I
Front Lines
`RENAINs AN cE
NOTEBOOK
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
JNonline.us
Advertising Sales
fir
,„
•
Hilary Rotenberg, Nancy Solway of Birmingham, a JFS board
member and co-chair of the Volunteer Service Committee, and
Janet Geldzahler of West Orange, N.J., who helped coordinate the
collection through Women's League for Conservative Judaism.
Keeping Warm
When planning the Women's League for Conservative Judaism
(WLCJ) biennial convention, held in Dearborn last month, orga-
nizers provided delegates with patterns for making scarves, hats,
blankets and mittens to bring with them to be delivered to those in
need.
By the time the donations were counted, 15,000 cold-weather
necessities were sorted into boxes, cans, bags and bins in what
Hilary Rotenberg, director of volunteer service for Jewish Family
Service (JFS) of Metropolitan Detroit, called "truly an amazing sight
to see:'
At the suggestion of Rachel Yoskowitz, a lead organizer of the
convention and Project Chessed director at JFS, the items have been
distributed to JFS and other Michigan-based agencies.
Convention delegates were immensely pleased with the results of
the venture.
"I proud to be a part of Women's League and we are so happy
that we will be helping so many people in the Detroit area with this
project:' said Joyce Berlin Weingarten of Bloomfield Hills, conven-
tion catering chair, immediate past president of Women's League
Michigan Region and past sisterhood president at Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills.
- Shelli Liebman Dorfman, senior writer
Chanukah On The Go
Stuck at work? Out of matches — or candles? Apple has come
up with a high-tech, fireproof solution: the Mobile Menorah, the
first-ever digital menorah designed for the iPhone or iPod Touch.
With touch-screen technology, a user can light the virtual shamash
(candle used to light the others) and drag it to light the amount of
candles corresponding to the night.
"Although the product is definitely meant to
be a bit humorous, there is a very real demand;'
said Mobile Menorah lead programmer, who
refers to himself only as "Mordechai."
Cleverly named, the menorah is both
"mobile" in that it is transportable and because
it may be downloaded on a "mobile" device.
With no wax to clean up, the Mobile
Menorah's software allows the user to set the
candles to "burn" quickly or over the course of
several hours, checking the progress through-
out the evening with a simple click.
To download Mobile Menorah or to view a
display of the candlelighting, access the Web site at
mobilemenorah.com .
A portion of every sale of the Mobile Menorah download will go
to help plant trees in Israel. Cost is $1.99, about the cost of a box of
Chanukah candles.
- Shelli Liebman Dorfman, senior writer
A10
December 18 2008
A Parting Of the Web
Five area synagogues plus the Jewish Family Service are looking for
new Internet service after the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit decided it can no longer host them on its server.
A power outage last year, which cut Internet service to the
Federation and its clients for a week, led to the parting of the
ways. According to Judah Isaacs, director of Federation's Alliance
for Jewish Education, the cost to fix the issue was prohibitive and
Federation found it could save money with the change at little or
no additional cost to the synagogues and JFS.
The synagogues — Beth Shalom, B'nai Moshe, Emanu-El, Kol
Ami and Shir Shalom — were paying Federation $125 per month
for the service.
Chuck Berris, executive director at B'nai Moshe in West
Bloomfield, said his synagogue arranged Internet service through
its telephone provider to keep the total cost of both services the
same. He said Federation had asked the group to arrange for a new
provider by Dec. 1, but extended the deadline for those taking lon-
ger to arrange new service.
Isaacs said the service originally was begun by MiJoe (Michigan
Jewish Online Education) as a service for the Hebrew and Sunday
schools.
- Alan Hitsky, associate editor
SuperJews For Chanukah
Enter Captain Israel, Mega Mensch, Judah the Giant, Beth L, Eternal
Light and Queen Kabbalah, who live at SuperJews.org and are ava-
tars and leaders of a Facebook-based color war encouraging Jewish
community engagement, online activism and the Jewish value of
tikkun olam, "repair of the world."
Sponsored by United Jewish Communities (UJC) and the Jewish
Federations of North America, the SuperJews initiative is designed
to attract Jews of all ages, but especially those entering adulthood
and looking for a fun, social and meaningful entryway into the
Jewish community and doing good through it.
"We are going where the next generation of the Jewish commu-
nity thrives — on the Web, on Facebook, in cyberspace said UJC's
Adam Smolyar."SuperJews is an exciting way for them to launch
their engagement in community and with our partners in meaning-
ful ways."
Participants who sign up via the SuperJews Web site choose to be
on the red, blue or green teams, and are then challenged to complete
one simple, community-building act on each of the eight days of
Chanukah, which begins Dec. 21. The team with the most participa-
tion wins, and each team member will receive a virtual medal for
their Facebook page.
The Chanukah-themed outreach and engagement is the first of
many planned on the SuperJews campaign to keep community
involvement alive, active and ever-deepening
among the younger generation, organizers
said.
UJC's partners include the. Jewish Agency
for Israel (JAFI), American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee (JDC), Jewish
Telegraphic Agency (JTA), Hillel: The
Foundation for Jewish Campus Life, JESNA:
the Jewish Education Service of North
America, and the Foundation for Jewish
Culture.
Among the community-building challenges
during Chanukah: sending JAFI and Hillel
holiday e-cards to Israel and to friends and family; viewing a clip of
a Jewish film provided by the Foundation for Jewish Culture; joining
the local Jewish federation Facebook page or viewing a Federation
Web site; subscribing to JTiVs daily news e-mail and responding to a
JDC tikkun olam survey.
-Keri Guten Cohen, story development editor
Publisher/President Arthur M. Horwitz
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
Sales Director: Keith Farber
kfarber@renmedia.us
Account Executives: Ann G. Abrams, Jan H6skell,
Melissa Litvin, Heidi Martin,Rick Nessel, Dharlene Norris
Senior Sales Assistant: Kim Metzger
Business Offices
Customer Service Assts.: Maya Brodsky, Jan Shain
Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner
Collections Analyst: Hazel Bender
Creative Services
creative@thejewishnews.com
Creative Director: Deborah Schultz
Senior Graphic Designer: Lindsay Schwartz
Production ByVERTIS INC.
Site Manager: Scott Drzewiecki
Designers: Iris Dembeck, Beth Farley, Kathleen Kargula,
Jeffrey Meyer, Pam Sherevan, Michelle Sheridan
Photography
Staff Photographers: Angie Bean, Armando Rios
Editorial
Editor: Robert A. Sklar
rsklar@thejewishnews.com
Associate Editor: Alan Hitsky
ahitsky@thejewishnews.com
Story Development Editor: Keri Guten Cohen
kcohen@thejewishnews.com
Arts Editor: Gail Zimmerman
gzimmerman@thejewishnews.com
Senior Writer: Shelli Liebman Dorfman
sdorfman@thejewishnews.com
Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin
dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net
Columnists: George Cantor, Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein
Copy Team:
Senior Copy Editor: David Sachs
dsachs@thejewishnews.com
Copy Team Assistant: Sy Manello
smanello@thejewishnews.com
Platinum:
Editor: Lynne Konstantin
lkonstantin@thejewishnews.com
Executive Editor: Gail Zimmerman
gzimmerman@thejewishnews.com
Studio 36
866-583-2422
store@studio36.com
Young Adult Advisory Board
Gayle Friedman Gold, Jordan Glass, Robin Schwartz,
Brad "Bubba" Urdan
Published by: Jewish Renaissance Media
Chairman: Michael H. Steinhardt
President/Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz
ahorwitz@renmedia.us
Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett
kbrowett@renmedia.us
Controller: Craig R. Phipps
Editorial Director: Robert A. Sklar
IT Director: Deanna Spivey
Marketing & Circulation Director: Kelli Baird
Fulfillment
circulationdesk@thejewishnews.com
Customer Service Manager: Zena Davis
Departments
General Offices: 248-354-6060
Display Advertising: 248-354-6060
Fax: 248 - 304 - 0032
Circulation: 248-351-5174
Classified Advertising: 24.8-351-5100
Fax: 248-304-0049
Deadline: Monday, 4 p.m.: Editorial
Fax: 248-304-8885
Deadline: All public and social announcements must
be typewritten and received by noon Wednesday,
eight days prior to desired date of publication.
Subscriptions:
1 year
2 years
3 years
1 year out-of-state
2 years out-of-state
Per year foreign
$60
$114
$140
$79
$139
$142
Detroit Jewish News
29200 Northwestern Highway
Suite 110
Southfield, MI 48034
©copyright 2008 Detroit Jewish News