I
Front Lines
JNenline
NOTEBOOK
This Week
www.JNonline.us
Benched Again?
Several incumbent Jewish judges are seeking re-election this year in
Oakland County. Based on the March 24 filing deadline, they are:
•45B District Court, Oak Park: Michelle Friedman Appel and David
M. Gubow — two seats, six-year terms.
•48th District Court, Bloomfield Hills: Kimberly Small, one seat, six-
year term.
April 29 is the filing deadline for non-incumbent judicial candidates.
Mark Frankel of Bloomfield Hills also has announced his candidacy
for a six-year term on the Oakland County Probate Court bench.
- Robert A. Sklar, editor
Hockey 'Friendraiser' Saves Kids
The third annual Mentor Connection "Friendraiser" will be held 4:30
p.m. Sunday, April 6, at St. Mary's Athletic Complex in Orchard Lake. It
will feature the Red Wings Alumni against the Oakland County Public
Safety All Stars.
The event raises awareness for Mentor Connection, a non-sectarian
program of Jewish Family Service that serves youth in Oakland County
by pairing them with adult mentors. The mentors act as friends and role
models who provide additional adult attention and guidance to sup-
port the youth as they develop into adults. More mentors are needed.
Currently, 50 youth are awaiting mentors.
Tickets for the game only are $12 for adults, $10 for kids 12 and
younger. Tickets for the game, dinner and autograph session are $25 for
adults, $20 for kids.
For information about Mentor Connection or to purchase tickets,
contact Lindsay Leder, (248) 592-2309, lleder@jfsdetroit.org or visit
www.mentorconnect.org .
- Ken Guten Cohen, story development editor
High In The Sky
Israeli Mezuzot Will
Blast Into Space
Israeli Judaica designer Laura Cowan's mezuzot are
destined for space. They will travel with American
astronaut Greg Chamitoff, who will take two of
Cowan's creations on the next NASA flight to the
International Space Station.
NASA allows a very small pouch with a limited
number of personal articles to be carried by a crew-
Apollo mezuzah
member for close family and friends to allow these
will ride to the
people to directly share in the space flight experi-
Space Station.
ence with the astronaut.
Cowan's silver "Apollo" mezuzah was purchased
for Chamitoff by Phil Hattis, an aerospace engineer
who works on human space flight programs. Chamitoff was among the
MIT doctoral students Hattis supervised.
"Because Greg and I share a Jewish heritage and I wanted to pick
a personal artifact that my family could appreciate for a long time, a
mezuzah made sense as something that could become part of the home
after returning to Earth. Furthermore, while Greg is in space, it can be
part of his temporary home"
A pewter "Shuttle" mezuzah by Cowan was purchased by Lisa Stone, a
close friend of Chamitoff's. It will grace her doorpost when he returns.
Cowan's art is based on spaceflight, with recent work made in rocket
shapes.
"On moving to live in Israel I found myself drawn to creating Judaica
— making the link between my design ideas and the strengthened
Jewish identity I felt in Israel:' she said. "Combining the design ideas
with Halachah (Jewish religious laws) gave meaning to my work that I
hadn't experienced before?'
To see more of her work, go to www.lauracowan.com .
Use Talents To Tout Israel
The Israel Project (TIP) has launched an online Israel@60 contest that
showcases Israel's constant commitments to freedom, democratic values
and peace. The idea is to level the playing field against the plethora of
terrorist Web sites.
The contest is open to all filmmakers, writers and other artists
worldwide to submit entries commemorating Israel's founding in May
1948. TIP will award a total of $20,000 to the winning submissions in
each of the following formats: TV ad (30 seconds), video (30 seconds
to seven minutes), printable flyer (81/2 by 11 inches). Winning TV and
video entries will be posted on YouTube.com . Entries must be submitted
before midnight June 30 and follow the guidelines that can be found at
wwwtheisraelproject.org. The contest is open to minors as well.
The Israel Project is an international non-profit organization devoted
to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting
security, freedom and peace. TIP is not related to any government or
government agency.
- Alan Hltsky, associate editor
The annual Jewish News recognition of top Jewish high school seniors
will be published May 22. The deadline for editorial listings of a student's
achievements is May 1. The deadline for congratulatory advertisements is
May 15.
For complete information for both ads and announcements, go to the Web
site JNonline.us and click on the Cap & Gown button on the home page.
April 3 2008
The Web site is a companion
to our T2T section written by
teens for teens each month
in the JN. Check out what
Jewish teens are doing and
thinking.
Only at JNt2t.com.
Latest From Israel
Want the most current
news from Israel? Check
our streaming news from
Ynetnews.com for continu-
ous updates and longer news,
opinion and feature stories.
Visit JNonline.us and click on
a scrolling story.
E-Newsletter
Desire notification when sto-
ries that interest you in partic-
ular are posted on JNonline?
Only at JNonline.us. Just
click on Newsletter on the
menu near the top of the
page.
- Ken Guten Cohen, story development editor
El Al Israel Airlines last week announced record revenues for 2007, the
highest in its 60-year history, and a net profit of $31.7 million.
Revenues — $1.93 billion — were up 16 percent over 2006.
El Al spokesmen said the achievements were in spite of surges in
competition, fuel costs, world political conditions and the drop in value
of the U.S. dollar.
In 2007, El Al added two Boeing 777 aircraft to its fleet and a fourth
weekly non-stop flight from Los Angeles to Ben-Gurion Airport. It
increased passengers per flight to 85 percent capacity
A8
Teen2Teen Web Site
- Ken Guten Cohen, story development editor
Celebrations!
Find weekly listings of births,
b'nai mitzvah, engagements,
weddings and anniversaries
as well as past simchahs all
online. They are all bundled
under each week's publication
date.
Just visit JNonline.us and
click on Lifecycles on the left.
Online Poll
Last week's poll
results:
Do you see Fatah and
Hamas ever united behind a
Palestinian state?
Yes 67%
No 33%
This week's poll
question:
Should presidential candidates
be pressed more on their
stands regarding Israel and
the Middle East?
Visit the JNonline.us
homepage, below the left
menu, to cast your vote.