12 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020
DANNY SCHWARTZ
On Dec. 10, the first night of
Chanukah, the JN partnered with
Chabad in the D, The Shul and other
local Jewish organizations to livestream
the annual Menorah in the D lighting
from Downtown Detroit.
Because of the pandemic, people
were advised to watch from home this
year — and tens of thousands of you
did, from all over the world. Here is
a selection of reader responses from
Zoom and Facebook.
As a newcomer to Detroit, I am so
very excited to be celebrating with
you all. Chag sameach, and thank
you for having me.
This is INCREDIBLY well done.
I am just so blown away! And
happy Chanukah to all from the
Detroit Free Press!
— Duane Beddingfield
Arts and Culture Reporter
Detroit Free Press
Television stations in the Great
Lakes Bay announced this, and
I wanted to join in. It is so joy-
ous. It brings me to tears. Let the
lights shine! From a non-Jew in
Linwood, MI.
— Jennifer Warren
I’ve always wanted to go to the
Menorah lighting since moving
here 4 years ago. But just never
made it. Thank you so much for
still making it possible for us to
help celebrate. This has been beau-
tiful, and I’m glad to have joined in.
— Jennifer Bell
Great celebration without feeling
of distance but with feeling of
much lightness and happiness!
Thanks from city of Budweise in
Czech Republic.
— Lidia Nastashinska
May the lights of each chanukiah
bring light, positive energy, warmth,
understanding, healing and peace to
us, our community and our world.
— Lori Serbin Lasday
Shalom from Puerto Rico.
— Felix Velez
Happy Hanukkah from the UK!
— Stephanie Bellingan McCarroll
Happy Hanukkah from Manhattan.
— Nahid Noorani
Hag Hanuka Sameach! From Cluj-
Napoca, Romania.
— Alexandru Virgil Voicu
Happy Chanuca from São Paulo,
Brazil!
— Fani Beck Rascovschi
Chag Samayach from Port St.
Lucie to the entire world!
— Frances Sekela
Feliz Januca desda Ciudad de
Mexico!
— Erika Pim
Hanukkah Sameach from
Amsterdam!
— Chaya Brown
distribution for 1,250
families a month,
Heather Axe, our
Accounting Manager
who assisted Daniella
in the scheduling
and the intricacies of
Excel spreadsheets,
Jody Kaplan, our
Administrative Assistant
who answered the
constantly ringing phone
to reassure and update
clients and volunteers,
and Josh Gordon,
our Giving Gardens
Manager, who, along
with Stathis Pauls, our
Giving Gardens Club
Coordinator, were a great
help to David in the
warehouse, packing and
distributing groceries in
addition to growing and
harvesting thousands of
pounds of a variety of
produce for our client
families to enjoy.
As I write this on
this fourth day of
Chanukah, I reflect back
to those early weeks of
the pandemic and how
much has changed in
how we live our daily
lives. However, some
things haven’t changed:
Thanks to the continued
efforts of a dedicated
corps of volunteers,
board members, donors,
community partners
and a small but mighty
team, Yad Ezra has kept
its commitment to all
our client families. And,
there is a light at the
end of the proverbial
tunnel, a vaccine that
will hopefully end the
pandemic allowing
us once again to join
together to celebrate this
festival of light and hope.
A 2020 miracle, if you
will …
The Dec. 17 cover
story (“The Well Digs
Deeper”) should have
identified Gyro Creative
a strategic brand iden-
tity and design stu-
dio, not a PR agency.
Also, the article should
have stated that Rabbi
Jeff Stombaugh and
Stephanie Belsky had
been dating for several
months when he was
offered the rabbinical
fellow role at Mishkan
Chicago.
The feature on The
Marblespoon Cookbook
(Dec. 10, page 33)
should have stated that
author Vera Newman has
11,550 Instagram follow-
ers, and incorrectly indi-
cated her book’s release
party would be with a
small group of friends
in her garage. Also,
the article said one of
Newman’s grandmothers
was an artist as well as a
cook; in fact, one of her
grandmothers was the
artist and the other was
the cook.
Corrections
Online Reactions:
Menorah in the D
VIEWS
DARKNESS TO LIGHT continued from page 11