32 | DECEMBER 19 • 2019 

Chanukah Wonderland will 
open to the public from 
noon-5 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22, 
 
4 p.m. Monday, Dec. 23, and 
from noon-3 p.m. Tuesday, 
Dec. 24, at its new location 
inside the former Champps 
restaurant, 6410 Orchard 
Lake Road, West Bloomfield. 
The Wonderland will 
include a hands-on olive 
oil-making demonstration, 
doughnut and latke making 
and a Chanukah Tot 
Town, plus new activities 
including a holiday virtual 
reality experience, T-shirt 
designing, Chanukah slime, 

canvas art, Legoland and 
more. The walls will be lined 
with more than 150 pieces of 
Chanukah artwork submitted 
for the annual JN art contest.
A “giving Menorah” will 
accept donated cans of food 
for Yad Ezra. 
At 4:30 p.m. Dec. 23, a 
“gelt drop” will rain chocolate 
coins on participants from 
the top of a firetruck’
s 
extended ladder. Hillel 
Drama Club will perform a 
Chanukah musical and there 
will be a parade of menorah-
topped cars. The event will 
include the kindling of a 

12-foot menorah, and latkes, 
doughnuts and soup will be 
served.
Cost is $5 per child. The 
Monday menorah parade and 
gelt drop are free. For tickets 
and details, go to 
chanukahwonderlandmi.

com.
Chanukah Wonderland 
is presented by the Sara 
Tugman Bais Chabad Torah 
Center with the help of 
REM Management as well 
as numerous sponsors and 
donors. 

Rabbi G Meets
Pope Francis

Kids Kicking Cancer’
s founder
meets with the pope in Italy.

R

abbi Elimelech Goldberg, 
the founder of Kids 
Kicking Cancer fondly 
known as Rabbi G, was given 
the opportunity to meet Pope 
Francis at the Vatican during a 
recent conference in Italy.
Rabbi G attended the 
“Promoting Digital Child 
Dignity — From Concept to 
Action” conference organized 
by the Pontifical Academy of 
Sciences (PAS) Nov. 14-15. The 
conference brought together 
world leaders for an interfaith 
discussion on child safety, slav-
ery and trafficking.
Rabbi G’
s friend, Rabbi David 

Rosen, international director 
of Interreligious Affairs of the 
American Jewish Committee, 
encouraged Rabbi G to partici-
pate in the conference.
“David was actually a speaker 
at the conference,
” Rabbi G said. 
“Since this was about protect-
ing vulnerable children, Rabbi 
Rosen made a point that if chil-
dren develop adverse childhood 
experiences (ACEs), they are 
more likely to be preyed upon 
by predators.
“But teaching children how 
to be resilient and deal with 
their own trauma and stress 
empowers the child and makes 

them less vulnerable to their 
own trauma but also to other 
people. And that’
s what we are 
doing with Kids Kicking Cancer 
— empowering kids to become 
teachers and breathe in the light 
and breathe out the darkness.
”
When meeting with Pope 
Francis, Rabbi G taught him the 
Kids Kicking Cancer “power, 
peace and purpose” bow.
 “Pope Francis was very gen-
uine and was sincerely inspired 
by the children,
” Rabbi G said.
“I think that people who live 
in the world that emphasizes 
light appreciate that sometimes 
the greatest conveyors of that 

light can be children who may 
have been introduced to dark-
ness but have learned that they 
can break through it.
”
During the conference, Rabbi 
G spoke with other world lead-
ers like Sheikh Saif Bin Zayed of 
the United Arab Emirates and 
Queen Silvia of Sweden.
“This conference gave me 
the opportunity to speak with 
world leaders who share my 
passion of strengthening chil-
dren,
” Rabbi G said. “Teaching 
children to go beyond their own 
pain and trauma enables them 
to teach the world.
” 

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER 

Rabbi G and 
Pope Francis 

Jews in the D

COURTESY OF RABBI G

New Venue for
Chanukah Wonderland