Something Extra A Noble Sanctuary Cookin' Up A Winner Jews go on strike once a there was always a place in time you could go to, a week, not to protest, but to sanctuary, where you observe Shabbat. "It's to wouldn't be thinking or make a declaration that, worrying about weekday indeed, we believe there is a matters, where you'd be God," Rabbi Mordechai elevated to a level of nobili- Becher told a lunchtime ty," the rabbi said. audience hosted by Ohr That sanctuary is Shabbat, a time for step- Somayach Detroit. Rabbi Becher ping back from the static The Australian-born lecturer of the workweek, for defer- for Ohr Somayach International spoke about Shabbat as a ring mastery over the world to God and for embracing the pearls burrowed special time to spiritually refuel and deep in your soul. recharge. About 100 people attended Rabbi Becher put it this way: the Jan. 13 lecture at the Max M. "One day a week, we refrain from Fisher Federation Building in exhibiting our mastery of the world Bloomfield Township. and we say, 'God, You are the Creator.' Shabbat is so central to Judaism, it's That's really the essence of what part of the Ten Commandments: Shabbat is about: God is asserting his "Remember the Sabbath Day, to keep ownership of the world. He's saying, it holy." `One day a week, I want you to just "No matter what conditions we be. Just live. Be there. Exist without were living under, no matter how mastering it.'" much poverty there was, no matter — Robert A. Sklar, editor how much anti-Semitism there was, In a kitchen somewhere in Detroit may be a file card with the best kosher chick- en soup recipe in America. Amateur cooks, age 18 and older, have been invit- ed to find out by taking the Shabbat Across America Chicken Soup Challenge. Sponsored by the National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP) in New York, the contestant who submits the best original kosher recipe will win a trip for two to Israel. Five finalists will be selected by contest judge Jeff Nathan, author of Adventures in Jewish Cooking, chef-host of public televi- sion's nationally broadcast gourmet cooking series New Jewish Cuisine and resident chef on www.Jewish.com The finalists will compete in a cook- off on Tuesday, Feb. 24, dubbed by contest sponsors "Soup-er Tuesday" because it will be held the week before the presidential primary election in New York. The cook-off will take place at Abigael's Restaurant where Nathan, who is executive chef, will oversee a panel of judges. The Chicken Soup Challenge is sponsored in conjunction with NJOP's eighth annual Shabbat Across America event to be held Friday evening, March 12. Recipe entries are due by Feb. 2. Limit one per person. To enter online, access the Web site at: www.njop.org To enter by mail, fax or e-mail: print — on an 8 1 6-by-11 sheet of paper — the recipe, your name, address, e-mail address, date of birth and day and night telephone numbers, and send to: Shabbat Across America's Chicken Soup Challenge, 989 Sixth Ave, 10th Floor, New York, NY 10018. Fax: (646) 871-0100. E-mail address: soup@njop.org — Shelli Liebman Dorfman, staff writer ty can do research, participate in seminars or simply read and relax in the new setting. To ensure the development of the resource area, the center created a Bonim [builders'] Fund. Upcoming events include lectures by Judith Baskin of the University of Oregon on the attitude toward women in the rabbinic literature; Israel's former director general of the ministry of foreign affairs Shlomo Avineri, now of Hebrew University, who will commemorate Zionist visionary Theodor Herzl; and Hubert G. Locke of University of Washington, who will speak on African-American perspectives on the Holocaust and the Armenian Genocide. WSU's Dora Apel of the Art History Department will speak about Holocaust art at the first fac- ulty seminar in the new quarters in April. The center will hold an open house in March. For information, call (313) 577-2679. — Sharon Luckerman, sta writer WSU's Cohn-Haddow Center Expands For 14 years, the Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies at Detroit's Wayne State University was relegat- ed to a cramped and windowless office on the edge of campus. This month, the center moved to the heart of the university in the Faculty/Administration Building. The new office is roughly three times the size of the old — with three windows that overlook the atrium. "We now can entertain visitors to the campus without fearing our Don't Know© guests will trip over boxes and books," said Sandy Loeffler, admin- istrative assistant to director and his- tory professor David Weinberg. More importantly, the new quar- ters will allow the center to realize a long-held dream of its founders — a Judaic resource center at WSU. Unlike other libraries on campus, the Cohn-Haddow Center will be stocked with the latest books, jour- nals and interactive media in the field of Jewish studies, Loeffler said. Faculty, students and the communi- Yiddish Limericks 2004 Which faith community in Israel observes Yom Kippur — but on a different date than that set by the rabbinical authorities? The wife of a fella named Dwight Said, "Hartseniu,* this isn't right. You sit noshing** lahtkehs*** Alone in your gahtkehs**** Tsplotzed un tsshprungen***** all night. — Martha Jo Fleischmann — Goldftin •.repuaiED LIMO Si! SMOJ -10,4 `OSE s.regicjo spuisnotp tusIrpnj inuarasulual luau ammq tp!4M iDas p ‘salt:eir.x tJJ :unsay 1/23 2004 12 sweetheart nibbling or snacking on *** traditional Chanukah fried potato pancakes **** long underwear ***** (idiomatic) filled to bursting ** dotCOM SURVEY Do you believe that there should be a consti- • tutional amendment on same-sex marriage? To answer, click on Jewish.com Last week's Jewish.com survey question asked: If you are voting in a Democratic primary or caucus, have you decided for whom you are voting? Of 272 respondents, 102 (37.5 percent) said Joe Lieberman; 48 (17.6 -Derecnt) said Wesley Clark; 44 (16.2 percent) said Howard Dean; 40 (14.7 percent) said John Kerry; 14 (5.1 percent) said Richard Gephardt; and 24 (8.9 percent) voted for others.