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Repairing The World

Theme for Emanu-El’s Spring Festival offers
diverse takes on Tikkun Olam.

JOYCE WISWELL CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

R

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30

April 5 • 2018

jn

epairing the
World” — from
respecting nature
to honoring justice and
sexual equality to cel-
ebrating the joy of music
— is the theme of Spring
Festival 2018, a month-
long series of events pre-
sented in April by Temple
Emanu-El in Oak Park.
Sponsored by the syna-
gogue’s Adult Education
Committee, the festival
features an eclectic lineup
of speakers and events.
“This is a difficult time for a lot of
people; politics are so divisive. We
decided to talk about people repair-
ing the world,” said festival co-chair
Elizabeth Zerwekh. “We invited indi-
viduals who have their own slant on
what that means.”
Ron Kagan, execu-
tive director of the
Detroit Zoological
Society, kicks
things off at 7 p.m.
Thursday, April 19,
with “Nature — Will
It Save Us Before We
Destroy It?” Kagan
Ron Kagan
has been lauded for
reinvigorating the zoo with cutting-
edge habitats for polar bears and pen-
guins, and is known for advocating for
conservation and animal welfare. His
controversial decision in 2005 to retire
longtime resident elephants Wanda
and Winky delighted many animal
lovers but angered some traditional-
ists — and the American Zoo and
Aquarium Association.
“We asked him what he wanted to
speak about, and he came up with the
content and title,” said co-chair Doug
Kellerman.
An afterglow with wine and food is
co-sponsored by the Bea Sacks Social
Action Committee.
On Sunday,
April 22, Barbara
McQuade, former
U.S. Attorney for
the Eastern District
of Michigan,
speaks at 10 a.m.
on “Justice, Justice
You Shall Pursue.”
Barbara McQuade
Currently a profes-
sor at the University of Michigan Law
School and a contributor on MSNBC,
McQuade has handled high-profile

Klezmephonic

cases, including corruption charges
against former Detroit Mayor Kwame
Kilpatrick and fraudulent practices
by cancer doctor Farid Fata. Zerwekh
called her “a very powerful woman but
low-key in what she does and what
she has done in this world.”
A breakfast buffet co-sponsored
by Temple Brotherhood follows
McQuade’s lecture.
Dana Nessel,
another news-
making attorney,
takes the stage at 7
p.m. on Thursday,
April 26, to discuss
“Winning the Fight
for Full Equality.”
Nessel is best known
Dana Nessel
as the lead attorney
in the landmark case argued before
the U.S. Supreme Court that resulted
in the legalization of same-sex mar-
riage in 2015.
“She’s a very determined woman
who has her own slant on what repair-
ing the world is for her — about dis-
crimination and full rights,” Zerwekh
said.
The evening’s afterglow is co-spon-
sored by Temple Sisterhood.
“These afterglows are not just
punch and cookies, but really nice
food,” Kellerman said. “The food
enough is worth the price of the
ticket.”

FILM AND KLEZMER

Movie theater fare will be featured at
7 p.m. on Saturday, April 28, during
a talk and screen-
ing of a 1933 clas-
sic movie. Elliott
Wilhelm, cura-
tor of film at the
Detroit Institute of
Arts and adjunct
professor at Wayne
State University’s

Elliot Wilhelm

continued on page 32