Clockwise from left: Steve and 5V2-year-old Avery
Ribiat of West Bloomfield enjoy a dance.
Robert Grodman of Commerce pins a corsage on
Heidi Grodman, 4. Rabbi Daniel Nevins and
daughter Leora, 7, check a souvenir photo.
A Great Evening
Fathers and their little girls unite for a dance at Adat Shalom.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
AppleTree Editor
M
embers of the Adat Shalom
Men's Club liked David
Weiss' idea for a Daddy-
Daughter Dance. And when he volun-
teered to organize it all, it was a done
deal.
The dads and daughters got togeth-
er last week for the event, the first of
its kind at Adat Shalom. The program
featured dance (of course), food and
fun.
"For the past two years, I've gone
with my daughter to the daddy-
daughter dance put on by the
Farmington Hills recreation depart-
ment, and it was always a lot of fun,"
said Weiss who, when not serving as
dance coordinator for his synagogue,
works as dean of students at Wayne
State University in Detroit.
Plenty of mother-daughter programs
and events for fathers and sons are out
there, but those just for fathers and
daughters are rare. So that's why Weiss
suggested, "Let's try something like
the Farmington Hills event at Adat
Shalom. And then I volunteered to
coordinate it, and that's when every-
one said, `OK, let's do id"'
The theme was dance, so having fun
was a priority. "But with the Men's
Club, we didn't want to just have peo-
ple come dance to some songs and
then leave. We wanted a Judaic corn-
ponent, as well."
That's how the Daddy-Daughter
Dance came to include Israeli dance in
addition to Jerusalem Pizza dishes and
salad, a formal picture-taking (along
with the chance for girls to make their
own frames, especially for the night's
souvenir photo) and a lot of putting
your right hand in and taking your
left hand out as dads and daughters
did the hokey pokey.
Dan Levin, a Wayne State graduate
who now works for Ford, served as dj
for the evening. He volunteered. "He
told me, 'I'm really glad just to be part
of something like this at a Jewish
institution," Weiss said.
More than 100 dads and daughters
(mostly the under-10 set) attended the
event, which was hosted by members of
the Men's Club. Guests included Rabbi
Daniel Nevins and his daughters. Weiss
was there with his daughter Caroline,
who is 5 or, if you ask her, 5 and a half,
as were his son and wife, who helped
with the evening's activities.
It took a lot of planning, but everyone
worked together, leaving Weiss more
than delighted with the results.
"Everyone at the synagogue really
embraced the idea," he said. "They all
told me, 'Whatever I can do to help,
just let me know.'" ❑
MORE PHOTOS on page 42
ITN
3/17
2005
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