Family Focus
Showing Respect
Visiting
The Ark
Shaarey Zedek students provide burial
for damaged religious items.
T
ake a step back:' said Rabbi
Eric Yanoff, as the jostling
students joined him in prayer
around the open grave. It was an abso-
lutely gorgeous morning at Clover Hill
Park Cemetery in Birmingham, and
this was not a regular field trip for the
students from Congregation Shaarey
Zedek's Hebrew school.
Twenty students and 10 parents came
Oct. 12 to participate in a mitzvah many
people know about but that these young
students had never considered doing.
"Just as we come to the cemetery to
honor our relatives and all they have
taught us, so we honor God's words
and teachings:' explained Rabbi Yanoff.
"Prayer books are not thrown away;
they are buried with all due respect."
Ralph Zuckman, Clover Hill executive
director, had arranged for the genizah,
or book grave, to be opened and these
students came to participate in placing
books, Torah covers and some damaged
tefillin into the genizah.
"Take a step back:' repeated Rabbi
Yanoff. "Only the books should go in,
not any students."
This unusual field trip grew out of
a conversation between Rabbi Yanoff
and eighth-grader Ethan Zoldan. Ethan,
a student at Warner Middle School in
Farmington Hills, is a Boy Scout; and
he was looking for an idea for his Eagle
Scout project. Rabbi Yanoff suggested
that before the High Holidays it would
be a good time to sort through prayer
books and separate out the good ones,
the ones that could be repaired and the
ones that could no longer be used.
Ethan recruited fellow Hebrew
school students and also Boy Scouts
from Troop 364, chartered by the Men's
Club of Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills to help sort books at
Shaarey Zedek's Southfield and West
Bloomfield locations. As part of his
Eagle Scout project, Ethan also orga-
nized Boy Scouts to pick up books from
Congregation Beth Tephilath Moses in
Mt. Clemens and deliver them to nearby
Hebrew Memorial Park for burial.
A sign stating the date and the words,
"While we honor these pages with burial,
their teachings live on in our studies:' was
signed by the students and buried with
the books and other religious items. ❑
Animals visit
Beth Shalom to
celebrate the
Jewish holidays.
Sophie Jansen, 5, of Berkley
makes the donkey laugh.
F
Rabbi Eric Yanoff of Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Oakland
County explains why damaged prayer books and religious
objects are given a formal burial. Boy Scout Ethan Zoldan,
Students deposit damaged religious items in the grave.
left, organized the program as part of his Eagle Scout project.
The grave is filled with damaged religious items to be honored. Students take turns shoveling dirt into the grave as a
fifty children and adults
visited Congregation
Beth Shalom's sukkah, ate
lunch, rode ponies and petted the
animals representative of Noah's
Ark.
Children created arks for their
stuffed friends brought from home.
Sophie Jansen, 5, of Berkley, created
an ark for her favorite animal, and
decorated it with Noah stickers and
many colors.
"The children feel the joy of
being Jewish through interactive
activities," said Susan Gartenberg,
director of Gan Shalom Parenting
Center and Preschool at Beth
Shalom in Oak Park.
The programs are open to the
entire community and are sup-
ported by the Gan Shalom parent
organization under the direction of
Vivian Mouradian of Oak Park.
The next program is "Magic of
Thanksgiving" with professional
magician Gordon Russ at noon
Nov. 16 at the synagogue. Contact
Gartenberg for more information,
(248) 547-7970.
❑
final act of respect.
October 30 • 2008
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