Metro Make a this summer.;. FORGOTTEN ...with our 2005 Summer Memberships (Memorial Day - Labor Day) New for 2005: Full privileges to the club! Now accepting Bar/Bat Mitzvah reservations. Contact the Sales Office at 248.352.8000 to take advantage of all the Club has to offer this summer! •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Student Memberships at Franklin Athletic Club! so Initiation Fee •$71 Monthly Dues OMNI Membership (full privileges including pool use and a wide-variety of programming). •$22 Monthly Dues Tennis Membership only. 4 MORE FIT. MORE REFINED 5/19 2005 16 29350 Northwestern Hwy Southfield, MI 248.352.8000 www.franklinclub.com from page 14 On Chanukah, he goes to light the menorah. On Purim, he comes to read the Megillah. Around Pesach, he holds a model seder. Who attends? A handful of the men are Jewish, Rabbi Nerenberg says, and some aren't. "We don't turn anyone away." Rabbi Nerenberg says that despite a popular belief to the contrary, most prisoners really do not express anti- Semitism. In fact, "There is a certain aura of respect that inmates give each other for those who follow their faith," he says, especially if the inmate observes "in a non-obtrusive fashion." You wouldn't want to make a lot of requests, get a lot of extras, have any of what is regarded as special treat- ment because of your religion. Rabbi Nerenberg does- n't remember meeting Michael Knell, so after learning from Marty Hochberg that Knell had died, he approached other Jewish inmates. "They didn't know him, either," but had heard he was Jewish. Rabbi Nerenberg learned that Knell would Rabbi Levin be taken to a secular funeral home, then buried outside the prison or, even worse, cremated or his body donated to science, both of which are not permissible under Halachah, Jewish law. That's when Rabbi Nerenberg phoned Rabbi Levin. `About A Jewish Boy 1.1 It was Friday morning when Rabbi Levin received the call. Rabbi Nerenberg was fairly certain a Jewish prisoner had just died, he said. The body was at a secular funeral home in Jackson, and no family was coming to claim the last remains of Michael Knell. The first question: Was Michael Knell really Jewish? Usually it's simply a matter of asking family members, but none were there to ask. That meant Rabbi Levin would have to do a bit of detective work. Other prisoners remember Knell mentioning that he was Jewish, and Marty Hochberg said the same. Another clue came from Knell himself. The former inmate had a tattoo, which helped inspire Rabbi Levin to stay on the case. "It was right here," Rabbi Levin says, pointing to the soft spot between the forefinger and the thumb. The tat- too was of a Star of David. "Which convict in prison is going to have that kind of tattoo if he isn'tJewish?" he asks. Rabbi Levin called the funeral home where Knell's body lay. "Wait." Rabbi Levin must have said the word 500 times that day in calls to the funeral home, prison officials, whoever would listen. They were all amazed: Why would anyone from halfway across the state want to come get this corpse just to bury it? No one was going to pay for a big, fancy funeral, if that's what he was hoping. "Money!" Rabbi Levin is appalled. "This is not about money. This is about a Jewish boy, and we have to give him a Jewish funeral." „, He made more calls, faxed a lot: "We were fight- ing over this body like the guy was the president of the United States." (Unlike Hebrew Memorial, which performed its service for free, a secular funeral home would have been paid for its services in handling the body of Michael Knell.) Then Rabbi Levin turned to the law. According to Michigan statutes, medical schools at Wayne State University, Michigan State University and the University of Michigan are to be noti- fied of all unclaimed bodies within 72 hours of death. The schools are then free to retrieve the bodies and use them for educational and research purposes. On June 30, 2003, this measure was amended to include the right of any interested benevolent society to be notified before the medical schools should the deceased be a member of a religion that required burial. The only benevolent society that requested such notification was Hebrew Memorial Chapel. It was, in the end, this obscure legislation that saved the day.. Ten minutes before Shabbat, Rabbi Levin got a call from Jackson Prison. "We won't do anything with the body until Monday," officials vowed. So Rabbi Levin observed Shabbat, then he was back on the case. He had no choice. Halachah states that a Jewish body must be buried as soon as possible after the time of death. He planned the funeral for Monday. Some observers will be mystified, others furious. Why be concerned about burying this kind of criminal, a man who sexually abused children?