THE DETROIT
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JEWISH NEWS
200 Oct. 14-20, 2021 / 8-14 Cheshvan 5782
Making the Violin Sing
thejewishnews.com
Violinist Yevgeny Kutik joins conductor Leonard Slatkin at Orchestra Hall. Page 38
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contents Oct. 14-20, 2021 / 8-14 Cheshvan 5782 | VOLUME CLX, ISSUE 10
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14 26 PURELY COMMENTARY 4-13 Essays and viewpoints.
BUSINESS 28
OUR COMMUNITY 14
Women March for Reproductive Rights
Two temples join protest against Texas anti-abortion law.
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Training Leaders
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It’s a Wrap!
22 22 24
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Shalom Hartman Institute and JCRC/AJC to convene new leadership group after successful pilot. Final filming for Shoah Ambassadors Holocaust documentary takes place at Berman Center.
Danny Fenster Faces New Charge
Myanmar accuses detained journalist of violating ‘Unlawful Associations Act.”
Strides to Find a Cure
Local doctor and cancer survivor raising funds to battle rare disease.
Advocacy in the Middle East
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein uses Abraham Accords to aid people with disabilities.
A $1 Million Gift
Oakland University president’s donation will go for scholarships to cultivate the next generation of leaders.
ERETZ 26
Helping Olim – One Ishur at a Time
Building Partnerships
MIBA launches Innovation Centers of Excellence to harness Israeli ingenuity to help Michigan grow.
SPORTS 30
From Euchre to Purim to a Softball Championship
Shir Tikvah’s first Inter-Congregational league title was built on pitching, defense.
MAZEL TOV! 32
Torah portion Synagogue Directory Breaking Away from the Crowd
ARTS & LIFE 38
42 43 44
Making the Violin Sing
Violinist Yevgeny Kutik joins conductor Leonard Slatkin at Orchestra Hall.
A Brush with Reality
Flint Institute of Arts features Israeli photorealist Yigal Ozeri.
One-Act Play Festival
Jewish playwrights to shine at Village Players’ Birmingham theater.
Celebrity News
EVENTS 45
FOOD 46
From the Home Kitchen of Chef Aaron: Stewed Black Beans with Tomatoes and Mushrooms
ETC.
The Exchange 47 Obituaries 49 Looking Back 54
Moments
SPIRIT 32 34 36
42
Community Calendar
Shabbat Lights
Shabbat starts: Friday, Oct. 15: 6:32 p.m. Shabbat ends: Saturday, Oct. 16: 7:31 p.m. * Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar.
ON THE COVER: Cover photo: Yevgeny Kutik. Cover design: Kelly Kosek. Photo by Corey Hayes.
thejewishnews.com Follow Us on Social Media: Facebook @DetroitJewishNews Twitter @JewishNewsDet Instagram @detroitjewishnews
Yad L’Olim is helping people get to Israel during the pandemic. OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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PURELY COMMENTARY for openers
I’m Drowning in Sportsbook Ads!
I
t was going to take a lot to supplant my No. 1 pet peeve on radio and television, but its finally happened. For years, that title has been held by prescription drug companies and their insanely long list of potential side Alan effects warnings Muskovitz tagged at the Contributing Writer end of their commercials. Many disclaimers range between 35-45 seconds — equal to or longer than the time spent talking about the good virtues of a drug. “Take this pill,” we are told, to ease your suffering from constipation, irritable bowel, migraine headaches, elevated blood sugar and arthritis, just to name a few, but … be forewarned! Despite treating your latest medical malady, taking this pill might make you dizzy, nauseous, have vivid dreams, give you a dry mouth, muscle pain, a rash, hives, experience weight gain, make you put your right foot in, make you put your right foot out, shake it all about, do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around and, worst of all, you may get the uncontrollable urge to watch a Lions game. All of that followed by the announcer who has the gall to say: “Ask your doctor if it’s right for you.” By the time they’ve exhausted the list of symptoms, I actually start experiencing them. For that
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OCTOBER 14 • 2021
same reason, I never read the list of side effects on a prescription medicine I pick up at the drug store. That’s a real no-no when you’re a card-carrying hypochondriac like me. So, what’s currently showing up on radio and television that is so annoying to me that it makes me actually yearn for more prescription drug commercials? It’s the neverending advertising pitches for online sports betting, or as they are commonly called — sportsbooks. You … can’t … get … a …way … from … them! According to my internet search, there appears to be 14 legal online sportsbooks in Michigan to choose from. Do you recall the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer would literally go into a seizure every time he heard entertainment reporter Mary Hart’s voice on television? I’m approaching that level of adverse reaction every time I hear an online sportsbook promotion. The fact is: Sports betting promotions have taken over every media platform. I see them constantly popping up ad nauseam while scrolling through Facebook. So much so that I find myself yearning for more Facebook posts about other people’s vacations. In researching this betting phenomenon, I learned that sportsbooks are a lot more than just wagering on the final score of a sporting event. You can indulge in “in-game betting.” During a football game you can bet on the
outcome of the next play. Will it be a completed pass, an incomplete pass or a turnover? For hockey, you can place a bet during a game on which player will score the next goal. In basketball, you can place a bet on how many three-pointers will be scored in a quarter. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day you’ll be able wager on which baseball player spits out the most sunflower seeds in an inning. If it’s available, I’m hoping I can bet the “over” on the over/under on how many fans will leave at halftime of this weekend’s Lions home game against the Cincinnati Bengals. Care to make a wager on whether I come up with a third Lions joke in this column? I believe repetitive sports book messaging is creating a conditioned response in humans, much like Russian physiologist Pavlov did when he got dogs to salivate every
time they heard a bell. Hear a sportsbook commercial enough, we will eventually feel compelled to immediately grab our smart phones (salivate if you want) and place a bet upon hearing it. Actually, I do salivate when I hear my doorbell ring. That means my pizza has arrived. I have a suggestion, leave the wagering on sportsbooks to others and spend time reading sports books that have a better payoff — like reading any one of 10 books by local writer Irwin Cohen. Fabulous reads by Irwin include stories about Tiger Stadium and Jewish Detroit history which can be found at Borenstein’s Books in Oak Park and on Amazon. Until next time, I bet you adieu. Bid you adieu, sorry. Alan Muskovitz is a writer, voice-over/ acting talent, speaker and emcee. Visit his website at laughwithbigal.com, “Like” Al on Facebook and reach him at amuskovitz@thejewishnews.com.
OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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PURELY COMMENTARY essay
A Litany of Lowlights from the U.N. General Assembly Session
O
ver recent days, foreign leaders, rulers and tyrants flocked to New York City for the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, also known as UNGA. Did you listen to their Clifford D. speeches? May I thought not. JNS.org So, it occurred to me that I should provide you with the highlights. Only I couldn’t find any. So instead, I will treat you to some lowlights — lies, evasions, boilerplate and insults to your intelligence.
Start with Xi Jinping, president of the People’s Republic of China, who pledged “to fight COVID-19 in solidarity” and “always put people and their lives first and care about the life value and dignity of every individual.” Those nodding and/ or applauding must know that Xi has blocked serious investigations into the origin and spread of the virus because such inquiries would build on the abundant evidence that Beijing, through incompetence or worse, let loose the global pandemic that has killed millions of people and devastated
economies around the globe. Xi’s propagandists have attempted to convince the credulous that the altered virus came from somewhere else — like, hey, maybe America! Or Australia! Nevertheless, Xi wants you to know he “stands firmly opposed to political maneuvering in whatever form.” Let’s move on to Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister of Russia, which has sliced territory from neighboring Georgia and Ukraine while helping Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad slaughter hundreds of thousands of his subjects. He assured us that
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“threats and challenges can be countered effectively only through concerted efforts in strict compliance with the universally recognized norms of the international law, first and foremost, the goals and principles of the U.N. Charter.” It’s widely believed that the Kremlin has used chemical weapons to eliminate critics. Lavrov’s solution: “We are awaiting a response to the Russian initiative to elaborate a Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Chemical and Biological Terrorism.” He’s dismayed, also, that “a number of countries” are
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‘America First’ or ‘America is Back.’” Ambassador Kim Song, the spokesman for the dynastic dictatorship in North Korea, took issue with President Biden’s claim to have terminated America’s longest war. “The reality,” he said, is “that the Korean War has not ended for over 70 years.” He’s correct. America neither won nor ended that conflict. Instead, in 1953, we settled for a stalemate. Since then, we have maintained a presence in the South — currently about 28,000 troops — tasked with ensuring that the Beijingallied dictatorship does not overrun the peninsula. For decades, South Korea suffered from dreadful governance. Over time, however, it became
UN PHOTO/CIA PAK
attempting to “weaken” what he termed “the U.N.-centric world order.” America’s “hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan,” he added, should be regarded as “a further demonstration of the rules the West is going to build its world order on.” Picking up on that theme, the new president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ebrahim Raisi, whose involvement in the mass execution of dissidents in the 1980s earned him the nickname “Butcher of Tehran,” gleefully pointed out that “today, the U.S. does not get to exit Iraq and Afghanistan but is expelled.” He made clear that his regime has as little regard for President Biden as it did for President Trump: “Today, the world doesn’t care about
UN emblem and podium in the General Assembly Hall.
increasingly democratic, free and prosperous. Afghanistan might have followed a similar path—with the Taliban
prevented from reconquering the country — had American leaders not decided that maintaining a much smaller continued on page 8
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PURELY COMMENTARY continued from page 6
military presence in that country was an unbearable burden. This brings us to President Biden who, in his address to UNGA, insisted that unconditionally surrendering to the terrorist organization that hosted Al-Qaeda on Sept. 11, 2001, and which remains Al-Qaeda’s strategic partner, closed “a period of relentless war”— notwithstanding statements to the contrary made under oath to Congress by his top military advisers. He boasted that he had opened “a new era of relentless diplomacy”— whatever that might mean. He said he has “prioritized rebuilding our alliances,” ignoring the fact that the French government, feeling slighted by him, had just days before withdrawn its ambassador to the United States for the first time ever. He announced his intention to turn “our focus to the priorities and the regions of the world, like the Indo-Pacific.” When he came into office, the United States had one significant base in the Indo-Pacific: at Bagram in Afghanistan. He abandoned it. He patted himself on the back for “reengaging” with the World Health Organization and the U.N. Human Rights Council. Neither of those dysfunctional organizations has initiated any meaningful reforms.
While giving shout-outs to “proud Moldovans” and “the young people of Zambia,” he said not a word about Hong Kong, where longstanding freedoms have been erased by Beijing in violation of its treaty obligations. Nor did he mention Beijing’s escalating threats to the Taiwanese. So, what was achieved at the 76th Session of UNGA? I’d say nothing. To my surprise, two influential political commentators (who moonlight as comedians) appeared to agree. Jimmy Fallon said: “Next, the U.N. is gonna be, like, ‘We believe further conflict with the Taliban will be avoided thanks to our latest pinkie promise.’” And Trevor Noah noted: “BTS gave a speech and filmed a music video from inside U.N. headquarters. Completely real. Yeah. Old people were probably watching this, like, ‘What the hell is a BTS?’ And young people were watching it, like, ‘What the hell is the U.N.?’” Full disclosure: I’m one of those old people. But I’ve done my research, so I now know that BTS is a K-Pop sensation. If you don’t know what a “K-Pop sensation” is, you must be really old. Clifford D. May is the founder and president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and a columnist for the Washington Times.
Bring Danny Home! Journalist Danny Fenster in Detroit in 2018.
The Detroit Jewish News urges the community to continue raising awareness for Huntington Woods native Danny Fenster — a journalist who has been unjustly held without cause and without specified charges for
144 days by a military regime in a gruesome prison in Myanmar (Burma).
The family is looking for people to create portraits of Danny that can be shared on social media at https://bringdannyhome.com/pages/gallery.
You can also support Danny at:
BringDannyHome.com fenster-verse.tumblr.com facebook.com/groups/1164768597279223.
(See a related story on page 22.) 8
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Birthright Israel is a gift of a lifetime that opens young adults to the Jewish world around them, creating a lasting impact on identity, family, community, culture, and continuity. We are so excited to introduce ourselves to the Detroit community and are eager to connect with you.
DID YOU KNOW THE IMPACT OF BIRTHRIGHT ISRAEL LASTS MORE THAN 10 DAYS? Participants are 93% more likely to be “very much” connected to Israel. 85% of alumni feel that their Birthright Israel trip was life-changing. With more than 750,000 participants and 6,000 from Detroit alone, we are truly transforming a generation. To learn how to support Birthright Israel Foundation or to make a gift, please be in touch. We look forward to hearing from you! Warmly, Allyson Greenbaum VP, Central Region
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OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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PURELY COMMENTARY essay
My Travel to a ‘Forbidden’ Country
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Dan Brotman at Hezbollah’s “museum” in Lebanon
PHOTOS BY DAN BROTMAN
’m struggling to put into words how upset I am that as our Jewish professional in Windsor you visited an anti-Israel, antisemitic country,” a seasoned community member wrote to me after hearing that I had recently visited Dan Brotman Lebanon. Let’s backtrack: As a Jew who previously lived in Israel, I always told myself that I would never put myself in danger by visiting one of Israel’s sworn enemies — that is, until I visited the Islamic Republic of Iran in 2018. Having made it through Iran in one piece, and in need of another adrenaline rush after a year and a half of COVID-19 monotony, I signed up for a tour to Lebanon organized by a company that specializes in travel to unusual destinations. It is illegal for Israeli and Lebanese citizens to visit each other’s countries, and arrivals bearing any sign of having visited Israel are sometimes refused entry to Lebanon. I held my breath as I went through passport control in Beirut, terrified that the border control officer would flag and take me away for questioning. As my fellow travelers became acquainted with one another, it turned out that most of us had, in fact, previously visited Israel, which in public we called in hushed tones “the I word.” I was astonished to discover that one of my fellow travelers, an unassuming 60-something-
year-old retired teacher, who I will call “Sally,” was the former president of her synagogue in upstate New York. Intrepid Sally mentioned to me without a hint of irony that she plans on signing up for the company’s Syria tour next year, and I saw on Facebook that she has subsequently visited Iraqi Kurdistan. Except for Sally, I was very careful not to reveal my true identity and profession. HEZBOLLAH TERRITORY Experiencing Hezbollahcontrolled territory in South Lebanon, near the border with Israel, took me back to my travels in Iran. The towns we drove through were alcohol-free; yellow Hezbollah and black Shia flags flapped in the wind; and posters of Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini adorned
the town squares. Hezbollah is classified as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. and is believed to have carried out the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community building in Buenos Aires, which I have visited. Our tour of the movement’s museum began with a 15-minute propaganda film narrated by its leader, Hassan Nasrallah. We were then guided by an English-speaking Hezbollah member to various artistic installations displaying seized Israeli tanks entangled in metal spiderwebs, an artistic homage to Nasrallah’s famous saying, “This Israel, and I promise, is more fragile than a spider’s web.” The artist even constructed the symbolic tombstone of an Israeli soldier, titled “The Invader’s Grave,” not far from
several rocket launchers that targeted northern Israel. While Sally complimented my Oscar-worthy poker face, she simply couldn’t help herself, and at the end of our three-hour tour dedicated to destroying Israel, asked our now bewildered guide: “Do you support a two-state solution?” On our way back to Beirut, we stopped to view Ein El Hilweh, Lebanon’s largest Palestinian refugee camp. Like the other Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, it is guarded at the entrance by the Lebanese army, who dare not enter. Despite living in the country for more than 70 years, the country’s Palestinian refugees have still not been granted Lebanese citizenship. Our Christian guide explained that Palestinians are denied Lebanese citizenship as per the wish of the late PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat, who believed that perpetual statelessness would preserve the Palestinian struggle. In addition, the government wished to preserve the demographics of Lebanon’s Christian minority, who comprise 30% of the population. The same guide told our tour group at the ancient city of Byblos that he had previously worked with Israelis in Turkey, but that he could get into serious trouble with the authorities if he stayed in touch with them. He expressed a lifelong dream to visit Jerusalem and said that most Christians and Sunni Lebanese want Lebanon and Israel to make peace, but that the Shiite population is the main obstacle.
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ARMENIAN POPULATION Around 4% of Lebanon’s population is ethnic Armenian, the descendants of refugees who fled the 1915 genocide. Through a chance encounter, I befriended a 31-year-old Lebanese graphic designer of Armenian origin. One evening he took me to Bourj Hammoud, Beirut’s Armenian neighborhood. Armenian flags and anti-Azerbaijan slogans brandished the buildings. Arabic was nowhere to be seen or heard, exuding the Caucasus much more than the Middle East. Unlike non-haredi diaspora Jews, who for the most part did not pass on Yiddish to subsequent generations, the Armenians in Lebanon have kept their language alive for more than 100 years. Armenians in Lebanon go to school in Armenian, speak Armenian with each other and regularly visit their ancestral homeland. Like diaspora Jews, the Armenians in Lebanon are
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a distinct, highly successful minority population, living both apart from and forming an inseparable part of their adoptive homeland. On the last night of the trip, I confided to my new Lebanese friend that I am Jewish. To my astonishment, he said that his main issue with Israel is that it refuses to recognize the Armenian Genocide. Not the answer I expected. I now respond to those critical of my travels as follows: “I travel to forbidden countries because I wish to experience firsthand the humanity of ordinary people from societies I am taught to fear. “These ordinary citizens are the biggest victims of their own governments, which in many cases they did not have a fair say in electing. I am all the richer for having met them.” Dan Brotman is the executive director of the Windsor Jewish Federation & Community Centre in Windsor, Ontario. He writes in his personal capacity.
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OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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PURELY COMMENTARY in the news
I
n 1990, as a 29-year-old graduate student at the University of Michigan, I helped organize an interfaith delegation to Israel and Palestine. When I returned from the trip — my first to the region — I wrote an op-ed for the Detroit Jewish News urging my fellow American Jews to speak out in support of a two-state solution and an end to the occupation. I asked, “Why Rep. Andy Levin don’t we join thousands of courageous Israelis in opposing their government’s policy when it runs counter to Israel’s own interests and denigrates the Jewish people’s centuries of struggle against injustice?” It was, at the time, a radical position in our community, and one that didn’t earn me a lot of friends among some powerful American Jewish organizations. Today, though, supporting a twostate solution isn’t just noncontroversial — it sometimes seems banal and even meaningless. In recent years, saying one supports a two-state solution has become like offering “thoughts and prayers” in the wake of a mass shooting. People say they support two states, but the words are not connected to any deeds; and actions that endanger the possibility of a viable Palestinian state are often met with silence. We don’t have time to not act anymore, nor can we avert our gaze. America must reassert its long-dormant role in bringing these two parties together and helping create the conditions for real peace and security. Earlier this year, we witnessed
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a conflict in Israel and Gaza that cost hundreds of lives and caused devastating damage to homes and livelihoods, worsening Gaza’s humanitarian crisis. We saw riots erupt in Israeli towns once applauded as models of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Palestinians. All of this occurred against the backdrop of a deepening occupation in the Palestinian territories that, if continued unabated, will foreclose the possibility of a viable Palestinian state altogether. As we enter a new year in the Jewish calendar, I believe we must also enter a new chapter. It is serendipitous that we find ourselves at the outset of a shmita year. According to [Hazon’s] Shmita Project, “During this seventh year, God commands us to let the land rest, release debts, resolve disputes, and to open our hands and hearts to those in need.” As a Jew and a member of Congress, I feel compelled to do what I can to resolve a dispute that has cost thousands of lives and torn at the Jewish community for decades and work more urgently to ensure Israel’s future as a democratic state and homeland for the Jewish people is secure and Palestinians’ aspirations for a state of their own can be fulfilled. PROGRESS TOWARD PEACE That is why I have introduced the Two-State Solution Act, a bill to accelerate progress toward a two-state solution and discourage steps that push one out of reach. It clarifies the distinction between Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and reverses policies put in place by the Trump administration that
RON KAMPEAS/JTA
Two-State Solution Is Best Path to Peace
Rep. Andy Levin introduces his “Two-State Solution Act” on Capitol Hill on Sept. 23, 2021. He is flanked by, from left: Hadar Susskind, the president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now; Rep. Alan Lowenthal; Rep. Sara Jacobs; Rep. Peter Welch; and J Street President Jeremy Ben-Ami.
removed such distinctions. It also funds programming to promote human rights, democracy and rule of law, and to strengthen Palestinian civil society organizations. On top of that, the bill underscores the importance of diplomacy, encouraging the reopening of the PLO foreign mission in Washington and enhancing people-to-people programming for Israelis and Palestinians. The bill also reaffirms the importance of U.S. security assistance to Israel, while making clear that there should be robust oversight over that assistance, as there should be over aid to any country, and that the laws authorizing that assistance do not permit its use for activities that perpetuate the occupation or enable the annexation — be it de jure or de facto — of the West Bank. This provision may elicit condemnations like the ones I heard 30 years ago when I spoke out on behalf of two states. Critics will say the bill singles out Israel by imposing restrictions, even though Congress specifies what taxpayer dollars may or may not be used for all the time. I’ve authored such provisions myself, like one stating that no U.S. funding may be used for assistance to the Armed Forces of Haiti.
They’ll accuse us of taking a radical position, even though most American Jewish voters support restricting assistance to Israel to prevent the growth or persistence of the occupation, as do other Americans. They’ll say the bill would make Israel less safe, even though it does not lessen the support the United States gives to Israel for its security by even one dollar, and even though there is no reason to believe prolonging the status quo — and continuing to curtail the rights of the Palestinian people — will bring about peace and security for Israelis. Peace with Egypt and returning the Sinai improved Israel’s security. Peace with Jordan improved Israel’s security. The situation has gone on for 54 years, and it has led to recurring bloodshed, increased isolation, and has not delivered Israelis’ safety or peace. The status quo is failing Israelis and Palestinians alike. If we are to embrace the concept of shmita and use this moment to resolve disputes, then we cannot eschew our responsibility to act to bring about peaceful coexistence between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. Rep. Andy Levin represents the 9th District of Michigan and a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
Centrist Dems Say Two-State Bill Is ‘One-Sided’ and ‘Blames Israel’ JACOB MAGID TIMES OF ISRAEL
Editor’s Note: The news story below counters some of the points made by Rep. Levin regarding his Two-State Solution Act.
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he Two-State Solution Act introduced by Rep. Andy Levin with over a dozen co-sponsors aims “to preserve conditions for, and improve the likelihood of, a two-state solution that secures Israel’s future as a democratic state and a national home for the Jewish people, a viable, democratic Palestinian state.” However, it faces an uphill battle to become law. The bill is strongly opposed by more moderate Democrats, who say it demands nothing of the Palestinians. If passed, the bill orders the U.S. government to take a series of steps aimed at limiting Israeli entrenchment in the West Bank. The bill bars U.S. defense aid from use in acts by Israel to expand its control beyond the Green Line, through moves such as settlement building, demolitions of Palestinian homes, or evictions of Palestinian residents. It also mandates strict oversight of how Israel spends defense assistance more broadly. The legislation says the West Bank, including eastern Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip are all occupied territories and should be referred to as such in all official U.S. policies, documents and communications. Israel captured those areas in the 1967 Six-Day War
and later annexed eastern Jerusalem. Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, handing over control to the Palestinian Authority, which was ousted in 2007 from the coastal enclave in a bloody coup by the Hamas terror group that still rules the Strip. Israel regards all of Jerusalem as its capital. Former President Donald Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and shifted the U.S. embassy there from Tel Aviv. ‘COUNTERPRODUCTIVE’ The centrist Democratic Majority for Israel group quickly announced its opposition to the new bill, which it called “counterproductive, one-sided, and bad policy.” It added: “The bill wrongly blames Israel alone for the failure to achieve a two-state solution. The reality is that Israel has offered Palestinians — and Palestinian leaders have refused — a state of their own on several occasions.” Group CEO Mark Mellman said, “This one-sided TwoState Solution Act seems less about Mark actually achieving Mellman a two-state solution and more about rewriting history — both ancient and modern — and stirring up anti-Israel hostility.” The bill also seeks to reverse a 2020 Trump administration directive requiring goods made in Israeli settlements to be marked as “Made in Israel.”
Under the bill, imports to the U.S. produced outside of Israel proper should be marked as made in the West Bank or Gaza. In addition, the legislation seeks to advance the Lowey Fund passed by Congress last year, setting aside $250 million in funding for IsraeliPalestinian dialogue programs and Palestinian business development. The Two-State Solution Act urges the State Department to authorize grants to support human rights, democracy and the rule of law in Gaza and the West Bank as provided by the Lowey Fund. The legislation urges President Joe Biden to follow through on campaign pledges to reopen the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem, which served as the de facto mission to the Palestinians, along with the PLO Diplomatic Mission in Washington. Both were shuttered by the Trump administration. The bill also calls for the scrapping of the 1987 AntiTerrorism Act, which deems the PLO and its affiliates a terror organization. To get around the hurdle, the legislation says the U.S. should encourage the P.A. to reform its so-called “pay-toslay” practice of providing regular stipends to security prisoners and families of dead terrorists through its welfare program. Levin unveiled the legislation at a Sept. 23 press conference on the steps of Capitol
Hill where he was joined by several of his bill’s cosponsors — Reps. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, Sara Jacobs and Alan Lowenthal of California, and Peter Welch of Vermont. IRON DOME SUPPORT All five of them said they supported a separate bill approved by the House later in the day to expand funding for Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system. The moderate Democrats who introduced the Iron Dome legislation are unlikely to return the favor though, and the Two-State Solution Act will most likely have a difficult time passing in Congress, due to its heavy criticism of Israeli actions in the West Bank. During the press conference, Levin downplayed “excuses” commonly used by opponents to dismiss working toward a two-state solution, citing Hamas rule in Gaza, the P.A.’s lack of legitimacy or Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s opposition to a Palestinian state. He dismissively referred to Bennett as a “gentleman that represents six seats in the Knesset.” Levin rolled out his bill at the press conference with J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East policy group that in recent years has endorsed some restrictions on U.S. assistance to Israel. Also joining him and speaking was Americans for Peace Now CEO Hadar Susskind, whose group espouses similar views. OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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Women March
for Reproductive Rights Two temples join protest against Texas anti-abortion law. STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Hundreds of marchers walked from Temple Shir Shalom to demonstrate their support for reproductive rights.
Reform Jewish Movement’s Joint Statement
We denounce, in the strongest terms, the law that went into effect in Texas, effectively making abortion care illegal in that state. In the most insidious state abortion restriction adopted to date, this Texas law makes abortion illegal as early as six weeks, before many are even aware that they are pregnant. The law is manipulatively designed to thwart courts’ ability to protect reproductive freedom, prohibiting state officials from enforcing the law but empowering any Texan to sue any person — an abortion provider, a counselor, a member of the clergy, a clinic worker, even a driver who delivers a person to a clinic, to name a few examples — who assists in accessing abortion care. For this reacontinued on page 15
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here is a good chance Roe v Wade may be overturned as early as December. That was the startling message abortion rights activists, religious leaders and Michigan state government officials relayed to 400 marchers at a West Bloomfield Women’s March on Oct. 2 at Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield and a short march up and down Orchard Lake Road. The march was one of 20 or so in Michigan and 620 around the country organized in response to the highly restrictive Texas law that bans abortion after six weeks — before most women know they are pregnant — and ahead of the Dec. 1 U.S. Supreme Court session that will examine a Mississippi ruling that will attempt to ban abortion at 15 weeks before the conservative 6-3 court. Speakers encouraged attendees to stay active and vigilant and keep pressure on elected officials at the state
and federal levels to codify the historic 1973 ruling that legalized abortion. Mags Rose, an organizer with Planned Parenthood Generation Action’s Oakland University chapter, said though she is just 18 years old, she is terrified that she may come into adulthood at a time when reproductive rights may be taken away from her and millions of others. “What happened in Texas is unconstitutional,” she said. “In Texas, women will now be forced to carry a baby that they may not be ready for or want, and the state is making that decision for them. Michigan is far off from Texas but not far enough. “If the Supreme Court overturns Roe, would Michigan be right there with Texas as one of the states that bans safe, legal abortion after six weeks?” Rose said that abortions will still take place even after they are made illegal. “Why not make it safe?”
she asked the crowd. “Why not prevent deaths that come with non-medical abortion techniques, why not stand with Planned Parenthood and the Woman’s March in their values and the idea that everyone should have the right to decide what happens to their body?” TEMPLES RALLY Shir Shalom member Melissa Kahn, 52, of Bloomfield Hills, her twin 14-year-old daughters Holland and Eva, and son Max, 16, organized the march, which was hosted by Temple Shir Shalom. Kahn solicited the participation of Temple Israel, the Birmingham Unitarian Church and Planned Parenthood. Kahn remembers the power of marching for women’s reproductive rights in Washington, D.C., in 1990. “When I first heard about these marches happening across the country, I wanted to gather like-minded people right here in West Bloomfield,”
COURTESY OF MELISSA KAHN
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COURTESY OF MELISSA KAHN
Kahn said. “Because this legislation passed in Texas, there are going to be so many other states, including Michigan, that will pass copycat laws to take away a woman’s right to get an abortion before most people know they are pregnant, with no exceptions to victims of rape or incest. “My daughters and son were a major motivation for me to organize this march. It shows them there is something they can do to make a change.”
COURTESY OF MELISSA KAHN
COURTESY OF MELISSA KAHN
ABOVE: Marchers met before the walk to make signs they carried. BELOW: Margo Lazar of West Bloomfield with her daughters Brooke and Shaina. BELOW LEFT: Volunteers from Moms Demand Action.
DECADES-LONG FIGHT Listening to the speakers, past NCJW President Suzanne Simon, 79, of Birmingham, remembers marching for women’s reproductive rights up and down Greenfield and Northland when she was in her 20s and thinks it is “terrible” that she and other NCJW members must march once again to fight for these rights, nearly 60 years later. “NCJW has for decades lobbied for women’s rights and programming for women and children,” Simon said. “This is about healthcare. We were instrumental as an organization in helping to pass a law to make sure that safe
abortions could be available to women. And now, it seems we are going back to square one.” State Sen. Mallory McMorrow (D-13th District) said that in 2019, she attended a Planned Parenthood event in Lansing, where Attorney General Dana Nessel stood up and said “with confidence” that Roe v Wade would soon be overturned. Though McMorrow said her comments were met by criticisms of fear mongering, the Texas law gave weight to Nessel’s prediction. “Back then, people thought there would be no way for
son, many Texas clinics are now unable to provide abortion care at all, as they are understandably unwilling to place their workers at intolerable risk from potentially ruinous lawsuits enabled by this Texas law. We are concerned about individuals who cannot afford to travel long distances to secure abortion care in neighboring states. We are also deeply concerned about Jews who will be unable to pursue an abortion in keeping with Jewish law, which mandates abortion when necessary to preserve the pregnant person’s well-being. With respect to Judaism’s own limited approval of abortion: “as we would not impose the historic position of Jewish teaching upon individuals nor legislate it as normative for society at large, so we would not wish the position of any other group imposed upon the Jewish community or the general population.” We also ground ourselves in kavod habriyot — the sacred obligation to provide medical care. We will continue to work to overturn this law, prevent similar laws from being adopted in other states, and affirm the right of every person to make their own reproductive health decisions. Central Conference of American Rabbis Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, president Rabbi Hara E. Person, chief executive Union for Reform Judaism Jennifer Brodkey Kaufman, chair Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president
continued on page 16 OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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OUR COMMUNITY
STACY GITTLEMAN
“IT IS VERY IMPORTANT FOR THE JEWISH COMMUNITY TO HAVE HAD A PRESENCE HERE TODAY TO SUPPORT WOMEN’S RIGHTS, CHOICE AND EQUALITY. JUSTICE IS A CRUCIAL PART OF JUDAISM. AND THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THE NEW TEXAS RULING THAT IS SUPPORTED BY JUDAISM.” — RABBI MARLA HORNSTEN
LEFT: State Sen. Mallory McMorrow addresses the crowd. RIGHT: Marching along Orchard Lake Road. continued from page 15
Roe v Wade to fall, but here we are,” McMorrow said. “We cannot expect that marches and rallies are going to stop what is coming. “What we have seen in Texas proves that the Supreme Court [and state-level courts] and state legislatures are not going to protect us.” McMorrow said she was “horrified” at the Supreme Court’s stance toward the Texas law that enables bounty hunters to turn in to the state anyone who affiliates with helping a woman get an abortion for a possible $10,000 reward. “That ruling turns women
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and girls into pariahs. Who is going to take the risk of being the Uber driver who drives somebody to an appointment if they may be sued for $10,000 to be paid to anybody who just wants to make a quick buck by demonizing women and girls? And the Supreme Court stood by and allowed it.” The state senator warned once Roe is overturned, Michigan may reenact Act 328 of 1931, a state law that illegalizes not only abortion but teaching about abortion, handing out information about abortion and could be interpreted to ban information and access to contraception. She
reminded the attendees, many of them too young to remember, that there was a time when bleach and cleaner products were marketed to women as a way to make a concoction to end a pregnancy. “Those are the days we could slip back to. Outlawing abortion does not eliminate abortion, it just puts women and girls back into a desperate situation, to a place where they will not have a choice of when and if they want to get pregnant.” Though the march was on Shabbat, Rabbi Marla Hornsten of Temple Israel said being present for such an
important issue was in the spirit of Shabbat, a day that Jews set aside to envision and pray for a world to Rabbi come that is more Marla Hornsten just and caring. “It is very important for the Jewish community to have had a presence here today to support women’s rights, choice and equality,” said Hornsten as she walked along the march route. “Justice is a crucial part of Judaism. And there is absolutely nothing in the new Texas ruling that is supported by Judaism.”
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Members of the cohort pictured with mentors, Rebecca Starr, Rabbi Asher Lopatin and JCRC/ AJC Associate Director Lauren Garfield-Herrin
Training Leaders
Shalom Hartman Institute and JCRC/AJC to convene new leadership group after successful pilot. LAUREN GARFIELD-HERRIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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n 2019, the Shalom Hartman Institute (SHI) opened an office in Detroit thanks to support from the William Davidson Foundation. At that time, Detroit was among the many Jewish communities throughout North America working to engage and strengthen Jewish communal life, a sense of peoplehood, and to understand the changing nature of the relationship between Israel and American Jews. Founded in Israel, SHI is a center of transformative thinking and teaching that addresses the major challenges facing the Jewish people today and elevates Jewish life in Israel and around the world. SHI North America hired Rebecca Starr to oversee the Midwest office and her role in the organization shifted as she also serves as the director of regional programs. When Hartman started to
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bring ideas and scholars to the Detroit community, they organized four cohort groups. These included educators and rabbis, communal professionals and the local Jewish Funders Network. The fourth cohort was established as a pilot program in partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council/American Jewish Committee (JCRC/AJC). The Detroit Community Leadership Program (DCLP) invited applicants to apply to be part of a diverse cohort of Metro Detroit’s most influential Jewish lay leaders. The aim of this group, which was led by scholars from the Shalom Hartman Institute, was to set a conceptual framework for understanding the relationship between Israel and North American Jewry, to mediate the tone and tenor of complex communal discourse, and to bring what they learned back
to the organizations and institutions in which they hold leadership positions. “The JCRC/ AJC has been thrilled to partner with the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America Rabbi Asher for the last two Lopatin years,” said Rabbi Asher Lopatin, JCRC/AJC executive director. “It is vital that we support community leaders as they study how Jewish sources and traditions lead to the values and advocacy that the Jewish community and our organization support for the wider world.” A SUCCESSFUL COHORT In the DCLP’s first few months, participants had the opportunity to meet and learn in person alongside visiting scholars such as SHI leaders Elana Stein Hain and Lauren Berkun. However, once the
JCRC/AJC
OUR COMMUNITY
pandemic began, the format and goals of the program changed as sessions were held solely on Zoom, and the trip the group planned to take to Israel in June of 2020 with other leaders from across North America was canceled. To pivot amid this challenge, the Jewish communal conversation grew under these changing circumstances with participants expanding their conversations to include questions that arose as a result of the pandemic and challenging political situations in both Israel and the U.S. The work shifted from a focus on Israel exclusively to one that helped leaders think about the role of leaders in times of crisis. “Being part of the Detroit Community Leadership Program exceeded all of my expectations,” said Audrey Bloomberg, a member of this
Detroit Community Leadership Program’s second cohort: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Jonathan Aaron Brad Axelrod Alicia Chandler Michael Curhan Suzan Curhan Andrew Doctoroff Ken Gold Ryan Hertz Jeffrey Klein Susan Klein Jodie Krasnick Ellen Lipton Marc Lipton Beth Margolin Steve Margolin Andi Nitzkin Sarah Roberts Larry Winer Michelle Younger
JCRC/AJC
first cohort. “I feel so fortunate to have participated over the last two years in thoughtful conversations with not only scholars, but fellow Detroiters who have all been working in our community. Especially during the pandemic, coming together with my cohort gave me an opportunity to connect with my community in a deeply meaningful way and gave me respite to think about our community through a different lens.” She added, “As someone who volunteers and works in our Jewish community, engaging in Hartman work gave me the space and place to think in a different way. Because of my involvement in DCLP, I began engaging in the other resources Hartman provides such as podcasts. “I cannot recommend enough for individuals to check out the podcasts, virtual summits and articles that Hartman produces. You do not need to be part of the cohort to experience Hartman Torah.”
Rebecca Starr noted, “The Institute is thrilled to welcome this incredible group of leaders to the newest local cohort. Our work together will bring an opportunity to explore our complex relationship with Israel as Jews in North America. “This moment in Jewish history is one that requires study, debate and conversation around the future of Jewish peoplehood,” Starr added. “I look forward to learning with this DCLP group, along with Hartman’s other local cohorts of professional leaders throughout the year, and to watching them bring their wisdom to the larger Jewish community of Metro Detroit.” This year, the cohort’s topic of study includes time spent
JCRC/AJC
NEW GROUP COMING A new group of nearly two dozen lay leaders will soon begin their learning as the second DCLP cohort, with several members of the first cohort serving as mentors.
Rebecca Starr talks to cohort members during the first cohort get-together in August.
Audrey Bloomberg and Rebecca Starr
bringing Jewish values into conversations about Israel. When participants begin their learning, they will explore the ways in which their relationship to Israel unites and divides and how deep polarization affects their work as communal leaders. Each participant will have an opportunity to engage with new ideas and to make them work at the institutions they represent. Participants will meet in person at various community locations, and on Zoom for some sessions, as well as have opportunities for reflection. In June, if travel allows, they will spend an intensive weeklong seminar on Hartman’s Jerusalem campus. Alicia Chandler, JCRC/ AJC’s immediate past president, was involved in envisioning the DCLP in 2019 and will now be a member of the newest Alicia Chandler cohort. “I am so thrilled to be able to take part in this experience through Shalom Hartman. Hartman is the thought-leader for the Jewish community on issues of plu-
ralism and Israel-Diaspora relations and it is so exciting that this learning has been brought to Detroit.” Added cohort participant Jon Aaron, “I am excited and honored to be able to learn with, and Jon Aaron from, some of the greatest minds in the Jewish world. The Shalom Hartman Institute has become the preeminent destination for Jewish thought and idea dissemination. “The Detroit Hartman cohort has gathered some of Detroit’s wisest individuals and Jewish leaders and provided me with the opportunity to learn and grow my Jewish identity alongside these remarkable individuals,” Aaron added. “I look forward to increasing my Jewish awareness and being able to share my newfound wisdom with my wife and children.” For more information about the Shalom Hartman Institute and the DCLP, visit www.hartman.org.il/program/detroit/ or email Rebecca Starr at rebecca.starr@ shalomhartman.org. For more information about JCRC/AJC visit www.jcrcajc. org or email Associate Director Lauren Garfield-Herrin at herrin@jfmd.org. OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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It’s a Wrap! Final filming for Shoah Ambassadors Holocaust documentary takes place at Berman Center.
Shoah Ambassadors Curtis Bates and Hailey Callahan, the Detroit Children’s Choir and Michigan-based Holocaust survivors gather for final filming.
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
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hree generations gathered at the Berman Center for the Performing Arts on Oct. 3 for the filming of the final scene of Keith Famie’s Shoah Ambassadors Holocaust documentary. The closing scene in the Berman Center will see Shoah Ambassador Curtis Bates singing his song “Never Again” with nine Michigan-based Holocaust survivors, the Detroit Children’s Choir and ambassador Hailey Callahan on stage with him for a climactic final scene and message of solidarity together. The song “Never Again” came to fruition during production after Bates and Michigan-based Holocaust survivor and painter, Rene Lichtman, had a one-onone interview at Lichtman’s home. Since Lichtman has an artistic expression of his own, he decided to create a painting called Never Again. The Michigan-based Holocaust survivors who participated in the filming were Edith Maniker, Elizabeth Silver, Fred Lessing, Katherine Sattler, Gita Griesdorf, Irene Miller, Rene Lichtman, Sabina Heller
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and Sheri Kohen. Throughout the day of filming, melding of the three generations took place, including Bates and Callahan telling the choir students about their journey and encouraging them to learn more about the Holocaust.And the Holocaust survivors and choir students connected as well. Bates, along with Callahan, has been filming for the project for just about two years now. Bates believes his song and the movie as a whole fulfills its task. “It bridged the gap of the generations where we had young children, young adults and the survivors, and I feel like that’s a link that’s missing within communities,” Bates said. “It’s been exciting getting to meet the survivors and make something they really connect to and feel strongly about. It’s really given me a new insight and perspective on life and how people really can make it through things you wouldn’t even be able to imagine.” Gita Griesdorf, one of the survivors who participated in the filming, loved Bates’ song and requested to have it sent to her.
“I think it’s the best experience I could ever expect,” she said. “It was organized beautifully and had a very warm atmosphere. I’m happy I was a participant today.” Detroit Children’s Choir Executive Director Sandee Singer said it was an overwhelming emotion seeing all the generations come together. “It was so great to bring these young people face-to-face with real Holocaust survivors that maybe they thought were
Camera focuses on Holocaust survivor Fred Lessing, subject of award-winning short film Bear and Fred.
han,
vor ing
just a story in a book,” Singer said. “It’s amazing to be able to meet someone who has shown so much positivity throughout their life even though they suffered such tragedy and such tremendous loss, but they’re happy and thriving and still telling their stories to these young people so we can make sure this never happens again.” Famie, after about two years of filming, believes the song and scene at the Berman Center wraps the film up perfectly. “The song takes the audience on a journey through the lives of young people, the lives of civil rights, the lives of the Holocaust and the lives of oppression. It takes them all through that, and then the Holocaust survivors and the Shoah Ambassadors film becomes a catalyst to human rights globally, not just the Holocaust,” Famie said. “The most exciting part today was the Holocaust survivors enjoyed it,” Famie continued. “They were tapping their feet and clapping their hands and they’re saying they love the song. It touches me to see
Shoah Ambassador Curtis Bates sings as final filming takes place outside the Berman Center.
them get excited about being part of something. If nothing else, we made their lives more enriched today from this moment. The idea was to bridge those big generation gaps, and we did it.” Shoah Ambassadors will premiere at a community showing Nov. 11 at the
Emagine Novi Theatre and make its debut on DPTV/PBS on Nov. 18. PBS is also looking at a second airing in December. Famie and the Shoah Ambassadors team are still raising the necessary funds to ensure the film production will be seen internationally. To learn more about the film and/or to support, visit shoahambassadors.com.
“IT’S REALLY GIVEN ME A NEW INSIGHT AND PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE AND HOW PEOPLE REALLY CAN MAKE IT THROUGH THINGS YOU WOULDN’T EVEN BE ABLE TO IMAGINE.” — SHOAH AMBASSADOR CURTIS BATES
The generations come together as Holocaust survivors, the Detroit Children’s Choir and the Shoah Ambassadors participate in the filming. OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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OUR COMMUNITY BRYAN FENSTER
Danny Fenster Faces New Charge Myanmar accuses detained journalist of violating “Unlawful Associations Act.” STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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uring his fourth month in pretrial detainment in a Myanmar prison, Frontier Myanmar managing editor and Huntington Woods native Danny Fenster, 37, had his ninth hearing, where he faced an additional charge by the military junta government under the Unlawful Associations Act, though it closely related to the previous incitement charges, according to reports by the Associated Press. It was the journalist’s first in-person hearing in over two
months in a country that has witnessed a crackdown and imprisonment of hundreds of journalists since the government there was overthrown by a military coup on Feb. 1, 2021. According to his lawyer, authorities refused to disclose the reason behind his arrest. Danny’s brother Bryan Fenster on the Bring Danny Home Facebook page told supporters on Oct. 4 that he and his parents, Buddy and Rose Fenster, were able to speak to Danny on the phone on Thursday, Sept. 30.
Local doctor and cancer survivor raising funds to battle rare disease.
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“To our relief, he sounded much better,” wrote Bryan. “He expressed his love and yearning for home … It wouldn’t be a good phone call with Danny without some laughs, which we had plenty of. It’s quite the life lesson to hear my brother maintain a sense of humor in the face of all the adversity.” Regarding the latest hearing, Bryan wrote that the family
Dr. Elizabeth Zide, who walked the Grand Canyon rim to rim to raise money to battle NET.
Strides to Find a Cure
r. Elizabeth Zide spent Sunday, Sept. 26, walking the Grand Canyon, rim to rim, with her friends Stacy Marko and Kriket Tomasi. The date was the one-year anniversary of the first surgery she received after being diagnosed with a neuroendocrine tumor (NET) or carcinoid. The goal was to raise funds to fight this rare form of cancer. Zide, who lives in West Bloomfield and works at Michigan Integrative Medicine
Danny Fenster
continues to remain cautiously optimistic that the in-person hearings will proceed, and that this process will play out so that they can finally bring him home. Fenster was detained by the military in Myanmar on May 24, 2021, moments before he was to fly from Yangon to Detroit to see his family for the first time in more than three years. Since then, he has been held at Insein Prison under investigation under a law criminalizing dissent that carries a maximum three-year jail sentence. Danny is being represented by an attorney from Frontier Myanmar, and the family is in touch with the counselor through a translator, though communication and information has been very limited, according to Bryan Fenster.
in Bloomfield Hills, was diagnosed with the disease last year. Most people have never heard of it. “I had to dig deep into my medical school memory banks for the information I learned about this disease,” she said. NET is rare, about 10 people in 1 million will ever be diagnosed with it. “Even being a doctor, I had no clue I had this growing and spreading inside my body,” she wrote on her blog. “My life and career have always been focused
on improving and maintaining health. By the time I was diagnosed, it had already metastasized to my liver and, yet, I was a picture of great health — eating organic, running marathons, swinging kettlebells. I was enjoying life with my husband and raising three incredible children!” Zide, who attends Adat Shalom Synagogue and credits Hebrew Free Loan with helping her get through medical school, said she may have had the disease for 10 years before being diagnosed, which is typical for those with NET, whose symptoms tend to be vague. In late 2020, she said most of her disease was removed in two major surgeries she underwent at the Mayo Clinic. “It is a disease that is never truly gone, even with the best treatments we currently have,” she said.
Because this cancer is so rare, it does not receive much attention or funding. That’s why she set a goal of raising $15,000 to help combat it. To honor her recovery from the two surgeries, she decided to participate in two challenges to raise funds. The first behind her, Zide now turns her attention to challenge No. 2: running the Detroit Half Marathon on Oct. 17. You can help her reach her fundraising goal by pledging to her cause at https://netrf. org/get-involved/fundraising-events/elizabeth-zides-many-strides-to-find-a-cure-fornets. “I hope to inspire anyone struggling with cancer, and I want to increase awareness of this rare disease,” she said. “Your donation will help to fund research to beat this disease for me and all NET patients!”
WE VALUE DEEP THOUGHT AND DEEPER RELATIONSHIPS.
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Advocacy in the
Middle East
Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein uses Abraham Accords to aid people with disabilities. KAREN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
M
ichigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein spoke at Michigan State University on Tuesday, Oct. 12, about his advocacy work in the Middle East. His multi-national efforts, made possible by the Abraham Accords, which opened new channels for collaboration between Israel and its neighbors, are the first time the UAE and Israel have collaborated to aid people with disabilities, according to Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem. She says she hopes this will help make the region a more inclusive place. “It’s much better when you work in regional collaboration,” she says. “It enriches everybody and pushes the agenda forward.” Bernstein spent time in the UAE and in Israel earlier this year to help lay the foundation for the establishment of new schools and special education programs as well as job placement services, adaptive technology and athletic programs for people with disabilities. He went to the UAE at the invitation of the royal families to talk about inclusion of people with disabilities and to help people imagine more opportunities for their children, he says. He’s spent time also sharing the story of his life and experiences — he’s the first blind judge on Michigan’s Supreme
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Richard Bernstein
Court. Bernstein went on to Israel, where he continued his work, even as he spent 12 days in a bomb shelter which shook violently as the Iron Dome intercepted more than 1,000 incoming rockets during May’s fighting. He was committed, he explains, to the ongoing work of helping bring people with disabilities from the shadows into the light. “My job is to help cultivate those relationships, show possibilities and then allow for partnerships to develop that can create the technical know-how to do all that work,” he says. “We’re merging the technical knowledge Israel has with the want and passion of other countries to create a better life for their citizens.” The UAE and Israel are working on policy that will be cultivated throughout the region, he explains, that will allow families to see a different world for their children. Additionally, he explains, shared common experience, which, in this case, is living with a disability or having a loved one living with a disability, has the power to override other political concerns or political pressures and bring people together. During his talk, he emphasized the importance of connection in being able to make a difference in the world — the
impact loving people, caring about them, enjoying them and wanting to help them can have. “At the end of the day, it all comes down to your love of people and your ability to have that relationship to people,” he says. “But it’s only through genuine connection, empathy and understanding that you can really make change.” Bernstein is no stranger to traveling around the world to work with families who have children with special needs, he explains, and to promoting the development of policies that help improve their lives. “Struggle creates relationships, and with relationships comes trust and understanding, and once people get to know and like each other and become friends who care Fleur HassanNahoum
BY GILABRAND - OWN WORK, CC BY-SA 3.0, VIA WIKIPEDIA
OCTOBER 14 • 2021
about each other, then anything and everything is possible,” he explains. Hassan-Nahoum and Bernstein, who met when they were both being interviewed for a documentary on the Abraham Accords, have similar visions for how to bring the Abraham Accords forward, she says. Together, they started to advance a set of principles around inclusion for what the UAE calls “people of determination.” “We’re putting this plan in motion, and Richard’s work in being [in the UAE] was crucial to get the ball rolling and then he came to Israel for a couple months and it was crucial for us to work on this together when he was in Israel,” she says. “Basically, we crystalized our plan, got the ball in motion and got buy-in from the major organizations for disabilities in this country.” They recently collaborated on a webinar on the integration of assistive technologies, for example, which brought together organizations from the UAE and Israel, and featured Bernstein as a keynote speaker. And they’re advancing a white paper on creating a more inclusive society, which will use best practices across the region and the United States. “The U.S. ushered in this new era of peace and coexistence,” she says. “So the United States has an incredible role to keep playing, and Richard is playing an incredible role, representing his country and pushing this forward.”
A $1 Million Gift
Oakland University president’s donation will go for scholarships to cultivate the next generation of leaders. JN STAFF
O
akland University will receive a $1 million gift to support scholarships for academically exceptional high school graduates. The gift, made by Oakland University President Ora Hirsch Pescovitz, will be administered by OU’s Honors College with the goal of fostering scholarly work and leadership skills of the next generation of community, civic and business leaders. “We are committed to improving the quality of life in Ora Hirsch Pescovitz the region, and an essential part of that is to cultivate students’ potential and leadership abilities that will have a transformative impact on our communities,” Pescovitz said. “Oakland’s mission is built on the vital connection between students’ success and community success.” The newly named Pescovitz Presidential Scholarship program provides direct scholarship support for students entering/enrolling beginning next fall and creates an endowment for scholarships in perpetuity. To qualify, students must demonstrate intellectual vision and creativity, an ability to solve problems and a commitment to improving their communities. “With the anticipation of returning to campus for a new school year, and especially after the challenges our students overcame during last year’s pandemic pivot, we thought it was an exciting and appropriate time to announce this latest investment in our students,” Pescovitz
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said. The scholarships are to attract high-achieving students and support Pescovitz’s vision to make Oakland University the “university of choice.” Her recent donation brings her cumulative lifetime philanthropic giving to the university to $1.78 million in gifts and commitments during her tenure as president. Those gifts have benefitted 51 different areas across the university. Earlier this year, Pescovitz created two endowments with gifts and commitments of $500,000. A third endowment was created in 2020 with a gift of $25,000. The endowments include The Malouf, Pescovitz, Ruchim Family Endowment for Global Student Experiences; The Rabbi Richard G. and Bella Hirsch Faculty Endowment for Racial and Social Justice; and the Bella Rozencweig Hirsch Endowment for Biomedical Ethics. “Once again, President Pescovitz has demonstrated her unwavering commitment to student success with another remarkable gift to Oakland University,” said Mike Westfall, vice president, University Advancement. “This magnificent new scholarship has the potential to change the world for the better through students right here on our campus,” said Oakland University Honors College Dean Graeme Harper. “It’s going to support high-achieving students who commit not only to their own success, but to the success of others and our community.”
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ERETZ
Getting to Israel – One ‘Ishur’ at a Time Yad L’Olim is helping olim and family travel to Israel during the pandemic. AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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e were stuck in the U.S. for months after our wedding,” says Zach Herschfus, formerly of Southfield. “But once Maureen got involved, we knew we were in good hands. She knew the best way to work within the system and managed to get us back to Israel.” Herschfus and his new bride, Sabine, are just two of many individuals who have been locked out of Israel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Israeli government has identified new strains coming in through Ben Gurion Airport and has done its best to keep the infection under control by shutting down tourism — much to the chagrin of family members of olim and other Israelis who haven’t seen their families since before March 2020. Since this past April, Maureen Ash, formerly of Michigan, has been helping people all over the world get to Israel to see their families or to simply go home. Anyone who is not an Israeli citizen, Herschfus included, cannot simply travel back and forth to Israel these days. You need special approval (an Ishur) to travel, and Maureen knows how to help you get one. HELPING UNITE FAMILIES At the beginning of the pandemic, for many months, no
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one was traveling to Israel unless they had a first-degree relative’s wedding; a birth, bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah of a grandchild; a child who was a Lone Soldier in active duty; or a funeral. And you had to apply through the U.S. [AZ1] consulate in those days. Israelis started complaining that they couldn’t see their relatives. Former MK Michal CotlerWunsh was the voice of the olim in Israel and got involved in helping them get their families to Israel for a visit. The Ministry of the Interior posted on its website that you could get an Ishur through its office, and once that hit social media, the ministry was flooded with requests for family members’ Ishurim. This past July, the requests were switched to an online portal. Ash works around the clock to help people get their Ishurim. Gail Berkove says, “After I submitted my initial paperwork, someone told me about Maureen. I sent her what I had submitted, and she found an error that I was able to easily correct. Once I sent in the corrected paperwork, I was able to get my Ishur three days before I left for Israel. Judging from stories I have heard, my acceptance was received in record time!” Jill Greenbaum’s experience was a bit different. She was able
Jill Greenbaum is greeted in Israel by her son Avi.
to file on her own, she says, but she did get a tremendous education from Maureen’s WhatsApp group. The wealth of information that was shared about peoples’ experiences prior to her filing was invaluable. She hadn’t seen her son Avi, a recent Lone Soldier, in 15 months, and she was grateful for the help she got in securing her Ishur. There are many different reasons for people to want to visit Israel during this time. Joanne Lorkis’ son got married in August. “Maureen was incredibly helpful,” Lorkis says. “She held our hands the whole way through and helped with advice and paperwork to get many family members to Israel. We even called her from the airport when they told me I was missing something!” There have been some unusual situations, each with its own nuance, that have had to be addressed. “I had a couple call and say
that they wanted to go to their grandson’s bar mitzvah, but their son had died and now they didn’t have a first-degree relative living in Israel. I sent them to the Israeli Consulate in Miami, and they explained everything and got their Ishur.” Former MK Dov Lipman started the NGO Yad L’Olim to help olim navigate any kind of Israeli bureaucracy, including getting their relatives to Israel. Ash and Ariella Bernstein, who both work for Yad L’Olim, are the dream team for those who are applying for Ishurim. Bernstein lives in Israel and Ash is in Chicago, so they work a combined 24 hours a day to help as many people as they can. Greenbaum is grateful for them: “No words can describe the energy and effort they have put into this. It’s a very stressful process to get the Ishur, and my heart goes out to anyone who doesn’t get one.”
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business SPOTlight
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Building Partnerships MIBA launches “Innovation Centers of Excellence” to harness Israeli ingenuity to help Michigan grow. JACKIE HEADAPOHL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL
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he Michigan Israel Business Accelerator (MIBA) is about one thing — positioning Michigan in the premier partnership role for Israeli innovation. It accomplishes its goal by what its CEO Scott Hiipakka calls the “3 C’s”: • connects • connections and Scott Hiipakka • collaborations. “Because we work statewide, we focus among all the different partners across Michigan to build connections that ultimately yield collaborations that will create jobs or create some form of economic opportunity for our state,” Hiipakka said. As part of that work, MIBA launched a program of “Experience Innovation” Webinars this summer to answer the question: In a post-COVID world, what do Michigan businesses need? “It’s not so much hand sanitizer and masks, right?” Hiipakka said. “It’s about ways to grow efficiency, leveraging staff talent and building an ecosystem that is more and more connected. It’s no longer about geographic boundaries. It’s about partnerships.”
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For each webinar, MIBA selects four or five Israeli companies to present to any interested party in the public or private sector. Each company has about eight minutes to make its pitch, followed by a Q&A. “The whole program lasts a little bit less than an hour. It’s almost like speed dating for innovation,” Hiipakka said. The first Webinar, held in June, focused on Industry 4.0. The second one, held in September, focused on clean tech, climate tech and
the circular economy, and it resulted in over 50 connections being made between Michigan and Israeli companies, he added. The next Webinar is planned for November; the topic is still being decided. INNOVATION CENTERS OF EXCELLENCE “We’re focused on building strong partnerships throughout the state through our Innovation
Centers of Excellence,” Hiipakka said. “Don’t think of them as brick-and-mortar structures; it is more like a coalition of the willing — those partners who see Israeli innovation and recognize what it represents to our state.” Those Innovation Centers, launched in 20202021, include: • Industry 4.0 Accelerator (in partnership with Centrepolis Accelerator at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield), which focuses on advanced engineering; • Cleantech, Climatech & Circular Economy Accelerator, (also launched in partnership with Centrepolis), which focuses on sustainability; • MedHealth Gateway Program (in partnership with MedHealth-TechTown) focusing on life sciences; • and FARM Incubator (launched in partnership with the West Michigan Food Processing Association and Michigan State University) focusing on food and agriculture. Two new programs are in the planning stage, to concentrate on defense and mobility. PARTNERSHIPS IN ACTION “The Industry 4.0 Accelerator is focused on
A Taste of Two Nations The Michigan Israel Business Accelerator will host its annual inaugural fundraiser, co-chaired by Beth Chappell and Mark Davidoff, Thursday, Oct. 28, at the Townsend Hotel Ballroom in Birmingham. A VIP Reception takes place from 5-6 p.m., followed by wine tasting until 8 p.m. The program, which will recognize MIBA partners in innovation across the state of Michigan, will begin at 7 p.m. The evening includes a strolling dinner as well as a silent auction. Tickets are $100 for members and $150 for non-members. Register at www.eventbrite.com/e/tasteof-two-nationstickets-172862876517. “This is something we’ve wanted to do for a while but couldn’t because of COVID,” said the MIBA’s Veronica Hanna-Senger. “I’m really looking forward to getting to meet people in person that I’ve been in correspondence with for over a year now. “And we’re looking forward to growing our partnerships, both within and outside of the Jewish community.” Sponsorships for the event are also available. Contact veronica@michiganisrael.com or (810) 300-9130. Because of COVID concerns, the Townsend Hotel staff will be masked. All non-vaccinated guests are asked to wear masks as well.
advanced manufacturing on steroids and leveraging the IOT, or ‘internet of things,’ all about creating smart systems for manufacturing,” Hiipakka said. “Centrepolis was already focused on these things and saw the need to partner with us and bring Israeli innovation to the state.” Over a year later, the two partnered on the Cleantech, Climatech & Circular Economy Accelerator, focused on how to create a more sustainable Michigan. Centrepolis is one of few incubator accelerators in Michigan that has global reach, according Dan to its Executive Radomski
Screenshot of the presenters at June’s webinar, Experience Innovation Industry 4.0.
Director Dan Radomski. “For both our accelerators, we’re looking for the best technology companies in the world.” Naturally, they looked toward Israel. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen more talented tech companies and startups as we do out of Israel than
any other place in the world,” Radomski said. Working with MIBA and Start-Up Nation Central, Centrepolis identifies bestin-class companies that can provide meaningful value to Michigan companies and are ready to expand in North
America. “One of the best examples is Daika Wood,” Radomski said. Daika Wood takes wood waste, even laminated wood, and shreds and remolds it, creating products such as picture frames. “Michigan furniture manufacturers have tons of waste that used to go to an incinerator, which isn’t great for the environment. This is the kind of partnership that can help make our state more sustainable.” Other examples of Israeli companies active in Michigan include GuardKnox, an Israeli company that works on cybersecurity in the auto sector, and Inspekto, which provides quality control technology for Industry 4.0.
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SPORTS
Shir Tikvah’s first Inter-Congregational league title was built on pitching, defense. STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A
euchre tournament and a Purim carnival are important chapters in the story of Congregation Shir Tikvah’s first championship in the Inter-Congregational Men’s Club Summer Softball League. Without those chapters, there wouldn’t even be a team. Shir Tikvah won the Rosen Division title this summer, beating Congregation Beth Ahm 9-6 in the division playoff championship game at Keith Sports Park in West Bloomfield after falling behind 5-0 in the first inning. Shir Tikvah of Troy joined
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the Inter-Congregational league in 2013. Earlier that year, synagogue member Herschel Poger had a chance meeting and conversation with Chuck Freedman at a euchre tournament. “While we were playing at the same table, Chuck mentioned that he was involved with the InterCongregational league,” Poger said. “I remembered the league because I had played in it in the 1990s for Adat Shalom Synagogue. I thought it would be great if Shir Tikvah
pitching. He’s Shir Tikvah’s had a team, so Chuck and I catcher. exchanged phone numbers.” Williams didn’t attend any While he was at a Purim preseason practices before Shir carnival at Shir Tikvah a few weeks later, Poger said, Tikvah debuted in the Interhe spoke with five or six Congregational league in 2013 synagogue members who also in a doubleheader. were interested in forming a He played left field for Shir Tikvah in its first game, a softball team. game in which Shir Tikvah lost An idea became reality. big. Six players on the first Shir “Our pitchers couldn’t get Tikvah softball team got to the ball over the plate in that experience the team’s first championship eight years later. game,” Poger said. In addition to Poger, they are ‘I CAN PITCH’ Matthew Bassin, Scott Litt, Williams talked to Poger Mark and Jordan Small, and Ken Williams. between games of the doubleheader “and said the most Pitching and defense are important three words Shir Tikvah’s strengths. in our team’s history,” They have been Poger said. through the years. “Ken said, ‘I can “We don’t have a pitch.’” lot of power. We’re a Besides pitching singles and doubles for the Big Rapids team,” Poger said. High School baseball “Pitching and defense team, Williams had are never a problem.” Ken Williams pitched while playing A big reason that intramural softball at the pitching is a Shir Tikvah forte University of Michigan and in is Williams. recreation softball leagues. Off the softball diamond, Even though he hadn’t Williams, 57, is the dean of pitched for a few years, mathematics and science at Williams quickly regained his Oakland Community College, form. a job he’s had for four years “I can’t remember how we after he was a math professor did in the second game of for 25 years at Marygrove that doubleheader, but it was College, which ended its competitive,” Williams said. undergraduate programs in His softball pitching strategy 2017. is simple. “Ken looks like a college “You must throw strikes,” he professor because he is a college professor,” Poger said. said. “Walks will kill you.” “He’s a humble guy and would Mark Small is Shir Tikvah’s never say this, but I think he’s backup pitcher. the best pitcher in the league, “There isn’t much drop-off in any division.” when Mark pitches,” Poger Poger is a credible source said. “Mark can play any when it comes to Williams’ position on the infield, so he’s KEN WILLIAMS
From Euchre to Purim to a Softball Championship
HERSCHEL POGER
Defense is a forte of the Congregation Shir Tikvah softball team. Mark Small is a big reason for that strength.
with
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HERSCHEL POGER
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Here’s the game ball from Congregation Shir Tikvah’s playoff championship win, with player Herschel Poger’s mitt and team cap.
also a valuable guy there.” Shir Tikvah won the Rosen Division regular season title this year with a 13-7 record. But it lost its opening game of the doubleelimination division playoffs to regular-season runner-up Beth Ahm, sending it into a win-or-else mode for the remainder of the playoffs. A 14-2 win over Beth Ahm on the second and final day of the playoffs paved the way for a winner-take-all championship game between the two teams. Shir Tikvah trailed in that game until Jordan Small’s two-run double in the bottom of the sixth inning gave Shir Tikvah a lead it would never lose. SHOW OF POWER? Michael Reamer’s solo homer proved to be Shir Tikvah’s final run of the season. Reamer also hit the team’s first homer of the season. Each homer was hit at Keith Sports Park, but at different diamonds. “Having a home run for
our final run of the season is the antithesis of who we are,” Poger said. “We usually play small ball.” Poger made sure he secured the game ball in the playoff championship game after the final Beth Ahm batter grounded out to second baseman Mark Small, who threw to first baseman Jordan Small. “I was on the bench,” Poger said. “As soon as the final out was made, I made a beeline for Jordan.” The ball — now with “Champs! 2021” written on it by Poger — along with the division championship trophy will be displayed at Shir Tikvah, Poger said. His team cap and mitt also may be in the display at the synagogue. Also on Shir Tikvah’s roster this season were Robert Breitman, Kyle Edwards, Howard and Joel Fershtman, Brook Morris, and Aaron and Brendan Small. Please send sports news to stevestein502004@yahoo.com.
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Shapiro 70th
MAZEL TOV! Cadyn Brooke Geller, the daughter of Angel and Justin Geller, will become a bat mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021, at Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township. Cadyn is the granddaughter of Merilyn and Nathan Sanders, Doreen Blackburn and Sam Geller. She is a seventh-grader at Derby Middle School in Birmingham. For her mitzvah project, Cadyn decided to make jewelry to put smiles on the faces of the kids in the hospital and is especially proud to be able to deliver these necklaces and bracelets to kids with cancer and other illnesses.
Talia Yve Spielmann will become a bat mitzvah at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. She will be joined in celebration by her proud parents, Katie and Benny Spielmann, and brother Noam. Her loving grandparents are Hannah and Gordon Moss, and Miriam and Shaul Spielmann. Talia is a student at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills. For her mitzvah project, she will be working to raise funds to help kids go to summer camp.
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hyllis and Harvey Shapiro of West Bloomfield and Scottsdale, Ariz., celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on Aug. 29, 2021, with a party at Temple Israel. Wishing them many more happy years together were friends and family, including their children, Ilene and Richard Fischman; grandchildren, Ben and Jennifer Shapiro, Lane and Rabbi Allie Fischman, and Martee Fischman; great-grandsons, Jude Fischman and Henry Shapiro.
HOW TO SUBMIT ANNOUNCEMENTS Mazel Tov! announcements are welcomed for members of the Jewish community. Anniversaries, engagements and weddings with a photo (preferably color) can appear at a cost of $18 each. Births are $10. There is no charge for bar/bat mitzvahs or for special birthdays starting at the 90th. For information, contact Editorial Assistant Sy Manello at smanello@thejewishnews.com or (248) 351-5147 for information or for a mailed or emailed copy of guidelines.
SPIRIT TORAH PORTION
Finding Oursleves
M
ost often we translate the phrase lech lecha as simply “Go forth.” When we read these words, we focus on the most commonly accepted meaning of the text: God is commanding Abram to leave his native land and his father’s house and go to an unknown land that God will show him. It is a story familiar to all. Unfortunately, that prior knowledge inhibits further exploration. I believe that we are robbing ourselves of the deeper meaning that perhaps speaks to us more clearly in our own day. Lech lecha when translated literally means “Go unto yourself.” Lech is a commandment to literally walk or go. Lecha means to you
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or to yourself. God is command- have all been tapped on the shoulder by God and given the ing Abram to dig deep, to go on a journey of self-exploration, not same directive as Abram, “Go, find yourself.” Why now?just to find the land that Because so much of what God has chosen, but to we like to hide behind is find himself as well. being stripped away, even When we begin the most well off are being any kind of journey, it forced to rethink the necesshould be both physical Rabbi sity of life’s luxuries. and spiritual. Surely, we Jennifer I would argue that cannot travel anywhere Kaluzny though this is a scary time, without our physical Parshat it is one we can use to our bodies. Why should we Lech-Lecha: own advantage. We can even attempt to do so Genesis use it to extend the task of without our souls? The 12:1-17:27; taking cheshbon nefesh, an two are inextricable, and Isaiah I believe that is what 40:27-41:16. accounting of our souls. The challenge of lech God is trying to prepare lecha is the same now as it Abram for when he tells was for Abram: Go to yourself. him, “Go unto yourself.” Find out what has meaning for Right now, considering the you and what does not, what world’s challenges, it seems we
you need and what you could give to help others. Abram had the courage to go on this journey, and so must we. Abram taught us about hospitality and sharing the best of what we have. That made everywhere that he and Sarai were a promised land. What are the things and people that allow you to live in your own promised land, and what are the aspects that make it seem less than idyllic? We can all accept this challenge to “go to ourselves” and live up to it. We must. The world we live in today demands that we do. This article by Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny of Temple Israel originally appeared in the Jewish News on Nov. 6, 2008.
THE DETROIT
JEWISH NEWS
36 UNDER 36
Nominations Now Open! Do you know someone making an impact in the community for this special honor?
Nominations for The Detroit Jewish News’ annual 36 under 36 are now open to recognize doers, activists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, community organizers and other young Jewish professionals reshaping and broadening Metro Detroit’s Jewish community.
Do you know someone who gives of themselves to the community in robust — and often thankless — ways? Someone you admire and aspire to be like? Someone whose accomplishments you want to celebrate?
Jews in the D
36 UNDER 36
JOSH GERSHON OWICZ High School, Jessica Josh Gershonowicz looks forward to attending college is founder and in fall CEO the executive director 2020 and passing of Rebuild Group, position of Sib4Sib a to a part-time profession fast-growing marketing al. Jessica will remain involved agency contribut on the ing In addition to Sib4Sib,board of directors. to the renaissan ce Jessica holds leadership positions of Midtown Detroit. in Teen Volunteer Started in 2012, Corps, the Jewish Rebuild breaks Fund Teen Board the mold on the large agency and Youth United model Interfaith Camp. Sh positioning to campaign — from brand wants to thank e her creation parents, Scot and and implementation. Goldberg, Sammi Judy Josh Shapiro, Max Newman, to create a different and his team set out Barrett Harr, Betty Chu, approach to marketMartha ing and advertisin Goldberg, the Wish g, centered on a and Mall families, culture and of entrepreneurial the entire communi spirit, creative tension, ty for its support curiosity and hustle. on this exciting He has worked journey. igently to focus dilJessica resides in on creating emotiona Farmingt experiences people l on Hills with her family and have as they interact goldendo with brands. He More info at Sib4Sib.or odle, Goldie. said g. next hit neighborh he believes Detroit’s ood will be Milwauke Junction: “The e future home where KIM RUBIN art and technology meet, ” he said. Kim Rubin, 34, A graduate of the of Novi Goldman Sachs is an entrepreneur 10,000 Small Businesse and the sole practition combines his business s program, Josh er of acumen with a Rubin Psycholog personal sense ical of philanthropic Services, specializin duty. His charitable work, g which in behavioral/developDetroit Inc., Hebrew includes Midtown Free Loan and mental pediatrics soring the Boy . Kim Scouts of America sponmoved to Metro ach year, The Well Dodge for Detroit Detroit after Dodgebal and graduating from l Tournament, Jewish News partner the Indiana University underscores his where she earned commitment to her Ph.D. in psychol- , nize young leaders, to recogthe city he calls home. ogy, and Josh is also a real humanitarthe Southern ians, educators estate developer and a , social activists School of Medicine Illinois University Huffington Post and entrepreneurs (Springfield, Ill.), contributor. He was married who are reshaping where she completed her residency and broadening the 18-month-old son. in 2016 and has an Jewish commun . In Springfield, she His favorite Jewish ity in Metro Detroit. volunteered to food is his wife’s start a NFTY youth group, kugel. Nominees submitted which became recby commuognized regionally nity members and nationally for were rapid growth and its impartial volunteer sent to a panel of JESSICA GOLDBER emphasis on performjudges who had G ing mitzvot througho the difficult task At 15, Jessica Goldberg ut 36 names from of choosing only In Michigan, where the community. noticed the lack the list of impressiv she married her of young professio e husband, Mike, support for siblings nals. Kim in Here, meet this the Children’s Center started working at the year’s mental cohort of health and of Wayne County, “36 Under 36” specializin — developmental we admire and the kinds of people disability treatment g in autism assessment and aspire to be, whose communi . In her own ties. So she accomplishments practice, she now helps children and started Sib4Sib, and who we want we want to celebrate adolescents overcome a supsocial, education port network for make their home the world to know al and behaviora individuals who have in l issues. Additionally, she a sibling who struggles If you know these Metro Detroit. mentors younger with mental health individuals, therapists to help them know why they or has cognitive hone their skills were chosen. If you or developmental to help others. haven’t met them you differences. In three yet, you’ll want years, Jessica has built — soon. Kim enjoys involving to Sib4Sib into a thriving her children, community with Reece, Brooks and We asked the honorees four different support Chase, in the Jewish to submit groups (facilitated brief bios. Here community through by licensed profession they are, in no events als), hosted particular order. resources, networkin - The Well, Adat Shalom Synagogu by g, advocacy and social outings — e, Temple Israel and all free of charge. PJ Library. She Jessica serves as has a great core group the executive director of Jewish families and president of who share the same Sib4Sib, a 501(c)3 values, have children nonprofit that has raised will grow up who A senior this year more than $100,000. who don’t together and girlfriends at North Farmingt mind sharing a bottle of on wine. Unbeknown st to many friends,
The Well and
Leaders Among
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• 2020 FEBRUARY 13
Us
the Jewish New s spotlight 36 up-and-comin g leaders in the Metro Detroit Jewish commun ity.
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FEBRUARY 13 • 2020
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GO ONLINE TO THEJEWISHNEWS.COM AND NOMINATE THEM BY NOVEMBER 18, 2021 A special group of seven volunteer judges will be reviewing submissions and choosing the 36 winners. Honorees will receive free three-year subscriptions to the JN and be featured in a February 2022 issue. OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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SPIRIT
Synagogue Directory CONSERVATIVE Adat Shalom Synagogue Farmington Hills (248) 851-5100 adatshalom.org
Temple B’nai Shalom Benton Harbor (269) 925-8021 tbnaishalom.org
Ahavas Israel Grand Rapids (616) 949-2840 ahavasisraelgr.org
INDEPENDENT Grosse Pointe Jewish Council Grosse Pointe Woods (313) 882-6700 thegpjc.com
Congregation Beth Ahm West Bloomfield (248) 851-6880 cbahm.org Congregation Beth Israel Flint (810) 732-6310 cbiflint.org Congregation Beth Shalom Oak Park (248) 547-7970 congbethshalom.org Beth Tephilath Moses Mt. Clemens (586) 996-3138 bethtephilathmoses.com B’nai Israel Synagogue West Bloomfield (248) 432-2729 bnaiisraelwb.org Congregation B’nai Moshe West Bloomfield (248) 788-0600 bnaimoshe.org Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue Detroit (313) 962-4047 downtownsynagogue.org Congregation of Moses Kalamazoo congregationofmoses.org Congregation Shaarey Zedek Southfield (248) 357-5544 shaareyzedek.org
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Kehillat Hatzhav Hagadol Mackinac Island (906) 202-9959 mackinacsynagogue.org
Beth Tefilo Emanuel Tikvah Southfield (248) 559-5022 Birmingham-Bloomfield Shul Birmingham (248) 996-5818 bbchai.org B’nai Israel-Beth Yehudah Oak Park (248) 967-3969 bi-by.org B’nai Zion Oak Park (248) 968-2414
ORTHODOX Agudas Israel Mogen Abraham Southfield (248) 552-5711 aymadetroit.org
Chabad House-Lubavitch of Eastern Michigan Flint (810) 230-0770 chabad.org
Ahavas Olam Southfield (248) 569-1821 Ahavasolam.com
Chabad Jewish Center of Commerce-Walled Lake Commerce Township (248) 363-3644 jewishcommerce.org
Ahavas Yisroel Oak Park (248) 298-2896 Learntorah.info Aish Hatorah in the Woods Oak Park (248) 327-3579 Aishdetroit.com Bais Chabad of Farmington Hills (248) 855-2910 chabad.org Bais Chabad of North Oak Park (248) 872-8878 chabad.org Bais Haknesses Hagrah Oak Park (248) 542-8737 Balfour Shul – K’Hal Rina U’Tefila Oak Park (732) 693-8457
Chabad Jewish Center of Novi-Northville (248) 790-6075 novijewishcenter.com Chabad Jewish Center of Troy Troy/Rochester Hills (248) 873-5851 jewishtroy.com Chabad-Lubavitch of Bingham Farms Bloomfield Hills (248) 688-6796 chabadbinghamfarms.com
Etz Chayim of Toledo Toledo, OH (419) 473-2401 Etzchayimtoledo.org First Hebrew Congregation South Haven (269) 637-1603 firsthebrewcongregation.org Kehillat Etz Chayim Huntington Woods etzchayim-detroit.org Kollel Institute of Greater Detroit Oak Park (248) 968-1891 kollel@kolleldetroit.org Mishkan Israel, Nusach H’ari, Lubavitch Center Oak Park (248) 542-4844 theyeshiva.org Ohel Moed Shomrey Emunah West Bloomfield (248) 737-2626 ohelmoed.org Or Chadash Oak Park (248) 819-1721 or-chadash.org Sara & Morris Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center of West Bloomfield (248) 855-6170 baischabad.com Shaar Hashomayim Windsor (519) 256-3123
Chabad of Western Michigan Grand Rapids (616) 957-0770 chabadwestmichigan.com
Shaarey Zedek Windsor (519) 252-1594 shaareyzedekwindsor.com
Dovid Ben Nuchim-Aish Kodesh Oak Park (313) 320-9400 dbndetroit.org
Shomer Israel Oak Park (248) 542-4014 godaven.com
Shomrey Emunah Southfield (248) 559-1533 congregation-shomreyemunah-105705.square.site The Shul-Chabad Lubavitch West Bloomfield (248) 788-4000 theshul.net Woodward Avenue Shul Royal Oak (248) 414-7485 thewas.net
Congregation Beth El Windsor (519) 969-2422 bethelwindsor.ca
Temple Emanu-El Oak Park (248) 967-4020 emanuel-mich.org
Temple Beth El Battle Creek (269) 963-4921
Temple Israel West Bloomfield (248) 661-5700 temple-israel.org
Temple Beth El Bloomfield Township (248) 851-1100 tbeonline.org
Temple Jacob Hancock templejacobhancock.org
Temple Beth El Flint (810) 720-9494 tbeflint@gmail.com
Temple Kol Ami West Bloomfield (248) 661-0040 tkolami.org
Temple Beth El Midland (989) 496-3720 tbe_midland@yahoo.com
Congregation Shaarey Zedek East Lansing (517) 351-3570 shaareyzedek.com
Young Israel of Southfield (248) 358-0154 yisouthfield.org
Temple Beth Israel Bay City (989) 893-7811 tbi-mich.org
Temple Shir Shalom West Bloomfield (248) 737-8700 shirshalom.org
RECONSTRUCTIONIST Congregation Kehillat Israel Lansing (517) 882-0049 kehillatisrael.net
Temple Beth Israel Jackson (517) 784-3862 tbijackson.org
Yagdil Torah Southfield (248) 559-5905 Young Israel of Oak Park (248) 967-3655 yiop.org
Congregation T’chiyah Ferndale (248) 823-7115 tchiyah.org Reconstructionist Congregation of Detroit (313) 567-0306 reconstructingjudiasm.org REFORM Bet Chaverim Canton (734) 480-8880 betchaverim@yahoo.com Temple Benjamin Mt. Pleasant (989) 773-5086 templebenjamin.com
Congregation Beth Shalom Traverse City 231-946-1913 beth-shalom-tc.org Temple Beth Sholom Marquette tbsmqt.org Temple B’nai Israel Kalamazoo (269) 342-9170 Templebnaiisrael.com Temple B’nai Israel Petoskey (231) 489-8269 templebnaiisraelofpetoskey.org Temple Emanuel Grand Rapids (616) 459-5976 grtemple.org
REFORM/RENEWAL Congregation Shir Tikvah Troy (248) 649-4418 shirtikvah.org SECULAR/HUMANISTIC Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit Farmington Hills (248) 477-1410 chj-detroit.org Sholem Aleichem Institute Lathrup Village (240 865-0117 secularsaimichigan.org SEPHARDIC Keter Torah Synagogue West Bloomfield (248) 681-3665 rabbisasson.wixsite.com/keter
Ohr Hatorah Oak Park (248) 294-0613 Ohrhatorah.us MINYANS Fleischman Residence West Bloomfield (248) 661-2999 Yeshivat Akivah Southfield (248) 386-1625 farberhds.org
ANN ARBOR
CONSERVATIVE Beth Israel Congregation (734) 665-9897 @BethIsraelCongregation ORTHODOX Ann Arbor Chabad House (734) 995-3276 jewmich.com Ann Arbor Orthodox Minyan annarborminyan.org RECONSTRUCTIONIST Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation (734) 445-1910 aarecon.org REFORM Temple Beth Emeth (734) 665-4744 templebethemeth.org RENEWAL Pardes Hanah pardeshanah.org SECULAR HUMANISTIC Jewish Cultural Society (734) 975-9872 jewishculturalsociety.org Please email factual corrections or additional synagogues to list to: smanello@thejewishnews.com.
OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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SPIRIT
A WORD OF TORAH
Breaking Away from the Crowd
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eaders lead. That does not mean to say that they do not follow. But what they follow is different from what most people follow. They don’t conform for the sake of conforming. They don’t do what others do merely because others are doing it. They follow an inner voice, a call. They have a vision, not of what is, but of what might be. They think outside the box. They march to a different tune. Rabbi Lord Never was this more Jonathan dramatically signaled than Sacks in the first words of God to Abraham in Parshat Lech Lecha, the words that set Jewish history in motion: “Leave your land, your birthplace and your father’s house and go to the land that I will show you.” (Gen. 12:1) Why? Because people do conform. They adopt the standards and absorb the culture of the time and place in which they live — “your land.” At a deeper level, they are influenced by friends and neighbors — “your birthplace.” More deeply still they are shaped by their parents and the family in which they grew up — “your father’s house.”
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I want you, says God to Abraham, to be different. Not for the sake of being different, but for the sake of starting something new: a religion that will not worship power and the symbols of power — for that is what idols really were and are. I want you, said God, to “teach your children and your household afterward to follow the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just” (Gen. 18:19). To be a Jew is to be willing to challenge the prevailing consensus when, as so often happens, nations slip into worshipping the old gods. They did so in Europe throughout the 19th and early 20th century. That was the age of nationalism: the pursuit of power in the name of the nation-state that led to two world wars and tens of millions of deaths. It is the age we are living in now as North Korea acquires and Iran pursues nuclear weapons so that they can impose their ambitions by force. It is what is happening today throughout much of the Middle East and Africa as nations descend into violence and into what Thomas Hobbes in The Leviathan called “the war of every man against every man.”
WHAT ARE IDOLS? We make a mistake when we think of idols in terms of their physical appearance — statues, figurines, icons. In that sense they belong to the ancient times we have long outgrown. The way to think of idols is in terms of what they represent. They symbolize power. That is what Ra was for the Egyptians, Baal for the Canaanites, Chemosh for the Moabites, Zeus for the Greeks, and what missiles and bombs are for terrorists and rogue states today. Power allows us to rule over others without their consent. As the Greek historian Thucydides put it: “The strong do what they wish and the weak suffer what they must.” Judaism is a sustained critique of power. That is the conclusion I have reached after a lifetime of studying our sacred texts. It is about how a nation can be formed on the basis of shared commitment and collective responsibility. It is about how to construct a society that honors the human person as the image and likeness of God. It is about a vision, never fully realized but never abandoned, of a world based on justice and compassion, in which “They will neither harm
nor destroy on all My holy mountain, for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11:9) Abraham is without doubt the most influential person who ever lived. Today he is claimed as the spiritual ancestor of 2.3 billion Christians, 1.8 billion Muslims and 14 million Jews, more than half the people alive today. Yet, he ruled no empire, commanded no great army, performed no miracles and proclaimed no prophecy. He is the supreme example in all of history of influence without power. Why? Because he was prepared to be different. As the sages say, he was called ha-ivri, “the Hebrew,” because “all the world was on one side (be-ever echad) and he was on the other.” Leadership, as every leader knows, can be lonely. Yet you continue to do what you have to do because you know that the majority is not always right and conventional wisdom is not always wise. Dead fish go with the flow. Live fish swim against the current. So it is with conscience and courage. So it is with the children of Abraham. They are prepared to challenge the idols of the age. EVIL OF CONFORMITY After the Holocaust, some social scientists were haunted by the question of why so many people were prepared, whether by active participation or silent consent, to go along with a regime that was committing one of the great crimes against humanity. One key experiment was conducted by Solomon
“ABRAHAM IS THE MOST INFLUENCIAL PERSON WHO EVER LIVED. YET, HE RULED NO EMPIRE, PERFORMED NO MIRACLES, PROCLAIMED NO PROPHECY.” Asch. He assembled a group of people, asking them to perform a series of simple cognitive tasks. They were shown two cards, one with a line on it, the other with three lines of different lengths, and asked which was the same size as the line on the first. Unbeknown to one participant, all the others had been briefed by Asch to give the correct answer for the first few cards, and then to answer incorrectly for most of the rest. On a significant number of occasions, the experimental subject gave an answer he could see was wrong because everyone else had done so. Such is the power of the pressure to conform: It can lead us to say what we know is untrue. More frightening still was the Stanford experiment carried out in the early 1970s by Philip Zimbardo. The participants were randomly assigned roles as guards or prisoners in a mock prison. Within days the students cast as guards were behaving abusively, some of them subjecting the “prisoners” to psychological torture. The students cast as prisoners put up with this passively, even siding with the guards against those who resisted. The experiment was called off after six days, by which time even Zimbardo had found himself drawn into
the artificial reality he had created. The pressure to conform to assigned roles is strong enough to lead people into doing what they know is wrong. That is why Abraham, at the start of his mission, was told to leave “his land, his birthplace and his father’s house,” to free himself from the pressure to conform. Leaders must be prepared not to follow the consensus. One of the great writers on leadership, Warren Bennis, writes in On Becoming a Leader: “By the time we reach puberty, the world has shaped us to a greater extent than we realize. Our family, friends and society in general have told us — by word and example — how to be. But people begin to become leaders at that moment when they decide for themselves how to be.” JEWS AS LEADERS One reason why Jews have become, out of all proportion to their numbers, leaders in almost every sphere of human endeavor, is precisely this willingness to be different. Throughout the centuries, Jews have been the most striking example of a group that refused to assimilate to the dominant culture or convert to the dominant faith. One other finding of
Solomon Asch is worth noting. He noted that when just one other person was willing to support the individual who could see that the others were giving the wrong answer, it gave him the strength to stand up against the consensus. That is why, however small their numbers, Jews created communities. It is hard to lead alone, far less hard to lead in the company of others even if you are a minority. Judaism is the countervoice in the conversation of humankind. As Jews, we do not follow the majority merely because it is the majority. In age after age, century after century, Jews were prepared to do what Robert Frost immortalized in his poem The Road Not Taken: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. This is what makes a nation of leaders. The late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks served as the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, 1991-2013. His teachings have been made available to all at rabbisacks.org. This essay was written in 2014.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS • When Abraham began his journey, what was he following, and how was he leading? • When is it a good idea to take the road less traveled by? • Does Abraham’s story inspire you to challenge the idols of today? If so, what do you see as today’s idols?
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ARTS&LIFE RACHEL TINES
MUSIC
Making the Violin S ing
Violinist Yevgeny Kutik joins conductor Leonard Slatkin at Orchestra Hall.
SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Details
Yevgeny Kutik will perform at 10:45 a.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, (in-person only) and 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 16, (in-person and free online) at Orchestra Hall in Detroit. $15$105. (313) 576-5111, dso.org. Audience members must provide proof of full vaccination for COVID-19 or a negative test (48-hour PCR or 6-hour antigen). Everyone must also wear a mask while inside regardless of vaccination status.
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ith the same intensity shown while fronting esteemed orchestras at celebrated venues, violinist Yevgeny Kutik has performed in solo programs before small Jewish congregations in remote meeting halls. Born into a family of classical musicians who left the Soviet Union to escape antisemitism, Kutik is motivated to bring treasured music to those of shared religious background assembled in places experiencing limited live entertainment. Kutik’s in-person appearances, exchanged for Zoom opportunities during the pandemic, are starting to resume as he takes the stage at Detroit’s Orchestra Hall and joins Leonard Slatkin conducting the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Three performances, with the
Yevgeny Kutik
last available digitally, run Oct. 15-16. Kutik will be premiering Joseph Schwantner’s Violin Concerto in a program that will include Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and Samuel Adler’s Mirror Images, another world premiere. “This will be my first time working with Leonard Slatkin, so I’m very excited,” says Kutik, 36, and based near Boston. “I have played in Michigan quite a bit over the years, and I’m going up to Traverse City in a couple of months. “I got to know Joseph Schwantner about 10 years ago, when he wrote a small work for violin and string orchestra called The Poet’s Hour. I recorded and filmed that with Gerard Schwarz and the All-Star Orchestra and got to know Joseph’s music. “The first movement of the concerto is based on The Poet’s Hour, but it’s much
Leonard Slatkin In the photo on the left, which he shared on his Facebook page, Kutik, wote, “Spending the afternoon studying the score to the Joseph Schwanter Violin Concerto. World premiere this October with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Leonard Slatkin!”
expanded. The second movement is completely brand new, and this piece is just massive.” Kutik, whose family came to America when he was 5, first learned violin from his mother, Alla Zernitskaya, an award-winning, high-level instructor. He went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from Boston University and a master’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music. “From what I understand from my family, I always wanted to play violin,” says Kutik, also the son of trumpet player Alex Kutik and grandson of the late trumpet player Isaac Kutik. “Growing up around musicians and hearing musicians all the time, I think it was a natural thing for me. “I probably played my first concert when I was 8 or 9. I had a big appear-
ance with the Boston Pops orchestra [and conductor Keith Lockhart] when I was just leaving high school, and that felt like a debut.” Kutik, who made his 2019 debut at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., can list pre-pandemic engagements that reach from the El Paso Symphony to the Cape Town Philharmonic in South Africa. DEDICATED TO THE JEWISH COMMUNITY Besides paying attention to memories of musical experiences described by his family, Kutik has absorbed memories of antisemitic experiences also described. The total expanse keeps him dedicated to culturally enriching the musical enjoyment of Jewish community members while speaking out against antisem-
itism. “My family’s treatment as Jews and what they had to deal with [before coming to America] was abhorrent and changed the entire scope of their lives,” says the violinist, who heard about employment quotas and thug violence affecting his relatives. “I feel it’s my duty to speak out and do what I can to raise awareness for all people to pay attention and really be very careful because history very much repeats itself. Antisemitism never disappeared, and it’s grown in recent years.” Before pandemic limitations, Kutik worked directly with the Jewish Federations of North America. He would speak at forums and with numerous communities across the country. “I visited various Jewish Federation [groups] to help them in their fundraising and talk about my family’s experiences,” he explains. “People can see where their efforts and money have gone and what their efforts and money can do right now to help support Jews and non-Jews who need help.” UPCOMING WORK Although Kutik did not marry a musician, he did gain a father-in-law who continued on page 40
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ARTS&LIFE MUSIC
Yevgeny Kutik
continued from page 39
is a musician. While his wife, Rachel, has a yoga studio, his father-in-law, Edwin Barker, plays double bass with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. A recent Kutik recording project has focused his attention on appreciated cultural aspects of his heritage. The upcoming album, The Death of Juliet and Other Tales, soon will be released by Marquis Classics, the label that regularly represents his talents. “It’s an album of all [Sergei] Prokofiev music and traces how he was inspired by Russian folk tunes,” Kutik says. “The very folk tunes I grew up listening to were probably the ones that he grew up listening to.
“I arranged a few of them for violin and had two wonderful composers do the other arrangements. The album itself is kind of a narrative intermixing these Russian folk tunes and Prokofiev’s music.” In rare private moments away from music, Kutik likes to hike, read and experiment with coffee, often searching for specialized gear that can process creative brews to be savored. “I’m reading The History of the World in Six Glasses,” Kutik reveals. “It traces how the origins of [beverages] shaped history as we know it. I’m fascinated by that, but I just drink a cup or two of coffee [at a time]. That’s good enough for me.”
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Fall Open Houses Grades K-8 Wednesday, October 27, 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, November 3, 9:15 a.m. Prospective parents are invited to meet Hillel’s faculty and see the school in action. Come learn about Hillel’s safe and connected community, engaging and innovative dual curricula, and commitment to social growth. RSVP to www.hillelday.org/fallopenhouse.com Questions? Contact Amy Schlussel at aschlussel@hillelday.org or 248-539-1484 *In-person attendees must be masked and fully vaccinated
Early Childhood Center, ages 2-5 • Day School, grades K-8 I 32200 Middlebelt Road • Farmington Hills, MI 48334 I HillelDay.org
Give the gift of a happy holiday. As we face the unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is with an abundance of caution that we’ve decided to brighten the holidays of those we serve through gift cards purchased by funds raised from generous supporters like you. While we understand that making a donation can’t compete with the fun of selecting a Barbie doll off the shelf, please know that you are still making a BIG difference for individuals and families in need.
With your help, we can still make the holidays bright. To make a donation, visit jfsdetroit.org/adoptafamily or contact 248.592.2339. Jewish Family Service
Adopt a Family OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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ARTS&LIFE ART
A Brush with Reality
Flint Institute of Arts features Israeli photorealist Yigal Ozeri.
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sraeli artist Yigal Ozeri’s large-scale paintings draw the viewer in with their beauty, detail and sometimes Brush with Reality will dreamy nature settings. Brush with be featured at the Reality — the name of the exhibit Flint Institute of Arts at the Flint Institute of Arts — is (Flintarts.org) through well-chosen. Jan. 2, 2022. The Ozeri’s artworks may seem to be museum is about a photographs but, on closer inspecone-hour drive, assumtion, they open up a more detailed, ing good weather and intimate emotional perspective of his traffic conditions, for models. Many are beautiful women those living in southwho revel in their environments — a east Oakland County. rainforest, beach, city street. One of their common elements is their self-assertion — “This is me in my place,” when he says that most Israeli artists leaned they seem to say. toward abstract art, and portraits were not Ozeri is a leading photorealist artist held in high esteem. He was an important whose works have been exhibited through- figure in the Israeli art world, founding out the U.S., Europe, China, Mexico and the Meimad Art School in Tel Aviv, and Israel, where he was born in 1958. His received the Minister of Education Prize paintings are part of the permanent collecfor Young Artists in 1989. tions of the Whitney Museum of American In 1991, Ozeri moved to New York. The Art, the Jewish Museum in New York, the art market wasn’t doing well and in conAlbertina in Vienna, the Tel Aviv Museum trast to his prominence in Israel, he strugof Art and the gled to find his place. He found a studio Flint Institute of near a branch of the Museum of Modern Arts, where his Art and helped co-found an arts complex. current exhibition A visit to the Louis K. Meisel Gallery in will be available New York City exposed Ozeri to photorethrough Jan. 2, alism for the first time, and he eventually 2022. began exploring this hybrid art form. Photorealism Initially, he used his children as portrait is an artistic promodels and then began to focus on women cess in which the in nature and forests. artist creates and According to Ozeri, most photorealist manipulates digartists paint landscapes and still life paintital images from ings, but he chose women because of their a camera that are Yigal Ozeri beauty and vitality with deep connections then reproduced to nature. One of his best-known portraits on paper or canvas, providing the base is one of Lizzy Jagger, daughter of Mick for painting. Ozeri says that he “recreates Jagger, in which he chose to retain the view the image in the computer to better fit his of her smoking for its special visual effect. inner reality” and then paints so that he Untitled: Territory depicts a beautiful “erases the photography.” Israeli soldier — Shely Ben-Joseph — smilOzeri studied art at the Institute of ing and luxuriating on a beach. She wears Plastic Arts in Bat Yam from 1977-1980, her uniform, and Ozeri admiringly speaks
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Untitled: Territory, 2012, oil on paper, from a private collection
of her role as a supervisor in the army’s cyber defense unit. While initially concentrating on portraits of women, his daughter, Shear Ozeri, who works with him, suggested that he consider New York as representing another kind of beauty. He began a series focusing on food vendors and other people on the streets of New York. It was a big change to “paint reality,” he said during a tour of Brush with Reality. As the place where he spent the developmental years of his art career, Ozari says that New York “defined him as an artist and human.” The Flint Institute of Arts previously included Ozeri’s work in a 2018 exhibit titled From Lens to Eye to Hand: Photorealism 1969 to Today, which explored the 50-year history of photorealism. “In that show, Yigal Ozeri’s work was part of the section featuring the new generation of photorealists,” Tracee Glab, curator of collections and exhibitions at the Flint Institute of Arts, said. “Our audience really loved his work, which stood out among the others in the show. In speaking with his dealer Louis Meisel, we were made aware that a retrospective of his works was available. We jumped at the chance to have his work back here, but in a more thorough presentation.”
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FLINT INSTITUTE OF ARTS
SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
THEATER
One-Act Play Festival
Jewish playwrights to shine at Village Players’ Birmingham theater. SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A
n architect, a pediatrician, a drafting/ computer-aided design instructor and a director of high school theater programs share an interest in writing plays, and all have had their scripts produced by community theaters around the metro area. Now they’re preparing for a new round of presentations brought about by Playwrights @ Work, which joins them together with about a dozen like-minded enthusiasts seriously pursuing theatrical interests apart from their fulltime careers. Participants help each other by critiquing plays in progress and offering suggestions to move along individual projects to satisfying completion. Sponsored by the Village Players of Birmingham, Playwrights @ Work will showcase the 2021 One-Act Festival Friday-Sunday, Oct. 15-17, at the stage company’s Birmingham theater. The architect, Stephen Sussman, of Bloomfield Township, introduces The Prize, which is about a young man immersed in Sussman’s dayStephen to-day profession Sussman but facing a moral dilemma connected to a design competition. Although not explicitly Jewish, the drama features a main character with a Jewishsounding last name. Another
Sussman play, Matzoh Brei, produced years ago, was associated with the playwright’s religion. “Playwriting is a creative outlet for me,” says Sussman, whose works have been performed by the Ridgedale Players, Rosedale Community Players and St. Dunstan’s Theatre. “It’s very gratifying to hear actors speak my words, and it’s a great thrill to watch audiences respond.” In the six-member cast, another featured playwright, pediatrician Udi Kapen, portrays the lead character. Udi Kapen Kapen, of West Bloomfield, takes a leap of fantasy in writing The Final Frontier, profiling an unhappy husband whose daydreams let him feel as if he can escape into outer space. One of three characters, the husband in question imagines himself in a setting that could bring him the relief he craves. “I love Star Trek,” says Kapen, whose last play, Elijah’s Cup, was presented using Zoom as hosted by his congregation, B’nai Israel Synagogue of West Bloomfield. This playwright, featured among the cast, has appeared in some 30 productions for community theaters and especially enjoys roles that let him sing. “It’s fun to write a short play,” says Kapen, who started developing his own plotlines after appearing in the works of
others. “It’s also important to show the satisfaction of being true to yourself.” The design instructor, Jackie Sue Salter of Waterford, remains true to herself with Comic Book Hero, a play about a comic book writer in a rut and findJackie Sue ing a way to leave Salter that rut by basing a story on a friend without telling that friend. “I used to be a comic book collector, and I thought it would be a lot of fun to work on a play about comic books,” says Salter, an adjunct instructor at Oakland Community College who wrote three characters into this production. Salter has been involved with community theaters since 1976, appearing onstage and more often taking on responsibilities required backstage. She has worked with Clarkston Village Players and Pontiac Theatre IV in showcasing what she has written. “This will be my fourth time in the annual One-Act Festival, and I’m glad to be part of it,” she says. Other plays she has written have included portrayals of a cosmetic entrepreneur and two very different sisters reacting to their father’s death. The theater director at Clarkston High School, Jennifer Ward, of Royal Oak, came up with a reality-based drama. She relates the emotions of three women called to
a hospital and waiting to learn which one is the mother of a shooting victim. Five characters enter into the plotline. “I couldn’t let this story go,” says Ward, who serves with a committee at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre (JET) to choose plays for staged readings. “I discovered theater late in life and found that playwriting gives me a way to bring my interests together — writing, language arts and theater.” “My plays have been performed by the Open Book Theatre in Trenton and the Ridgedale Players in Troy,” says Ward, who has chosen comedic Jennifer themes for other Ward projects. “I’m very happy to be associated with the Village Players and the other playwrights in our group.” Cast members for the four short plays were chosen during open auditions just as they are for the longer productions.
Details The 2021 One-Act Festival runs at 8 p.m. Friday-Saturday, Oct. 15-16, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 17, at the Village Playhouse in Birmingham. $10. (248) 644-2075. birminghamvillageplayers.com.
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ARTS&LIFE
Brilliant Detroit Seeks Volunteers
NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
A WOMAN WAS NEEDED, NOBEL PRIZE NOTE The Last Duel opens in theaters on Oct. 15. Directed by Ridley Scott, the film depicts the last (1386) legally sanctioned “trial by combat” in French history. The trial really happened and remains famous in France to this day. Amazingly complete records of the trial still exist, and there are other written sources that relay what many prominent men thought about the trial as it was happening. These sources formed the basis of a bestselling (2004) historical study called The Last Duel, and the book was the starting point for the film’s screenplay. The basic story: Jean Carrouges (Matt Damon), a knight, and Jacques LeGris (Adam Driver), a squire, are ordered to fight to the death after Carrouges’ wife, Marguerite (Jodie Comer), accuses LeGris of raping her. If Carrouges loses, Marguerite will be burned at the stake for perjury. The screenplay was co-written by Damon, Ben Affleck and Nicole Holofcener, 61. This is the first film Damon and Affleck have written together since they won an Oscar for co-writing Good Will Hunting. Some months ago, when I saw Holofcener’s name on the credits, I wondered how she came to co-write a medieval action movie. She is known as the director and writer of films set in the present that focus
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on romantic relationships and/or female friendships (Enough, Lovely and Amazing, Friends with Money). A Sept. 13, 2021, N.Y. Times interview with Damon, Affleck and Holofcener gave the answer. The film, the Times says, is divided into three chapters: the “truth” according to Carrouges, the “truth” according to LeGris and, finally, “the truth” according to Marguerite. Damon and Affleck wrote the male perspectives, but felt they needed a woman to write Marguerite’s story. They told the Times that there were very good records as to what the men thought, but virtually no records about what Marguerite — or any woman of that era — was thinking or saying. They really wanted Holofcener to work with them, and she quickly agreed to be a co-writer. She pored over what sources she could find as she strived to write an historically and emotionally plausible exposition of Marguerite’s story from Marguerite’s perspective. I imagine the release of the prequel film The Many Saints of Newark has had many old Sopranos fans thinking about rewatching Sopranos episodes. Those who have only seen Many Saints, and liked it, will likely watch the HBO series. Here are some Sopranosrelated items I think will interest both groups. If you want more of the late James Gandolfini, the great actor who played the lead role (Tony) in the
DISNEY INTERACTIVE MEDIA GROUP
CELEBRITY NEWS
Sopranos, do check out two films: Enough, a really smart and moving romantic film co-starring Gandolfini and Julia-Louis Dreyfus. It was written and directed by Nicole Holofcener. Also, Not Fade Away, a 2012 film written and directed by David Chase, the Sopranos creator. The setting is the mid-’60s and the film focuses on Doug, an Italian-American teen who wants to be a rock star. John Magaro, now 34, plays Doug. Gandolfini masterfully depicts the “mellowing” of Doug’s “anti-hippie” father. Overall, the film is so/ so (now streaming on Hulu). I was moved when I realized that a Jewish American scientist, David Julius, 65, and an Armenian American scientist, Ardem Patapoutian, 41, were the co-winners of the 2021 Nobel Prize in medicine. In some sense, they “say” that our respective peoples were the victims of the two worst genocides of the 20th century, but “we” are still here, and we are still doing great things for humanity.
Brilliant Detroit and AARP Foundation Experience Corps are partnering to bring an evidence-based program that connects growing young readers with caring adult volunteers who tutor them in literacy. As host of the Experience Corps program, Brilliant Detroit seeks volunteers to become literacy tutors and mentors to students in the first through third grades who are a part of the Brilliant Detroit community and attend its after-school programs. The goal is to work alongside these students as they grow and help build reading confidence through their literacy journeys. The program will kick off in January 2022 at three Brilliant Detroit locations: Littlefield (12789 Indiana Ave.), Brightmoor (15509 Heyden St.) and Chandler Park (5312 Newport St.). Due to the pandemic, the program will offer virtual tutoring to students through Zoom and, in the future, in-person tutoring as well. To qualify, volunteers for the program need to be 50 years of age, have earned a high school diploma or GED and must pass a criminal background check. From January to May 2022, volunteers will receive comprehensive training, dedicate time twice weekly for one-on-one sessions with their assigned reading partner and contribute to an environment of love, safety and growth. The training includes a structured curriculum for early childhood reading growth, support around virtual tutoring and technical assistance for using Zoom. Volunteers will need access to a computer, laptop or tablet along with reliable internet. Interested individuals can attend a virtual informational session from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 14 or contact Experience Corp Project Lead, Victoria Holsey, at vholsey@brilliantdetroit.org or (313) 570-3523.
ON THE GO
PEOPLE | PLACES | EVENTS
‘CLUE’ ON STAGE OCT. 13-NOV. 7 At Meadow Brook Theatre on the campus of Oakland University in Rochester. Tickets range from $36 to $46 and are available by calling the Meadow Brook Theatre box office at 248-377-3300 or going online at ticketmaster. com. Student discounts are available at the box office. Groups of eight or more should call 248-370-3316 for group pricing. SELF ENRICHMENT 8:30 AM, OCT. 14 On Thursday mornings, The Well starts the day by nourishing bodies and souls. Join for mindful morning learning and music that will leave you energized, connected and ready to start the day. Info: meetyouatthewell.org. MEDICARE COUNSELING OCT. 15-DEC. 7 Make your phone or Zoom appointment today with a Medicare counselor who can help you review your prescription drug benefits during Open Enrollment, generally the only period during the year when you may switch to a different plan for 2022. The nonprofit Area Agency on Aging 1-B’s Medicare Medicaid Assistance Program offers free, unbiased counseling. Certified counselors are not affiliated with insurance companies. Appointments are available by calling 800-803-7174. A phone number or Zoom link will be sent before the session.
with developmental disabilities. For information and to purchase tickets: jennykabert@jarc.org; 248940-2617.
‘CLUE’ ON STAGE OCT. 13-NOV. 7 MICHIGAN MAKERS MARKET 10 AM-4 PM, OCT. 16 At the Hawk Community Center, 29995 W. 12 Mile Road, Farmington Hills. The Michigan Makers Market is a one-stop shop for handmade gifts. The juried craft fair will feature fine art, beautiful jewelry, high-quality creative goods, handcrafted soaps and candy from approximately 50 local artists. Admission is free. For more information, contact Karla Aren, 248699-6709 or email at karen@fhgov.com. CONCERT SET 8-9:30 PM, OCT. 16 The Chamber Music Society of Detroit will present the Escher Quartet with Terrence Wilson,
Escher Quartet, Oct. 16
pianist. The event will be at Seligman Performing Arts Center, 22305 W. 13 Mile Road, Beverly Hills, MI, 48025. For tickets, call 313-335-3300. JARC AT M1 CONCOURSE NOON-8 PM, SUNDAY, OCT. 17 JARC presents is fall fundraising event at the M1 Concourse (1 Concourse Drive, Pontiac). The unique event will feature thrill rides in cars around the M1’s Champion Motor Speedway, live music performances by the Mega ’80s and other special music guests, and 1980s arcade games, an open bar, dinner and the largest outdoor event tent in Michigan at M1’s newly renovated two-story event center. A special VIP event will also feature an opportunity for VIP ticket holders to drive a Dodge Hellcat on the M1 racetrack between 11:30 and 2 p.m. and will include a 30-minute predrive safety session and a six-lap drive around the track following a lead car. Proceeds from the event will go to fund JARC’s many programs supporting individuals
AUTHOR TO SPEAK 7 PM, OCT 17 Eleanor Roosevelt, Greater Pittsburgh, Kalamazoo & Tikvah Hadassah presents We Are Going to Be Lucky: A World War 11 Love Story in Letters with author Liz Fox. Register by Oct. 14 at hadassahmidwest. org/Lucky. There is a $10 event fee. EXHIBIT OPENS 6-8 PM, OCT. 19 Curated by Sara Masak, “Community Ties” will open at Dresner Foundation Soul Studio, Friendship Circle Farber Center, 5586 Drake Road, West Bloomfield. See many artists’ woven artwork. Info: friendshipcircle.org/ exhibition. BRAIN HEALTH 1-2:30 PM, OCT. 20 “Melody and Memory: Your Brain on Music” with Michael Krieger, singer/songwriter. He will discuss the positive impact music has on our brains. In addition to its entertainment value, Michael will discuss how music can improve cognitive performance, reduce stress, improve sleep, manage pain, enhance mood and impact our motivation. Register in advance for this Zoom event. Info: MindU@ jfsdetroit.org or 248-788MIND. continued on page 46 OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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ON THE GO
FOOD
PEOPLE | PLACES | EVENTS
FROM THE HOME KITCHEN OF CHEF AARON
continued from page 45
The Well meet-up, Oct. 20
MICRO MEET-UP 5 PM, OCT 20 At Franklin Cider Mill, 48301 Franklin Drive, Franklin. The Well will host this meet-up to get to know some new friends in the neighborhood. This event is for those residing in Woodward Corridor suburbs. Partners or friends from other neighborhoods are welcome. Due to the generosity of donors, there is no cost to attend, but advance registration is required so we can plan for the right amount of people. Cider and donuts on us; additional purchases on you. Register: meetyouatthewell. org/calendar/microwoodward. MODERN-DAY REFUGEES 7 PM, OCT. 20 “Refugees and Resettlement in Michigan and Around the World” with Rachel Yoskowitz will be a virtual gathering on Zoom sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan. She will explore the subject of modern-day refugees, gleaning wisdom from previous refugee
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resettlement efforts and understanding how Metro Detroit plays a part in this larger process. Cost: $10 for members; $18 for nonmembers. Register by 9 pm on Tuesday, Oct. 19; michiganjewishhistory. org. CAREGIVER SUPPORT 1:30-2:30 PM, OCT. 21 Virtual Caregiver Support Groups for individuals who are care partners for those living with cognitive changes including various types of dementia. Contact Dorothy Moon, Brown Adult Day Program social worker, for Zoom link and more information. 248- 233-4392, dmoon@ jvshumanservices.org. ART EXHIBIT THROUGH NOV. 4 Five free, new and unique visual arts exhibitions are on display now at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, 1516 S. Cranbrook Road, Birmingham. Monday– Thursday 9 am–5 pm; Fridays & Saturdays 9 am–4 pm. Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant. Send items at least 14 days in advance to calendar@ thejewishnews.com.
Stewed Black Beans with Tomatoes and Mushrooms
T
his summer, I’ve been growing beans for drying, a pair of interesting heirloom varietals. Clearly, in my garden, the genetics of the black beans were dominant, as I’ve gotten to nearly a quart of harvested Chef Aaron beans removed Egan from their pods. It’s remarkably rewarding to have the harvest so visibly stored away, and there’s a lot of pods yet to harvest on the bean plants, representing at least another pint of beans. Dry beans are incredibly versatile, and all have more or less the same methods of cookery behind them; the major variation simply being how long it takes to cook them. Pressure cookers will reduce the time greatly and are a boon to those who eat beans (and other long-cooked foods) regularly.
Older beans will take longer to cook fully (which we define as squishably soft, but not falling apart of their own volition) while fresh beans will take less time. STEWED BLACK BEANS WITH TOMATOES AND MUSHROOMS Yield: 6-8 portions as a side dish, 4 as a main item Ingredients 1 cup dry black beans, sorted and rinsed (make sure there are no stones in your pot of food!) 4 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more as needed 1 cup yellow onion, diced ½ cup carrot, diced ½ cup celery, diced 4 cloves garlic, minced 1 oz. dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated in hot water and sliced Water 1 sprig thyme 8-10 stems’ worth of parsley leaves, chopped roughly, stems retained
the exchange 2 bay leaves 2 Tbsp. honey 1 pint grape, cherry or teardrop tomatoes (smallish is the goal), sliced in half Freshly ground black pepper Kosher salt Directions Soaking your beans isn’t strictly necessary, but it will help facilitate even and speedy cooking. After rinsing and sorting the beans, cover them with at least a quart of water, and let them sit on the counter or in the fridge, covered, until needed. Soak the mushrooms about an hour before they’re needed. As you prepare to cut them, strain the liquid they soaked in through a coffee filter, and save it for later. There should be at least 1-2 cups of water remaining from the soaking. As you prepare to cook this dish, strain all the soaking liquid off the beans, and set them aside; discard this soaking liquid. In a large, heavybottomed cooking pot (a French oven or something of the sort), heat the oil over medium-high heat, and when it’s shimmering, add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook until the onion begins to become translucent and softens slightly, maybe 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic, and cook until fragrant, another 3-5 minutes at most. Add the mushrooms and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
Pour the reserved, strained liquid from the mushrooms into the pot, and then add the beans. Pour over water to cover by about an inch, and add the thyme, parsley stems, bay leaves, honey and several good grinds of black pepper. Fiddle with your stove to bring the beans to a gentle simmer and hold them there at a simmer to cook until they’re done (squishably soft, but not falling apart.) This might be as little as 1 hour, or as much as 5, depending on your beans. Stir occasionally and check after 45 minutes to see how tender the beans have gotten, sampling periodically until you’re satisfied. Add liquid if needed. As the beans begin to reach their desired doneness, check the liquid levels carefully; you don’t want to have a black bean soup here, but rather something approaching baked bean consistency. As the beans finish cooking, stir in the sliced tomatoes, and let the heat of the cooked beans begin to break them down. Let this cook for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and fold in the chopped parsley leaves. Serve hot as a side vegetable, or over grits or polenta as a main course. Enjoy! Chef Aaron blogs on the Facebook page of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue. Reprinted with permission.
community bulletin board | professional services
For information regarding advertising please call 248-351-5116 Deadline for ad insertion is 10am on Friday prior to publication.
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CALL JOHN: 248 -770-8772 FORMER MARINE HEALTHCARE A1 CAREGIVER/COMPANION. Experienced, excellent references. 248-991-4944
Private duty caregiver with 15 years experience and vaccinated. Very Compassionate and would love to care for your loved one. Please call Yvone (313) 454-6222 or leave message and I will return your call.
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TRANSPORTATION
"Help is on the way!" My name is Charla Blair and I am a CNA looking to help with all your senior healthcare needs. I provide companion care, skilled nursing and many other services at an affordable rate. Please call 313 595 5796
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Exp. private duty caregiver for 27 yrs would love to care for your loved one. Melinda (313) 208-3305 Hi, I am a nurse accepting new clients to offer in home skilled and non skilled nursing services. Please call Gina (313) 858-0758
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Stay in the know with all things Jewish...
Free Attic, Crawl Space & Basement Inspections WANTED TO RENT Looking for 1-2 bedroom for rent. Call Lena (248) 688-6675 ANTIQUES WANTED. / BUYING / ANTIQUES & COLLECTIBLESCOINS, STAMPS, WATCHES, CAMERASPlease Call (248) 259-8088 or Text (313)395-8599Website= a.airsite.coEmail= wevexgotxstuff@aol.com MISCELLANEOUS WANTED HELP WANTED AT SLADE'S GIFT SHOP![br /]Stock person to run back room, unload shipments & stock. Part-time sales girl with some experience, please. Call Judy 248-851-0066. MISCELLANEOUS Hard working woman looking for housekeeping position. 30 years experience with great references. Call Lana 313-534-1514
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Offers clients the ability to obtain prescriptions without leaving home, receive carefully chosen food orders, have clothing needs fulfilled, transportation to doctors appointments, kids delivered to and from school, or just a companion for your elderly parents! A Lewis Carroll quote is my mantra: "One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others." With my experience as a certified natural health practitioner, a KinderCare infant room teacher, and an independent contractor in elder care and hospice...I’m your Service Professional! Please call to schedule my services 248-765-5881
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OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY
JACK BINDES, 85, of West Bloomfield, died Oct. 5, 2021. He is survived by his wife of 60 years, Susan Bindes; daughters and sons-in-law, Molly and Michael Herzoff, and Jennifer and Michael Fishman; grandchildren, Dean and Sarah Herzoff, Devon Herzoff, Brett Fishman and Dylan Fishman; brother-in-law and sister-inlaw, Daniel and Irene Biber; other loving relatives and a world of friends. Mr. Bindes was the proud grandfather of the late Drew Herzoff; the devoted son of the late Esther Hecker and the late Maurice Bindes; the loving son-in-law of the late Pearl and the late Max Biber; the dear brother-in-law of the late David Biber. Interment was at Adat Shalom Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), 120 Wall St., 29th Floor, New York, NY 10005, afsp.org; Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 24359 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 125, Southfield, MI 48075, jdrf.org; or JARC, 6735 Telegraph, Suite 100, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301, jarc.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. DALE BOESKY, 91, devoted husband, father, grandfather, greatgrandfather, psychoanalyst, author and teacher, died peacefully at home on Oct. 3, 2021. He
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Fannie Hubert 11 Cheshvan Oct. 17 16 Cheshvan Oct. 22 Samuel Schwartz Goldie Breshgold Benjamin Apt Morris Singerman Ida Elias Bertha Apt Harry Walkon Ida Furman Hugo Apt Michael Sheldon Gross 14 Cheshvan Oct. 20 Abraham Louis Bresoff Esther Langwald Moses Philip Ellenson Sam Cohen David Lapides William Finnk Helen Cohn Louis Papo Abraham Freed Naomi Ellias Dallen Harry Pfeiffer Rose Katz Mason Gantz Rose S. Rabin Julius Portnoy Leah Lakritz Mendel Rabinovitch Joseph Rabinowitz Jacob Levin Bluma Rubin Henry Rosenmund Ben Matz Donald Schiff Harold Sherr Mitchell Stein Mollie Stein 12 Cheshvan Oct. 18 15 Cheshvan Oct. 21 Max Efros 17 Cheshvan Oct. 23 Joseph Burstein Alex Joseph Esther Averbach Annie Citrin Rose Kazdan Riva Boesky Irwin I. Cohn Devora Kazerinsky Bertha Corn Abraham Diem Pearl Knoppow Esther Domnitch Norman George Feingold Joseph Frenkel Yolan Leibowitz David Goldberg Harry Shafer Sophie Lerman Gloria Lea Dr. Julian Stern Esther Mindlin Phillip Lewis Max Taitelbaum Samuel Revzin Morris Weiss Lena Rosenbaum Frieda Lux Sally Sherman 13 Cheshvan Oct. 19 Helen Mertz Ethel Shorr Jack Blitzer Marietta Moscovici Esther Singer Benjamin Bragman Pearl Ruffsky Harry Stein Samuel Burns Joseph Wexler Jack Stein Joseph Irving Friedman Fannie Zingeser Lena Zager Lillian Gordon School for Boys • Beth Jacob School for Girls • Bais Yehudah Preschool Weiss Family Partners Detroit • Kollel Bais Yehudah • Maalot Detroit P.O. Box 2044 • Southfield, MI 48037• 248-557-6750 • www.YBY.org
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OF BLESSED MEMORY continued from page 49
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OBITUARIES
lived a full life and will be deeply missed. Dale was born in Detroit in 1930, the older of two sons born to Albert and Belena Boesky. He lived his entire life in the greater Detroit area except for a brief stint in the Army. Dale loved to travel to visit his children and grandchildren across the country. He was passionate about photography, jazz and classical music. For his bar mitzvah, Dale was given a volume of Freud by a family friend and became fascinated, which ultimately led him to become a psychoanalyst. He earned his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of Michigan. He then met and married Elaine Berlow, with whom he raised three daughters, Sara, Amy and Julie. Elaine died in 1993. He found love again and married Judy Fisher in 1996, and they enjoyed a loving marriage for the last 25 years. Mr. Boesky is survived by his wife, Judy; his brother, Roger; his daughters, Sara (Geoff) Glass, Amy Boesky (Jacques Perold) and Julie Boesky (Jonathan Shapiro);
his grandchildren, Jennifer Glass, Rachel Glass, Sacha Perold, Libby Perold, Maddy Shapiro, Ben Shapiro; their spouses and partners; greatgrandson, Luca Horowitz. Dale is also survived by Judy’s sons, Mark (Julie) Fisher, Scott (Sara) Fisher; their children, Sarah, Olivia, Joel and Gabe. Contributions may be made to Mel Bornstein Clinic for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy; Friendship Circle Soul Center, Meer Family Friendship Center, 6892 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322; or to a charity of your choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. DAVID COHEN, 87, of Farmington Hills, died Oct. 3, 2021. He graduated from SUNY Brockport in 1956, where he lettered in football and track. He was a Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities in 1955 and 1956. David began his professional career as a schoolteacher and coach in Long Island, N.Y., then transitioned to a long sales
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career. Moving to Michigan, he worked as a manufacturer’s representative. He was in the President’s Club for Levi’s in the women’s wear division in 1983. Mr. Cohen was a retired naval commander. He served as president as well as umpire and chief manager for NFWB Little League baseball. He was also the president of the North Farmington High School Booster Club for eight years. Considering all his accomplishments, David was most proud of his family. He devoted his life to his wife, children and grandchildren; and that devotion and admiration extended to his extended family and friends as well. Mr. Cohen is survived by
his wife of 62½ years, Sylvia Cohen; sons and daughters-inlaw, Jeffrey and Marlene Cohen, Daniel and Cari Cohen, and Douglas and Allyson Cohen; grandchildren, Aaron Ephlin, and Jared, Jacob, Seth, Lacey and Tony Cohen; sisters-in-law and brothers-in-law, Molly and Gary Parro, and Mitzi and Michael Ashe; many loving nieces, nephews, cousins and a world of friends. Mr. Cohen was the loving brother of the late Jean Cohen and the late Edward Cohen; the dear brother-in-law of the late Nathaniel and the late Vivienne Ackman; the devoted son of the late Abraham and the late Anna Cohen; the loving son-in-law of the late Louis and the late Dorothy Ackman.
Interment was at Adat Shalom Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Wounded Warriors, P.O. Box 758516, Topeka, KS 66675, woundedwarriorproject.org; or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, stjude. org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. BEATRICE FINK DANIEL, 88, of Arlington and Ashburn, Va., passed away peacefully at home surrounded by her loving family Sept. 22, 2021. She was born in Detroit to Solomon Fink and Mollie (Zakuska/Zaks). She lived
with her family above her “grandmother” (who was her great-aunt) Becky Cooper’s general store. She attended the original Cass Technical High School. In 1957, she was introduced by her friend Leah to her future husband, Herman David Daniel. They married and moved to Chicago, where they had two daughters; in 1965, they moved to Arlington, Va., for his work with the Navy. There Beatrice became a realtor. In 2008, they moved to Ashby Ponds Senior Living in Ashburn, Va., where she made so many friends. Everyone loved Bea. One of her proudest moments was becoming a bat mitzvah at age 74 at Temple continued on page 52
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OF BLESSED MEMORY continued from page 51
Rodef Shalom in Falls Church, Va. Another moment was the surprise wedding of her grandson Austin and his fiancé, Ally, complete with rabbi in her room just one week before she passed away. Another moment of pride was the graduation of her grandson Ian from the University of Virginia in 2019. Mrs. Daniel was the beloved wife for 59 years of the late Lt. Col. Herman David Daniel (USAF); loving sister of the late Jack and David Fink. She was the mother of Hilary Daniel Engelhardt (Steven) and the late Melissa Daniel Dabney (Kevin); grandmother of Austin (Alexandra Shaw) and Ian Dabney. She is also survived by many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews
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and her dear friend Willodean Wolcyznyski of Trenton. Contributions may be made to the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition, foster-adopt.org, so that no foster child ever has to leave home with their belongings in a trash bag. A graveside service will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a date to be determined. Condolences may be sent to Hilary Daniel Engelhardt, hilary@gbhinc.net. BORIS FERSHT, 87, of West Bloomfield, died Oct. 3, 2021. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Alla and Igor Paris; grandchildren, Alexander Paris and Joseph Paris; sister, Raisa Dashevsky; many other loving family
members and friends. Mr. Fersht was the beloved husband of the late Frida Fersht; the brother-in-law of the late Irving Dashevsky. Interment took place at Adat Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. LESLIE ALLAN GREENBLATT, 75, of Ann Arbor, died Oct. 5, 2021. He was an avid collector of words, books and stray animals. Mr. Greenblatt received an Outstanding Educator Award from Prince George’s County
Maryland Schools in 1989 and the TESLO/Newbury House Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1992. He also won several word contests over the years. Mr. Greenblatt was a member of Temple Shomer Emunim in Toledo. For 30 years he was a teacher, most of that time in English as a second language. He also taught on many levels, from pre-K through high school, college and adult education. This included courses at the University of Maryland at its College Park, Baltimore County and Eastern Shore campuses. In addition, he was a consultant for the Center for Applied Linguistics in Washington, D.C. He wrote or co-wrote several articles
for various periodicals and journals on teaching English to international students and presented workshops at teacher conferences across the country. His career also included being a president of WATESOL (Washington Area Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages). He was in the U.S. Army from 1966-1969. He earned his B.S. degree from Wayne State University and a master’s degree from Trinity College in Washington, D.C. When he retired from teaching in 1998, he went to work for his brother, Barry, owner of Barry Bagels. Mr. Greenblatt is survived by his sister-in-law, Judie Greenblatt of Toledo; nieces and nephews, Mark and Stephanie Greenblatt, Mindy and Jason Streem, Marnie and Daniel Sulzer; great-nieces and great-nephews, Mason, Spencer, Samuel, Bradyn, Benjamin, Joshua, Nolal, Oliver. Mr. Greenblatt was the beloved brother of the late Barry Greenblatt. Contributions may be made to Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, Guiding Eyes for the Blind, Planned Pethood, Jewish Braille Institute. A graveside service was held at Workmen’s Circle Cemetery, Ostrovitzer Section. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. KENNETH BERNARD RICH, 91, Farmington Hills, died Oct. 1, 2021. He is survived by his son, Michael Rich; daughters and sons-in-law, Jill Bee Rich and David Lepofsky, Amy and Randy Kazdan; brother-in-law, Marshall
Markle; grandchildren, Joshua and Jami Kazdan, Jeremy Kazdan and girlfriend, Chelsea Wise, Mikayla Kazdan and boyfriend, Ryan Elbers, and Raia Lepofsky; greatgrandchild, Jonah Kazdan; sister-in-law, Lois Greenwald loving aunt, Rose Fink; nieces, nephews, cousins, other family members and friends. Mr. Rich was the beloved husband of the late Harriet Kolko Rich; the brother of the late Bernice (the late Henry) Segal, the late Rachelle Markle; brother-in-law of the late Billy Greenwald and the late Phyllis Kolko. Contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America or Temple Emanu-El. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. SANDRA RUSSMAN, 86, of Farmington Hills, died Oct. 1, 2021. She is survived by her sons and daughters, Larry and Helaine Russman, Scott Russman and Mickey Zeldes, Les and Bob Iwrey, and Debbie and David Crowley; grandchildren, Amy Szerman, Ian and Jennifer Crowley, Erin and Steve Anderson, Alison Crowley, Charles and Stefanie Russman, Caryn Russman, Adam Russman, Ben Iwrey and Ellie Hansotte, Hannah and Brandon Hoffman, Maddy Iwrey, Jamie Stanfield, Jessie and Kate Stanfield, and Jason and Missy Stanfield; great-grandchildren, Zoe, Mia and Ava Crowley, Charlotte and Elizabeth Stanfield, Isaac Russman, Gavi Iwrey Hansotte, Morgan Szerman, Cooper Anderson,
and Ori Iwrey Hansotte; sistersin-law, Cathy Verona, Lois Verona and Debbie Verona; many loving nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Mrs. Russman was the beloved wife of the late Robert Russman and the late Charles Klein; the cherished mother of the late Michelle and the late Steve Avakian, and the late Melissa Russman Stanfield; the proud grandmother of the late Alisha Stanfield; and the loving sister of the late Erwin Verona, the late Donald Verona and the late Bobby Verona. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Temple Israel, Les & Bob Iwrey Children’s Bedtime Ritual Fund, 5725 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48323, temple-israel.org/tributes; or to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. HAROLD STEIN, 91, of Bloomfield Hills, died Oct. 2, 2021. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Lois Stein; daughters and son-in-law, Jodie Stein, Wendy Nicholas, and Maureen and Barry Frankel; son and daughter-in-law, William and Deborah Stein; grandchildren, Daniel Stein, Eric and Jessica Stein, Jacob Stein and Jack Frankel; sister-in-law and brother-in-law, Sheila and Miles Hurwitz; many loving nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Mr. Stein was the loving brother of the late Milton and the late Lillian Stein; the devoted son of the late William Stein and the late Ida Stein Karp. Interment was at Beth El
Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. MICHAEL WEINER, 66, of Berkley, died Oct. 4, 2021. He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, Jillian and Brian Shooks, and Kylie and Joseph Carlson; grandchildren, Scarlett and Grayson Shooks; sister, Barbara Weiner Taylor; nieces and nephew, Wendy Allen, and Victoria and Shawn Travis. He is also survived by the mother of his children, Candice McKim. Mr. Weiner was the devoted son of the late William and the late Rosalie Weiner; the dear uncle of the late Shannon Allen. Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, 383 Main Ave., 5th Floor, Norwalk, CT 06851, themmrf.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.
OBITUARY CHARGES The processing fee for obituaries is: $125 for up to 100 words; $1 per word thereafter. A photo counts as 15 words. There is no charge for a Holocaust survivor icon. The JN reserves the right to edit wording to conform to its style considerations. For information, have your funeral director call the JN or you may call Sy Manello, editorial assistant, at (248) 351-5147 or email him at smanello@ thejewishnews.com. OCTOBER 14 • 2021
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Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Deli Chronicles
I
recently wrote a “Looking Back” about the late Jewish comedian Jackie Mason. Part of the story was about the JN and Stage Delisponsored contest to create a Jackie Mason Sandwich. While doing the research for Mason and his sandwich in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Mike Smith Detroit History, I ran Alene and Graham Landau across thousands of Archivist Chair references for “Delis.” So, I thought I should write about a few of these deli stories. Now, I realize that I am venturing into dangerous waters here; by that I mean, dangerous for me! I only have about 500 words, so I’m sure to miss naming some of your favorites. What really inspired me was an obituary for Harriet Goldberg titled: “She Always Wanted to Make People Happy” (Oct. 16, 2014, JN). Harriet was the wife of Jack Goldberg, the duo that founded the Stage Deli in Oak Park in 1962. Where did the young couple first meet? Where Jack was working — at Ben & George’s Deli in Detroit! One of my pathfinders for deli knowledge is Danny Raskin, of course. For example, Harriet and Jack were frequently mentioned in his columns because he loved the chicken soup at Stage Deli. I understand Grandma’s recipe is still used today. I found several great stories about the small, but mighty Star Deli that Sid Neuman and his late wife, Rose, bought in 1973. Today, Sid and his son, Harry, still run the Star. My
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favorite Star Deli story relates to a meeting that Detroiter and then Ambassador to Norway David Hermelin held in 1998, for which he asked Star Deli to cater the Nov. 2, 1999, event (Aug. 9, 2002, JN). ). Guests included President Bill Clinton, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat. But, unfortunately, the meeting did not ultimately result in the peace that had been hoped for. A personal favorite of mine is the Hygrade Deli on Michigan Avenue in Detroit, owned by the Litt family since 1972. For my money, it has the best Reuben in the city. A few miles west of Detroit, there is the world-famous Zingerman’s. It was established in 1982 by two U-M students, Ari Weinzweig and Paul Saginaw, who couldn’t find a good deli in Ann Arbor. I still think about the salami sandwich I had at Steve’s Deli in Bloomfield Township. Opened in 1993, Joanne Hurwitz still manages the popular deli, which has won numerous awards and recognitions for its fare. And, I’ve not mentioned Avenue Deli or Boesky’s (run by brothers Sam, Harry, Abe, Sol and Bill), or the Pickle Barrel, or Lefkovsky’s or … But I’m out of words, and I’m hungry. Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
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