For Openers Something Extra School Debts Unpaid "We never had enough stu- When Bais Menachem dents paying tuition to cover Academy closed its doors in the cost of paying for the June, about 45 boys from school," says former Bais metro Detroit's Lubavitch Menachem teacher Shari community were left with- Klein of Oak Park. out an elementary school. Rabbi Chaim Bergstein of But the closing of the 8- Bais Chabad of year-old school left another, Farmington Hills, founder less obvious casualty. and director of the school, Because of Bais has been doing his best to Menachem's failing find money to pay the teach- finances, a dozen or so Rabbi Bergstein ers, Klein said. But one man teachers had not been paid alone can't be expected to for as long as six months. foot all the bills. And the school's director, who is ulti- So, right before Rosh Hashanah, mately responsible for paying these Klein started a "Committee to Pay the salaries, is owed even more. Mad Cow And Kashrut Signing Books nected to the brain via the spinal Keeping kosher is a sure way to avoid cord]," Rabbi Krupnik said. getting mad cow disease, according to While theoretically the brains of a Rabbi Joseph Krupnik, cow can be made kosher, no kashrut director of Detroit's Detroit-area butcher has Council of Orthodox Rabbis, requested the purchase of based in Southfield. "Meat brains in his 12 years at the that is properly made kosher Council. "The process of cannot be infected with the kasherizing them is too labor- disease," he said. intensive," the rabbi said. With this week's confirmed In addition to the fact that diagnosis of the first case of the infected parts of beef are the disease in the United not among those sold in States — in a cow in Rabbi Kr kosher butchers or supermar- Washington state — the kets in our area, the rabbi said rabbi and his colleagues have animals with symptoms of the received many calls of con- disease would not be slaughtered as cern. kosher. "Any animal that has a visible Mad cow disease can be contracted external medical disorder — including by consuming meat that contains cen- those that might even be mad cow tral nervous tissue from the brain or disease — is not allowed to slaugh- spine of an infected cow. "The danger 5, [for humans] comes from cuts of meat tered for kosher meat. — Shelli Liebman Dorfman, that are not kosher, like T-bone steak staff writer and parts of the hind quarter [con- The successful sales of Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz's 2001 book on sharing the experience of saying the Mourner's Kaddish prompted the compilation of an expanded volume. The December 2003 release of The Kaddish Minyan: From Pain to Healing; Twenty Personal Stories will be highlighted by two book signings by the Adat Shalom Synagogue rabbi. Rabbi Yoskowitz will be signing copies of the book at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 6, at Barnes and Noble Booksellers in West Bloomfield and at 2 p.m., Sunday, Jan. 11, at Borders Books and Music in Farmington Hills. Profits from sales of the book, which includes 20 short stories writ- ten by members of various Jewish streams who have been affected by saying Kaddish, will be donated to Adat Shalom. — Shelli Liebman Dorfman, staff writer Yiddish Limericks cha Don't Know.. g I }-1-1 7 L7 Ej (-3S Brett Favre is a Mississippian who is the beloved quarterback for the Green Bay Packers. The Jewish community in Green Bay follows the career of another Mississippian. Who? — Goldfein .sm& 'keg tiaaJD tn. IqqEJ tuoq-IddIssIssm alp sr. ITD.C.TEITDEq EUTEITS 1/ 2 2004 32 ), Teachers. "Baruch Hashem [praise God], peo- ple are starting to contribute," she says. When I get some money — $300, $400 — I call Rabbi Bergstein and ask him where to send it. It's going to take forever, but some people are getting paid." Although Bais Menachem was affili- ated with the Lubavitch movement, Rabbi Bergstein said the Michigan Lubavitch Foundation has no financial responsibility for its maintenance. "We are independent contractors," he said. "I have no way of paying off the teachers," Rabbi Bergstein said. "For the past two years, my wife and myself took half salaries. Right now, we owe about $75,000 to the teachers, and over $100,000 to my wife and myself." :13A1SITV Seems Saddam Hussein was all wrong. Our U.S. resolve has been strong. We found him in drere In a loch** there and scared Like the vorem** he's been all along. — Martha Jo Fleischmann * in the ground ** hole *** worm Parents who were forced to transfer their children to another school were pleased to find that Bais Menachem had prepared its students to excel at any other institution, Rabbi Bergstein said. "The teachers we had were excel- lent," he said. "And, even if they had- n't been, they still deserve to be paid." In a letter mailed last HI, Klein wrote that "this group of teachers are drowning in a sea of debt — through no fault of their own. "Please help to throw them a tow line by helping in this effort to raise funds to pay the salaries they are earned." To make a donation for the teachers, call Klein, (248) 967-3747. — Diana Lieberman, staffwriter- Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz, flanked by David Schostak of Birmingham and Schostak's mother; Arlene Tilchin of Farmington Hills. Schostak and Tilchin each wrote a chapter of the book. dotCOM SURVEY Do you agree with the current route of Q • • Israel's security fence? To answer, click on Jewish.com Last week's Jewish.com survey question asked: How did you spend December 25th? Of 89 respondents, 40 were home with family and friends, 11 participated in a mitzvah proj- ect, 23 went to a movie or out for Chinese food, and 15 celebrated Christmas.