For Openers

Gettin' Real With George Cantor

Don't Know

© 2003

hile the word ulpan is
modern Hebrew and
denotes a fast-learning
program to acquire pro-
ficiency in the language, it actually
comes from another ancient language.
Which one and what does it mean?

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Quotables

"The Palestinians have learned, unlike
the Israelis, to appreciate the impor-
tance of the university as the shaper of
the next generation, and to concen-
trate their efforts there. Articulate,
effective speakers have been dis-
patched to campuses to mobilize the
idealistic students for their own politi-
cal interests."

— Israeli Minister Natan Sharansky, on
why Zionism is flunking on campus,
. trip;
after a six-day, 13-campus U.S.
quoted in Ma'ariv,
reprinted in the Forward.

ans of George Cantor's writing,
storytelling and philosophizing tell
him how much they've missed
reading his Saturday column since
he left the Detroit News in July.
"I tell them now they can have me a day
earlier in the Jewish News."
Beginning with the JN's Rosh Hashanah
issue Sept. 26, Cantor's new column, "Reality
DAVID
Check," has appeared every Friday in these
SACHS
Senior Copy For Openers pages.
Why "Reality Check"?
Editor
"What I'm trying to do is to get behind the
glossy stuff— the stories you see in the
media that don't deal with the underlying reality."
Cantor, celebrating his 40th year in Detroit journalism, has
a lifetime of experience to draw on. He started at the Detroit
Free Press, doing stints as a baseball and travel writer. In 1977,
he switched to the News, becoming a columnist two years
later. He's also a familiar voice on local radio and television.
"It's stunning to me my career has been that long," he said.
"I guess it seemed like a short time because I was having so
much fun."
But will it be different writing for a Jewish newspaper?
"When I was writing for a broad, general audience at the
Free Press and News, you never could tell who was reading it,"
Cantor said.
"Now, it's a more specialized audience. We all come from a
roughly similar cultural background and share a certain body
of beliefs. I feel that I'm writing for the people I grew up
with, for the people I went to high school with — and for my
aunts and uncles.
"I feel like I'm writing for family."
In one of the 18

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I'd give a mapoleh* to France;-
A so-to-speak kick in the pants.
They want to betray us?
I'd warn them, "Don't play us!
You won't pay the piper? Don't dance!"

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George Cantor's career in Detroit has included both
Detroit dailies and now the Detroit Jewish News.

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PISTONS

Yiddish Limericks

books he has authored, The Tigers of '68, Cantor cells how, 30
years later, middle-aged men at the country club would
approach Hall of Famer Al Kaline "with the heart of the chil-
dren they used to be."
In his JNcolumn, Cantor taps into local nostalgia —
bringing readers in touch with their hearts when they were
young.
"These are the pieces I write that always get the biggest
response," he said. "I did a piece Oct. 17 about leading bus
tours through the Dexter-Linwood neighborhood. And I've
had so many comments on it. People really respond."
Cantor has witnessed a lot of changes in his four decades
writing about Detroit.
"I'm 62 now and I've seen so much progress in racial mat-
ters. Things that I've never thought would happen have taken
place in all elements of our daily life. It's been a sea change in
the way we view each other."
Cantor, who lives in West Bloomfield with his wife, Sherry,
also writes of life's personal losses. His 2002 book Courtney's
Legacy: A Father - Journey tells how he dealt with the death of
his 18-year-old daughter Courtney, who fell from her dormi-
tory window at the University of Michigan in 1998. His first
iNcolurrin reflected how he would carry on after the death of
his father.
"I think that the thing that I'm trying to do with this col-
umn is to vary the pitch. Some weeks make it sentimental,
nostalgic. Other weeks make it a little tougher.
'• "I want people to turn to my column each week with a
sense of anticipation and curiosity." ❑

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11.10

Shabbat Candlelighting

"Lighting Shabbos candles means that there is an auto-
matic transition — and then I can breathe."

— Raizy Greenberg;
Friendship Circle Coordinator; West Bloomfield

Yiddish-isms

balmalocha

An expert; in a derisive sense; mal-
adroit, inexpert.

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.

11/ 7
2003

10

Sponsored by Lubavach
Women's Organization.
To submit it candleligbfing
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and information on Sbabbat
candlelighting,
Anizalak of Oak Park at
(248) 548-6771 or e-mail:
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Candlelighting
Friday, Nov. 7, 5:01 p.m.

Candlelighting
Friday, Nov. 14, 4:53 p.m.

Shabbat Ends
Saturday, Nov. 8, 6:02 p.m.

Shabbat Ends
Saturday, Nov. 15, 5:56 p.m.