Metro
Helping Others
1-1-16
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133043. MVO
Doctor to Ethiopian Jews shares
experiences of 1991 exodus.
Cont
TS
The Charles H. Gershenson Trust
Maurice Binkow, Trustee
Natalie, Manny and Jeffrey Charach
Rita Haddow in memory of John M. Haddow
Michael, Sherrill, Justin and Madison Berman
Franklin Bank
Peoples State Bank
Voyages of Discovery -
Judith and Irwin Elson
Dr. Rick Hodes gets animated about his work treating Ethiopian Jews
Barbara and Douglas Bloom
Hotel Baronette
Lauren and Joel Bruss
Raymond James
and Associates, Inc.
Caribou Coffee
awaiting evacuation to Israel.
Ellisha Kaplan
Special Writer
Evelyn Kasle
Carnival Extravaganza
Ann Arbor
Nancy and Phil Kiraly
Carvel Ice Cream
I
n 1991, the American Jewish
community raised $30 million
dollars to evacuate all Jews out
of Ethiopia. Dr. Rick Hodes, head of
medical programs for the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
(JDC), was the man on the ground
that helped plan and orchestrate
Operation Solomon in May 1991, the
largest mass emigration of Africans
for a purpose other than slavery.
As Hodes planned to evacuate all
his patients, his nurse informed him
that he had forgotten something
important — food.
"I was forgetting to eat, and I had
forgotten to feed my patients as
well:' he told a crowd of more than
120 members of the Young Adult
Division and Maimonides Society of
the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw
County on Nov. 16 in Ann Arbor.
"We had some matzah that had
gotten caught up in customs that
March, and 'Mr. Slim-Fast' had sent
us 40,000 packets of Slim-Fast, so
in their Exodus, these Ethiopians
were eating matzah, just like in our
Exodus, but because it was 1991,
they had Slim-Fast, too."
Hodes also talked about his expe-
rience during Operation Solomon
and about treating the 13,000
Macy's
Dailey & Steam Law Firm, PLC
Motor City Comic Con
Dark Horse Comics
Northwest Airlines
Diamond Comic
Book Distributors
Jeannette and Jerry Olson
Enterprise Rent-A-Car
Sheldon Olson
Gallery Animato
PC Treasures, Inc.
Sarah and Harold Gottlieb
Maida Portnoy
Penny and Seymour
Greenstein
Barbara and Chuck Sachse
Guardian Alarm
Jim, Karen, Amy
and David Wechsler
Heromachine.com
Melba Winer
Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital
Whole Foods
Hillers Market
As of 11/14/06
S h a1im Str e et
JANICE
CHARACH
EPSTEIN
E3P1 1
THE CENTER
Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit
GALLERY
of tietwollanIDCnatt
1178920
22
November 30 2006
Ethiopians still waiting to go to
Israel.
The event marked the rebirth of
the Maimonides Society, a donor
recognition program for healthcare
workers who contribute $1,000 or
more to the Federation's Annual
Campaign, and a new twist for the
YAD Annual Campaign. In addi-
tion to hearing from the doctor, the
group enjoyed Ethiopian appetizers
and a screening of the film Live and
Become, which is about an Ethiopian
boy who makes his way to Israel with
a hidden identity.
Hodes also spoke the next two
days at Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills,
"I'm helping the people no one
else is interested in," Hodes said,
who started a program that sends
Ethiopian children to America for
free heart surgery and also acts as
an adviser to the Israeli Ministry
of Health. "It makes me feel good
to know that I'm doing something
where I'm really making a differ-
ence."
In closing, he thanked the group
for supporting the work he does by
donating to the Federation. That
night, $30,280 was raised, bring-
ing total giving to the 2007 Annual
Campaign from these two groups to
$143,561.
"You are our partners:' he said. "I
couldn't do what I do without your
support."