For Openers
Lending An Ear
T
eens and telephones: The mix
might be every parent's night-
mare, but not for Robert and
Nancy Levy of West
Bloomfield.
Their daughter, Alanna, decided to
collect old cellular telephones as her
mitzvah project for her bat mitzvah at
ALAN
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield last
HITSKY
April.
Associate
Collect old phones? Not wear them
Editor
out?
Nancy Levy saw a notice for donatea-
phone.com , an Ann Arbor-based organi-
zation that re-programs old cell phones to call only the
911 emergency number. The phones are given nation-
ally to domestic abuse victims. The donors receive a tax
write-off of $1 to $3 per phone (depending on age and
condition) to be donated to a charity of their choice.
Nancy Levy and Alanna took to the program with a
vengeance. The two placed donation boxes at West
Bloomfield High School, where
Alanna's brother Noah, 15 1 /2 , goes
to school; at Orchard Lake Middle
School, where Alanna just complet-
ed seventh grade; and at Tapper's
Diamonds & Fine Jewelry in West
Bloomfield, where Nancy is a jewel-
ry designer.
And the phones came rolling in
— 98 in all.
Alanna was responsible for bring-
ing home the phones from her
school, separating the chargers and
wrapping up everything. "It was
funny seeing all the old phones,"
she said. "Some were real heavy."
At her bat mitzvah party at Hotel Baronette in Novi,
guests were seated at tables decorated with a charitable
theme. Each table reflected a different charity, and the
Levys made contributions to those charities in honor of
their guests.
The telephone collection project "was a fun, simple
thing to do," said Nancy Levy, "and it showed the kids
that it doesn't take a lot to help someone."
She also wanted to show them that there are needy
people in West Bloomfield. The Levys plan to give the
proceeds from the telephones to West Bloomfield's Our
Children's Fund.
Before Alanna left for summer camp June 22, the
Levys mailed large boxes of phones to
donateaphone.com . And they are planning to resume
Alanna's mitzvah project in the fall, with a Jewish char-
ity as the recipient.
Alanna Levy packs up the phones.
Don't Know ©2003
p
assover is known as the fes-
tival of freedom. How does
the pronunciation of the
Hebrew word for Passover
(Pesach) point to one such freedom?
— Goldfein
-upaads Jo umpaij alp
luasaidal of uaas aq UED qovsaj prom
DIp - UOTIES_TQAUOD JOJ NialCIQH
!Ipnotu .TOJ maiciaH 'gad — samET
one
umop
UD3101CI JI :IWASITV
Quotables
"The idea that Jewish charity means
giving to things run by Jews is a nar-
row and parochial definition. If
Jewish education and institutions pre-
fer such a narrow way of looking at
the universe, they deserve to get only
6 percent of the big donations. Can
you compare the value of a Jewish day
school to curing cancer? Is a trip to
Israel as worthy as working against
illiteracy, poverty and hunger in your
community? Perhaps giving to
Stanford University is more important
than contributing to a Jewish organi-
zation."
— Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of
CLAL-the National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership in
Washington, as quoted in the Jewish
Journal of Greater Los Angeles'
June 27 article
"Why Aren't Jews Giving to Jews?"
Yiddish Limericks
Shaba Candlelighting
"When I light Shabbat candles, I feel the light entering
my soul and filling my heart with warmth."
— Leah Levin, 16, Oak Park
Sponsored by Lubavitch
Women's Organization.
To submit a candlelighting
message or to receive
complimentary candlesticks
and information on Shabbat
candlelighting call Miriam
Amzalak of Oak Park at
(248) 967-5056 or e-mai•
mamzalak@juno.corn
Your image was destined to shatter.
You thought that you weren't getting
fatter.
You thought you looked regal,
But sadly, der shpiegle
Viezt ohs dem emess,* no matter.
— Martha Jo Fleischmann
* The mirror reveals the truth
Yiddish-isms
al gsgevenfil
Candlelighting
July 4: 8:55 p.m.
Candlelighting
Friday, July 11: 8:52 p.m.
Shabbat Ends
Shabbat Ends
Saturday, July 5: 10:07 p.m.
Saturday, July 12: 10:03 p.m.
Thrown out
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.
7/ 4
2003
7