ERKLEY
School District is the Oakland County school district where
personal excellence is achieved through a powerful community,
a true culture of caring, and extraordinary resources.
Ethiopian Jews Marry In
Jerusalem/JTA About 90 percent
of Ethiopian Jews marry within their
community, according to a new report.
The report by Israel's Central Bureau of
Statistics, which was released on Nov.
15, found that 93 percent of Ethiopian
men and 85 percent of Ethiopian women
marry other Ethiopians.
The report was released on the eve of
the Ethiopian's Sigd holiday, which com-
memorates the community's acceptance
of the Torah.
Some 119,000 Ethiopians — 81,000
of whom were born in Ethiopia — live
in Israel, mostly in the center and south.
Less than 0.5 percent of Ethiopians live
in Tel Aviv.
—
Shalit To Be Swapped?
Jerusalem/JTA Israel will free up to
980 Palestinian prisoners in exchange
for captured soldier Gilad Shalit, accord-
ing to reports.
Some 450 prisoners will be released to
free Shalit, who has been held by Hamas
in the Gaza Strip for more than three
years, before as many as another 530 are
freed following his release as a "gesture
to the Palestinians',' the Israeli State
Prosecutor's office announced Sunday.
The information was disclosed
in response to a suit filed in Israel's
Supreme Court by the Almagor Terror
Victims Association and three bereaved
parents, who requested the Palestinian
prisoners' names be made public.
Shalit's parents met Sunday with
Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman for
an update on the negotiations. "We are
neither encouraged nor the opposite.
We're still waiting',' the soldier's father,
Noam, said following the meeting. "We
have nothing new."
The Voice of Palestine radio station
said on Nov. 28 that Shalit would be
transferred soon to Egypt in prepara-
tion for his release. Egypt and Germany
have been mediating the prisoner swap
between Israel and Hamas.
—
Pope Meets Survivor
Rome/JTA Pope Benedict XVI met
with a Holocaust survivor from his
native Germany.
The pope met on Nov. 25, after his
weekly general audience, with Cacilie
Peiser, the founder and honorary presi-
dent of the Child Survivors Deutschland
Association. Peiser presented the pope-
with a signed copy of her biography,
which tells the story of her survival. She
was accompanied by Father Norbert
Hofmann, secretary of the Pontifical
Commission for Religious Relations
With the Jews.
—
"After the 'night of broken glass' in
1938, at the age of 13, I was forced to
flee with my younger sister Jutta and
other children to Holland',' Peiser,said
Her mother and younger brother were
deported and killed.
No Second Rubashkin Trial
Washington/JTA
Federal prosecu-
tors have dropped all immigration
charges against Sholom Rubashkin.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Deegan
Jr. said in court papers filed last week
that even if Rubashkin, the former
manager of the Iowa kosher slaughter-
house Agriprocessors, was convicted
on all 72 charges of using undocu-
mented workers, it would not have any
impact on his sentence because of his
conviction earlier in the month on 86
fraud charges. Rubashkin faces up to
1,255 years in prison.
Deegan said dismissing the charges
also would avoid a long trial. The prose-
cutor noted that some of the fraud con-
victions obtained in the first trial were
premised on the fact that Rubashkin
made false statements to a bank about
the use of undocumented workers at
his Postville plant.
Rubashkin's lawyer, Guy Cook, said
the decision by the government was a
victory for his client, who has main-
tained his innocence and is filing an
appeal for a new trial on the fraud
charges. Rubashkin has been denied
bail while he awaits sentencing because
he has been deemed a flight risk.
—
Answering
Israel's Critics
The Charge
Recent highly critical reports
focusing on Israel, which were
issued by the United Nations
Human Rights Council and by
Human Rights Watch, have been
fair and unbiased.
The Answer
Hannah Rosenthal, newly appoint-
ed State Department Special
Envoy to monitor and combat
anti-Semitism, said this week that
some of the criticism Israel sees,
and its isolation in the United
Nations, clearly comes "from a
place of anti-Semitism."
— Allan Gale, Jewish Community
Relations Council
of Metropolitan Detroit
© December 3, 2009
Jewish Renaissance Media
The Berkley School District values individuality in our students and we strive to
provide an educational experience tailored to each child. Our students achieve
personal excellence in all areas of study — both in and outside of the classroom.
Our relationship with our local community helps us foster
unique and creative programs for our students. Our
Holocaust to Righteousness class at Berkley High
Our relationship
School partners with the Holocaust Memorial Center
with our local
to educate the students on the importance of
community helps us
tolerance. Natalie Taylor, who teaches this unique
foster unique and
course, wants the students to learn that, "They are
creative programs
very much connected to events that happened
for our students.
decades ago, centuries ago, on the other side of the
world." The class is broken up into four main units:
culture, hate, resistance, and altruism. In the last six
weeks of the class, students volunteer in their local community,
"where they are putting someone else's needs before their own," says Mrs. Natalie
Taylor. Berkley High School pioneered this course with the Holocaust Memorial
Center.
We focus on nurturing the creative spirit of each child. Students have had the
opportunity to cook with some of the best chefs in Michigan through the Spoons
Across America program which came to Anderson Middle School last year thanks
to parent Michelle Kobernick. Students spent weeks learning everything from
nutrition to napkin folding on their way to planning an elaborate dinner party for
their families, friends, and community members. "I think
this is something these kids are going to take with them
For more
through all their years," said Kate Lawson of the
information or to
Detroit News.
inquire about
enrollment for your child,
Creativity thrives throughout the Berkley School
please visit us on our new
District as was recently shown by 10-year-old
Sydney Knisley from Angell Elementary. Her
artwork was published on the cover of the new
Curtis Granderson book "All You Can Be: Dream lt,
Draw It, Become It!" which came out in August 2009.
Sydney's art teacher was happy to surprise her with
the news that her drawing would
appear on the cover. The A
Cappella choir also recently
learned that PBS would like to tape them for a
musical special titled "Celebrate America".
Finally, several students from Anderson Middle
School showed off their artistic talents when
they participated in the "On Location: Spotlight
on Your Community" program. The students
produced a video highlighting the Detroit Dance
Collective called, "The Power of Dance".
Visit www.livestream.comiwbsd to view video of
various Berkley School District events.
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December 3 • 2009
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