metro

Feeding The Hungry

Birmingham Temple provides and
serves meals at Detroit soup kitchen
for its annual Winter Mitzvah.

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n Sunday, Feb. 9, the Birmingham Temple family room in Farmington
Hills was filled with two large assembly lines. Temple members of all
ages had come to participate in its annual Winter Mitzvah.
Wearing plastic gloves and chatting with neighbors on the line, participants
put together 350 sandwiches, then added fruit, chips and dessert and placed the
food in lunch bags. Some sandwich fillings and desserts had been made at home
— other food and supplies were purchased with member-donated funds.
The next day, bright and early, Temple volunteers transported the food to the
soup kitchen of the Central United Methodist Church in Downtown Detroit, and
then stayed to serve and socialize with patrons.
Temple members chose February for this project because they were told it was
a difficult time to find volunteers. Feeding the hungry is an expression of the
congregation's deepest moral values.

Temple members work on the sandwich assembly
line.

Anita Stromberg of Lathrup Village

serves desserts to soup kitchen
patrons.

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Rabbi Jeffrey Falick (second from the left) and Birmingham Temple members Temple members helped serve at the soup kitchen.
enjoy the assembly line.

Guilty Plea

Chafetz was arrested on Aug. 20,
2013, when police found methamphet-
amine and other drugs at his Bloomfield
Hills home. While out on bond, he was
arrested again on Nov. 19, 2013, in a
Home Depot parking lot in Madison
Heights and charged with a felony count
of delivery or manufacturing of meth-
amphetamine. As a result of that
Program (IOP) at the Henry Ford
arrest, his bond was revoked and
Maplegrove Center and contin-
he was remanded to the Oakland
ues his participation in a 12-step
County Jail to await trial and sen-
recovery program.
tencing. At his attorney's request,
Attorney Gabi Silver presented
Chafetz was released on Jan. 22
the court with a recommenda-
to begin an inpatient program at
tion letter from the Maplegrove
Maplegrove.
facility, where Chafetz was an
Chafetz told the court on
Seth Ch afetz
inpatient for three weeks. She
Feb. 12 that he realized he had
asked the court to allow her client to con- become addicted to methamphetamine
tinue on his path to recovery.
and was determined to continue his
"My client was released today, and he
recovery and move forward in a positive
is doing really well:' said Silver, a partner
direction.
in Cripps and Silver Law of Detroit. "He
"Five years and one month ago, there
was a big change in my life," Chafetz said,
looks 100 percent better and is speaking
logically and clearly now:'
"and I made one bad decision one eve-

Former Birmingham mayor pleads guilty
to drug charge, pledges to recover from
addiction.

Ronelle Grier

Contributing Writer

A

fter pleading guilty to posses-
sion of methamphetamine in
Oakland County Circuit Court
on Feb. 12, former Birmingham mayor
Seth Chafetz, 54, talked about his recent
stay in a local rehabilitation facility and
his commitment to recovering from his
drug addiction.
The plea was accepted by Judge James
Alexander, who allowed Chafetz to
remain free on personal bond of $25,000
providing he submits to daily drug tests,
completes the Intensive Outpatient

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March 6 • 2014

Roberta Slade of Livonia carefully
puts together a sandwich.

ning ... It cost me my reputation and my
job, and I want to get my life back?'
Chafetz, who was a figure skating
coach for Olympic gold medal winners
Meryl Davis and Charlie White, said he
looks forward to getting back on the ice
himself.
"I have my lawyer to thank for starting
my recovery," Chafetz said. "She knew
there was a problem before I did, and
she let me sit in jail until I detoxed and
my brain cells cleared. Then she started
fighting for me and didn't stop."
Chafetz, who was mayor of Birmingham
in 2003, also served on the Birmingham
City Commission and the Baldwin Public
Library Board of Trustees for several
years.
A sentencing hearing before Alexander
will take place on March 19. According
to court records, Chafetz will stand trial
on April 14 for the charges stemming
from his Nov. 19 arrest. Oakland County
Circuit Court Judge Colleen O'Brien will
preside.

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