22 May 30 • 2019 jn A community commemoration for Yom Hazikaron, Israel’ s Memorial Day, was held May 7 at the Berman Theater at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield with about 400 attending. This year, 23,741 soldiers were remembered for their sacrifice in defending the State of Israel as well as 3,150 victims of terror in Israel. Hazzan Daniel Gross of Adat Shalom Synagogue and Rabbi Shalom Kantor of Congregation B’ nai Moshe chanted prayers for the soldiers of Israel. American and Israeli commu- nity members read selected poems, and Avital Granot, accompanied by pianist Linda Permut, both of Huntington Woods, sang two Hebrew songs. The ceremony featured two guest speakers, Chief Sgt. Omri Ohayon from Herzliya, a guest of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces, and Roz Ohayon from Nazareth Ilit, Detroit’ s partnership region in Israel, a Federation guest. Omri, now a student at Yeshiva University in New York, spoke about his experience during the 2014 Gaza war. Just two hours after the war began, Omri lost a close friend from home, Eitan Barak and, by the week’ s end, he lost another friend, Gal Bason, from his special commando unit. Omri’ s unit was responsible for destroying 11 of the 32 terror tunnels dug by Hamas in Gaza. After the war, Omri became a paramedic and served on the Syrian border treating refugees from the Syrian civil war. Roz Ohayon paid tribute to her late husband, Hanan Ohayon, the father of her two children who attend Tamarack Camps from the partner- ship region. Hanan served in the Israeli Prison Service when his unit was called to fight the devastating 2010 Carmel Fire. Hanan died while fighting the fire, along with 43 others. In her husband’ s memory, Roz joined the Israeli Prison Service to continue his legacy and has served since. The Hillel Day School Choir con- cluded the ceremony with singing of the American and Israeli national anthems. ■ jews d in the section BOSMAT DOVAS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS Honoring the Fallen at Yom Hazikaron IDF Chief Sgt. Omri Ohayon of Herzliya speaks of losing two friends in the 2014 Gaza war. Eighty-five religious, civil rights and higher-ed organization signed a letter that was sent to University of Michigan President Mark Schlissel, among oth- ers, lauding U-M’ s adoption of a Blue Panel Report that states decisions, such as letters of recommendation, should be based “solely on educational and professional reasons, ” not politics. The panel was established last year when U-M Professor John Cheny- Lippold withdrew a letter of recom- mendation from a qualified student because the recommendation was for a program in Israel. The panel was charged with answering the question: “What ought to be the intersection between polit- ical thought/ideology and a faculty member’ s responsibility to students?” The letter sent to U-M called out the decision’ s importance to combat anti-Israel bias held by some faculty members and said, “We hope that universities across the county will follow your lead and adopt their own version of this very important statement.” Letter Applauds Michigan for Rebuking pro-BDS Faculty T R AV E L W I T H W H AT MATTERS TO you Jet Linx Aviation, LLC FAA Certificate #9JLA375M 248.509.0898 JetLinxDetroit.com Info@JetLinxDetroit.com Jet Linx means comfort for the entire family. Contact Jet Linx Detroit today for information on our Jet Card program or a personal aircraft ownership consultation. BUY • SELL • I NVEST Throughout South Florida, Including Boca, Boynton, Delray, Broward and Miami-Dade Counties Nina Spinner-Sands NinaSpinner-Sands@keyes.com (954) 290-8293 Rita Morse RitaMorse@keyes.com (305) 609-7559 Let Old Friends be your Michigan-Florida Connection Estate Property Sales from Listing to Clean-Out! Keyes Real Estate www.thejewishnews.com Feature your business with our new way to advertise, on our website. Three sizes to choose from with affordable pricing options. JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT