And The Answer Is Leslie Zack and Mitch Katz will never question 'why this night was different from all others.' SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN Stqffriter L eslie Zack arrived at the first Passover seder this year with her boyfriend, but she left with her fiance. Near the start of the evening, a discussion ensued about who would ask the Four Questions. "I suggested that we all ask them together, since everyone at the table was pretty much an adult," said Mitchel Katz, 24, of East Lansing. But after the fourth question was asked, Mitch looked over at Leslie, removed a ring box that he had stuck under the table, and remembers saying, "I actual- ly have a fifth question." Leslie, 24, of West Bloomfield said she looked at him in shock. "He's a joker, so he could have said any- thing," she said. But what he asked — in Hebrew — was: "Leslie will you marry me?" With her Hillel Day School educa- tion, Leslie understood the question well. "She looked terrified," Mitch said. "Then I repeated the question in English. I was really choked up, and I looked around and everybody at the table was in tears." Leslie remembered: "I was in total shock. What I'm told I said was: 'I would like nothing more.' Then I looked around and everyone was smiling and crying and clapping." Leslie was the only one in the room who didn't know about the evening's plan said Mitch's aunt, Cheryl Weiss of Farmington Hills, who attended the seder with her twin daughters Jenny and Becca, 17. "Before we began, we had been fighting over seats — everyone wanted to be able to see Leslie." The seder was at the West Bloomfield home of Mitch's parents, Karen and Larry Katz. "I actually wondered about the seating arrange- ments," Leslie recalled. "When I asked my mom [Barbara Newman Zack of West Bloomfield] to sit next to me, she said she'd rather sit on the other side of the table. Now I know it's because she wanted a good view." And the seat Leslie chose for herself was not the one Mitch had hoped she would take. She ended up sitting in front of the ring box he had hidden under the table. "I was nervous anyway," Mitch said. "But when she sat by the ring, I was worried she would put her hand under the table and find it." But in the end, every- thing went smoothly. "It was so perfect, so romantic," said Jenny Weiss about being a wit- ness to her cousin's engagement. After Leslie had the ring on her finger, she ran to call her father to tell him the news. But he already knew: Mitch had gone to him the day before to ask permission. Leslie's dad and step-mother, Robert and Lorraine Zack of West Bloomfield, joined the group for dessert after their own seder. — "We wanted everyone around us," Mitch said. "My parents have loved Leslie since the day they met her. She's like a daughter to them. Leslie and my mom are best friends. And I'm very close with Leslie's mother. It just seemed like the right thing, to do this with everyone there." Scene Happenings For college age through 30-something. Send information to ahitsky@thejewishnews.com April 30 YAD Shabbat Dinner Exchange. Alaine Waldshan, (248) 203-1486 or waldshan@jfmd.org May 2 Sunday, 7 p.m. Hillel of Metro Detroit presents Daniel Pipes: "The Palestinian-Israeli War: Where did it come from, how to end it?" at Shaarey Zedek B'nai Israel Center, West Bloomfield. Co-Sponsored by ZOA, B'nai Brith, ADL and AISH Detroit. No charge. vIN 4/30 2004 34 May 5 Wednesday. Hillel of Metro Detroit Graduates and Professionals 21+, 5:30 p.m. dinner, 6:15 p.m. bus tour of old Jewish Detroit. Co-sponsor: Jewish Historical Society of Michigan. Free. RSVP to Karen Urman by Monday, May 3: (313) 577-3459 or hilleled@wayne.edu . Leslie, a social worker for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Ann Arbor, and Mitch, a student at Michigan State University-Detroit College of Law in East Lansing, had been dating for nearly three years. But they actually knew each other for 10 years before becoming engaged. They met through their B'nai B'rith Youth Organization chapters when they were 14, and later became good friends while participating in the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's Teen Mission. They remained close despite attending dif- ferent high schools — she at North Farmington and he at Andover in Bloomfield Hills. The two have already begun planning their June 26, 2005, wedding at Adat Shalom Synagogue. Karen Katz was delighted with her son's seder proposal. "I'm really glad Mitch abandoned one of the ideas he was kicking around — proposing in a hot air balloon. The rest of us never would have fit in the basket." ❑ May 7 Friday, 6:15 p.m. Impact Michigan (formerly B'nai B'rith Leadership Network) Shabbat dinner and service at Temple Chaye Olam (15 Mile and Inkster). Kosher BBQ, followed by 7:30 p.m. service. Cost: $5 members, $7 non-members. No need to RSVP. Information: impactmi@yahoo.com May 13 Thursday, 7:30-10:30 p.m. YAD Israeli mission reunion party and bar night at Royal Oak Lanes, 1017 S. Washington. $10 includes Israeli food and bowling. RSVP Jonathan. Goldstein, (248) 203-1471 or goldstein@jfmd.org May 19 Wednesday, 5:30 p.m. Hillel of Metro Detroit Capture the Flag. Beech Woods Recreation Center, 22200 Beech Road, Southfield. Free. RSVP: Karen Urman, (313) 577-3459 or hilleled@wayne.edu .