Front Lines NO EBOO iNeritine Under Their Wings This Week A recent Mentor Connection event that featured the Detroit Red Wings alumni — including for- mer stars Mickey Redmond, Dennis Hextall and Lee Norwood — against the Oakland County Public Safety All-Stars, a team of police and fire officers from across the county, ended in a win for the mentoring program of Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit. More than 500 people attended the game at Compuware Sports Arena in Plymouth. In addition to learning from the pros at a clinic for young hockey players, an autograph session and dinner, they learned about Mentor Connection, a program that brings together young people from across Oakland County who can benefit from encouragement and attention from caring adults who can provide that support through structured mentoring relationships. In 2006, Mentor Connection served 98 children. "The goal was to increase community awareness about the need for mentors, especially men:' says Michelle Malamis, program director. "We currently have 57 youth waiting for mentors, a majority of whom are boys." To learn more or to become a mentor, call Malamis at (248) 592-2651 or e-mail at mmalamis@jfsdetroit.org . Also check out the program's new Web site at www.mentorconnect.org . - Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor Eat And Donate! Tyler Kramer, a sixth-grader at Clifford Smart Middle School, was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes in 2005. He is doing well, but he and his family — parents, Peri and Evan, and sister Allison — are hop- ing for a cure. They will be raising money by riding in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure June 10 in Brighton. On May 24, you'll be helping Tyler if you eat at Max and Erma's on Orchard Lake and 14 Mile roads in Farmington Hills. The restaurant will donate 20 percent of sales that evening to Tyler's fundraiser. Tyler turns 12 on May 24, and, in lieu of presents and a party, he would like people to support him in raising money to help find a cure for diabetes. You can also make donations or register to ride online at main.diabetes.org/goto/tyler. - Ken Guten Cohen, story development editor Detroiters In Film Festival Film "You're in a movie!" That's what Wilbert Simkovitz heard from a friend on the other end of the phone. "She said she saw us in The Rape of Europa at the Detroit Institute of Arts:' said Simkovitz of Oak Park. The documentary film also will be shown at 5 p.m., Thursday, May 10, at the United Artists Commerce Township during the JCC Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival. "It is about Germany and the Nazis taking art from all over Europe," Simkovitz said. "The end of the movie shows my sons, Daniel from Boston and Jon from California, and me dancing in a Staten Island synagogue with a Torah with two rimonim [Torah crowns] that were returned to our family from Germany." The ornate silver crowns, which endured the Holocaust, a fire and 60 years in storage, were discovered by German historian Ralf Rossmeissl. They were engraved with the names Jacob and Bertha Gutman Weinschenk, Elsie's grandparents. Rossmeissl tracked down the family and, in 2003, Daniel, Jon, their wives, Daniel's son and relatives from Italy and Israel all traveled to Germany where they received the crowns. The crowns were used at Jon's synagogue in California and later in Staten Island where Elsie's brother, former Detroiter Ernest Buehler, lives. In late 2005, Rossmeissl visited Staten Island to meet with the Sinikovitzes, Beuhlers and another family whose artifacts he also had discovered. "A Simchas Torah party was planned," Wilbert said. "The Torah was taken out of the Aron Kodesh [holy ark] and the crowns were placed on it; then we danced with the Torah!' During the celebra- tion, the documentary crew for The Rape of Europa filmed the dancing. Wanting the crowns to be used rather than displayed, the family moved the crowns to Israel, where they were used at a family wedding and bar mitzvah. - Shell' Liebman Dorfman, senior writer www.itiOntine„us AJC Head Q&A Former Red Wing Mickey Redmond signs autographs. It's L000000000ng Gone! All-Star outfielder Shawn Green has gotten off to a resounding start for the New York Mets this season. As of Monday, May 7, the veteran Green was hitting .351, with 18 runs batted in (RBIs) in 30 games. That RBI total has some important implications for the UJA Federation of New York. As the Major League Baseball season began last month, Green announced that he would donate $180 (10 times chai) to UJA for every RBI he drove in this year. If Green matches his 2001 total with the Los Angeles Dodgers — 125 RBIs, his 14-year-career Shawn Green high — he would donate $22,500 to the UJA. In the last four years, however, Green's highest total was 86 RBIs. Last year, in 115 games with the Arizona Diamondbacks and 34 with the Mets, he had 66 RBIs. Green's salary this year is $11.8 million. David Harris has been the executive director of the American Jewish Committee (AJC) since 1990. On a recent speaking stop in Detroit, he talked with the Jewish News about Jews in Russia, the United Nations and more. See our expanded story online. Just visit JNonline.us and click on News in the left menu. Latest From Israel Want the most current news from Israel? Check our streaming news from Ynetnews.com for continuous updates and longer news, opinion and feature stories. And look at the center of our Homepage for an Israel story that changes twice daily. Just visit JNonline.us and click on a scrolling story on the left. JBlog - Alan Hitsky, associate editor Condemning Hate An anonymous mailing threatening the Michigan director of the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR), a Muslim advocacy group often at odds with the Jewish and pro-Israel community, was condemned by community groups including the Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit. A brief, handwritten letter threatened, in part, "Our goal is to termi- nate all Muslums (sic) in the Greater Detroit area ... This is George Bush and America's holy crusade against all of Islam!" A crude, blas- phemous drawing included in the mailing called Islam the religion of Satan and Muhammad a false prophet and showed Muhammad accepting Jesus as "the one true God!' The title at the top said, "Zionism Forever!!!" and was flanked by Jewish stars. It also showed American and Israeli nuclear strikes on Muslim holy sites. CAIR Executive Director Dawud Walid hopes the FBI can track down the sender. "We at CAIR are not jumping to conclusions that any- one within the Jewish community sent this threat to us, although there were supportive comments regarding Zionism and Israel," he wrote in an e-mail that noted, "The cartoon also made reference to Jesus!' The May 4 JCRC statement, which was printed in the May 5 Detroit Free Press, condemned the mailing as "despicable and cowardly" It called on others to speak out against it and other messages of hate. In particular, it cited the April 20, 2007, sermon by a leading Hamas official, the acting speaker of the Palestinian Authority's Legislative Council, which called for God to kill Jews, American and their allies "to the last one!" Arnie Goldman shares his thoughts about Borat, the Iraq war, little mitzvahs and more. Jeff Klein offers his Metro Perspectives on every- thing from dating to friend- ship. Only at JNonline.us . Just click on JBlog on the menu on the left. Results from last week's poll: Should Omert be voted out of office in an early election? Yes 64% No 36% This week's poll question: Do the Winograd findings hurt Israel's image? Visit the JNonline.us homep- age to cast your vote. - Don Cohen, special writer May 10 a 2007 9