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Trash Talk

I

date right. And that, my friends, is the
trust you had an enjoyable
true definition of trash talk.
Memorial Day weekend, whether
Back to civility. I hope last weekend
it included gardening, barbecuing,
you also took a moment to reflect on
boating or just kicking back with a
the true meaning of Memorial
good book.
Day — besides it being a day
Unfortunately, my
to take advantage of the lowest
Memorial Day weekend, like
prices of the year on a mattress
all three-day holiday week-
or a three-piece sectional at 0
ends, are haunted by one
percent interest for 48 months.
question that’s tormented
Memorial Day weekend is
me for years: Will my gar-
the unofficial start of summer.
bage, which is normally
And what would a summer be
picked up on Monday morn-
without taking advantage of
ing, be picked up on Tuesday Alan Muskovitz
Contributing Writer
the myriad of activities avail-
or Wednesday morning
able to us across our great
instead?
state. Events like the ones I
I know what you’re think-
discovered visiting the Pure
ing — wait and see what my
Michigan website. And I’m not mak-
neighbors do. That doesn’t cut it. It
ing these up.
turns out that come 11 p.m. Sunday,
Don’t look now, but the annual
half of them haven’t put their garbage
Antique Tractor and Engine Show
out. It’s like the proverbial game of
in Fruitport is just a week away!
chicken. You can almost feel the ten-
The June 8-10 event is put on by
sion on my street. Who has the guts
the West Michigan chapter of the
to go out on a limb and drag their
Early Days Gas Engine and Tractor
garbage down to the curb; risking the
Association. A $5 admission includes
humiliation of it sitting there for two
a daily antique tractor parade that
days?
also features riding lawn mowers!
But this year, aha! I saved my asso-
ciation newsletter that told me exact- What’s more American than seeing a
hairy, shirtless guy riding his beloved
ly what to do. But, and I know this is
downright unneighborly, I didn’t share lawn mower down Main Street in
Fruitport? Calling Norman Rockwell.
that information with my buddies
Meanwhile, that same weekend,
in the hood. Come on, admit it; you
just down the road from Fruitport,
know there’s a degree of satisfaction,
in Hart, it’s the 53rd annual National
a smugness, that goes along with get-
Asparagus Festival — the longest run-
ting the post-holiday garbage pick-up

ning asparagus festival in the country!
Be forewarned: If you’re a first-time
asparagus eater, spending an entire
weekend eating it comes with a
couple of strange but harmless side
effects.
June calendar booked up? Fear
not. July has plenty to offer, including
the Birds & Coffee Walk at the W.K.
Kellogg Bird Sanctuary in Augusta.
Where’s Augusta? You’ll be happy
to know it’s conveniently located
between South Gull Lake and Hickory
Corners. If you do make it to the Birds
& Coffee Walk, I highly recommend
you wear an old hat and put a lid on
your cup.
So, be safe and have fun this sum-
mer. And who knows, perhaps we’ll
be lucky enough to run into each
other at Gladwin County’s Taj Ma-Hog
Ribfest, Reptile Weekend in Battle
Creek or the Black Star Farms Great
Lakes Fish Boil in Cedar River. Details
at www.michigan.org/events. By the
way, this year’s celebrity judge for
the Miss Fish Boil Pageant is former
Michigan Gov. John “Angler.”
(Sorry, that kind of humor is better
suited for the 45th annual Cornfest in
Auburn, July 8-9.) •

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.

letters

Walk For Israel

The Walk for Israel was a major
success in the sunny, chilly weather
Sunday, May 7.
The discussion between Walk for
Israel CEO Andre Douville and Detroit
Jewish News Publisher and Executive
Editor Arthur Horwitz was educa-
tional and humorous. More than 100
people filled the main sanctuary at
Temple Shir Shalom to listen to the
impact the late Phil Slomovitz had on
our community.
Programming before the Walk
featured a free kosher lunch; Israeli
singing and dancing; singing of the
national Anthem and Hatikvah, led by
Cantor Penny Steyer, Cantor Rachel
Gottlieb Kalmowitz and Cantorial
Soloist Kelly Onickel; and prayers for
Israel by Rabbis Michael Moskowitz,
Mark Miller, Aaron Bergman and
Daniel Schwartz.

We appreciate Sen. Gary Peters for
taking his time to support the Walk
and speak for Israel. The senator has
been a regular participant for many
years.
The Walk filled both sides of
Orchard Lake Road with more than
2,000 supporters of Israel and the U.S.-
Israel relationship proudly waving
their American and Israeli flags.
The members of the Walk for Israel
Task Force applaud and thank chair-
man Andre Douville for his extraor-
dinary leadership, drive and love for
Israel that made the Walk a success.
An additional thank you to the cler-
gy and board of directors of Temple
Shir Shalom for their generous sup-
port by providing the use of the tem-
ple facilities and staff for the Walk.

Ed Kohl
Walk for Israel Task Force member

Applause To
Noa’s Critics

The cancellation of Noa’s [Achinoam
Nini] concert caused some extreme
and “infamous” remarks from her
supporters. I applaud Ms. Noa’s critics
because they expose themselves.
Moshe Dann makes the point well.
“Her hatred of Jews who live in Judea
and Samaria, the Golan and eastern
Jerusalem is infamous. It is an exam-
ple of sinat hinam, or baseless hatred.
Yet as if to make the point clearer,
she also refuses to perform over the
‘Green Line,’ the Armistice Line of
1949.”
Imagine! With over 50 years that
have passed, Noa’s hatred of her fel-
low Jews in protecting themselves
from Arab hatred is discounted as if it
were nothing important. Does she not
realize that she and her Jewish friends

My
Story

Stephanie Roth needed treat-
ment that her health insurance
wouldn’t cover. In consultation with
her physician, she found a program
to help with a mental health issue,
applied for admission to a future
session, and prepared to gather
the funding without insurance.
A cousin had previously received
a college loan from Hebrew Free
Loan, so Stephanie and Robert,
her husband, knew HFL only as a
place that made that type of loan. At
the urging of their aunt, the couple
contacted HFL “because we ﬁgured
if Hebrew Free Loan couldn’t help
us themselves, they might know
who could,” Stephanie said.
As they were beginning the loan
process, a spot opened up in a
treatment session that was begin-
ning almost immediately. Stephanie
and Robert had very little time to
react, but they wanted her to have
the opportunity, so Stephanie went.
The remainder of the application
and interview were completed from
a distance, and Robert went back
and forth with paperwork. Stephanie’s
loan, from the Pitt Fund for Special
Needs, was approved while she
was settling in for treatment.
“Everyone at Hebrew Free Loan
made me feel very comfortable,”
Stephanie said. “There is a stigma
about mental illness, and I wasn’t
sure what their reaction would be. I
was uncertain whether I would be
judged about what I was going
through, but the HFL staff jumped at
the chance to help. You could tell
they really cared.
“I’m doing better now, and I’m in
school, studying social work. I’ll help
others the way HFL helped me.”

Click. Call. Give Now.
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
personal 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 maintain the lives of
local Jews.

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

@HFLDetroit

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jn

June 1 • 2017

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