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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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Strong Teen Agency
T
o help inspire teens to explore
Jewish values and traditions, two
of the Jewish community's top
youth organizations — BBYO and PANIM
— have teamed up to form the PANIM
Institute for Jewish Leadership and Values
as a division, thanks to a $3.5 million phil-
anthropic gift.
The PANIM Institute will provide ser-
vice, advocacy and philanthropic experi-
ences for Jewish institutions and teens.
"We're coupling PANIM's 20-year track
record of providing engaging programs in
Jewish values with BBYO's growing network
of 28,000 Jewish teens, regional structure
of talented professionals and advanced
technology" said Howard Wohl, chair of
the Washington-based B'nai B'rith Youth
Organization. "This is the way forward to
create a more hopeful Jewish future."
Matthew Grossman, BBYO executive
director, said,"Offering experiences and con-
Kosher Standoff
A Jewish prisoner serving a life term in
a Michigan prison that provides kosher
meals wrote the JN to say he's hoping to
be transferred to a Lapeer prison, closer
to family, provided it could begin to have a
kosher kitchen.
William B. Kissane, 52, said the
Muskegon Correctional Facility where he is
jailed will be closing down. He said he and
other Jewish prisoners there likely will be
transferred to either the Lakeland prison in
Coldwater or one of the Newberry prisons.
"Being transferred to either of those
facilities will be an extremely hard burden
upon family members," Kissane said.
He said he was hoping to be transferred to
the Thumb Correctional Facility in Lapeer,
which is closer to Genesee County, and was
hoping the facility could serve kosher meals.
Kissane has been approved for kosher
meals since 2003. He was imprisoned
in 1981 following felony convictions in
Genesee County
The Michigan Department of Corrections
Public Information Office told the IN that
Newberry and the two Coldwater prisons
offer kosher meals. In a press statement,
the MDOC stated: Prisoners can't choose
where they will go. They are placed based on
bed space, programming needs and secu-
rity. Further, transfers aren't announced to
Our JN Mission
tent that appeal to the altruistic instincts of
the teen audience is yet another opportunity
for BBYO to strengthen the Jewish people."
Rabbi Jason Kimelman-Block, director of
the PANIM Institute, said, "We will be able
to create new technological platforms, forge
unique partnerships with Jewish and secu-
lar organizations, and significantly expand
and enhance our programmatic offerings to
get more teens enaaaed"
0 0 •
While new strategies are being devel-
oped, the PANIM Institute will continue to
offer Washington-based PANIM's signature
Panim el Panim program along with its
summer service programs and J-Serve.
These programs will provide the same
high-quality programs to its network of
feeder institutions, including synagogues,
day schools, JCCs and Hebrew high schools.
Making the PANIM Institute possible
was a fundraising campaign by leaders of
PANIM and BBYO. The $3.5 million was
minimize a security risk. Prisoners with
a kosher diet will be placed in prisons
capable of delivering that. Cost controls
and few prisoners seeking a kosher diet
prohibit kosher kitchens throughout the
prison system. Kosher needs account for
only about 1/2 of 1 percent of the state's
total prisoner population.
The Michigan Department of
Corrections indicates that 822 of its pris-
oners identify as Jewish and 239 inmates
are on the kosher meals program. There
are 47,500 prisoners in the state system.
Old Footage Sought
Oakland County-based Sue Marx Films
(www.suemarxfilms.com ) is working on a
documentary for Detroit-based WTVS-56
called Detroit Then and Now: The Jewish
Community.
Completion of the project is targeted for
mid-November.
"We're looking for old family footage,
pre-1960s, of Jewish Detroiters," said Marx.
Film or video is desired. "I say video
because some families may have already
transferred it to tape or DVD; otherwise, we
will and they can have copies when we are
finished': Marx said.
Contact Marx by e-mailing her at
suemarx@suemarxfilms.com .
— notes by Robert Sklar, editor
Business Offices
pledged over a three-year period, includ-
ing $2.5 million from a range of Jewish
philanthropists. The additional $1 million
was raised by PANIM's outgoing board to
provide scholarships for teens and their
families.
"When I began
PANIM 20 years ago,"
said Rabbi Sid Schwarz,
"I envisioned an orga-
nization that would
inspire Jewish youth to
become agents of posi-
tive social change. I am
Rabbi Schwarz so proud of the work
that's been done.
"Today's teens are living in a new
world. They face new challenges, but they
are also armed with new opportunities
to meet those challenges, particularly
through the formation of grassroots
movements fueled by technology." Li
Berman In A 'Landslide'
In 1961, Mandell L. "Bill" Berman
was vice president of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek when the synagogue's
new building was under construction
in Southfield. In line
for the presidency, he
passed up the post
to concentrate on the
all-important build-
ing committee chair-
manship. He also had
assumed the presidency
of the Jewish Federation
Mandell
of Metropolitan Detroit
Berman
at that time.
Last June, Berman, a Franklin resident,
told the Detroit Jewish News: "One of
my biggest regrets is never having been
president of Shaarey Zedek."
On Rosh Hashanah morning last
Saturday Shaarey Zedek President Brian
Hermelin surprised Berman, 91, by call-
ing him to the bimah and naming him
an honorary president of the synagogue.
The wording was inscribed on the bag of
a gift tallit.
"It was a complete surprise said
Berman later. "I finally ascended to the
Shaarey Zedek presidency, and I'm proud
it was in front of a packed house."
— Bill Carroll, special writer
The Jewish News aspires to communicate news and opinion that's useful, engaging, enjoyable and unique. It strives to reflect the full range of diverse viewpoints while also advocat-
ing positions that strengthen Jewish unity and continuity. We desire to create and maintain a challenging, caring, enjoyable work environment that encourages creativity and inno-
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8
September 24 • 2009
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