Metro

Aliyah Bound

Book Club Grant
The Prentis Memorial Library
of Temple Beth El in Bloomfield
Township received a 2006-2007
Jewish Women's Foundation
Grant for a new program,
Am Echad/Sefer Echad: A
Community Book Club for Girls
11-13 and Their Female Valuable
Persons.
The program will create book
clubs for "tween-age" girls and
the women who are most impor-
tant to them. Participants will
read and discuss books together.
The initial meeting will take
place at Temple Beth El Tuesday,
Nov. 9, at 7 p.m.
The first book to be read will
be Confessions of a Closet
Catholic by Sarah Darer
Littman. Littman will be a guest
Tuesday, Jan. 14, at the first meet-
ing of the assembled book clubs.
For information, call Eileen
Polk, (248) 851-1100, ext. 3138.

Nothing can deter. Oak Park retirees
from their dream life in Israel.

Peggy Letvin in her Oak Park home packing for her move to Israel.

Robin Schwartz

Special to the Jewish News

A

t a time when many
tourists are leav-
ing Israel to escape
Hezbollah missiles exploding in
various cities, Peggy and Marc
Letvin of Oak Park are packing
up to move to there.
Things were more peace-
ful when the couple purchased
an apartment in Beitar 1114, a
large settlement populated by
Orthodox Jews in the hills near
Jerusalem. But they're deter-
mined not to let the fighting and
bombing stop them from going
forward with their plans.
"I just feel I was meant to
retire in Israel:' said Peggy Letvin
during a break from pack-
ing boxes. "Yes, Israel can be a
dangerous place, but there are
dangerous places in the United
States, too."
The idea of moving to Israel
first struck the Letvins more
than a decade ago while they
were touring the country. The
plan has been in the back of their
minds ever since.
"We just fell in love with the
city, and we bought the apart-
ment with the idea to retire
there': Mrs. Letvin said.
More than 25,000 Jews live in

Beitar Illit, including the Letvin's
daughter, Chana Brea, 30, her
husband, Yehuda, and their five
children: Yaakov, 8, Avraham, 6,
Menachem, 4, Elchonon, 3, and
Meir Simcha, 5 months old.
The settlement has been in
the focus of some frightening
news in recent weeks. A teenage
resident of Beitar Illit, Eliyahu
Asheri, 18, was kidnapped and
murdered by Palestinian terror-
ists in late June. In spite of the
killing and the escalating conflict
with Hezbollah, the Letvins say

there's no place else they'd rather
live.
They're in the midst of a
frenzy of activity — sorting their
belongings, shipping boxes and
instructing the movers who will
help them relocate. By Sept. 5, the
Letvins will be permanent resi-
dents of Israel.
"We just love Israel — the
raindrops there are holy, and it's
a beautiful place to live out Our
lives," Mrs. Letvin said.
"That's where God wantsus to
be, and we're going." E

Chana and
Yehuda Brea
with four of
their chil-
dren, from
left, Yaakov,
AvFaham,
Menachem,
Elchonon.

AJC Breakfast
The American Jewish Committee
Metropolitan Detroit Chapter will
host a breakfast briefing with
Keith Krivitzky of Hillel: The
Foundation
for Jewish
Campus Life.
He is associ-
ate director
of develop-
ment and
director of
strategic phi-
lanthropy. Krivitzky
The event
will be 7:30
am, Friday, Aug. 11, at the Max
'M. Fisher Federation Building in
Bloomfield Township. There is
no charge, but reservations are
required.
Krivitzky engages philan-
thropic leadership and potential
investors in Hillel, developing key
investment opportunities and
strategic partnerships to imple-
ment the priorities identified by
Hind's recent strategic planning
process.
For reservations, call (248)
646-7686 or e-mail detroit@ajc.
org.

7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 1, at the
Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield.
For information, call Mark
Segel, (248) 208-2773.

Original Art
The Pomegranate Guild
of Southeastern Michigan
is displaying the works of
their Mizrach Challenge at
Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills.
The works include original
and adapted patterns in needle-
point, embroidery, counted cross
stitch, patchwork, machine appli-
que, beading and decoupage and
are the result of a year-long chal-
lenge for members of this Judaic
needlework group.
All the works contain the word
Mizrach, Hebrew for east, and
make the pieces suitable to hang
on the eastern wall of syna-
gogues or homes to indicate the
direction of prayer.
Members with works on
display are Nadine Eder, Ann
Emerson, Marilyn Feingold,
Miriam Freeling, Ed Frowine,
Judy Galperin, Rheada Kellso,
Mary Robinson, Carol Tarica and
Francine Taylor.
The Southeastern Michigan
Chapter is part of the interna-
tional Pomegranate Guild of.
Judaic Needlework.
For information about the
guild, call Judy Galperin, (248)
661-5337.

Marital Bliss
Harmony in the Home, a two-
part course on the Jewish
approach to peaceful married
life, will take place Monday
nights, July 31 and Aug. 7, at
7:30 p.m. in the Baldwin Public
Library, Birmingham.
Rabbi Boruch Cohen of the
Birmingham-Bloomfield Chai
Center will teach the class; the
cost is $35. Both the rational and
mystical approaches to a harmo-
nious marriage will be discussed,
based on traditional sources.
For information or to register,
call (248) 203-6721 or email
chaff-rabbi@sbcglobal.net .

IDF Chief Speaks
Lt. Gen. Moshe Ya'alon, former
IDF chief of staff, will speak on
"The Middle East: Challenges
Ahead for Israel and the West,"

July 27 • 2006

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