For Openers
Let's Really Do Lunch
PAFALV 'cha
Don't Know
A
rye Zacks of Oak Park and Gil
Stebbins of Southfield were just
two friends trying to go out to
lunch.
But 560 miles and 14 hours later, the two
found themselves with a carload of kosher
burgers, hot dogs, kishka, short ribs and cold
cuts — and the promise of $2,447 in dona-
SHELLI
tions to One Israel Fund.
LIEBMAN
"The drive-a-thon project started because
DORFMAN Gil and I wanted to go to Chicago for lunch
Staff Writer
and we needed a reason so our wives didn't
kill us," Zacks said.
So they turned their hoped-for road trip
into a fund-raising project, offering to bring back burgers or
meat orders for anyone contributing to One Israel Fund, a
charity helping residents of the Jewish communities in Judea,
Samaria and Gaza. The beneficiary was suggested by Reuven
Spolter, rabbi at Young Israel of Oak Park, where Zacks and
Stebbins are members.
The drive-a-thon was actually a project of the monthly
Monday Night Football Barbecue Club. "We're a group of
guys who generally sit around watching football [or movies]
and barbecuing dinner," Zacks said of the club that also
includes Stebbins, Aaron Kleid, Gabi Grossbard and Noam
Raz of Oak Park and Micha Zwick of Southfield.
The whole gang was involved in organizing the fund-raiser
and soliciting donors. The group decided the trip would
include stops at two Illinois kosher restaurants: Ken's Diner
& Grill in Skokie and Romanian Kosher Sausage Co. in
Chicago.
Sponsors of the project were given the option of getting a
free "Burger Buddy" from Ken's Diner for every $56 dona-
tion or making a matching donation for the cost of meat
orders from Romanian Sausage.
While most sponsors were Young Israel of Oak Park mem-
bers, checks came.from as far as a woman in New Jersey who
made a $112 donation after receiving an e-mail about the
drive-a-thon. 'A few people gave $100 for a single burger
and we had someone give $336 for six burgers," Zacks said.
When Stebbins and Zacks took off for Chicago, they were
armed with insulated coolers, lots of room for ice bags and
Stebbins' cell phone to stay connected to those awaiting orders.
Barbecue club member Zwick was the back-home contact
© 2003
lthough living in the Jewish
state, where Passover is not
just a religious but also a
national holiday, Israeli
Jews make fewer food purchases when
preparing for the holiday. Why?
— Goldfein
•uatu _Tapas Duo Xiuo a3Fur smaf
puu tiodseIp alp u! 142la o1 pasoddo
s-e siCup UQAQS 'REIS' ur SSQI kep
Age Zacks of Oak Park, Ken Hechtman of Ken's Diner in
Skokie, Ill., and Gil Stebbins of Southfield inside Hechtman's
restaurant.
person.
"We talked throughout the day," Zwick said, "so I had the
information I needed to send e-mails that kept everyone
updated on the time the orders would arrive in the Young
Israel of Oak Park parking lot."
The enterprising members of the barbecue club are now
working out details for "Dougies fly-a-thon" this winter.
"Dougies [Barbeque and Grill] is a great [kosher] rib place
in New York and they make this fabulous spicy chicken
called 'poppers'," Zacks said. "We were thinking we could fly
in and out in one day. We won't need to carry any luggage,
so everyone who flies with us can bring back 100 pounds of
poppers."
As for the drive-a-thon's success, aside from being instru-
mental in supporting the One Israel Fund, Zacks and
Stebbins actually got what they came for. Even though "we
felt a bit rushed because we were nervous about the meat
going bad," Zacks said, "we had a great lunch at Ken's
Diner." ❑
Donations to One Israel Fund can be made by calling
(516) 239-9202, sending a check to: One Israel Fund,
366 Pearsall Ave., Suite 1, Cedarhurst, NY 11516, or
accessing the Web site: www.oneisraelfund.org
\ •
QUO Sr QDUEA.73SCIO ..TDAOSSEd :.13AASLIV
notables
"I'd like to be recognized as a baseball
player first, but that's out of my
hands. However, I do feel really lucky
to be looked up to. Carrying the
torch is special. I feel really proud of
my bloodlines and my herirage. 3,
—Boston Red Sox outfielder Gabe
Kaplen formerly with the Detroit Tigers,
as quoted in the Boston Jewish
Advocate.
Yiddish Limericks
"Some dentists aren't light as a feather.
I've heard of clay feet," complained
Heather.
But this klutz" they sent,
Has laymeneh hent,"
And that's something else altogether."
— Martha Jo Fleischmann
•
Shabbat Candlelighting
* clumsy person
** (literal) clay hands
(idiomatic) clumsy hands
"When I light my Shabbos candles, I remember my mother lighting
hers — one generation to another — l'dor vador."
Yiddish-isms
— Fay Isackson, Farmington Hills, mother; grandmother, great-grandmother
Sponsored by Lubavitch
shmooz
Rumors; idle talk; news; a friendly,
gossipy, prolonged, heart-to-heart talk.
Women's Organization.
To submit a candlelighting
message or to receive
Candlelighting
Candlelighting
complimentary candlesticks
Friday, Sept. 5, 7:42 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 12, 7:30 p.m.
and information on Shabbat
candlelighting, call Miriam
Amzalak of Oak Park at
(248) 548-6771 or e-mail•
mamzalak@juno.com
Shabbat Ends
Saturday, Sept. 6, 8:43 p.m.
Shabbat Ends
Saturday, Sept. 13, 8:30 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.
9/ 5
2003