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Little Interest In 'Building Bridges'
The premiere of Building Bridges, Bridges TV's new 18-part series
seeking to promote understanding between the Muslim, Jewish and
Christian communities, had a less-than-auspicious kick-off Nov. 1.
Fewer than a dozen Metro Detroiters came to the
Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights
to view the first episode, and little discussion
followed the screening. Local and national view-
ership numbers for the cable broadcast were
unavailable.
The brainchild of Rabbi Brad Hirschfield of
the National Jewish Center for Learning and
Leadership (CLAL), the series kick-off event
included Rabbi Hirschfield, Rev. Francis X.
Rabbi Hirschfield
Mazur of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Buffalo,
N.Y., and program moderator Ahmed Soliman,
Bridges TV senior news anchor and producer, who appear in each
episode. Also attending were Imam Abdullah Bey El-Amin, executive
director of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan (CIOM),
and Imam Mohammad All Elahi, who hosted the event at his mosque.
Imam El-Amin appeared in the first episode dealing with separa-
tion of church and state in the U.S., and Imam Elahi appears in four
upcoming episodes.
Imam Elahi attributed the low turnout to lack of interest in inter-
DaimlerChrysler Backs Maccabi
Shortly after .a record crowd of more than 2,000 settled into folding
chairs in the main gym at the Jewish Community Center in West
Bloomfield on Nov. 1 to hear noted author and scholar Elie Wiesel for
the opening of the 55th annual Jewish Book Fair, they were surprised
by a brief announcement.
Irwin Alterman, JCC president, told the crowd
that DaimlerChrysler Foundation will be sup-
porting the 2008 JCC Maccabi Games in Detroit
with $250,000. Applause was resounding.
Maccabi is expected to draw thousands of young
athletes to Detroit.
Wiesel's talk was not a lecture, as many
attendees expected. Instead he gave a Torah
study from the Book of Job. Copies of the text
Elie Wiesel
were on each person's chair. Following Wiesel's
opening teaching, audience members were asked
to continue studying in pairs chevruta-style. The event, believed to be
the largest chevruta study session ever, was filmed by the University
of Michigan Hillel, paid for by a grant.
The impromptu chevruta session wasn't entirely successful, but
Wiesel's remarks about Job's struggles and his ability not to lose hope
were interwoven poignantly with Wiesel's Holocaust experiences. It
made for a powerful evening as Wiesel planted ideas that lingered.
Another highlight of the evening was the announcement of winners
of Book Fair's high school writing contest. Their topic: Why is Elie
Wiesel's book Night relevant today? Molly Shannon of Birmingham
Groves High School was the grand-prize winner; runner-ups were
Olivia Nedorezov of the International Academy (IA) in Bloomfield
Hills, Zachary Trosch of Bloomfield Hills Roeper School and Lauren
Tucker of North Farmington High School. Finalists were Marnie Beals
of the Frankel Jewish Academy in West Bloomfield, Rose Bridges of
IA, Tessa Diem of Community High School in Ann Arbor, Kristine
Kendall of North Farmington, Kathryn Lentini of Birmingham
Marian High School and Yehudis Tawil of Oak Park Beth Jacob.
Look for the prize-winning essays at JNonline.us .
- Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
10 November 9 • 2006
faith activities, though the program was not widely promoted, and
faced opposition from the local Jewish community because of the
participation of Imam Elahi and CLAL's lack of coordination with
local Jewish groups.
Sharona Shapiro, Michigan area director of the American Jewish
Committee, had publicly and privately expressed these concerns to
CLAL and others. Discussions also continue on the national level
regarding CLAL's interaction with Imam Elahi, who is not seen locally
as a partner for dialogue because of his unabashed support for
Hezbollah and written and verbal attacks on Israel and its support-
ers. Imam Elahi also has defended Iranian President Ahmadinejad's
verbal attacks on Jews, Zionists, Israel and the historical existence of
the Holocaust.
In brief remarks, Rabbi Hirschfield underscored the importance of
dialogue by quoting the Talmud teaching: "Who is wise? The person
who can learn from everyone."
He said the wise have "the readiness to learn not only from those
in your own community and in your own tradition but beyond your
community and tradition."
The series can be seen at 9:30 p.m. Mondays and at 10 p.m. Fridays
on Comcast Digital Cable, Channel 687, and WOW! Cable & Internet,
Channel 694.
- Don Cohen, special writer
Being A Proper Guest
With b'nai mitzvah celebrations back in full swing, Nancy Kaplan,
volunteer coordinator of Kolel Moshe at Congregation B'nai Moshe in
West Bloomfield, suggests young guests of Conservative synagogue
services get a copy of "You're Invited to a Bar-Bat Mitzvah." The United
Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's pamphlet,
written by Rabbi Paul Drazen and Larry Raful,
was created to assist young teens invited to b'nai
mitzvah services.
On four short pages, they'll learn: What is a
b'nai mitzvah? Where should you sit? What's in
the sanctuary? Also, they'll find basics, such as
don't chew gum, drink the wine or chatter non-
,
stop.
"There are simple, courteous ways to make it
Nancy Kaplan
clear what the expectations are regarding proper
shul etiquette," said Kaplan. She advised look-
ing at them in advance — "not with a handout when they walk in the
door, but weeks before, ideally enclosed with the invitation."
In addition, she suggests area Conservative synagogues and schools
distribute the pamphlet to their sixth- and seventh-graders. That way,
not only are the kids prepared for what to expect and do, they also are
informed as to what to wear and bring with them.
"They should be asked in advance to leave their cell phones at home
and not to wear micro-mini skirts or have bare shoulders and not to
carry gifts to shul on Shabbat," Kaplan said. Parents also need to be
aware of these rules, she added. "To a great extent, I feel many families
simply do not know what the dos and don'ts are."
In addition to the pamphlet, Kaplan suggests the reading of
Putting God on the Guest List, a book by Rabbi Jeffrey Salkin,
which includes a guide to being a b'nai mitzvah guest that can be cop-
ied and distributed.
To download "You're Invited to a Bar-Bat Mitzvah:' go to
www.uscj.org/mid-continent/materials/invitbmn.pdf.
- She'll Liebman Dorfman, staff writer
This Week
Winning Essays
More than 130 students
entered the Jewish Book Fair's
high school essay contest tied
to a kick-off speech by author
Elie Wiese!. The topic: Why is
Elie Wiesel's book Night rel-
evant today? Read the winning
essays.
Just click on Web Extras on
the menu on the left
JBlog
Jeff Klein offers his
Perspectives on Everything
from dating to this week's
column on 'You Can't Win 'Em
Ail." Always thoughtful, often
provocative. Or perhaps you'd
rather read about the adven-,
tures of Laurie Freeman's
China Punim, 4-year-old
Amanda? This week we hear
about difficult beginnings. Only
at JNonline.us. Just click on
JBlog on the menu on the left.
Latest From Israel
Want the most current news
from Israel? Check our stream-
ing news from Ynetnews.com
for continuous updates and
longer news, opinion and fea-
ture stories.
Just visit JNonline.us and
click on a scrolling story on
the left.
Out & About
Looking for something inter-
esting to do this weekend?
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Gail Zimmerman offers her
best picks.
Just visit JNonline.us and
click on Arts & Entertainment
on the left.
This week's poll question:
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