Front Lines JNenline NOTEBOOK This Week www.JNonline.us Working Together News Videos Added JNonline is now featuring videos from Fox Business and Fox News, bringing timely national and world feeds. Just visit JNonline.us and scroll to the bottom of the homepage. Temple Beth El seventh-graders create quilted tribute to the Kotel. S eventh-graders at Temple Beth El, in collaboration with artist- in-residence Marilyn Kaczander Cohen, created a large three- piece quilt that depicts the Kotel (Western Wall) with various types of Jews praying there — men and women, religious and secular Jews and Israeli soldiers, all united but praying their private thoughts. In addition, you can see pieces of prayers stuck into the Wall, green- ery, shadowing and embellishment. The quilt was dedicated during Monday Night School on Monday, May 12, at the Bloomfield Township temple, and now hangs in the reli- gious school wing upstairs on the wall that faces Jerusalem. The collaborative artwork, made using fabric collage technique, with components sewn and fused onto the fabric, also will be displayed at Washtenaw Community College during July's Greater Ann Arbor Quilt Guild Quilt Show on July 26 and 27. West Bloomfield Battleground Many incumbents are calling it quits in West Bloomfield as 10 Jewish candidates seek election to four-year terms at the Aug. 5 primary. Township Clerk Sharon Law, Treasurer Denise Hammond, Jewish Trustee Robert Sher and Trustee Deborah Macon will not seek re-election. No Republicans are running to fill Law's position, but Democratic candidates are Sheryl L. Mitchell, Heddie J. O'Connor and Cathy Shaughnessy. Jewish Democratic incumbent Trustee Stuart Brickner is seek- ing Hammond's post along with Jewish Democrat Teri Adelberg Weingarden. Jewish Republican Jason Feld is unopposed on the Republican side. Jewish Democrat Supervisor David Flaisher will be opposed by Democrat Michele Economou, while Republican Jeff Matte is unop- posed on the GOP ticket. Four candidates will be elected to the board of trustees from among Jewish candidates Larry Brown, Gene Farber, Steven Kaplan, Howard Rosenberg, incumbent Robert Spector and Scott J. Winnick, plus John Cyrus Mohyi. The general election is Nov. 4. - Bill Carroll, special writer Update: U-M And Pluto Press Time is getting short for the University of Michigan to make a deci- sion regarding the distribution agreement between the U-M Press and Pluto Press. Pluto is the self-designated "radical" publishing house from London, England, that publishes extensively on Israel, Palestine and Middle East issues with a decidedly anti-Israel, anti-Zionist and even anti-Semitic perspective. U M Press is the academic press of the university. It has until May 31 to take action to sever its distribution of Pluto publications if it wishes to end the relationship during the next six months. Local directors of American Jewish Committee, the Anti- Defamation League, B'nai B'rith, the Jewish Community Relations Council and StandWithUs met May 7 with Peggy McCracken, dean of U-M Rackham Graduate School, to discuss the impending deadline. McCracken heads the U-M Press oversight committee that will make the decision to keep distributing Pluto books or end the con- tract. The five Jewish organizations have previously addressed the U- M Board of Regents and met with U-M President Mary Sue Coleman about the issue. The Jewish leaders were told a decision about the contract with Pluto would be made by the end of the month — and not deferred as - A8 May 22 • 2008 Seventh-grader Emily Novick of Detroit created the soldier in this distinctive quilt with her Temple Beth-El Monday Night School class. The costs of creating the quilt were borne primarily by the Jewish Federation's Deroy Testamentary Foundation's Artists in the Schools Program, along with some matching monies from Temple Beth El. The quilt is a symbol of the unity of the Jewish people, the importance of Jerusalem and Israel to Jews everywhere, the power of collaboration and the value of art education in our religious school communities. - Keri Guten Cohen story development editor 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. Just visit JNonline.us and click on a scrolling story on the left. E-Newsletter it was six months ago. While non-committal because of ongoing work of the committee, McCracken nonetheless assured the directors that their concerns — reiterated at the meeting and previously sent in writing — were being thoughtfully considered. Another encouraging sign was a change made earlier this year in guidelines that requires any publication distributed by U-M Press to adhere to the same academic standards that U-M publications do. This content-neutral requirement makes it unlikely that the Pluto con- tract can be renewed without a tremendous amount of work because Pluto books, like most European publishers, do not conduct the rigor- ous double-blind reviews of the complete book that is the American standard. Desire notification when stories that interest you in particular are posted on JNonline? It's easy to desig- nate the kinds of stories you like when you sign up for your personalized e-newsletter. Only at JNonline.us . Just click on Newsletter on the menu near the top of the page. - JN staff report Sports And Jewish Life Contest Four-time Olympic gold medalist Lenny Krayzelburg will serve as honorary lead judge of the 4th annual Sport and Jewish Life essay contest sponsored by the Center for Sport and Jewish §Watth' Life. This year's contest is timed with the summer Olympic Games in Beijing and the quest of ath- - - , ,_ • , letes all across the globe to reach this event. Lenny The topic, "What does it take to succeed in Krayzelburg sports?" is one with which Krayzelburg is quite familiar. The Ukranian-born swimmer took gold in swimming in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics. Whether in the Olympics or Little League, high school or college athletics, or in recreational pursuits, finding success usually involved cultivating certain practices and traits as well as certain commitments and values. Essay entries will be asked to discuss what is needed to bring success and why. Entrants can share their own personal stories or discuss the experiences of others in their own lives or what they have observed regarding high-profile athletes or sports in general. Essays should incorporate a discussion of Jewish values, teachings from the Torah or other Jewish texts or practices as well as any other literature or films of interest. Entries will be judged in three categories: grades 6-9. grades 10-12, and college students and others. Entrants in each group whose essays are considered to be the best will be awarded U.S. Savings Bonds. Deadline for submission of essays is June 23, 2008. For contest application forms or more information, go to www.CSJL.org , or con- tact the Center at JewishSports@gmail.com . - 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 publica- tion date. Just visit JNonline.us and click on Lifecycles on the left. Online Poll This week's poll question: Should America seriously consider attacking Iran to stop its nuclear arms development? Visit the JNonline.us homepage, below the left menu, to cast your vote. Last week's poll results: Are you worried by devel- opments in Lebanon, with Hezbollah threatening the Lebanese government? Yes 53% No 47%