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A Hallmark Moment
The second try was a charm for Detroit Pistons owner Bill Davidson,
one of the newest class members of the Naismith Memorial Basketball
Hall of Fame, the National Basketball Association's highest honor. The
announcement came during the NCAA finals on April
7 in San Antonio.
In a prepared statement, Davidson, 84, said from
his Auburn Hills office: "I am pleased and honored. To
be included as a member of this elite group of men
and women that have made significant contributions
to the sport of basketball, I am grateful."
Davidson, a Michigan native, owns Guardian
Industries,
an international maker of architectural
Bill Davidson
and auto glass. The Bloomfield Hills resident bought
the Pistons in 1974 for $7 million. Forbes magazine tags the team's cur-
rent worth at $477 million.
Davidson is former chair of the NBA Board of Governors. A key
owner because of his business savvy, Davidson helped bring about NBA
salary controls and free agent. He also introduced a splashy entertain-
ment component to the once-staid game. The privately held Palace of
Auburn Hills and its operating arm Palace Sports & Entertainment
helped revolutionize the basketball arena experience.
In 2003, Davidson was the first owner of teams to win three cham-
pionships in the same year — the WNBWs Shock, the Pistons and the
Tampa Bay Lightning of the National Hockey League. He has owned the
Shock since 1998. The Pistons have won three championships, the Shock
two and the Lightning one.
Davidson also was a finalist for the Hall last year. This year's Class of
Seven will be inducted Sept. 5 in a ceremony at the Hall in Springfield,
Mass.
Davidson is one of the Jewish world's mega-philanthropists.
Organizations and institutions to benefit include the Jewish Theological
Seminary in New York, Hadassah, Congregation Shaarey Zedek of
Oakland County, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
Weitzmann Institute in Rehovot, Jerusalem Archeological Park and
Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem. The University of
Michigan is one of his largest secular beneficiaries.
"With this Hall of Fame honor, Bill Davidson has brought credit to
our entire community as he has so many times before,' said Robert
Aronson, adviser to Bill Davidson and CEO of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
- Robert A. Sklar, editor
Honor A Cancer Hero
The Detroit-based Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute is accepting
nominations for this year's "Patricia Milner Sachs Heart of a Survivor
Award." The honor recognizes a cancer patient or survivor who exempli-
fies helping others with cancer.
The award will be given at the institute's
Survivorship Celebration on June 19 in Southfield.
Nominations are open to all cancer patients and sur-
vivors.
Pat Sachs, a Karmanos employee who lost her 11-
year battle with melanoma in June 2006, was dedi-
cated to cancer prevention and to making life easier
for others with cancer as she, herself, courageously
Pat Sachs
battled the disease. Pat's ongoing legacy includes the
Survivorship University lecture series; the NSiah (journey) spiritual
support group; and SHIELD, a sun-safety program for children and
adults.
Nomination forms must be returned by April 27 and are available on
the Web site www.karmanos.org or by calling (800) KARMANOS.
European Cemeteries To Be Surveyed
Teams of young people will be surveying more than 100 cemeteries in
the region around Warsaw, Poland, over the coming weeks, marking
the start of a vast project to preserve Jewish burial grounds across the
European continent.
The project, known by the Hebrew words Lo Tishkach (Do Not
Forget), aims to repeat this process in thousands of burial sites from
Portugal to Russia, thereby preserving the memory of the Jewish pres-
ence in Europe before the Holocaust. At each site, Lo Tishkach surveyors
work together with the local Jewish community and under full rabbini-
cal supervision.
"I believe that this work is valuable on so many levels,"said Philip
Carmel, Lo Tishkach project director. "It preserves the memory and the
sanctity of these sites as part of the Jewish tradition, but it also mobi-
lizes local Jewish communities to preserve their own heritage. When
you take young people and make them aware that in the Warsaw region
alone there were 107 Jewish burial grounds, or that there were 700 indi-
vidual Jewish communities in Slovakia, you begin to comprehend the
vastness of Jewish life that was wiped out in the Holocaust"
The surveyors' work involves them arriving at the sites with cameras
and forms with dozens of different questions to file on each cemetery.
These are then fed into a computerized database which will soon be
accessible to the public. One of the project's aims is to list every Jewish
cemetery and mass burial site in Europe. Estimates place the figure at
around 20,000 of such sites.
For further information, contact Caramel at director@lo-tishkach.org .
April
2008
Latest From Israel
Check our streaming news
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ter of our Homepage for an
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click on a scrolling story on
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- Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
E-Newsletter
ECO Judaism
Conservation Tips
What you can do to stop global warming: Reduce cooling
costs!
• Program your programmable thermostat for cooler temper-
atures when you need them and warmer temperatures when
you do not. Adapt to warmer temperatures such as 75F and
78F. We love those temperatures in the winter!
• When evenings are cool, open your windows instead of
using air conditioning. A natural ventilation system is the
most energy-efficient way to provide airflow in your home.
Cross ventilation is created when some combination of open-
ings are on opposing walls permitting a free flow of air from
one side to the other.
• During warmer months, keep extra lighting to a minimum.
It adds heat to your home as well as light. Using compact
florescent bulbs will help.
• Shades, blinds and curtains should be drawn during the
heat of a summer day. This is especially important on the
south side.
Jewish Thought on the Environment:
And God said: "Let the waters under the heaven be gathered
together unto one place, and let the dry land appear." And it
was so.
- Genesis 1:9
Please contact Michigan Coalition on the Environment &
Jewish Life for global warming presentations: (248) 642-
5393, ext. 7, or mi-coejl@jfmd.org .
Source: Michigan Coalition on the Environment & Jewish Life
A18
Local teens have contributed
their favorite Passover reci-
pes for this special issue of
T2T. You can find many more
recipes to test this holiday
by checking online. Also, we
are calling all teens to tell us
what Israel means to them
for our special Israel©60
issue. Tell us what you think
online.
Only at JNt2t.com .
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Celebrations!
Find weekly listings of births,
b'nai mitzvah, engagements,
weddings and anniversaries
as well as past simchahs all
online. Visit JNonline.us and
click on Lifecycles, on left.
Online Poll
Last week's poll
results:
Will you change dishes and
clean chametz from your
home for Passover?
Yes 70%
No 30%
This week's question:
Are you following coverage of
the pope's U.S. visit?
Visit the JNonline.us
homepage, below the left
menu, to cast your vote.