Front Lines
NOTEBOOK
BASLU
ALESSANDRO DELCACQUA
MARTIN GRANT
Detroit Teens Buy Ambulance
The John J. Mames Chapter, Michigan
Region of American Friends of Magen
David Adorn (Israel's Emergency
Medical Service), has completed a com-
munity-wide giving campaign, Project
Lifeline, aimed at allowing children in
Metro Detroit to connect directly with
the everyday Israeli — with the moth-
ers, fathers and children who depend on
the Israeli emergency services to save
lives.
The focus of the two-year campaign
was to raise enough money from Metro
Detroit children to collectively purchase
a new ambulance to be sent to Israel.
"This was the first campaign of its
kind for Magen David Adom," said Eva
Mames, chapter president.
"We have sent hundreds of ambu-
lances to Israel, but this was the first
time that the youth have fundraised to
send an ambulance to Israel."
American Friends of Magen David
Adorn asked local educators to integrate
Project Lifeline into their own char-
ity programming. Adat
i2ti tt the
Shalom Synagogue, con-
gregations Beth Shalom,
B'nai Moshe and Shaarey
Zedek, Hillel Day School
of Metropolitan Detroit,
Hillel Foundation of
Metropolitan Detroit,
Michigan Region B'nai
B'rith Youth Organization,
Temple Emanu-El, Temple
Michigan Region B'nai B'rith Youth admire the ambulance
Israel and Yeshivat Akiva
they helped purchase for Magen David Adorn. Rear: Jeff
all raised money with
Colvin, Eric Berlin, Erica Silver, Dana O'Neill. Front: Seth
fundraising programs
Strasberger, Mitchell Adler.
towards this project and
had their organization's
leaving for Israel the next day, he kissed
name permanently
the ambulance just as one would kiss a
inscribed on the ambulance.
mezuzah.
The ambulance was recently in Metro
Project Lifeline was co-chaired by
Detroit for its dedication and driven to
Jodi
Tobin, Sheri Stay and Nancy Adler.
the local organizations so the children
could see the tangible result of their
- Keri Guten Cohen,
fundraising efforts. One seventh-grade
story
development editor
boy was so moved by the sight of the
ambulance that when he learned it was
\,)C4t
Honored Video
Dr. Ken Stein, director of the Institute
for the Study of Modern Israel, and
professor of contemporary Middle
Eastern History and Israeli Studies at
Emory University in Atlanta, makes a
point to 85 Jewish congregational after-
noon schoolteachers on June 22 at Adat
Shalom Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
Stein has taught more than 600 con-
gregational teachers during one- to
five-day workshops "to deal with teach-
ing Israel in a more complete, broader
fashion than just the politics of tomorrow," he said.
The 21/2-day seminar took place at several venues and was
sponsored by a grant from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Alliance for Jewish Education, with the support of the
Hermelin/Davidson Center for Congregational Excellence.
"There are very talented Jewish educators out there, very com-
mitted; all I'm doing is adding and inspiring," Stein said. The
teachers "are interested in how Israel came into being, how it
evolved into a state, how the Zionists did it. They're particularly
fascinated about the process of state building, the political sys-
tem, on culture and literature:'
The Michigan chapter of the National Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences awarded an Emmy to HKO
Media, an Ann Arbor production company, and WFUM-
TV, Michigan Television, for their documentary video,
Raoul Wallenberg: One Person Can Make A Difference.
HKO Media's Noah Ovshinsky wrote, produced and
directed Raoul Wallenberg: One Person Can Make A
Difference. HKO's president, Emmy and Peabody award-
winning producer Harvey Ovshinsky, was the video's
executive producer.
Raoul Wallenberg: One Person Can Make A
Difference tells the story of one of U-M's most distin-
guished and revered graduates. After graduating with
honors in 1939, Wallenberg went on to use his position as
a Swedish diplomat in Hungary to save the lives of tens of
thousands of Jews condemned by the Nazis.
Each year, the recipient of the endowment's Wallenberg
Medal presents a lecture at the university. The 2006
Wallenberg Medal will be awarded to Sister Luise
Radlmeier, a Dominican nun living in Kenya, who for
two decades has aided Sudanese youth. Sister Luise will
deliver the Wallenberg Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct.
5, in Rackham Auditorium on the U-M campus.
Play Ball!
The Jewish National Fund
has announced Project:
Baseball to replace the few
baseball fields in Israel
and build additional ones
throughout the country.
JNF and the Israel Baseball
League (IBL) estimate there
are 2,000 regular players in
Israel, but they face some
hardships. The main field in
Jerusalem is a dusty, rocky,
empty lot. In Bet Shemesh,
250 children in the youth
league have to run uphill to
first base.
NINA RICCI
ROOARTE
BERNAZ SARAFPOUR
MICRON SCHUR
PAUL SMITH
PETER SORONEN
VALENTINO
GIAftiOATTISTA VALLI
Teaching About Israel
- Harry Kirsbaum, staff writer
LAC POSEN
- Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
JNF is planning to build
new fields with synthetic
turf so they do not have to be
watered.
The IBL will host a two-
week baseball camp in Israel
in July, utilizing professional
instructors and former Major
League players. It has also
begun recruiting players for
an Israeli women's softball
team to participate in the
2008 Olympic Games.
For information on
Project: Baseball, call (888)
JNF-0099.
- Alan Hitsky, associate editor
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July 6 • 2006 11