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Motor City USY

Revived Conservative
youth group draws teens
from six local synagogues.

M

otor City USY is back
and attracting teens to its
Conservative-based programs.
Recent events included Havdalah at the
Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in
Detroit and skating at Campus Martius as
well as doing work at Beaverland Farms in
Northwest Detroit's Brightmoor neighbor-
hood.
At Beaverland, they worked with farmer
Scott Unger, an observant Jew who keeps
kosher, observes Shabbat and studied at a
yeshivah in Israel during his off-season.
The group recently elected officers,
with Brian Dickstein, a North Farmington
junior, and Jesse Adler, a Frankel Jewish
Academy senior, as co-presidents.
MCUSY has a momentum going,
Dickstein says, and has many upcoming
events, including a weekend convention
and an Israel culture night.

Allison Bloomberg of Farmington Hills
and Atara Krakoff of Southfield at
Beaverland Farms

Ice skating at Campus Martius: Jolie Sherman, Bloomfield Hills; Atara Krakoff,
Southfield; Sarah Broner, West Bloomfield; Eden Lichterman, Huntington Woods;
David Lerner, Detroit; Jolie Gittleman, West Bloomfield; and Daphne Logan,
Bloomfield Hills.

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For more about Motor City USY, email

A

its director, David Lerner, at DLerner@
ShaareyZedek.org.

Motor City USYers celebrate Havdalah
together at the Isaac Agree Downtown
Synagogue.

New Twist

Jeremy Rosenberg and Randi

At Beaverland Farms in Detroit: David Lerner,
Detroit; Randi Traison, West Bloomfield; Sarah
Broner, West Bloomfield; and Atara Krakoff,

Traison, both of West Bloomfield

Southfield.

Friendship Circle's boy volunteers take to trampolines for dodgeball tourney.

F

riendship Circle hosted its annual
Boy's Dodgeball Tournament on Jan.
12. The event, created to broaden
awareness of Friendship Circle's programs, had
been held for two years at Friendship Circle in
West Bloomfield. With encouragement from
teen volunteer presidents, the event moved to
the trampoline courts at Skyzone in Canton for
an exciting new twist.
More than 100 teens participated, with 16
teams of six players each.
Adam Birndorf, a Walled Lake Central
senior, was captain of the Dream Team. After
his team won the tournament, he quoted the
movie Dodgeball saying, "If you can dodge a
wrench, you can dodge a ball."
Ben Canvasser, a Frankel Jewish Academy
junior and captain of Team Canvasser, led
his team to second place. "It was a truly great
event that was planned to perfection," he said.
"As a participant of this event, I can say that
the amount of competitiveness and sportsman-
ship displayed made the event that much more
enjoyable. It was awesome to see so many
teens come out to support Friendship Circle
and participate:'
Eli Ravid, captain of team ZPM and a West
Bloomfield High School junior, said, "The
tournament was a great time, and I have never
had more fun at a fundraiser. I'll definitely be
back next year, but this time for the win."

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22

January 23 • 2014

The boys listen to instructions from refs before start-
ing dodgeball play.

Team ZPM celebrating an important win to advance them into
the semi-finals: Scott Lippitt, Sean Dickstein, Eli Ravid, Elmer

Peysakhov, Hershel Dorman and Robert Goldstein

Dream Team (first place): Blake Bruseloff, Adam
Birndorf, Dean Benyamin, Noah Collen, Jaden King
and Ben Weinstock.

Team Canvasser (second place): Dylan Bressler, Jake Freed,
Chase Perlman, Ben Canvasser, Anthony Aronovitz, Hank Pinter.

