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West Bloomfield Shows
Diversity On MLK Day
It's been a sacred tradition of mine to
walk the walk from West Bloomfield
High School to the corner of Walnut
Lake Road and back, making the usu-
ally busy Orchard Lake Road into a
temporary mall for the hundreds of
Martin Luther King Jr. Day participants
of all faiths and ethnicities, a sea of
diversity bundled up against the bitter
cold, representing the true face of West
Bloomfield and its vicinity.
This year's slogan, which is embla-
zoned on the button each wore, is:
"Remember, Celebrate, Act" with obvi-
ous emphasis on the latter.
This year, Wes Berry of Wesley Berry
Flowers gave people dozens of roses with
the intention that people keep one and
give 11 of them away, preferably to one
of another faith or ethnicity.
Two very important people are associ-
ated with United We Walk, most typical-
ly a Christian and Jew who passed away
in the preceding year. Rev. Dr. David
Robertson of Orchard Lake Community
Church-Presbyterian and David Henig
of Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield
were memorialized with a moment of

Course To Look Into
American Jewish Identity
What's the most
important thing we
can do for our grand-
children to be proud
of their Jewish identi-
ties? Are we American
Jews or Jewish
Americans? What is
Rabbi Shneur
Judaism's message to
Silberberg
humanity?
Sara & Morris
Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center in
West Bloomfield, in partnership with
the Federation's Alliance For Jewish
Education, will present "To Be a Jew
in the Free World: Jewish Identity
Through the Lens of Modern History,"
a new six-session course that will begin
during the week of Feb. 2.
Rabbi Shneur Silberberg of Bais
Chabad will conduct the class, with two
options each week: Sundays, 11 a.m.
at Bais Chabad (beginning Feb. 2) and
Thursdays, 7 p.m. at the Max Fisher
Federation Building in Bloomfield
Township (beginning Feb. 6).
Each class runs approximately an
hour and a half. The course is part of
the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI)
curriculum.
"To Be a Jew in the Free World" is
designed to appeal to people at all levels
of Jewish knowledge, including those
without any prior experience or back-

silence, a beautiful tribute.
The MLK Day celebration ended with
a community dinner at the school caf-
eteria.
This year, like any other, I remind
myself of how blessed I am to be liv-
ing in a township as diversified as West
Bloomfield.

the topic of an upcoming documentary
about her life and how Dr. Hodes has
helped her.
This man's devotion, kindness and gen-
erosity deserves our community's finan-
cial support. By supporting his Ethiopian
Spine work through the JDC, we are truly
repairing the world — tikkun olam.

Rachel Kapen
West Bloomfield

Kathy and David Sloan
Huntington Woods

Doctor In Ethiopia
Provides Tikkun Olam
Last September, while visiting our
son John Sloan, an economist with
the United Nations, in Addis Ababa,
Ethiopia, we had the opportunity to
meet with Dr. Rick Hodes for Shabbat
dinner at his home.
Our evening began with Dr. Hodes
leading Shabbat prayers with a dozen or
so young people in his sukkah within
the courtyard of his home. Throughout
the early evening, more and more chil-
dren arrived for Shabbat dinner and to
pray with Dr. Rick.
Several told us their personal stories
of poverty, being orphaned and living
in hopeless pain until Dr. Rick found
them. One of the young girls we met is

Kosher Meals On Wheels
Volunteers Acknowledged
In reference to your article, "Saviors In
The Storm" (Jan. 16, page 12), I wish to
add to the information available.
The Kosher Meals on Wheels pro-
gram you mentioned has been operated
for more than 40 years by National
Council of Jewish Women, Greater
Detroit Section and our heroic volun-
teers five days a week — every week.
We want to thank them for their
devoted service all these years and also
Area Agency on Aging 1B for its fund-
ing and support for the ongoing meal
program and emergency meal packages
we provide.

Suzanne Simon, president
NCJW/Greater Detroit

ground in Jewish learning.
"This course will go on a journey
through the heart and story of our
people," said Silberberg.
Interested students may call (248)
207-5513 or visit www.baischabad.com
for registration or information.

by the Greater Detroit Chapter of
Hadassah's Israel Focus Group and is
co-sponsored with the Israel education
organization StandWithUs-Michigan.
The light lunch cost is $8. To R.S.V.P.
by Feb. 7, call Hadassah House, (248)
683-5030.

Lunch & Learn Explores
Classroom Textbooks
Dr. Sandra Alfonsi,
director of Textbook
Alert and national
ribs
chair of Hadassah's
Curriculum Watch
program, will explore
"Facts, Fiction,
Innuendos and Bias:
Dr. Sandra
What Do Our Teachers
Alfonsi
Teach?" during a
lunch and learn noon-
2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, at the Sarah and
Ralph Davidson Hadassah House, 5030
Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield.
Alfonsi has been reviewing text-
books since the mid-1990s when she
helped develop Curriculum Watch for
national Hadassah. In 2008, she created
Textbook Alert, an independent think
tank comprised of volunteer academics
and scholars, to address the ongoing
escalation of inaccuracy in U.S. text-
books. She works directly with publish-
ing houses to correct textbook inaccura-
cies and bias.
The lunch and learn is presented

ZOA's Klein To Talk
On Mideast Peace Paths
Morton Klein, national president of
the Zionist Organization of America
(ZOA), will speak on "Negotiations with
the Palestinians and Iran: A Path to
Peace or War" at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday,
Feb. 5, at Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills.
Klein will speak
about current nego-
tiations between
Israel and the
Palestinians in light
of a U.S. deal with
Iran regarding its
nuclear program. He
Mort Klein
also will discuss the
United States' role
as a mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian
peace process and whether a permanent
pact should be put into place while
Israel is openly considering an attack on
Iran's nuclear facilities.
There is no charge. Contact Zionist
Organization of America-Michigan
Region at kobi@mizoa.org or call (248)
661-6000 for more information.

Ask Attorney
Ken Gross
about...

Your Legal
Issues

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January 30 • 2014

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