frontlines
Hooray For Goose Bumps!
Roche! Burstyn
Special to the Jewish News
S
ix-year-old Binyamin was once
mesmerized by a particularly
fat, slithery snake in the rep-
tile exhibit at the zoo. I stood next to
Binyamin and studied the thing, too.
We were both deep in concentration,
when I felt a soft flicker on the back of
my neck. My resulting scream echoed
all over the reptile house — of course,
it was packed that day — and everyone
swiveled around to see who was being
murdered. Instead, they got to see me
swatting 14-year-old Bentzi, who was
doubled over in laughter.
But as creepy as snakes or teenage boys
can be, I find the most hair-raising, heart
palpitating thing to be ... (drumroll) ...
baby toys.
If you've ever been alone in a house,
totally minding your own business, when
suddenly a baby toy in an empty room
starts chanting the ABCs, then you know
exactly what I'm talking about.
The other night, I was woken out of a
sound sleep to one of the toys in the toy
room going off. It went "Peek-a-boo. I see
you" followed by a high-pitched giggle. It
was the only noise in the house; everyone
else was sleeping soundly. All the little
hairs on my arms immediately stood on
end. I was too scared to move. Every few
seconds: "Peek-a-boo. I see you."
A few minutes later, I heard Yoni
sleepily trudging up the stairs from his
basement bedroom. I heard him pause —
"Peek-a-boo. I see you" — and suddenly,
he was racing up those stairs and throw-
ing himself into my room like somebody
was after him. There's nothing more com-
forting than watching someone else who's
even more freaked out than you are!
Kids, in general, are particularly great
at creeping their parents out. I heard
about a parent who was reassuring his
kid that there was no scary monster
under the bed. "Well, I know that:' the
kid said disdainfully. "Now he's standing
right behind you." Name the parent who
JN CONTENTS
isn't going to look over
his shoulder to check!
There's nothing as
spooky as seeing some-
one who isn't meant to
be there. Once, my sister,
just back from a trip
overseas, commented
over lunch at my parents'
house, "I saw Mr. Bush
today" My mother said,
"Umm ... I guess we
forgot to tell you that Mr.
Bush died a few weeks
age Quick as a wink,
someone else at the table
leaned toward my sister and said, "But if
you see him again, please tell him he still
owes me money!"
Everyone finds something in the world
creepy, whether it's spiders, clowns, that
weird fruit in Meijer called the fingered
citron or Buddha's hands or, in the case of
my sister, Miriam, the little green men in
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
It's not always fun in the moment, of
course, but being spooked isn't as bad
as it may seem. For one, the best stories
come from episodes in your life when
you were creeped out. Plus, it's a full-
body experience: You jump out of your
skin, your hair stands on end, you break
into a cold sweat ... and there you have it,
your workout for the day!
❑
dieJEWISHNEWS.com
Dec. 18-24, 2014 I 26 Kislev-2 Tevet 5775 I Vol. CXLVI, No. 19
Arts/Entertainment .. 43
18
Calendar
Family Focus
39
Food
48
Gift Guide
28
Israel
5, 17, 35-36
JN Archives
6
Letters
5
Life Cycles
53
Love Connection .... 55
Marketplace
55
Mentsh of the Month ...12
Metro
8
Next Generation ...18, 42
Obituaries
59
Points Of View
35
Sports
52
Spotlight
51
Staff Box/Phone List... 6
Synagogue List
38
Torah Portion
37
20
Tzedakah
Columnist
Danny Raskin
50
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Shabbat and Holiday Lights
Shabbat: Friday, Dec. 19, 4:43 p.m.
Shabbat Ends: Saturday, Dec. 20, 5:50 p.m.
Chanukah eighth night: Tuesday, Dec. 23.
Shabbat: Friday, Dec. 26, 4:47 p.m.
Shabbat Ends: Saturday, Dec. 27, 5:54 p.m.
Times are from Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar.
Cover page design: Michelle Sheridan.
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postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and
additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes
to: Detroit Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern
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Melvyn (Butch) Kalt is the eldest of
three brothers. Skippy (Richard)
and his wife, Lydia, live in Connecticut
and Moose (Morse) and his wife,
Brenda, live in North Carolina. Mel
and his wife, Paula, live in West
Bloomfield, and he says, "While
Skippy and Moose no longer live
here, we, as well as all of our aunts,
uncles and cousins grew up here.
No matter how far we travel, we
consider ourselves Detroiters."
Mel, a retired administrative law
judge, and his brothers had a
discussion about how best to
commemorate the memory of their
parents, Charles (z'l) and Pearl (f1),
since this year marks what would
have been Charles' 100th birthday.
"Our family has been in Detroit
since approximately 1904, so it was
important to us that whatever we
did was centered here," said Mel.
You don't live in a place that long
without being invested in the
community."
The Kalts have had connections
with Hebrew Free Loan, which Mel
says have been meaningful. The
birth of Mel and Paula's twin
grandsons that was accomplished
with the help of an HFL loan was
but one important connection
between the agency and the
extended Kalt family. The result of
their synergy is the Charles and
Pearl Kalt Memorial Evergreen
Legacy Fund.
"We are proud of who we are
and where we come from and this
agency encompasses the hopes of
our community," Mel said.
Click. Call. Give Maw.
www.hfldetroit.org
248.723.8184
Health. A fresh start.
A good education.
The next great business idea.
Hebrew Free Loan gives interest-
free loans to members of our
community for a variety of per-
sonal and small business needs.
HFL loans are funded entirely
through community donations
which continually recycle to
others, generating many times
the original value to help main-
tain the lives of local Jews.
HEBREW
FREE*LOAN
hfldetroit.org
We Provide Loans. We Promise Dignity.
6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301
in Hebrew Free Loan Detroit
Ae. @HFLDetroit
Supported
TI ON2VuaortTli uT
December 18 • 2014
3