Front Lines

NOTEBOOK

Cultural Exchange

AJC learns more about Turkey's Jews.

Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor

T

he American Jewish
Committee Detroit
Chapter joined forces
with the Assembly of Turkish
American Associations to host an
event featuring a former Turkish
ambassador and a leader of the
Turkish Jewish community.
About 100 people representing
both communities came together
Nov. 19 at the Townsend Hotel
in Birmingham. Nurten Ural of
Farmington Hills, national presi-
dent of the Turkish assembly, and
Ken Gold, local AJC president,
presided over the evening.
Mustafa Aksin, who served
as the Turkish ambassador to
Nairobi, Damascus and Belgrade,
provided a synopsis of the
Turkish-Israeli relations over

the last 60 years. He emphasized
Turkey's close relations with
the U.S. and Israel in a difficult
region. Turkey, despite its Muslim
majority, remains a nonsectarian
democracy.
Naim Guleryuz, an inde-
pendent historian of Turkish
Jewry and curator of the Jewish
Museum of Turkey in Istanbul,
offered an overview of the his-
tory of Jews in Turkey, including
their expulsion from Spain in

1492, which caused a
major migration.
About 20,000 Jews
remain in Turkey,
mostly in Istanbul,
Guleryuz said, adding
Naim Guleryuz, curator of the Jewish Museum of Turkey in Istanbul;
that the population is
Nurten Ural, president, Assembly of Turkish American Assocations; Mustafa
declining. Jewish life,
Aksin, retired Turkish ambassador; and Ken Gold, president, AJC Detroit
however, is alive with
many synagogues, a
day school and reli-
gious freedoms.
performance of Turkish songs by in their capitals.
The evening concluded with a
Mine Ozalp on the guitar.
"This program with the
"The program is part of AJC's
ambassador and Mr. Guleryuz
year-round diplomatic activ-
was the perfect opportunity to
ity," said AJC local director Kari
showcase the depth and breadth
Alterman. "We maintain relations of our relationships:"
with most countries around the
Locally, AJC maintains strong
world as well as Jewish commu-
dialogue groups between Jews
nities worldwide, and we meet
and the Muslim and Indian com-
regularly with them in the U.S. or munities.

Eli Saulson of Franklin and AJC officer-at-large Francine Wunder
of West Bloomfield

A Special Wish

WN.A.1 WPM WORLD CENTER
JERUSALEM
•

B'nai B'rith Brings Books To Solidiers

In early November, mem-
bers of the B'nai B'rith
International Great Lakes
Region Baby Boomers
Mission to Israel delivered
200 Hebrew books to
Israeli soldiers in the Kfir
Infantry Corps as part of
the "Sifrut (Books) for
Soldiers" project of the BBI
World Center in Jerusalem.
Since the Second
Lebanon War in 2006,
the project, funded by
BBI's Israel Emergency
Fund with support from
the Great Lakes Region,

has provided more than
2,000 new Hebrew lan-
guage bestsellers — each
containing a letter of sup-
port from BBI leadership
— to Israel Defense Forces
combat units stationed
on the northern, southern
and central sectors.
The books are used to
form small lending librar-
ies that provide soldiers
with a respite from their
dangerous and demand-
ing duties. To contribute
to this project, call (248)
646-3100.

Members of the BBI Great Lakes Baby Boomers
Mission to Israel with Sgt. Menashe Wodinsky, a native

of Long Island now in the Mahal program for foreign
IDF volunteers.

A8

December 4 • 2008

You can do holiday shopping through Team
Alex's online auction where all proceeds go
directly to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of
Michigan, which grants wishes to Michigan
children with life-threatening medical con-
ditions.
Through its online auction, which runs
from Nov. 28-Dec. 7, Team Alex hopes to
raise enough money to provide at least one
wish. The average cost per wish is $8,000.
Among the items up for bid are a full-page
ad in the Jewish News, a large selection of
fine wines, autographed sports memora-
bilia, massages, restaurant gift certificates,
yoga classes, personal fitness training ses-
sions, private cooking classes, and a drag-
racing experience.
Team Alex is a group of cyclists who par-
ticipate in the WAM, an annual fundraising
bike ride for Make A Wish of Michigan. The
team was formed to honor the memory and
the wish of Alex Graham, a 17-year-old girl
from West Bloomfield who lost her life to
bone cancer in 1999. To learn more about
Team Alex, go to www.teamalexrides.org.
The online auction can be accessed directly
at the Web address teamalex.cmarket.corn.