Spirituality

HIDDIN TREASURE from page 55

Marvellus Edwards and Maurice
Cunningham, both 6, and Monique
Palmer, 7, all in the first grade,
delighted in describing to visitors how
the tutors help them.
"I'm a much better reader, and I love
to have my own book," said Maurice.

Book Drive Help

Ellen Siegel of Bloomfield Hills. welcomes Marcellus Edwards and
Maurice Cunningham, both 6, into the school.

Susie Fenster of Bloomfield Hills helps Kalinah Williams, 6, with her reading.

1/27
2005

56

The books are from those collected in
an annual Temple Beth El book drive
to provide reading material for the
school's library; 900 were collected in
last March's drive, plus $450 in cash
donations to buy more books.
The synagogue's fifth graders adopted
the Glazer school as their "Tzedakah
Rocks" partner; helped sort, label and
count the books, and raised $133 to
buy new paperback books for 65 grad-
uating fifth graders. The Detroit Jewish
Coalition for Literacy, under the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan
Detroit, donated several hundred addi-
tional books to the school.
The Glazer school's library, once dor-
mant, with no librarian and used only
as a multi-purpose room, became a spe-
cial project headed by Elizabeth May of
Bloomfield Hills, whose husband, Alan,
is a Beth El past president. The library
was one of several rooms damaged —
and many books ruined — by a freak
tornado that hit the neighborhood in
1997, destroying a number of homes
that were never rebuilt or repaired.
"We're trying to bring the library
into the 21st century through a com-
bination of funds and the diligence of
volunteers," May said. "They work in
the library twice a week, reading to
the youngsters and repairing books."
The library is now almost 100 per-
cent computerized, with computers,
printers and picture books purchased
with a $10,000 grant from Beth El's
Alfred and Marian Lindenbaum
Memorial Youth Lecture Fund. The
school now even has a Jewish librarian,
Stacey Tessler of Ann Arbor, who came
there two years ago as a combination
librarian-teacher.
"Everyone at Temple Beth El seems
to be helping the school," Tessler said.
"One bar mitzvah boy made the
school library his mitzvah project and
collected and donated 2,000 books
and magazines on nature."
The library is dear to the hearts of
Beth El members and McMurtry
because it was the pet project of Ada
Glazer, Dr. Glazer's widow, who died
at 89 in 1999, after being hit by a car
in a shopping area at Coolidge and
Nine Mile Road in Oak Park.
"She used to come here a few times
a week with friends and help fix up

the library," McMurtry recalled. "She
was really devoted to books and read-
ing, and we named the library after
her. We give a memorial award in her
name to a student each year. We keep
portraits of her and Rabbi Glazer in
the library. She was my friend and
mentor ... just a wonderful woman,
and I miss her very much."
Other Beth El volunteers at Glazer
are Lee Marks, Sylvia Block and Betsy
Keidan of West Bloomfield; Susan
Chapnick, Kathie August, Ellen Siegel
and Lori Cohn of Bloomfield Hills;
Arlene Rubenstein and Fran Stern of
Birmingham, and Audrey Saperstein
of Huntington Woods.
Mark Glazer attends graduation cer-
emonies each June and awards diction-
aries to the top students, a custom
started by his mother. His wife,
Mania, and daughter, Catherine, also
are active in the yearlong library work.
His sister, Stephanie Ettelson, lives in
the Chicago area.
"The Glazer family and the Temple
Beth El volunteers have just been
wonderful to us. I can't say enough
about them," the principal said. "We
hear from various Beth El people
throughout the year. Every so often, I
receive a check for $50 or $100 from
some member there to be used for
books, or to help the children in other
ways. And the parents here really
appreciate it."
The school's reputation attracts stu-
dents from distant neighborhoods,
who would rather attend Glazer than
closer schools. With no school buses
available, they must walk to school or
be driven by the parents.
"I don't mind driving my daughter
here because this school has a great
reputation and many of my relatives'
kids come here," said Lance Hamilton,
a retired Highland Park Water
Department employee. "Sometimes I
come here and just hang around until
school ends."
The school now has a special par-
ents' resource room.
At the time of the Glazer school ded-
ication, Rabbi Leon Fram of Temple
Israel remembered his late colleague's
gentleness and love of children. "It is a
good thing his memory shall be per-
petuated by a school," he recalled. "His
outgoing character anticipated what we
now call the ecumenical movement,
the trend toward mutual respect and
friendship among the various religions,
racial and ethnic groups of the city. His
name on a public school will radiate
into our city as a symbol of the
American promise of equality, freedom
and brotherhood."