Across The Miles
Scene
Happenings
Distance can't keep real friends apart.
For college age through 30-some-
thing. Send information to
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
-
ahitsky@thejewishnews.com
T
hey live on opposite sides of the country — and
have never even gone to the same school --- but
Seth Kessler, 27, and Michael Strausz, 27, have
managed to stay best friends their entire lives.
Kessler, who has a doctorate in aerospace engineering,
grew up in Farmington Hills, Strausz in Southfield. But
they were connected from the start through their fathers,
who were roommates at the University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor.
"We've known each other forever — since birth,"
Kessler said.
As young adults, Kessler went off to Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass., where he
is now an aerospace engineering consultant. Strausz
moved to Seattle, where he is a doctoral student in polit-
ical science at the University of Washington (U-W).
But they continued to visit one another during school
breaks and frequently vacationed together.
Then last.summer, "We even got engaged one day
apart," Kessler said.
"I called to tell him I was going to propose to Kate
(Marshall), and he told me he was going to propose to
Allison (Feinstein)," Strausz said.
He asked if he could go first," Kessler said, "since he
had been dating his girlfriend the longest." . .
Strausz and Marshall met at U-W, where she is also a
doctoral student in political science. Feinstein, a busi-
ness systems consultant, met Kessler while waiting in
line at a Boston sandwich shop.
Strausz remembered, "We both complimented the
other's choice of spouse, and we got excited together
From top, Kate Marshall, Michael Strausz and
Seth and Allison Kessler on a camping trip.
6/25
2004
24
July 8 Thursday, 7 p.m. Hillel of
Metro Detroit free talk on buying
your own home. Creative Collections,
3184 W. 12 Mile, Berkley. RSVP to -
Karen Adelman, (313) 577-3459 or
Hilleled@wayne.edu
July 9 Friday, 7:30 p.m. Outdoor
musical Shabbat Unplugged service
for young adults at Temple Israel.
Refreshments. No charge.
Longtime pals Brian Selfon, Michael Strausz, Seth
Kessler and Dan Zimmerman
about proposing."
On July 1, 2003 — Strausz's parents' wedding anniver-
sary — Strausz took Kate on a hike in the Cascade
Mountains in Washington and asked her to marry him.
The next evening, in a room filled with floral bou-
quets and scented candles, a glass heart — filled with
rose petals and a small black velvet box — held the ring
Kessler would give Feinstein.
"I think it's wonderful that they are so close," Kate
Marshall said of the friendship she is marrying into.
"But it isn't just Mike and Seth — it's Mike and Seth
and Dan (Zimmerman, 26, of New York City, formerly
of Huntington Woods) and Brian (Selfon, 26, of New
York City, formerly of Southfield). Mike and Seth have
surrounded themselves with a wonderful group of child-
hood friends."
Strausz may have been engaged first, but the first mar-
riage was the Kessler-Feinstein wedding on May 29, in
Waltham, Mass. The wedding party included Kessler's
parents, Judy and Dr. Alan Kessler of Farmington Hills,
and sisters Bree, 24, of Ann Arbor, and Moira; 20, a
junior at MIT. Also walking down the aisle were co-best
men Strausz and Selfon and groomsman Zimmerman —
whose parents introduced Strausz's parents, Richard and
Brenda Strausz of Southfield, to each other.
When Strausz and Marshall get married Aug. 1 in
Seattle, they will be attended by Strausz's sister, Jennifer,
24, of Cambridge, Mass. Zimmerman will be a grooms-
men and co-best men will be Selfon and, of course,
Kessler. ❑
July 14 Wednesday, 7 p.m. Hillel of
Metro Detroit Glow in the Dark Mini
Golf Tournament at the Putting Edge,
Fountainwalk, 44125 12 Mile Road,
Novi. Cost: $12. RSVP to Lesley
Zwick, (313) 577-3459 or
Hillelpd@wayne.edu
July 16-18 JCC and Young Adults of
Adat Shalom white water rafting on
the Youghiogheny River in
Pennsylvania. Trip includes rafting,
camping, transportation, meals. $175
for JCC and YAAS members; $200
for non-members. Call Marilyn
Wolfe, (248) 661-1000.
July 23 Friday, 7:30 p.m. Hillel of
Metro Detroit Fondue Shabbat, Oak
Park JCC. Cost: $10 in advance.
RSVP to Lesley Zwick by July 21:
(313) 577-3459 or
Hillelpd@wayne.edu
August
Birthright
Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish
Campus Life is sponsoring a
Birthright Israel trip in August for
incoming college freshmen.
Students can sign up until July 7 at
www.hilleLorg
. Participants must be 18-26, Jewish,
and have never before traveled on a
peer-group trip to Israel. The trip will
be Aug. 5-16.