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Yom HaAtzmaut: Ameinu celebrates Israel Independence Day with a sing-along.
I
Esther Allweiss Ingber
Contributing Writer
I
srael Independence Day (Yom
HaAtzmaut) was the theme for
Ameinu Detroit's monthly gathering
April 24 in the Oak Park home of Aviva
and Mark Phillips. Ameinu ("Our People")
is a national, multi-generational community
of progressive American Jews who seek
opportunities to foster social and economic
justice both in Israel and the United States.
After a Shabbat ceremony, 25 mem-
bers enjoyed Middle Eastern food and an
Israeli flag cake. The Hebrew language
sing-along that followed included songs
highlighting Ameinu's roots, such as
Chaim Nachman Bialik's "Techezakna,"
the anthem of Zionist labor. Israeli-
born Michal Ram of Huntington Woods
stood out for knowing nearly every tune.
Another songbook recalled Camp Tavor,
a Habonim-Dror summer camp in Three
Rivers, Mich.
Former "Tavornik" Jeremy Salinger
of Southfield commented on "Who Will
Save Us?" — the English name for a
Bialik composition praising labor: "They
wouldn't let us into the dining hall if we
didn't sing it loud enough:'
Suzanne and Stewart Levin of Pleasant Ridge are ready to sing
with Ameinu Detroit.
Esther Allweiss Ingber of Oak Park, Brandy Mermell of
Southfield, Diane Zogut and her husband, Bob Shapiro, both
of Southfield
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Yom HaShoah:
0
Sy and Tova Salinger of Novi, Michal Ram of Huntington Woods
and Barbara Zabitz of Oak Park
HMC event highlighted by speech from survivor's granddaughter.
n April 19, the Holocaust Memorial
Center in Farmington Hills held its
annual Yom HaShoah commemoration.
A highlight was a speech given by Vanessa
Farkas of West Bloomfield, a sophomore at the
University of Michigan and grandchild of Ethel
Goldenberg, a Holocaust survivor.
She told her grandmother's story of being born
in Poland, surviving the war from ages 13-19,
meeting her husband, Herman, and fleeing first to
Paris and then America.
"For as long as I can remember, the Holocaust
has been a pivotal part of my life," she said. "I grew
up in a home where the Holocaust was a normal
Friday night dinner conversation and where the
bookshelf in my parent's bedroom could easily be
confused for the World War II section at the JCC
Book Fair"
She then spoke of her experience on March of
the Living, a program that takes teens to Poland
and the camps, and then to Israel.
"The March of the Living was a life-changing
experience," she said. "Everything I had read about
in books, every Holocaust movie I had ever seen,
and every story my Gammy had ever told me,
became real the moment I stepped off the bus and
into the first death camp, Treblinka.
"Everyone must understand that remembering
the Holocaust is not just the responsibility of the
survivors and their family members. It is every-
one's, and I hope that we can all do our part to
keep these experiences and memories alive:'
Paula Marks Bolton, Katherine Sattler and her daughter
Janis Sattler-Fried.
44
May 21 • 2015
JN
Diane Zogut and Bob Shapiro Sy and Tova Salinger
❑
Three generations: Vanessa Farkas, her grandmother Ethel
Goldenberg and her mother, Susie Feldman.
HMC board member Arie Leibovitz with his
wife, Karolyn, and sons Scott and Barak
Annette Ferber Adelman with her mother, Miriam Ferber