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National Council of Jewish Women

Greater Detroit Section

for openers

Let My People Go

I

trust by now your post-Passover
digestive tracks are back to “nor-
mal.” Yes, several days of eating
matzah gives new meaning to “let my
people go.” Sure, Moses used that line
for pleading with Pharaoh for our free-
dom, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he
revisited that plea after our people ate
unleavened bread in the desert for 40
years.
OK, I know jok-
ing about “let my
people go” is an old
line usually reserved
for Jewish men with
enlarged prostates,
but cut me some
slack — my matzah
Alan Muskovitz consumption even
created writer’s
“block.”
On a personal Passover note, I, for
one, would rather subject myself to all
10 plagues than have to live through
another primary election season like
the current one. If it were up to me, I
wouldn’t have hidden the afikomen;
I would’ve hidden all the candidates
and insisted nobody look for them.
Although I do like Trump’s idea of
building an even bigger Wailing Wall
and getting the Palestinians to pay for
it.
After some biblical research on our
Exodus out of Egypt, I’ve discovered

some facts that I’m confident you were
not privy to. For instance, our people
didn’t have to rely on just unleavened
bread for sustenance during their
desert trek to the Promised Land. It
turns out that upon parting the Red
Sea, God, in his Divine Wisdom, made
available an entire seabed of gefilte
fish; a welcome source of protein.
However, despite the fact that God
was powerful enough to create the
universe, it is puzzling that He didn’t
get around to creating horseradish for
several centuries.
Here’s another fact that’s guaranteed
to shock even the most learned of our
scholars. The aforementioned parting
of the Red Sea didn’t take place as early
as God had intended. That’s right.
Despite our Creator’s awe-inspiring
power, He still had to wait to part the
Red Sea until after He received approv-
al from a wetlands zoning board. And
you thought getting permission to add
a foot to your deck was a frustrating
experience.
Want to talk frustrating? It’s still
hard to believe that after Moses
shlepped through the desert for 40
years, God refused to allow him to
enter the Promised Land.
But as we all know, Moses didn’t dot
all his i’s and cross all his t’s when it
came to adhering to God’s instructions
for leading our people into the Land of

CORRECTIONS
• The April 28 cover story “Mission Possible:
JFS to bring Natan Sharansky for 25th anniver-
sary of Operation Exodus” stated on page 12 that
“The JFS event will mark Sharansky’s first public
address in Detroit.” However, on Nov. 22, 1987,
the recently freed Sharansky addressed an over-
flowing sanctuary at Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills — reflective of the congrega-
tion’s leadership in the Soviet Jewry movement,
one of the proudest moments in Adat Shalom’s
history.
In the same story, Ida Joyrich was erroneously
identified as “the late” — she is very much alive.
We sincerely regret the error.
• “Influential Rabbi” (April 28, page 24) incor-
rectly referred to “the late” Nathalie Conrad, wife
of Temple Kol Ami’s founding rabbi, the late Ernst
Conrad. We are happy to report that Mrs. Conrad
is indeed alive, and we apologize for our error.

Milk and Honey; and that misunder-
standing meant he had to stay behind.
For you reality show buffs, let me put
it in perspective. God making Moses
stay behind is like the bachelor wav-
ing that final rose in front of the one
remaining bachelorette and then pull-
ing it away at the last second. A tease
is a tease; I don’t care if it happens in
2016 or the 1400s B.C.E.
I leave you with one final Passover
historical fact that will truly have you
shaking your head. Of course, it’s a
given that our people wanted out of
bondage big time. But believe it or not,
years after settling in the Promised
Land, many Jewish workers actually
volunteered to go back to Egypt to help
finish building the pyramids — but
only because their union negotiated
civilized working conditions. One
stipulation though — only those with
“Green” Cards were allowed in. Abe
Green, Maury Green, Sid Green. You
get the point.
And now, I will “let you people go …”
to read the rest of this week’s paper.

*

Alan Muskovitz is a writer, voice-over/acting tal-
ent, speaker, emcee and a regular guest host on
the Mitch Albom Show on WJR AM 760. Visit his
website at laughwithbigal.com and “like” Al on
Facebook.

Ina Katz

In celebration of our 125th Anniversary many
functions have been planned over the course of
the year including the creation of a Memory Book.
This is one of the entries.
“I love the word “COUNCIL.” It means a place
where conversations, changes and many different
opinions are discussed. It was what I enjoyed about
being part of this group of smart, articulate and
talented women. I came to NCJW to be part of a
group to which I didn’t want to belong. However,
the Spousal Bereavement group changed my mind.
I was embraced by two fabulous women who helped
me immensely and before I knew it, I was a member
of this organization - “COUNCIL.” Still love this word.
I especially enjoyed being involved with the
THRIFT Store…now known as council re|sale! I spent
fourteen years helping to plan different ways to make
our stores better. Picking up…packing up…moving…
on and on and loving it. It was a joy. I spent years
as a facilitator of our Bereavement Support group
and there I found my niche. COUNCIL has been a
wonderful part of my life.”
If you would like to share your memory or see
other entries for this special project, please go to our
website www.NCJWGDS.org. If you would like to
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Join NCJW/Greater Detroit
today. Become a new annual
member and take advantage
of our special $25 annual
membership fee in honor
of our 125th Anniversary.
Call us at (248)355-3300 ext. 0

MISSION:
The National Council of Jewish Women
(NCJW) is a grassroots organization
of volunteers and advocates who turn
progressive ideals into action. Inspired
by Jewish values, NCJW strives for
social justice by improving the quality
of life for women, children and families
and by safeguarding individual rights
and freedoms.

Joel Gershenson, the late Irwin Alterman, Natan Sharansky and
the late Rabbi Efry Spectre at Adat Shalom Synagogue in 1987

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May 5 • 2016

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