New Basketball League
For Friendship Circle Kids
Friendship Circle of West Bloomfield is
collaborating with 19 Inclusion Sports, a
national sports firm that caters to chil-
dren who want to play sports but perhaps
not at a highly competitive level, to put
together a basketball league in three
age brackets. The league will run from
Sunday, Feb. 2, through Sunday, March
30, with weekly games.
Typically abled players are being
recruited by 19, while Friendship Circle
is looking for children ages 4-13, who
have special needs. Games, to be held at
Florene Elkus & Edward Elkus Memorial
Gym at Friendship Circle, will have
teams made up of 70 percent typically
abled players and 30 percent children
with special needs.
"There is huge benefit for both groups
of children as the more typically abled
kids learn empathy, teamwork and other
real life lessons:' said Bassie Shemtov
of Friendship Circle. "The idea of this
league is to promote inclusion and com-
passion. Not every young person who
plays sports has the desire or ability
to play in the more highly competitive
leagues. Sports are a great outlet, and we
are proud to be in on this ground-floor
opportunity"
Dan Leach, a sports talk show host on
97.1-FM The Ticket and also play-by-
play man for the Detroit Pistons and the
Detroit Titans, will do live play-by-play
announcing at the inaugural game.
Friendship Circle has been providing
assistance and support for more than
3,000 families of children with special
needs since 1994. For details, go to friend-
shipcirde.org/news or call (248) 788-7878.

Lunch and Learn Explores
Classroom Textbooks
Dr. Sandra Alfonsi,
director of Textbook
Alert and national
chair of Hadassah's
Curriculum Watch
program will explore
"Facts, Fiction,
Innuendos and Bias:
Alfonsi
What Do Our Teachers
Teach?" during a lunch
and learn on Feb. 11, from noon-2 p.m.
at the Sarah and Ralph Davidson
Hadassah House, 5030 Orchard Lake
Road, West Bloomfield.
Alfonsi has been reviewing textbooks
since the mid-1990s when she helped
develop Curriculum Watch for national
Hadassah. In 2008, she created Textbook
Alert, an independent think tank com-
prised of volunteer academics and schol-
ars, to address the ongoing escalation
of inaccuracy in U.S. textbooks. Alfonsi
works directly with publishing houses to
correct textbook inaccuracies and bias.
The lunch and learn is presented by
the Greater Detroit Chapter of Hadassah's

Israel Focus Group and is co-sponsored
with the Israel education organiza-
tion StandWithUs-Michigan. The light
lunch cost is $8. To RSVP by Feb. 7, call
Hadassah House, (248) 683-5030.

Former U.S. Ambassador To
Israel Speaking at JCC
The Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit's SAJE (Seminars
for Adult Jewish Enrichment) will
present Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S.
Ambassador to Israel and Egypt, dis-
cussing "The Peace Puzzle: America's
Quest for Arab-Israeli Peace" at 7:30
p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 25, at the Berman
Center for the Performing Arts in West
Bloomfield.
This appearance will mark Kurtzer's
only Midwest speaking engagement in
conjunction with the release of his new
book The Peace Puzzle: America's Quest
for Arab-Israeli Peace, 1989-2011.
In his talk, he will consider ways in
which recent presidential administra-
tions have (or have not) moved negotia-
tions forward; the true impediments to
peace; the many lost opportunities for
diplomacy (including American igno-
rance); and what it will take to finally
achieve peace in the region.
A dessert reception, book sale and
signing will follow Kurtzer's speech.
The cost of the event is $15 for JCC
members and $18 for non-members.
Advance registration is requested. To
purchase tickets, visit theberman.org or
call (248) 661-1900. For information,
visit www.jccdet.org.

Holocaust Center To
Offer Speakers Bureau
The Holocaust Memorial Center
Zekelman Family Campus in Farmington
Hills is creating a Speakers Bureau
designed to inform community groups.
"We understand that not everyone has
the time and/or capacity to come out
to our museum:' said HMC Executive
Director Stephen M. Goldman.
"Our goal is to bring the museum to
them. Teach what the Holocaust was and
the lessons learned not just about this
horrible period but the fantastic displays
of courage, strength and righteousness
that also resulted and brought us hope:'
Audiences will have the opportunity to
hear from one of the HMC's docents and
view a presentation featuring Holocaust-
related images from the museum's
archives, exhibits and displays. A ques-
tion-and-answer session with the docent
concludes the program, which can be tai-
lored to suit a 30-60 minute timeframe.
To access a member of the Speakers
Bureau, contact Tour Coordinator Gail
Cohen at (248) 553-2400, ext. 10. Travel
distance will be limited to locations
within two hours of the center. For
information about the center, visit www.
holocaustcenter.org.

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January 16 • 2014

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