This Week
Staff Notebook
News Digest
Israel To U.S. Jews:
Help Is Needed
Teens Tackle
Tough Issues
Jerusalem/JTA — An Israeli official
urged American Jews to lobby the
United States to oppose anti-Israel reso-
lutions at the United Nations.
"This is the time to exert as much
pressure as possible," Dan Gillerman,
Israel's U.N. ambassador, said in a con-
ference call with the Conference of
Presidents of Major American Jewish
Orcranizations.
A Syrian-sponsored resolution con-
demning Israel for its attack on a terror-
ist training camp near Damascus is fal-
tering, but Israel fears future resolutions
demanding, for example, that Israel
cease building its West Bank security
fence or implement the road-map peace
plan, Gillerman said.
Passage of such resolutions "may in
fact change the rules of the game" by
forcing Israel to violate Security Council
resolutions, Gillerman said.
The Americans may feel pressured to
support such resolutions to "give some-
thing to the Arab side," Gillerman
warned.
Project TRUST, a program of Jewish
Family Service that uses interactive
drama performed by teens to discourage
bullying and violence in the schools, has
added a new multicultural component.
Project TRUST (Teaching and
Reaching Using Students and Theater)
involves 18 student actors from West
Bloomfield High School to present 45-
minute original plays at local schools.
Teachers and school social workers
receive materials to facilitate pre- and
post-play discussion. JFS also provides
referral information when additional
resources are needed.
The program held a two-day work-
shop in August focusing on conflicts
between students of Arabic and Jewish
descent. At the workshop, student actors
improvised new scenes for their presen-
tations, working with Sharkey Haddad,
dean of student services and community
liaison for the West Bloomfield School
District, and Trish Hubbel, program
coordinator for the American Arab &
Jewish Friends of the NCCJ (National
Conference for Community and
Justice).
Coordinators for Project TRUST are
Barbara Berger White, program director
of outreach services for JFS, and
Illuminart Productions, formed by
Arlene Sorkin and Patty Ceresnie, both
of West Bloomfield.
"What this program does is create sen-
sitivity in its audiences," said Sorkin, a
therapist. "We felt it was a good fit with
the Jewish Family Service because of the
clinical aspects of what we do."
For information about Project
TRUST, call Sorkin at (248) 737-9610.
Yom Kippur War:
More Insight
Washington/JTA — New documents
show the United States gave tacit
approval to Israel to keep fighting even
after the cease-fire that officially ended
the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
"You won't get violent protests from
Washington if something happens dur-
ing the night, while I'm flying," U.S.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger told
Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir on
Oct. 22, 1973, hours before a deadline
for a U.N. cease-fire with Syria and
Egypt, Reuters reported.
Israel launched a major attack and
surrounded Egypt's Third Army that
night.
Celebrating
Jewish Music
New York/JTA — An upcoming con-
ference will celebrate 350 years of
American Jewish Music.
"Only in America: Jewish Music in a
Land of Freedom" will be held in New
York from Nov. 7-11.
The event is sponsored by the Jewish
Theological Seminary of America and
the Milken Archive of American Jewish
Music.
10/10
2003
14
— Diana Lieberman
Golden Yiddish
Oldies
The Jewish Hour radio show may not
seem the likely place to hear an inter-
view with international oldies superstar
Neil Sedaka — unless the subject is
Yiddish music and the interviewer is
Rabbi Herschel Finman.
When WPON 1460 AM radio host
Rabbi Finman heard about Sedaka's new
musical release,
"Brighton Beach
Memories, Neil Sedaka
Sings Yiddish," he
arranged for an on-air
discussion, 3-4 p.m.
Friday, Oct. .17.
"It features many tra-
ditional standards that
Sedaka
people associate with the
words 'Yiddish music,"'
Rabbi Finman said. "It includes the
songs, 'Sunrise, Sunset' and 'My
Yiddishe Mama,' all sung in Yiddish.
And it's all done with the feeling you
would expect in Yiddish singing."
— Shelli Liebman Do
Circle Of
Intelligence
Through her membership in Mensa,
Pauline Averbach of Canton made many
good friends — people who understand
her jokes — and found "a wonderful hus-
band."
A member of Congregation Shir
Tikvah, Averbach joined Southeast
Michigan Mensa (SEMM), the "high-
IQ society," in 1980 and has been chap-
ter president. Now a Mensa coordinator
and test proctor, she will be among
those behind the desk Saturday and
Sunday, Oct. 18 -19, when SEMM
holds its annual testing day.
According to the organization, which
has about 1,100 members in southeast-
ern Michigan, about one person in 50
qualifies for Mensa membership.
A person qualifies by prior evidence,
achieving scores in the 98th percentile or
higher on certain tests, such as the LSAT
or GMAT; or by achieving a similar
score on the Mensa admissions test.
SEMM holds monthly meetings and
frequent social events, and chapter
members may also participate in fund-
raising activities for Mensa-friendly char-
ities and non-profit organizations, such
as National Public Radio.
The minimum age for taking the
Mensa qualifying test is 14, and the
organization can be especially valuable
for teens, Averbach said.
"When I was president of our local
group, I got so many calls from dis-
traught parents — their children had no
friends, their teachers didn't understand
them," she said. "This is one way for
gifted teens to find peers, people who
validate them."
Mensa testing will take place at loca-
tions in Ann Arbor, Canton, Flint,
Southfield, Sterling Heights, Taylor and
West Bloomfield.
For more information, see the SEMM
Web site: www.semm.us.mensa.org
— Diana Lieberman
Correction
A photograph ("Lobbying The Hill,"
Oct. 3, page 40) misspelled the name of
Fern Katz of Southfield.
p
:Additions to SourceBook
I Some items were inadvertently left
I out of this year's SourceBook. Please
I cut out this box and affix to your
I SourceBook.
I Births:
I Carly Alana Kent, 6/11/03, twin to
Max Alden Kent
Deaths:
I Virginia Lichtenstein Heller, May 1,
12002
I Organizations:
'National Federation of Temple
Youth-Michigan (NFTY-MI), the
youth arm of the Union of American
'Hebrew Congregations, the national
association of Reform congregations.
NFTY's goals consist of fostering
long-term commitment to the ideals
and values of Reform Judaism and
fostering Jewish identity in young
people. www.nfty.org/mi
Local contact: Michelle Sage Chekan,
NFTY-MI regional director, 29152
Forest Hill Drive, Farmington Hills
(248) 342 2701.
-
Synagogues:
Congregation Chaye Olam, 4875 W.
Maple Road, Bloomfield Township
(248) 851-SHUL (7485); fax: (248)
851-5771
E-mail: chayeolam@aol.com
Web site: cantordubov.org
Spiritual leader: Cantor Stephen
Dubov
• Congregation Chaye Olam is
Detroit's newest Reform congrega-
tion, "dedicated to developing and
nurturing the potential of the human
spirit." Services are "user-friendly"
and inviting. A kosher kitchen will be I
maintained on the premises.
Education includes pre-kindergarten, I
Hebrew school and adult education, I
including Introduction to Judaism,
I
beginning Hebrew classes and adult
b'nai mitzvah preparation. Monthly I
Shabbat family services and Shabbat
dinners, monthly TOT Shabbats and
a yearly Jazz Shabbat. Our clergy par- I
ticipates in all functions of the con- I
gregation.
I