22 | DECEMBER 17 • 2020 

of NEXTGen Detroit was 
also an in-person guest and 
speaker.
Lighting the menorah was 
Scott Sherman, representing 
the Fisher Foundation, and 
the president and CEO of 
United Way for Southeastern 
Michigan, Dr. Darienne 
Hudson.
“I’m afraid of heights, but 
it was a great moment and 
honor,” Sherman said after the 
lighting.

REIMAGINED JEWISH 
STREET ART FESTIVAL 
ARRIVES IN DETROIT
After the first-ever Jewish 
Street Art Festival took place 
in 2019 in Jerusalem, the 
2020 version of the festival 
has been reimagined as a 
decentralized art event in 
which Jewish artists create 
public art pieces in their 
respective cities. Each artist 

or artist team is painting a 
Chanukah menorah, linking 
the eight participating cities 
through the art. 
Detroit joined a list of 
participating cities that also 
included Washington, D.C., 
New York City, Charlotte, 
Atlanta, Los Angeles, Toronto 
and Chicago. 
Metro Detroit native and 
current Chicago-based artist 
Rachel Gluski created a 
menorah mural on the wall 
of the Isaac Agree Downtown 
Synagogue over the span of 
two days, wrapping up on 
Friday, Dec. 11. 
For Gluski, who attended 
Hillel Day School and 
recently finished her 
undergraduate studies at the 
School of the Art Institute 
of Chicago, her first attempt 
at a mural was particularly 
meaningful.
“I think my work in general 

is about creating more 
of an open dialogue to 
explore all sides of things 
in a way that’s safe and 
comfortable. I’m hoping 
people feel a little uplifted 
when they look at it,” 
Gluski said. “Growing 
up I don’t think I saw a 
lot of Jewish art, so the 
idea of a Jewish Street 
Art Festival and actually 
having it on the street 
is kind of exciting and 
cool.” 
Gluski received support 
and live reactions from 
people walking by while 
creating the mural, which she 
and her mother, artist Cheryl 
Widener, appreciated greatly. 
Los Angeles-based artist 
Hillel Smith and NEXTGen 
Detroit executive board 
member George Roberts were 
both instrumental in bringing 
the Chanukah mural to 

Detroit. With the closures and 
cancellations of Jewish and 
arts programming because of 
COVID-19, this project has 
allowed artists to engage their 
local communities. 
The Festival is supported 
by the Charles and Lynn 
Schusterman Family 
Foundation’s Grassroots 
Events program. 

I

n this new virtual world 
where every day can look the 
same, one local teacher has 
decided to mix things up for 
herself and her students. 
Margaret-Ann Wommer, a 
social studies teacher at Frankel 
Jewish Academy, has been 
dressing up in costumes during 
her classes ever since FJA shift-
ed back to virtual lessons Nov. 
18. 
The birth of the idea 
stemmed from Wommer grow-
ing concerned for herself and 

her students that virtual school 
was going to feel monotonous. 
 ”One day to the next you’re 
rolling out of bed and you’re 
going to your computer and 
you’re just looking at a screen 
all day, and I thought, ‘How can 
I make this fun or interesting,
’” 
Wommer said. 
When Wommer was a child, 
her mother was a district man-
ager for a retail chain as well as 
involved with Girl Scouts and 
PTA. Her mother would have 
themed incentives at work and 

dress up, bringing her energy to 
related events. 
“She knew how to moti-
vate people and make them 
enthusiastic about their tasks,
” 
Wommer said. “I was kind of 
like ‘let’s give this a shot’ because 
I’m a former theater person so 
I had a ton of costumes lying 
around.
” 
Wommer’s first costume 
was Rosie the Riveter. Other 
costumes include a student at 
Hogwarts from Harry Potter, 
Wonder Woman, Lilo from 
Lilo & Stitch, Princess Leia, 
Belle from Beauty and the Beast, 
Mary Poppins, Flo from the 
Progressive commercials, 
Katniss from The Hunger 
Games, Wednesday Addams 
and Minnie Mouse. Last week, 
Wommer dressed up as Dorothy 
from The Wizard of Oz and as 
Cruella de Vil. 
Wommer said there’s been 
growing excitement from her 
students, with them wanting to 
know what the theme of the day 

will be. 
Wommer has no plans to 
wear the costumes once in-per-
son learning resumes, though. 
“We’re now extended until 
next week from home and then 
we’ll be on winter break, so I’ve 
got seven more days ahead at 
the bare minimum,
” Wommer 
said. “We’ll see what happens in 
the new year.
” 
While also hoping to break 
up the monotony, Wommer 
hopes to also help break up the 
tension in these stressful times 
by partaking in the fun. 
“It’s a nice way to start class, 
we’re not just jumping right into 
content and [the students] seem 
to be in better spirits,
” Wommer 
said. “Engagement is so crucial, 
and sometimes it’s easier to 
engage if you feel like you’ve 
had a moment to bond. These 
are such weird circumstances, 
and I think we just have to give 
ourselves the license to have a 
little fun and maybe take a few 
minutes to ‘just be.
’” 

FJA teacher 
leads Zoom 
class in costume.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Virtual 
Fun

FJAFACEBOOK

IN 
THED
JEWS

Margaret-Ann 

Wommer as Dorothy

COURTESY OF RACHEL GLUSKI

CHANUKAH IN THE D continued from page 20

Mural by Rachel 
Gluski for the 
Jewish Street
Art Festival.

&

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