Photos by Brandon Schwartz
metro » aro u nd tow n
Open House Yad Ezra’s
greenhouse and gardens serve
as a community learning lab.
O
n June 3, 150 guests toured the Max
M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation
Giving Gardens, featuring the Geri
Lester Greenhouse and Yad Ezra’s warehouse
sporting new banners designed by local day
schools and synagogues.
Yad Ezra President Sam Rozenberg and Nancy
Kleinfeldt, immediate past president, welcomed
and thanked the Fisher and Lester family
members who provided the necessary funds
for the project. Additional shout-outs went to
Team4Community, Yad Ezra’s consulting group;
Sheldon Yellen and Joe Detloff from Belfor USA
Group; and Berkley city officials.
The Giving Gardens provide a learning lab to
educate volunteers, clients, students and sup-
porters by bringing them together to experience
the benefits of planting and harvesting produce
while blurring the lines between the demographic
groups. Programming at Giving Gardens serves
the larger mission of Yad Ezra by providing par-
ticipants with a holistic view of the issue of hun-
ger through a Jewish lens. Combining the daily
work of Yad Ezra with the Giving Gardens at the
same site provides a central location to experi-
ence the sweet spot between social service and
social justice work.
*
Past President of Yad Ezra and Greenhouse project
chair Nancy Kleinfeldt, Yad Ezra Executive Director Lea
Luger, Giving Gardens Manager Carly Sugar and design
team member Shari Stein at the dedication ceremony
Nicole and Matt Lester pose for a pic with Yad Ezra Executive Director
Lea Luger, center, in front of the plaque dedicating the Giving Gardens
in honor of Matt’s mother, Geri Lester.
Attendees gather in the greenhouse gardens before the dedication
ceremony.
Banners made by students at local day schools and
synagogues dress up the Yad Ezra warehouse.
T
Kids enjoy the sudsy bubble machine.
he Jewish Family Festival
brought together more
than 700 participants from
all walks of life for a day of Jewish
unity, inspiration and fun on Lag
b’Omer, May 26.
“It is heartwarming to experi-
ence the incredible response from
the community growing from year
to year,” says Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov,
spiritual director of The Shul-Chabad
Lubavitch in West Bloomfield, which
sponsored the event with sponsorship
from Kroger, JFamily of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
Singing and dancing around a bonfire marked the celebration of Lag b’Omer.
22 June 16 • 2016
Friendship Circle, Bouncing Bubbles
and Jerusalem Pizza.
Participants enjoyed an assortment
of activities including bubble soc-
cer, rock climbing, a foam machine,
archery, a nature hike, sports, face
painting and more.
Participants roasted marshmallows
and sang lively songs around a bon-
fire, while they met the Lag b’Omer
historical figures, Rabbi Shimon Bar
Yochai and Rabbi Akiva, played by
students from the LubavitchYeshiva-
International School for Chabad
Omer Burshtein of Berkley has some fun at
Leadership in Oak Park.
*
Shaina, 2, and Chana Stein, 4½, of
West Bloomfield
the wading pool with his son, Noam, 2 .
Kids enjoy roasted marshmallows around
one of the firepits.
Photos by Brandon Schwartz
Family Festival Lag b’Omer was the backdrop for The Shul’s annual community event.