Room To Grow

A

man's home might be his
castle, but the battlement
upkeep can be ferocious.
•Each us of has probably gone -
through a progression of places to
live that represent our change of
status or age or some milestone in
life. And each move seems to be
accompanied by the acquisition of
SY
stuff" to justify another move.
MANELLO
When we first leave home, our
Editorial
place
of residence is an apartment.
Assistant
If we are-just starting out it is only
a one-room apartment (are Murphy
beds still in existence?) It is then that we are made
aware of what does and does not "come with the
rent." Included: doors, windows, floors and running
water. The latter should not be running continually
or cascading out of an appliance. Not included
(usually): heat, water, electric and, in many large

"

cities, a place to park. This item can be as expensive
as the apartment rent itself. (We also realize very
soon that someone does not show up to put away
clothes, clean the -bathroom (ugh!) and wash the
dishes.
When we find a mate, we then decide it is time
for what used to be called a "starter home." There is
no such thing these days, but it used to be a small,
ranch-style house. Features that we thought were
luxury items were: a garage (not always attached), a
basement and-or an attic where we could store
"stuff," a separate room for the kid(s).
As we settle into vocations, we are then in the
market for a bigger house; we need some place to
put more "stuff." This one probably had an upstairs,
a den and-or family room, a basement recreation
room (so we could put all the kid's "stuff" some-
where other than the living room floor). We now
also probably need a shed in the back yard so that
we can store all the things needed to keep our home

in shape: lawn mower, weed whacker, hoses, sprin-
klers, lawn feeder machine, snow blower, gas can,
garden tools, paint cans, hand tools, etc.
Once we have given our all to the upkeep of such
a home (or homes) for some time, we are at an age
to downsize. The kids have gone to start their own
"home cycle" and we can go to a condo. Except for
some, condos these days are as large as, if not larger,
than the houses that we left. You do realize that is
just an invitation for the kids to move back. There,
we hope, the painting, lawn care, snow removal,
etc., will all be taken care of. Of course we pay for
it, but someone else does the work.
Soon we are contemplating a move to a "senior
residence," which bears a lot of similarity to the
apartment we started in so long ago. This can be a
happy situation for us if it is a "room with a view
and you" (as Noel Coward said).
What it comes down to is, "All I want is a room
somewhere ..."

❑

Getting Acquainted

For the third year, Israeli youth - are
attending a session at Tamarack
Camps in Ortonville. This year, 103
campers and counselors in training
will come from Detroit's Partnership
2000 region in the Central Galilee,
the Israeli Scouts and the Israeli
branch of David-Horodoker
Organization. Funding for the pro-
gram comes from a grant-gift from
the Irving and Audrey Rose family,
private fund-raising efforts under the
auspices of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and camp fees
paid by the Israelis.
The Israelis' initial contact with
Detroiters came the weekend of July
16 when they spent time with 67
local host families. Many of them
showed the Israelis some traditional
Detroit attractions.
Jill and Howard Jacobson of
Bloomfield Hills and Jill Menuck of

.

t4

Birmingham took their young chil-
dren and their Israeli guests to
Greenfield Village in Dearborn for a
taste of American history.
The campers will see many of the
host families again on Aug. 2 when
they come to camp for a special per-
formance by an Israeli drummer. The
Israeli campers return to host fami-
lies Aug. 6 for another weekend
before departing for Israel on Aug. 8.
— Keri Guten Cohen,
story development editor

Israelis Rina Belelti, 14, and Shir
Zamir, 14, both of Migdal HaEmek,
hang out with Natalie Jacobson, 6, of
Bloomfield Hills. Natalie's family is
among 65 local families hosting the
visiting Israeli youth who are at
Tamarack Camps
for a session.

Yiddish Limericks

Fir-1-7:7F7The,'cha

Don't Know©

2004

Jewish weddings are traditionally not permitted to
take place on Jewish holidays and during public
mourning periods — the sfirah (count) between
Passover and Shavuot and the three weeks preced-
ing the ninth of Av. There is one other time on
the Jewish calendar when weddings are discour-
aged; can you name it?
— Goldfein

undc1DI uloA puE 4 -euutisEH
uaannlaq anw- Jo sAuu ata

7/23 .

2004

10

Sometimes you just have to amend .
Your plans to accomplish an end.
It seems, az me ken nit
Aribergayn, then it
Means gayt men arunter,* my friend!

— Martha Jo Fleischmann

* If you can't go over, go underneath

Do You Remember

July 1964

A white farmer in Hattiesburg, Miss., admitted
that he and his uncle beat up Rabbi Arthur J. •
Lelyveld of Cleveland, who was working in the
African-American voter registration drive.
The men beat the rabbi with an iron bar, caus-
ing him to be hospitalized for a day.
The farmer is out on bail, pending action by a
grand jury.

Sy Manello, editorial assistant