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JAMD Bids On Land
An Unbroken Chain
There's expanding hunger among
Metro Detroit Jews.
Last year, Yad Ezra, the Berkley-
based kosher food pantry, distributed a
record 844,000 pounds of food to
impoverished local families.
"One in 38 Jewish individuals the
Metro Detroit relies on food from Yad
Ezra every month," says Lea Luger, the
executive director. "In 2004, more
than 500 new families came to Yad
Ezra at least one time for assistance."
Who are these people?
"They are unemployed, underem-
ployed, disabled, elderly or in emer-
gency situations," says Luger.
"Sometimes, they just can't make ends
meet without additional help."
Yad Ezra is a front-line support
agency directly serving families in
need. Each month, it distributes free
groceries to 1,100 families represent-
ing 2,500 people.
Yad Ezia is part of a food chain that
begins with farmers, manufacturers,
wholesalers, restaurateurs and corpo-
rate executives, who donate food and
money to
Second
Harvest,
America's
largest
charitable
hunger
relief
agency.
Second
Harvest
relays the
food to 200
Luger
food banks
that, in
turn, serve
food pantries, soup kitchens and
homeless shelters.
"Yad Ezra's leadership feels most for-
tunate that our community continues
to remain strongly linked to this food
chain," Luger said. "Donors of all
backgrounds and ages volunteer their
time, food and funds to help ensure
that the link remains unbroken."
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Don't Know©
defamation is not uncommon, this
incident was unique in its scope and
the fact that so many white boards
bore the same messages," the story
said.
But because the graffiti was not
damaging and therefore does not con-
stitute a crime, DPS is investigating it
as a hate incident.
— Harry Kirsbaum,
staff writer
Region on Feb. 3.
"Hamas feels it is in severe trouble,"
said Brown, assistant director of the
Global Research in International
Affairs (GLORIA) Center in Herzliya,
Israel.
"Their popularity among
Palestinians, even in their heyday,
never broke 30 percent. Their support
is plummeting, their leaders are dead.
And how strong can your organization
be if you let people know who cur-
rently runs your organization —he'd
be dead?"
2005
— Goldfein
a UTE S a42
The Israeli elec-
tions have weak-
ened Hamas, said
Israel-based writer
and lecturer
Cameron Brown
during a talk with
members of the
Zionist
Organization of
America, Michigan
Quotables
Often it occurs that Christmas Day will fall dur-
ing the same week as the Jewish community's cele-
bration of Chanukah. In addition, this year anoth-
er Christian holiday coincides with a Jewish one.
Which one?
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says. "There is sufficient space to
build sports facilities and to expand
the academic wing, if necessary
"We are excited about this possibili-
ty although we are realistic enough to
know that much needs to be done to
turn this into a reality."
Since opening five years ago, JAMD
has been housed at the Jewish
Community Center in West
Bloomfield. The 161-student school
currently uses portable classrooms plus
space inside the JCC.
— Keri Guten Cohen,
story development editor
Middle East Update
—Robert A. Sklar,
editor
U-N Hate Incident
Swastikas and the initials KKK were
drawn on some white eraser boards at
a University of Michigan dormitory
on Jan. 30.
According to the Michigan Daily,
the U-M Department of Public Safety
dispatched officers to Markley Little
Hall after receiving a report of racist
graffiti on dormitory doors at 12:30
p.m. Saturday, DPS spokeswoman
Diane Brown said.
"Brown said that while whiteboard
The board of the Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit has submitted a
bid for the William Tyndale College
property. The bid was accepted Feb. 1,
according to a letter sent this week by
Rabbi Lee Buckman, head of school.
The college, which comprises
45,000 square feet, is located on 28
acres of land on the southwest corner
of 12 Mile and Drake roads in
Farmington Hills.
"We have a 30-day due diligence
period to conduct a range of surveys
and to secure the funds needed to
acquire this property" the statement
Excluding Israel, Turkey and more
recently the Palestinian Authority and
Iraq, "every example of democracy is
symbolic in nature," he told a crowd
of 75.
These symbolic democracies are led
mostly by the same leadership since
the 1970s, have a terrible educational
system, including a 25 percent illitera-
cy rate among Arab males and 47 per-
cent among women, he said.
But hope lies with P.A. Prime
Minister Mahmoud Abbas, he said.
"He was dealt a very, very poor
hand," he said. "Here's a guy who had
2 percent of the vote when he started.
He had no institution. His hand was
poor. With what he had, he played it
very well. Not perfect, but no one is
perfect."
The event also was sponsored by the
B'nai B'rith Great Lakes Region.
— Harry Kirsbaum,
staff writer
Do You Remember?
February 1985
"Unlike others who considered therapy a last
resort for the mentally ill, my mother considered
it a learning experience. My parents were allergic
to Jewish rituals and observance, but they had
strong ideas about what it meant to be a Jew. You
were supposed to be brilliant, you were supposed
to change the world, make a difference and get a
good education."
— Author-therapist Harriet Lerner, profiled in the
January issue of Hadassah magazine.
Thousands of Holocaust survivors and their fami-
lies will meet in Philadelphia at the inaugural
assembly of the American gathering of Jewish
Holocaust Survivors.
The event will coincide with the 40th anniver-
sary of the liberation of the German death camps.
The survivors will also seek to evaluate the pos-
itive effects of the moral dimension of the Allied
victory over Nazi Germany.
— Sy Manello, editorial assistant
AIN
2/10
2005