41111111111111111111111011111.

Spir'

G LO SAL

Ritual from page A29

WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

Marty Rosen

Dave Rogovein

• Cellular Phones

• Satellite TV

Stop in and Save with
our Current Specials!

•Send Global
International
Calling

Bring this ad in and also
Save 25% off any one
in stock accessory
of your choice.

• Featuring
Motorola
Products

MOTOROLA

VedZifflwireiess

Rstskr

4276 Orchard Lake Rd. (at Lone Pine)
West Bloomfield • (248) 681-7200

PURIM SALE
C YO

40

'We supplies last. Valid thru 01/14/08

On Gossip

If someone tries to gossip
to you and you are unable
to rebuke him, you should
change the subject by intro-
ducing permissible topics of
discussion.

Hundreds of
items are on sale!

Enter the code:
YEAREND at check out.

Presented by Lubavitch Women's
Organization. For information on
keeping kosher or lighting Shabbat
candles, contact Miriam Amzalak,
(248) 548-6771, amzalak@yeshivanet.
com .

studio36.com • 866.583.2422

Bring this ad in for

Dining & Spirits

30% Off

2nd Entrée

Not good with any other coupon

Expires 2/29/08

eservations for 5 or more recommended el call-ahead seating available
Live Jazz Friday & Saturday Nights
Two Hours Free Parking In The Structure Behind Peabody's

.644.5222 • 34965 Woodward • Just South Of Maple

13451

A30

February 7 2008

In 2004, when the first six scrolls
were donated, Kesher staff made
Torah mantles from fabric purchased
on Jerusalem's Ben-Yehuda Street
combined with pieces of velvet from
Russia, "so each has a piece of Israel
and of Russia;' Gershon explains.
Each donor handing over a scroll
was presented with her own prayer
shawl on which Gershon embroidered
the name of the city where her Torah
was going.
A ritual for donating Holocaust
Torahs is one thing. But what about
one for buying a new car, which is
what Ochs' 23-year-old daughter
demanded during a recent telephone
call.
"She called and said,`I just sold my
car, the guy has the keys in his hand,
what's the ritual I should do?" Ochs
laughed at how fully the idea of find-
ing ways to make anything Jewish has
permeated the American Jewish con-
sciousness.
"This generation of young people
believes they can use Jewish lan-
guage and core beliefs to fashion new
rituals," she said. "They know it's not
transgressive to do so" ❑

OFF*

PURIM ITEMS

ea body' s

because they don't recognize, or don't
think they have the right to recognize,
the significance of what they have cre-
ated.
In fact, Ochs says, most Jewish ritu-
als were developed by Jewish families
in their homes or via other grassroots
methods.
One such example involves the hun-
dreds of Torah scrolls, many rescued
from the Holocaust, that have been
restored and donated to congregations
in the former Soviet Union in the past
decade. They are usually handed over
to the new congregation during a cer-
emony constructed for the occasion by
the donating and/or receiving group.
Those ceremonies, Ochs suggests, are
part of an emerging ritual.
Project Kesher, an organization of
Jewish women activists from North
America and the former Soviet Union,
has donated 14 Torah scrolls to con-
gregations in Russia and Ukraine.
Each is handed over during a festive
ceremony in the recipients' home city.
The executive director of Project
Kesher, Karyn Gershon, says the
women involved "absolutely" are aware
that they are creating a Jewish ritual.

T'chiyah Programming
Congregation T'chiyah will hold an
additional Shabbat service Friday, Feb.
8, 7:35 p.m. as part of the National
Gay and Lesbian Task Force Creating
Change Conference at the Detroit
Marriott Renaissance Center, in the
Joliet Meeting Room, 5th floor. A kid-
dish and oneg will follow co-spon-
sored by the Jewish Gay Network of
Michigan.
All conference attendees and oth-
ers are welcome. Services will be
led by Maureen Bernard and Peter

Cooper.
Congregation T'chiyah will host sev-
eral events Feb. 15-17, all held at the
David and Miriam Mondry Building,
15000 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park (except
for the Saturday evening event held in
Ann Arbor).
Student Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum
will begin the weekend by conducting
a 7:45 p.m. Friday, Feb. 15, Kaballat
Shabbat service.
On Saturday, Feb.
16, at 10 a.m., she
will lead a study
session on "Eco-
Kashrut."
On Saturday
at 7:30 p.m., she
Donna
and Congregation
Kirshbaum
T'chiyah will
engage in a joint
program with Rabbi Nathan Martin
and the University of Michigan
Hillel in Ann Arbor on "Jewish
Environmentalism."
On Sunday, Feb. 17, at 10 a.m.,
Kirshbaum will conclude the week-
end with a session on "Navigating
the Torah: Geography, Etiquette, and
Trope, Part II."