To fe

SPORT

TORAH POR ON

Six-Pointed Star

N. Farmington cager makes his point
against Division I rivals.

Steve Stein

Special to The Jewish News

B

rent Flusty finished with

a flourish. On Senior Night,
in his final home game,
the North Farmington High School
basketball player scored a career-high
and team-high 14 points to lead the
Raiders past Southfield-Lathrup 50-
45.
"I was just in the right place at
the right time Flusty said about the
March 2 game. "What's
more important is our
team played great defense,
the best defense we played
in a while."
Playing solid defense
is difficult in Oakland
Activities Association
Division I, arguably one of
the toughest boys basket-
ball leagues in the state.
North Farmington finished 11-8 over-
all in the regular season but just 2-8 in
its first year in Division I after mov-
ing up from Division II. The Raiders
split with Division I rivals West
Bloomfield and Lathrup. Flusty said
North Farmington's lopsided Division
I record is misleading.
"We looked at playing in Division
I as a challenge, and our goal was to
show everyone that we belong in the
division. I think we did that:' Flusty
said. "We were competitive, and we
worked hard on defense every night."
Flusty showed he belonged person-
ally. In his second varsity season and
first year as a starter, the 6-foot-4 for-
ward was reportedly the lone Jewish
starter among the division's six teams.
"I have a sense of pride in that
accomplishment," Flusty said. "It
sets me apart from everyone else in
Division I."
Flusty, 18, is headed to the
University of Michigan or Michigan
State University after he graduates
from North Farmington. He won't
be playing collegiate basketball. The
son of Rick and Wendy Flusty has
a sister Laura, 16, a junior at North
Farmington who is on the school's
porn pon team. The family lives in
Farmington Hills.

40 March 15 2007

In The Genes
The name Flusty may ring a bell with
fans of the 1946 Detroit Central High
School basketball team. Norton
Flusty, Brent Flusty's grandfather,
was a member of what's believed to
be the only all-Jewish starting lineup
for a Detroit city champion basketball
team.
Norton Flusty and Obbie
Friedman were the forwards.
Harold Kutnick and Alex Taub
were the guards and Lloyd Adelson
was the center. Each went on
to play college basketball.
"All five of those guys have
died. Norton was the last of
the Mohicans. He died May
28, 2005:' said Maynard Flusty
of West Bloomfield, Norton
Flusty's brother and the unof-
ficial historian for the Central
team.
"I went to all of their games
that season:' said Maynard, who was
41/2 years younger than his brother.
"What a great team."
Friedman set a city record when
he scored 33 points against Detroit
Redford.
"That's an especially amazing feat
when you consider there wasn't a 3-
point line back then, and there was
a jump ball after each basket:' Flusty
said.

Road Warriors
March 3 was a memorable day for
Wayne State University freshman ath-
letes Slava Zingerman and Jared

Katz.

Zingerman, a fencer from Ashkelon,
Israel, won the individual epee com-
petition at the Midwest Fencing
Conference championships at Notre
Dame. He defeated teammate Marek
Petraszek in the finals after beating
Ohio State's Sean Harder and Noam
Gill and Notre Dame's Karol Kostka in
the earlier round of 16 matches.
Katz scored the game-winning goal
in the third period of the Wayne State
hockey team's 5-4 victory at Robert
Morris.

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Our Lives As
Tabernacles

Shabbat Vayhel-Pekude
(Shabbat Hahodesh):
Exodus 35:1-40:38; 12:1-20;
Ezekiel 45:16-46:18.

I

have been blessed with many
role. Instead, the Torah speaks time
strengths and skills in my life.
and again of people contributing in
Yet, put a hammer and nail in my
whatever ways their heart and spirit
hand, and I am useless. Ask me to re-
so moves them; and these gifts, too,
design a space, and I am a waste. Tell
represented a vital element in the
me to create an arts and crafts project
Tabernacle's construction.
then watch me hide, create
Living a Jewish life can
an excuse, or call someone
be just as daunting as our
else over to do it.
ancestors' construction of
I have the spatial-relations
the Tabernacle. Some of us
capabilities of a six-month-
may want to run and hide
old.
from its complexities, to cre-
So, whenever I read the
ate an excuse not to practice
account of the construction
its customs, or to call some-
of the ancient Tabernacle —
one else to do it in our place.
Ra bbi
which we do in this week's
But as long as we devote
Aaron Starr
parashah, Vayhel-Pekude
ourselves to Jewish life in a
Specia I to the way that our heart or spirit
— I want desperately to flip
Jewis h News
ahead to the next portion.
truly moves us, then we too
For the next week I'll wake
may feel God's presence
up in a cold sweat, dreaming merci-
among us — just as our ancestors did
lessly of pegs, posts and sockets; acacia through the Tabernacle. E
wood, lapis lazuli and goats' hair.
I take heart, however, in know-
Aaron Starr is a rabbi at Congregation
ing that Moses did not demand each
Shir Tikvah in Troy.
Israelite have a hand in the actual
building of the mishkan. Rather, those
Conversations
truly skilled in engineering and archi-
With
what skills are you blessed?
tecture — Bezalel and Oholiab — led
How
can
you make someone
a team of gifted craftsmen and women
else
feel
more
comfortable in
in the actual construction. But every-
the
synagogue
or in Jewish life,
one had a part to play: rich or poor,
despite
his/her
apparent lack of
young or old, skilled or terribly inept,
knowledge
or
understanding?
In
"everyone whose heart so moves him"
what
additional
ways
does
your
brought a gift to contribute to the place
heart move you to contribute to
where God's presence was to dwell.
your
own Jewish life?
Judaism is an incredibly complex
religion, filled with "rights" and
wrongs" and certain ways of doing
things. Like the construction of the
Lunch, Learn Set
Tabernacle, we have a set of blueprints
Ohr Somayach Detroit will host a
(namely, the written and oral Torah)
lunch and learn with Rabbi Mordechai
for creating a life in which we might
Becher 12:30-1:30 p.m. Monday,
feel God's presence.
March 26, at the Franklin Athletic
Yet, not everyone is skilled in read-
Club in Southfield.
ing the plans and, frankly, not every-
Rabbi Becher's topic is "Jews Are
one agrees that the instructions say
From the Moon, Egyptians Are From
the same thing. Not all of us can be
the Sun — The History, Origins and
Bezalal, Oholiab or those others skilled Philosophy of the Jewish Calendar."
in particular crafts.
For reservations, call Ohr Somayach,
So, thankfully, the Torah does not
(248) 352-4870. The $18 charge
demand that each of us play the same
includes lunch and valet parking.

C C