I

Spirituality

Happy

Blocks from The Shul's
10-foot menorah will
benefit needy children.

Photos by Angie Baan

Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov of The Shul, right, with

U.S. Rep. Gary Peters of Bloomfield Township,
who lit the Legos menorah

Brian Weinstein of Farmington Hills dressed as Judah

the Maccabi, Itty Shemtov (a director at The Shul) of

West Bloomfield, Annette Newman of Waterford as Baby

Cakes the clown and Max Stein, 9, of Farmington Hills

Yisrolik Shemtov, 9, of West Bloomfield with his own Legos

menorah in front of the 10-foot menorah made at the event

Above: Rudy Kellman, 8, of West Bloomfield

Left: Leon and Nita Bekker of West Bloomfield with
their children, Ari, 6, and Elan, 4

30

December 17 • 2009

L

ast year, it was a 12-foot menorah of
donated cans of food for needy families.
This year, it was a 10-foot menorah
made from Legos.
On Dec. 13, more than 125 children and adults
gathered at The Shul in West Bloomfield to con-
struct a colorful contemporary menorah from
the plastic building blocks. The construction
took five hours. A trial run was held the week to
make sure all would go well.
Many participants donated Legos or money
to buy them. The blocks will later be donated as
gifts to under-privileged children, according to
Itty Shemtov, holiday director.
Families also enjoyed other festivities and
refreshments.
A highlight of the event was when U.S. Rep.
Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Township, lit the
menorah to celebrate the miracle of Chanukah.
This week, children from The Shul's Hebrew
school dismantled the menorah and packed the
Legos in gift boxes so they can deliver them to
the designated children.
"The Shul-Chabad Lubavitch would like
to acknowledge the generous support of our
Chanukah program by Federation's Alliance for
Jewish Education and the DeRoy Testamentary
Foundation:' Shemtov said. "With this support,
The Shul was able to participate in Federation's
Artist-in-the-Schools program. We were fortu-
nate to have Shawn Steam, our artist-in-resi-
dence, work with the Hebrew school students to
create the Lego menorah." fl
— Keri Guten Cohen,
story development editor

