metro
2014:
Year in Review
Compiled by Jackie Headapohl I Managing Editor
JANUARY
1 gn
SNOW SAVIORS
The polar vortex gripped Metro Detroit for several days bring-
ing record-breaking cold and wind chills as low as -30 degrees.
To make matters worse, significant snow fell, with accumula-
tions of up to a foot in some places. Schools were closed for days,
flights were canceled and driving was nearly impossible at times,
but through it all a small army of workers and volunteers kept
Michigan's only kosher food pantry up and running. Yad Ezra in
Berkley remained open even during the worst of the storm, distrib-
uting food to more than 50 needy families in the midst of snow, ice,
wind and treacherous conditions.
JANUARY: Yad Ezra volunteers who
braved the storm: Daniel Stettner,
Manny Schane, Mel Hersch, Arnie
Weiner, Sam Finegood, Ron Kepes, Saul
Margules and Howard Wittenberg.
Akiva Hebrew Day School
"Building Our Future"
JANUARY: About
30 young people
attended the
inaugural event
of ZOA's Teens 4
Israel.
JANUARY: Jewish
Community
Center, West
Bloomfield.
TEEN ADVOCACY
During winter break, 30 young Jewish Detroiters gathered for an
eye-opening evening. Teens 4 Israel — the new youth division of
the Zionist Organization of America's Michigan Region — hosted its
first event. High school students came together over pizza to learn
about the ways Israel is falsely represented in the news and on cam-
era.
FINANCIAL RESCUE OF JCC
At its combined meeting on Jan. 21, Jewish Federation and United
Jewish Foundation board members approved a $950,000 disburse-
ment to the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit to
keep it operational through mid-February. Another more signifi-
cant cash infusion followed soon to deal with the center's long-term
legacy debt of several million dollars.
FEBRUARY
BLUISH AND JEWISH
Dr. Mark Schlissel was named the University of Michigan's new
president. He took office July 1.
FEBRUARY: Renderings of the new
Akiva building.
FEBRUARY: Mark Schlissel talks with press at the
announcement of his appointment.
FARBER GIFT TO AKIVA
Amidst the yearlong celebration of Akiva Hebrew Day School's
50th anniversary — with plans for improved educational resources
under way and dreams of funding a much-needed new building
— came an unexpected and remarkable gift, a $3 million donation
from Audrey and William Farber of West Bloomfield.
MARCH
MARCH: A happy
family: Lisa Bargende
Sollish, Remy, Harper
and Elizabeth Sollish.
8
December 25 • 2014
HISTORIC RULING
It was a weekend mixed with celebration, disappointment and uncer-
tainty for hundreds of couples and supporters of same-sex marriage
in Michigan, as Federal Judge Bernard Friedman issued a decision
that legalized marriage between two members of the same sex.
The following day, clerks in four Michigan counties held
Saturday hours so more than 300 couples could experience a long-
awaited wedding day. By that evening, the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Sixth Circuit issued a "stay" in response to an emergency
motion filed by Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette, putting
Friedman's judgment on hold until the matter was considered by
the appeals court, which ruled to keep Michigan's gay marriage ban
in place this fall. An appeal is pending to the U.S. Supreme Court.