`Hearing' The Megillah
Fighting Anti-Semitism
Being able to fulfill the mitzvah of
listening to megillah reading on the
Purim holiday is something most
Jews take for granted. For the deaf
and hard of hearing, however, this
mitzvah is not so simple.
A solution — in the form of an
on-screen visual projection of the
words of Megillat Esther (Book of
Esther) — has been developed by
Our Way for the Deaf and Hard of
Hearing, a program of the Orthodox
Union's National Jewish Council for
Disabilities in New York.
Those viewing the presentation
watch a screen with words of the
megillah shown in both Hebrew and
English. It also includes special visu-
al graphics when the villain Haman's
name is read, a point in the reading
traditionally responded to with boo-
ing and the use of noisemakers.
the Ravitz Foundation.
Actor Joshua Malina, "Will
Bailey" on TV's The West
The program will allow
the Michigan office to
Wing, will kick off the
Michigan Region of the
partner with Hillels
throughout Michigan;
Anti-Defamation League's
(ADL) newest program, the
to implement one of
the ADL's flagship pro-
Ravitz Program for
Confronting Anti-Semitism,
grams, Confronting
at 7:30 p.m. March 22 at
Anti-Semitism, to teach
the Community House in
students, parents and
Birmingham.
teachers — Jewish and
Malina is a passionate
non-Jewish — about
this terrible threat; to
spokesperson for Jewish
causes, discussing the issues Joshua Malina
utilize ADL's
Advocating for Israel
that face Jews locally and
around the world. He
guide to teach Jewish
college students to speak knowledge-
believes in instilling Jewish values in
the next generation and has often
ably when unjustified attacks against
been ardent in his defense of Israel.
Israel occur; and to create a training
Born and raised in New York, Malina
center for staff and lay leaders on how
learned Jewish values growing up in a
to effectively respond to the news
media.
traditional home and attended yeshi-
va. He is an active member of the
This event is open to the public
Jewish Federation in his home com-
with a minimum donation of $25. To
munity of Los Angeles.
purchase tickets, call the ADL office
at (248) 646-2440.
The Ravitz Program for
Confronting Anti-Semitism was creat-
— Keri Guten Cohen,
ed through a $1 million grant from
story development editor
24 and Friday morning, March 25.
The computerized PowerPoint
presentation has been featured in
synagogues across the United States
and as far away as South Africa,
England and Israel.
"Based on the feedback we have
received, we discovered that the pro-
gram is extremely beneficial for the
elderly, visually challenged who can-
not easily read the printed megillah
or as an enticement to engage young
children," said Batya Jacob, Our
Way program director.
Our Way provides the program in
a CD-ROM to synagogues for a
donation of $100, which will be
used to develop further such
resources.
For information, or to place an
order, contact Batya Jacob at (212)
613-8127 or e-mail at:
arielib@ou.org.
This year's megillah reading takes
place on Thursday evening, March
— Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Got Nosh?
no shortage of places to buy kosher
candy, Morris said she realized after
her 2002 move to Detroit that there
was a need for a store that sells the
kosher sweets.
The focus of the store is 64 self-
serve, theater-style bins filled with
everything from weighable chocolate
cordials to sugar-free candies to dried
fruit. She also carries specialty items
and can assemble shrink-wrapped bas-
kets or platters of goodies. (248) 462-
1511.
Adina Morris of Southfield has
opened her new store, Got Nosh?, just
in time for Purim, when people will
be assembling misloach manot pack-
ages that are a traditional part of the
holiday observance, given this year on
Friday, March 25.
Her store, located inside Spitzer's
Hebrew Book & Gift Center, 21790
W. Eleven Mile in Southfield, is under
the kashrut supervision of the Vaad
Harabonim: Council of Orthodox
Rabbis of Greater Detroit in
Southfield.
Morris spent her college years
majoring in marketing in New York,
where she even worked running a
candy store. After living in a city with
titil
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Adina Morris in her candy store.
7,FR:c! 'cha
771.
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— Shelli Liebman Dorfman
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Don't Know©2005
During Chanukah 2004, which European nation's
leader presided over the first-ever chanukiah light-
ing at the prime minister's residence?
— Goldfein
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2005
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Yiddish Limericks
Do You Remember?
I said to my wife, "Look here, Mabel ...
There's no food at all on the table."
She said, "Have rachmoness*.
Today's Esther Toness**.
I'm fasting as fast as I'm able!"
March 1975
— Martha Jo Fleischmann
* compassion, mercy, pity
** the Fast of Esther preceding Purim
Fifty-six students were graduated at the 35th
commencement of the Shapero School of
Nursing at Sinai Hospital of Detroit.
After diplomas and pins were presented to each
of the graduates, the class, led by Marilynn G.
Goering, Shapero School instructor, recited the
pledge to "uphold the high standards of my nurs-
ing vocation." Including this class, the school has
graduated 1,493 students.
— Sy Manello, editorial assistant