Metro CLASSES THAT MAKE YOU L 1 41•11111 ■■ FedEd: We Deliver Adult Jewish Education A sampling of over 30 FedEd classes offered in 2010-11... Special to the Jewish News For anyone who has ever wanted to learn Hebrew. Beyond Borders: Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict A strong, text-based historical overview from the late 19th Century through today on understanding the Arab-Israeli conflict. Contemporary Jewish Thinkers and How They Saved Judaism Great Jewish thinkers and how they confronted the challenges that the Jewish people faced during the 20th Century. The Holocaust as Reflected in Diaries and Memoirs Explore the profound record of first-person accounts in diaries and memoirs uncovered in the years since the Holocaust. Jewish Denominations Examine Jewish identity and religious expression against the backdrop of dramatic political and social change over the past 300 years. Jews in America Explore the challenges of Jewish acculturation to American life, and the sacrifices as well as the contributions that have been made by Jewish Americans. Moses Maimonides: Explorations that Can Guide Your Life We will look at Maimonides writings and how they were viewed then, and how they are perceived today. Parsha HaShavuah (Weekly Torah Portion) A different rabbi or educator will present the Torah portion from his or her own perspective. Philip Roth's Jews We will begin with Goodbye Columbus, and proceed to The Ghost Writer and Operation Shylock, to frame a discussion of these perspectives and of our own ideas regarding the functions of American Jewish literature. Rock of Ages: the Story of Jerusalem A look at how the city of Jerusalem came to hold such a special place for Jews, Christians and Muslims. Explore a central element in the development of Jerusalem as a place where the ancient, medieval, and modern worlds converge. STUDY WITH AMAZING TEACHERS: . Keren Alpert • Ruth Bergman • Rabbi Michael Cohen • Rabbi Rod Glogower Yifat Golan • Nira Lev • Professor Howard Lupovitch • Rabbi Jason Miller Rabbi Tzvi Muller • Br. Mitch Parker • Amalia Poris • Rabbi Steven Rubenstein Ori Weisberg • Dr. Michael Weiss • Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz For information or for a complete brochure, call 248-205-2557, bronstein@jfmd.org , or visit jewishdetroit.org/feded J Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit We Deliver Adult Jewish Education September 16 • 2010 Paul Gross' book reflects his passion for meteorology. Keri Guten Cohen Beginning Hebrew 20 Extreme Weather ALLIANCE FOR JEWISH EDUCATION I f you've ever seen a weather report by WDIV-TV meteorolo- gist Paul Gross, you know he's passionate about what he does. In his short time during the newscast, he not only makes forecasts, but also mg tries to explain a bit about what's hap- -4 pening and why. Now he has channeled that desire for others to understand weather into his debut book, Paul Gross Extreme Michigan Weather: The Wild World of the Great Lakes State (University of Michigan Press, $24.95). Though he does explain the extremes in Michigan's weather — the destructive ice storms, heavy snow, intense heat waves, massive flooding, severe thunderstorms, even tornadoes — the easy-reading book is more a primer about what makes our weather what it is. Along the way, Gross can't avoid referencing scientific equations and laws that seem daunting at first until he decodes them by using analogies that make sense to the lay person. So by the time you're done reading, you do understand a lot more about weather than you ever thought you might. And that was Gross' goal. "I specifically wrote it in the con- versational style that people know me by, and with a friendly tone that says you can understand the complex science of meteorology if you just relax and let me teach you a few basic things:' said Gross, who has wanted to be a meteorologist since age 7. Gross lives in Farmington Hills with his wife, Nancy, and sons Jared, 17, and Adam, 15, and is an active member of Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield. In addition to being a broadcast meteorologist for WDIV, he is a certified consulting meteorolo- gist who regularly provides weather advice for local professional sports teams (Tigers and Lions) and testi- fies as an expert in court. "I decided to write the book EHTFIE(rif WEATHER PAUL GROSS because there are so many interesting things I want people to know about why Michigan's weather is so unique, but I can't explain most of this to my satisfaction on TV because we typi- cally only get two or 21/2 minutes to do the weather:' Gross said. "Most people are interested in some aspect of our weather, and everybody talks about it, so I finally had to do something about it." He spent three years writing the book, but says the narrative flowed pretty easily because he talks about weather for a living. What took the most time are charts occupying roughly half the book that compiled record highs, lows, precipi- tation and snow for every day of the year for 22 cities around Michigan. "It was brutal to hand-type those 30,000-plus statistics into the manu- script, but that forced me to take a much closer look at the database Gross said. He found glaring errors he brought to the attention of the National Weather Service, then worked with them to correct them. "As a result, our state's daily extremes database is in much better shape — an unintended, but extremely valuable consequence Gross said. Extreme Michigan Weather, which is available in major bookstores, already is in its second print- ing. Gross will speak at the Jewish Community Center Jewish Book Fair in West Bloomfield at 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 14. fl