jews d B UY t S ELL L EASE t M ANAGE in the serving Oakland County and the Entire Metro Area Get RESULTS www.MetroSold.com Let our 150 years of combined experience and knowledge guarantee the best possible outcome. SYNergy Shabbat including Ann Arbor Residential & Commercial Got Questions? Adat Shalom to host an expert on Balkan Jewish history. Jay Greenspan, Broker Jgreenspan@metrosold.com Cari Cohen 248-574-1905 Direct Sid Roth 248-202-3297 Direct 248-488-SOLD Regina Bronstein: Huntington Woods Specialist 248-298-9615 Direct MICHIGAN METROPOLITAN, REALTORS® A DIVISION OF MICHIGAN PROPERTY MANAGERS 2162010 JEANNIE WEINER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS S MEL DRYMAN Raised in Detroit, Experienced in Arizona Your Professional & Dedicated ARIZONA REALTOR Mobile: (480) 239-8686 mel.dryman@azmoves.com Each Office Independently Owned and Operated 2117430 —The New York Times Cynthia Erivo & the cast of The Color Purple on Broadway. Photos by Matthew Murphy, 2016 “A MIRACLE on Broadway.” everal Detroiters, including me, recently toured “Jewish” Bulgaria, Macedonia and northern Greece. We were guided by Dr. Joseph Benatov, who will speak three times for Synergy Shabbat at Adat Shalom Synagogue Oct. 27-29. What will you speak about at Adat Shalom? Benatov: One of my lec- tures will focus on events of World War II. Even though Bulgaria was allied with Dr. Joseph Germany, Bulgaria was Benatov able to protect all 50,000 Bulgarian Jews from its pre- war territories. At the same time, Bulgaria deport- ed to the death camps about 11,400 Greek and Yugoslav Jews from ter- ritories it occupied. I will speak about this complicated history and provide some historical and political context. I will also talk about Salonica in Greece as a Jewish metropolis, often termed “the Jerusalem of the Balkans.” You are a Bulgarian Jew who grew up in Sofia, but now you are a Hebrew professor at the University of Philadelphia. Tell us about this journey. Benatov: Yes, I was born and raised in Sofia, and after the end of communism, I moved with my fam- ily to Israel. I returned to Bulgaria, got degrees in English from Sofia University, and then came to the U.S. for graduate school, together with my wife, who is also Bulgarian. We live in Pennsylvania and have two sons who are growing up bilingual, so we make sure to visit Bulgaria every summer to keep their Bulgarian active. How do you incorporate your background into your tours and lectures? Benatov: My father was 5 in 1943, when the Bulgarian Jews were spared from deportation at the very last moment. He was also the person who initially encour- aged me to research the fate of Bulgaria’s Jews during WWII, and he has been an enormous help in my explo- ration of the Sephardic his- tory and culture of Bulgaria and the Balkans. Both my parents are Sephardic, and my father’s Ladino is near- native; my mother’s is also very good. Even though our parents did not speak to us in Ladino, my brother and I grew up with common Ladino sayings, songs and with our maternal grandmother’s delicious Sephardic dishes. She was known across town as the absolute master of masapan, a wonderful almond- and-sugar dessert. What led you to lead Jewish tours? Benatov: In Bulgaria, I worked as a Hebrew-language tour guide for Israeli visitors. I became more and more interested in the history of the Bulgarian Jewish community. I thought the best way to get a sense of their Sephardic past could be achieved by visiting the Balkans, and I recently expanded to focus further west with a trip to Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia and Triest. • Details SYNergy Shabbat will start with Shabbat Appella at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27, at Fisher Theatre • Nov. 7–12 ticketmaster.com, 800-982-2787 & box office. Info: BroadwayInDetroit.com, 313-872-1000. Groups (12+): Groups@BroadwayInDetroit.com 8PM 11/10. or 313-871-1132. 20 October 19 • 2017 jn Adat Shalom in Farmington Hills. Following Shabbat dinner, Dr. Joseph Benatov will speak on “The Untold Story of the Jews of Bulgaria.” On Saturday, Oct. 28, at 12:30 p.m., his topic is “The Balkan Jews from Antiquity to the Present.” On Sunday, Oct. 29, he will speak on “Balkan Sephardic Flavors and Sights” after a Sephardic brunch. Benatov’s lectures are co-sponsored by the Holocaust Memorial Center; Sunday’s brunch and lecture are co-sponsored by Keter Torah Synagogue and the Cohn-Haddow Center for Jewish Study. For details and cost for meals, call (248) 851-5100 or visit adatshalom.org.