Focus

EIGHT OVER EIGHTY .

Generous Souls

Annual Eight Over Eighty brunch honors community leaders.

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n May 21, Jewish Apartments
& Services (JAS) will pres-
ent its 13th annual Eight Over
Eighty/Tikkun Olam Award Ceremony.
Eight senior adults, all 80 or older, are
nominated by family members, friends
and community agencies and chosen by a
panel of judges to receive this honor. The
event is a fund-raiser for food subsidies
for approximately one-third of all JAS resi-
dents who facie incomes below the federal
.
poverty level.
The exemplary leadership of these.
eight individuals in•their professional and
personal lives has had a marked impact
on the Detroit Jewish community and
beyond.

.

Mandell "Bill" Berman of Franklin
has spent his life as a proponent and
supporter of Jewish education and cul-
ture. His roots
in the Jewish
community are
deep and he's
enthusiastically
thrown himself
into almost every
Imaginable area
of Jewish orga-
nizational life,
Bill Berman
helping to sus-
- tain the Jewish
community and ensuring a Jewish future.
His enormous range of experience has
helped many Jewish causes throughout
the years.

Sarah Deitch's family and friends
says she epitomizes the most giving, altru-
istic, loving individual you could imagine.
When asked to
help out or vol-
unteer in almost
any capacity, she
doesn't know.
the meaning of
the word "no!'
Sarah, a resident
of Southfield, is a
devoted member
Sarah Deitch
of Northwest
. Child Rescue
Women and over decades she's helped
raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.
She's helped literally hundreds of young

couples begin their lives together planning
their wedding. Sarah is the matriarch of
the family and truly a special lady.

Selma Goode of Detroit devotes her
life every day to improving and awareness
of social and economic justice for all peo-
ple. A longtime member of the Workman's
Circle/Arbeter
Ring and
founder and
director of
Westside
Mothers, she
volunteers,
organizes,
helps and
advocates for
Selma Goode
underprivileged
clients. She's
the Michigan
director of the national Jewish Labor
Committee and helps bridge the Jewish
and labor communities. She also advo-
cates for universal health care and reform,
including improving health care services
for the uninsured. She's a recognized
leader, well known and respected.

Bloomfield Hills resident Dr. Henry
Krystal is a Holocaust survivor who has
dedicated his life to the study of trauma,
beginning with his own during the
Holocaust and
extending to
others. He's one
of the world's
foremost
authorities in
post-traumatic
stress disorder
(PTSD) and
has been a
Dr. Henry Krystal
vital part of
the community
Of Holocaust survivors for more than 50
years. Dr. Krystal pioneered theories about
psychological effects of disaster on mental
health and his theoretical contributions on
concentration camp syndrome and PTSD
are used by most students who study
and practice in that area of psychological.
trauma. A mentor, teacher and role model,
Dr. Krystal turned his own suffering into,
an understanding and healing of the suf-
fering of all people.

Blind since
birth, Dr. Abe
Nemeth has
lived a life with
few boundaries.
A mathemati-
.
cian, he has
devised a mul-
titude of tools
Dr. Abe Nemeth
used by the
blind. He invent-
ed and devel-
oped the internationally used standard
Braille system for writing math, termed
the Nemeth Braille Code for Mathematics
and wrote the Braille music dictionary.
Currently, he is converting the Orthodox
prayer book, The Complete Artscroll
Siddur, into Braille. He's been an inspira-
tion as an inventor and a human being.

Two weeks after graduating from high
school, Ed Meer was off to war where
he saw a great deal of combat. He often
thought if he
were to survive
and became
a success he'd
want to do his •
part to give back
to the com-
munity. Upon'
his return, he
built his family's
Edward•Meer
small dental
supply business
into one of the largest in the nation before
selling it after.50 years. Since then he's
become a generous community benefac-
tor. Giving back runs deep in his family,
as he often credits his sons for his active
involvement. He's a respected voice of rea-
son and a valued source of diplomacy in
our community.

Jennie Solomon

Southfield's
Jennie.
Solomon has
been part of
the National
Council of
Jewish Women's
Meals on
Wheels pro-
gram for 36
• years. What sets

her apart is her compassion for people
and dedication to helping others. She
began her volunteer work at agel2 in the
synagogue's Sunday school and eventu-
ally became president of the B'nai David
Sisterhood. Her parents worked for chari-
table organizations and taught her the
importance of helping others. At 92, she's
still part of Meals on Wheels every week.

Elizabeth Elkin Weiss of West
Bloomfield established herself as an
actress in the Chicago and Detroit area,
starting with radio dramas such as the
Lone Ranger, Challenge of the Yukon
and The Green
Hornet. She
has an extraor-
dinary passion
for the Yiddish
language and
culture and
shares this
love with the
younger gen-
Elizabeth Elkin
eration. While
Weiss
not a Holocaust
survivor her-
.
self, she is a
passionate student and educator of the
Holocaust. She has written and per-
formed numerous programs of Jewish
and Yiddish content and continues to
inspire and uplift the spirit of those
around her. ❑

The 13th annual Eight Over Eighty/Tikkun
Olam Award brunch will be at 11 a.m.
May 21, in Handelman Hall of the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Brunch is $65; call 248-592-1102 to make
reservations. The ceremony begins at noon
and is open to the public, no reserved
seating, though a donation to support the
meal program for low-income senior adults
is appreciated.

May 11 • 2006

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