzles and a soap bubble blowing set.
The gifts will be sent to the Druks, a Jerusalem family
the Greens were referred to with seven children ages 7
months to 9 years. Yossi Druk, the father, was shot in
the neck by a Palestinian terrorist who suddenly
opened fire at pedestrians walking through the center
of town.
"I don't care that I didn't get my own presents," said
Yisroel Meir. "I think the children will like these toys. I
hope it makes them happy."
Those who wish to help other families of terrorist
victims may contact Mishpacha
Achat (One Family) at
belzberg@netvision.net.il
Run by Mark and
Chavital Belzberg of
Jerusalem, the organi-
zation directs volun-
teers to visit and care
for families of terror-
ist victims. The
Belzbergs can match
you with an Israeli
family and tell you
about their individ-
ual situation and
needs.
I
11.(Vrf1E %ha
Don't bow
© 2003
n addition to Sen. Joseph
Lieberman, which gentile
Democratic presidential candi-
date eats no unkosher meat?
— Goldfti 17
.
.IDADOS
siDnpoid FLUME _TO LnBP 'ivatu
ou saumsuoD aH •LIESDA E sT ONO
Jo tpupnN s!uuaci dad uannsuv
Quotables
"I am going through a terrible emo-
tional crisis, with which I can no
longer live. I beg your forgiveness and
wish you all long and happy years
without me."
Zeev Niz; 67, a failed caterer from
the Haifa suburb of Binyamina, in his
May suicide note to family and _friends
in the wake of Israel's economic collapse,
reported by the Forward.
"We seek true peace, not just a pause
between more wars and intifadas."
— President George W Bush, presum-
ably rejecting the notion that a cease-fire
including Hamas and Palestinian
Islamic Jihad would itself constitute a
major step forward, at the Sharm el-
Sheik summit.
Yiddish Limericks
Yisroel Meir Green, 9, right,
and his brother Shalom, 5, with
the wrapped presents to be sent
to the Druk family in Israel.
— Martha Jo Fleischmann
Shabbat Candlelighting
* disgrace
** shameless audacity
"When I light the Shabbos candles, I pray that this tiny light is my
part to add to the light of Judaism in the world.
Yiddish-isms
— Shirley Grace Zinzbezg, Oak Park, mother and grandmother
6/27
2003
10
The French were opposed to the war,
And called it a shandeh* what's more.
But seeing us win it,
They want right back in it.
I've not heard such chutzpah** before.
Sponsored by Lubavitch
Women's 0,ganization.
To submit a candlelighting
message or to receive
complimentag candlesticks
and information on Shabbat
candlelighfing, call Miriam
Amzalak of Oak Park at
(248) 967-5056 or e-mail•
mainzalakejuno.com
yold
A simpleton, a fool, a boob, a yokel, a
harmless dolt; one whose gullibility
gets him into trouble.
Candlelighting
Friday, June 27, 8:56 p.m.
Shabbat Ends
Saturday, June 28, 10:08 p.m.
Candlelighting
Friday, July 4, 8:55 p.m.
Shabbat Ends
Saturday, July 5, 10:07 p.m.
Source: From The New Joys of Yiddish
by Leo Calvin Rosten, edited by
Lawrence Bush, copyright 2001, by
the Rosten Family LLC. Used by per-
mission of the Rosten Family LLC