DJN June 16, 2022

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200 June 16-22, 2022 / 17-23 Sivan 5782

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Hands in the Dirt …

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contents June 16-22, 2022 / 17-23 Sivan 5782 | VOLUME CLXXI, ISSUE 18

26 32 ARTS&LIFE 47

49 PURELY COMMENTARY 4-11

Essays and viewpoints.

OUR COMMUNITY 12

Hands in the Dirt … Heart with Nature

Oak Park herbalist’s Sunny Squirrel Farm is a healing and sharing place.

18 20 22 24

26

28 28

A Fixture in Kalamazoo

Temple B’nai Israel still going strong after 150 years.

Years of Dedication

Meet Janis Shulman, a lifelong JARC volunteer.

30

FACES AND PLACES 30 32

JARC Annual Flower-a-thon Jewish Family Festival

NEXT DOR 33

34

Carl Levin Remembered

Tech Innovator

ETC.

Meet Jacob Smith, who’s working to connect Detroit’s Black and Jewish communities.

He Created a Buzz

Ben Chosid did everything for the Kalamazoo College baseball team except hit a home run.

‘Not Your Mother’s Judaism’

BUSINESS

Quick Hits

38

Truth and Reconciliation

MAZEL TOV

A Place for Kids who Love STEM

At The Robot Garage, kids learn lifelong skills through fun engineering projects.

Moments

SPIRIT

Hamilton Jewish Federation and Hamilton JCC present the Jewish Movie Club.

Love Movies?

41 42 44

“Women Lighting the Way”

ERETZ 46

Celebrity News

52

Congregation Shaarey Zedek to welcome Park Avenue Synagogue Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove June 23.

Jewish Women’s Foundation members enjoy gathering after COVID hiatus.

51

A Thrilling Adventure

Shock Wave by Al Pessin, Pinnacle Books: New York, 2022.

Partners Detroit Shavuot Program

37

40

49

EVENTS

Friends, family and colleagues of the late senator remember his life at public memorial.

The Detroit church founded by antisemite Father Coughlin hosts an event on Jewish-Catholic relations.

Behind the deal with Jessica Switch.

Evening Dedicated to Torah

SPORTS 36

Cha Cha Real Smooth Bought by Apple TV+ for $15 Million

Torah Portion Loneliness and Faith Synagogue Directory Meet the Olim

Avi Gruber: ‘I Love Being with my People.’

Community Calendar

Spotlight The Exchange Obituaries Looking Back

54 54 56 62

Shabbat Lights

Shabbat starts: Friday, June 17, 8:54 p.m.

Shabbat ends: Saturday, June 18, 10:06 p.m. * Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar.

ON THE COVER: Cover photo: Melina Bronfin and her daughter Eliana Rivka Photo Credit: Jerry Zolynsky Cover Design: Michelle Sheridan

thejewishnews.com Follow Us on Social Media: Facebook @DetroitJewishNews Twitter @JewishNewsDet Instagram @detroitjewishnews

JUNE 16 • 2022

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PURELY COMMENTARY for openers

My Life as the Queen

M

azel tov, Queen Elizabeth! Our friends from across the pond pulled out all the stops June 2-5 to celebrate Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. The four-day celebration commemorated Elizabeth’s 70th year on the throne and, not once in all those years, my sources tell me, have her legs fallen asleep.

It is the longest reign for Alan any British monarch, just Muskovitz don’t bring that up in front of her son Prince Charles.

While the Queen has been slowing down of late and skipped a few Jubilee events due to age-related issues, there’s still no word on when QE2 intends to hand over the keys to the castle to Chuck.

The Prince of Wales, of course, is the heir apparent. But you can’t spell “apparent” without “parent,” and his mum isn’t ready to entrust him with the family business just yet.

Perhaps Liz can’t retire because, like a lot of us, her 401K has been tanking lately.

I’m not an authority on all things royal, but as former listeners to the Dick Purtan radio show may recall, I did portray Her Majesty on the air, with supporting Purtan’s People impersonating Charles and his sons William and Harry. The Royals’ antics provided us with years of good fodder for our comedy sketches.

I’ve referenced my royal radio connection in previous issues over the years, perhaps most notably my meeting and interviewing the real Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson.

She was in town as a spokesperson for Florine Mark and Weight Watchers.

However, allow me to indulge you with a few new tidbits of, or should I say crumpets of, behind-the-scenes details about the escapades that ensued upon the creation of my Queen Elizabeth character for Detroit radio waves. I’ll call this, with apologies, my Jewbilee.

The Queen was not a voice I was looking to impersonate with any degree of accuracy — we simply made her a character. For that I used a high-pitched English accent.

Remember, radio is the theater of the mind.

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Alan Muskovitz as Queen Elizabeth

Ironically, it would be an actual theater that would take my Queen shtick to a whole new level. That theater, rather fittingly, was the Royal Oak Music Theater on Fourth Street in downtown Royal Oak. The occasion was the first annual Dick Purtan’s Comedy Night Out in July of 2007, benefitting the Gail Purtan (of blessed memory) Ovarian Cancer Research Fund.

It included a star-studded line-up of comedians with special guest star (drum roll) …

Tim Allen!

The Michigan native and superstar of television and film has known Dick for years and has generously donated to several of his causes. He graciously agreed to appear for a very rare standup performance. But wait, there’s more!

The evening would be the debut of (drum roll again, please) me dressed up as the Queen! My appearance was a secret to the sold-out audience until a spotlight shone on me from high atop a balcony revealing yours truly in a matronly gown, pearls, white lace gloves, gray wig and a large hat. I was the belle of the ball!

I screeched out a hearty “hellooooooo” and acknowledged the royal roar of a reception with a trademark Queenly slow-motion hand gesture — a cupped hand with a slight

twist of the wrist. With apologies to Leo DiCaprio from Titanic — I was the Queen of the world!

In the years to come, I would make several royal appearances. As part of a WOMC radio station promotion, I was the guest of honor at a couple’s wedding who got married at a White Castle restaurant. The FOX 2 Detroit morning show had me on set in costume providing expert analysis of William and Kate’s royal wedding. Oh dear!

Wait, there’s still more!

I independently produced a video during the royal wedding coverage that had me dancing to, what else, Abba’s Dancing Queen!

I hired the services of local PR guru Carolyn Krieger, owner of CKC agency, to promote the video with the hope of securing appearances on national talk shows.

An NBC executive overseeing late night programming kindly responded, only to inform me they had already employed the services of Australian comedian Barry Humphries, famous for his/her character Dame Edna. But we did get a bite from an Ellen DeGeneres producer who showed some interest! Until they didn’t. A royal disappointment, but not all was lost.

The pièce de résistance came when a prominent local ad agency saw my Dancing Queen video on YouTube and hired me to address a corporate meeting in front of 1,000 guests plus a national satellite audience.

I had one obstacle before agreeing to the appearance. By an unbelievable coincidence and unbeknownst to the ad agency, my daughter Amy had literally just been hired by the firm and would actually be in attendance at her first big meeting! Oh, the horror!

But I only agreed to make the appearance with her blessing … which she gave me! I went on to provide some “royal” humor that fateful day, and my daughter put up with the humiliation of her “royal” pain of a father … yet again. Hey, it pays the bills.

Ta, ta for now!

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.

JUNE 16 • 2022

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PURELY COMMENTARY essay

H

illel Day School’s Class of 2022 was thrilled to travel to Israel on Hillel’s signature eighth grade trip, marking the return of this trip since travel restrictions caused cancellations the past two years. This incredible culmiAmy Sapeika nation of Hillel’s Judaic Studies curriculum allowed the eighth graders to truly connect to the full history, tradition and responsibility of what it means to be a Jew. Their trip began in the north where they hiked, visited the Talmudic Village of Katzrin, bonded with Israeli (and visiting Mexican) teens on a kibbutz, and enjoyed the sights of Tzfat. After a restful Shabbat, a

Kinneret Cruise started the new week.

The students then traveled to Detroit’s partnership region, HaEmek, where they met with students at the Yaarat HaEmek School with whom they have corresponded, collaborated and studied with via Zoom over the years.

They then made their way to Jerusalem to experience many significant sites, including a visit to the Kotel where they engaged in personal prayer. After Jerusalem, they headed to Tel Aviv to visit museums, beaches, and partake in shopping before venturing to Masada and the Dead Sea. The trip concluded with a visit to the Negev to rappell down the Ramon Crater, hike and a visit to Ben-Gurion’s tomb.

After many years learning

COURTESY OF HILLEL

Hillel in Israel

Joe Squarcia, Ryan Reinstein, Head of School Darin Katz and Zeev Maine

about the Jewish holidays in their Hillel studies, a highlight for many students was the opportunity to appreciate the full magnitude and significance of the holidays that they experienced while in Israel. Students visited Yad Vashem and heard from a Holocaust survivor to mark Yom HaShoah. On Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, they attended a memorial ceremony for fallen soldiers at Latrun, attended a service at the historic battle site of Castel and

visited the Mt. Herzl National Cemetery. After reflecting on the sacrifices made to establish the state of Israel, they brought in the joyful holiday of Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel Independence Day, with a silly string fight on Ben Yehuda Street in Jerusalem.

On the last day of the trip, they visited Special in Uniform, an organization dedicated to integrating young adults with disabilities into the Israel Defense Forces and Israeli socicontinued on page 10

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7

PURELY COMMENTARY essay

Yom Yerushalayim: Working Together ‘Hand in Hand’ for Peace

I

n a recent Torah portion in the Jewish News, Rabbi Joseph Krakoff, CEO of the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy Network, told of moving to Michigan, being told he had to pick a college sports team to support, and wrongly choosing both the Mandy Garver University of Michigan and Michigan State as his teams.

Having had a daughter at University of Michigan (Go Blue!) and a son at Michigan State (Go Green!), I understand the dilemma. He tied it very nicely to the week’s parshah, where the tribes of Israel, each under their family banner, marched together. You knew what tribe you belonged to, but also knew you were part of a

bigger whole, the children of Israel. We are all, essentially, on Team Israel.

Obviously, being a part of Hadassah means that you’re on Team Israel by definition.

We are the Women’s Zionist Organization of America. But being on that team, like being part of a family, doesn’t mean ignoring or refusing to acknowledge our warts and faults. Part of belonging to a team or family

means caring enough to try to make the whole better — and that means recognizing flaws and cracks and doing what you can to help correct them.

June 1 was Jerusalem Day — Yom Yerushalayim — a joyous celebration to commemorate the reunification of Jerusalem. Our connection to Jerusalem can’t be overstated — we pray facing Jerusalem; we declare “next year in Jerusalem” at every seder; it

was home to our two temples; and is our physical and spiritual capital. During the 1948 War of Independence, Jordan captured and held East Jerusalem.

We were denied access to East Jerusalem, which included the Kotel and Hadassah Hospital Mt. Scopus.

In the Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967, Israel retook East Jerusalem, and the city was reunited. After 19 years of being denied access to our holy sites, Jews could once again pray at the Kotel, and our capital city was whole. I’m sure we all remember the iconic photo from 1967 of four soldiers, the first to break through, gazing with wonder at the Kotel. It was and is truly a day for joyful celebration.

However, this year’s celebration in Jerusalem was marred by dark, rabid, ugly, hatred. Young members of two far-right religious factions used the march through Jerusalem as an excuse to harass, intimidate and threat-

student’s corner

Bonding as a Class in Montana

A

s a Jewish teen going on the Frankel Jewish Academy Montana trip, I was able to learn so much about the Cheyenne culture. I learned about the battles they fought for their land and mass genocides of their people, but Emmanuela Arkashevsky the Cheyenne people are still holding on to each other as a powerful culture.

When we arrived, we

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JUNE 16 • 2022

camped out in a football field of a Northern Cheyenne High School in Lame Deer for four nights. For our time in Lame Deer, our grade was able to go through many once-in-a-lifetime experiences, one of which was a sweat lodge. A sweat lodge is a type of hut heated up with extremely hot rocks and boiling water, which release steam. The Northern Cheyenne people use this as a ceremony but welcomed us into the sweat lodge as a learning experience.

We were also able to see the Deer Medicine Rocks. These

rocks are very sacred to the Northern Cheyenne, and it was an honor to be invited to a place like this. After walking 2 miles to the rocks, we were able to see how amazing this opportunity was. The Deer Medicine Rocks had a series of carvings on them that represented different things, for example, a lizard is said to be a young girl and a turtle to be a young boy. There were more carvings that in the Cheyenne culture are believed to be predictions of upcoming wars and, because of these wars, many ceremonies started hap-

pening like Sun Dances.

As Jewish people, I noticed that we also do certain things to remember what we lost in wars and genocides of our people and that we also have places that are sacred to us, like Jerusalem.

After staying in Lame Deer and learning about the Northern Cheyenne culture, we spent one night camping in Yellowstone, where we saw the most beautiful scenery. We were able to see tall mountains, warm-colored hot springs and geysers. One of my absolute favorite things that I saw in Yellowstone was the famous

en Jerusalem’s Arab residents.

They shouted hateful slogans like “Death to Arabs” and “Mohammed is dead,” while banging on doors of Arab shops and physically accosting Arab locals. Yair Lapid, Israel’s foreign minister, said of last week’s events, “Instead of a day of joy, extremists are trying to turn Jerusalem Day into a day of hate. Jerusalem deserves better. Israeli society deserves better.”

We, as part of both Hadassah and Team Israel, need to call out hate and bigotry wherever we find it, even if it’s in our own backyard. It would be true to say that those perverting the joy on June 1 into hate, those intent on harm, were in the minority.

Most attending the Yom Yerushalayim events did so in a spirit of joy and celebration.

That fact doesn’t absolve us of the obligation to recognize and condemn what this minority of extremists did.

What’s most troubling about the events are the questions it raises about the direction of Israeli society — are extremist, nationalist views on the rise

both politically and socially?

And what can we, as American Jews do, not Israeli citizens but spiritually tied to our homeland? One thing we can do is support organizations that build bridges and promote peaceful co-existence and education.

For example, Hand in Hand is a bilingual network of schools educating Israeli and Arab children together. Givat Haviva, awarded the UNESCO Prize for Peace Education in 2001, is an organization, founded in 1949, dedicated to bridging the gap between Jewish and Arab Israelis through education, language instruction, culture and art. And there are many, many more.

Israel is such a wonderful, confusing, complex and multi-layered entity. And while we stand with Israel, our home, our heart, we need to work hard from this far shore to help make Israel the best it can be.

Hatred, bigotry and intolerance have no place there, or here.

Old Faithful eruption. I have always heard about Old Faithful, but after seeing it erupt, I can talk about my experience, too.

Sightseeing in Yellowstone was definitely a highlight of the Freshmen Montana trip, but what was even better is that I spent all that time with my friends, which means a lot to me. I can now see my friends at school and talk about all the exciting things we saw together. If I hadn’t shared my experience with them, then I don’t know how the trip would have turned out.

By the time Yellowstone was

over, we were able to spend Shabbat on a ranch, where we all spent our last days in Montana together, remembering all the good times we had.

Learning about the Cheyenne people and seeing all the gorgeous scenery of Montana left so much in our heads. It was a really great way to end the trip at HardScrabble Ranch because it gave us two days to relax and chill together after an impactful and inspirational trip.

Mandy Garver is president of Hadassah Greater Detroit.

Emmanuela Arkashevsky is a freshman at Frankel Jewish Academy.

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PURELY COMMENTARY opinion

SATISH BATE/HINDUSTAN TIMES VIA GETTY IMAGES

Jewish Environmental Thought Is Not Ready for the Climate Crisis. But Our Tradition Is.

S

moke from California’s fires is regularly bad enough to tint the sun on the other side of the country.

Pakistan and India just experienced a devastating heat wave. In the Middle East, temperatures have risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius, more than twice the global average.

David Zvi Climate change, Kalman and its punishJTA ing effects, are here, and getting worse, yet Jewish thinking and advocacy on climate change are still stuck in prevention mode. The Jewish organizations that have blossomed to meet the political moment, not to mention the rabbis, activists and rank-andfile Jews who are engaged on this issue, are largely focused on one bottom line: Judaism demands that we care for the planet before it is too late.

This sentiment remains important, and I support it, but it cannot be the only Jewish

Land scorched by heat waves in Mumbai, India, May 2022

message for the moment. This is because “we” — the Jewish people — are likely powerless to affect the environment on a scale that would make a difference. It is also because, whether we like it or not, it is too late. As a scholar interested in the Jewish future and as a member of a research team devoted to Judaism and the natural world, I believe it is time to expand our understanding of what “Jewish environmental thought” can be.

The problems with mainstream Jewish approaches to addressing climate change, which scientists say is rapidly

approaching a breaking point, are twofold.

First, unlike many other environmental problems, climate change can’t be meaningfully curtailed through individual behavior; for better or worse, it is primarily in the hands of national governments and the energy sectors that they regulate.

In the United States, it is largely for the worse: Legislative deadlock and the current Supreme Court’s deregulatory impulses make it hard to imagine tighter regulations on emissions, and domestic political polarization severely hampers

America’s ability to exert influence over the 85% of global emissions that are produced outside its borders. These realities undermine much Jewish thinking on climate change.

Rabbis can tell their congregants that they should care for the planet until they’re blue in the face, but if their ideas are to be greeted with something other than a nod of agreement, a wistful sigh and eventual indifference, they cannot solely focus on the possibility of political change.

IT’S TOO LATE Second, the “it’s too late” piece is harder to hear. Even if humanity radically changes its ways in the next decade, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change says it must, disasters aggravated by climate change are already here, and many people — especially young people — operate under the assumption that they will get worse. Despite this, messages from Jewish leaders largely continue to focus on prevention, frequently insinuating in the

continued from page 6 Dane Zeff and Evan Bronstein

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ety where they performed shaliach mitzvah tzedakah by delivering $1,500 in tzedakah that they raised from the Hillel community prior to their trip.

Many of the graduating eighth graders were part of the first class of 2-year-olds when Hillel opened its Early Childhood Center (ECC) in 2010, meaning these “lifers” have the distinction of being the first class of Hillel students to enjoy 12 years of Hillel Day School education.

The eighth graders were able to bring their Hillel experience full circle with get togethers throughout the school year with their 4- and 5-year-old ECC buddies.

Prior to their Israel trip, the eighth graders

and their ECC buddies learned about Israel together before the ECC students gave their buddies a blessing and wished them safe travels. After the eighth graders returned, they played games and shared stories about the experience with their ECC buddies. As these ECC students complete their preschool experience and head to kindergarten, many of them shared how excited they are to one day be Hillel eighth graders so they can travel to Israel with their classmates.

Amy Sapeika is communications coordinator at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit.

process that climate catastrophe is on us if we fail to act.

Such messages were appropriate in the 1980s, when disaster merely loomed on the horizon.

Now, however, this line of thinking will increasingly be heard as nothing more than a grand “I told you so.”

We can address both of these problems by expanding our conception of what Jewish environmental thought is supposed to be. Even as we continue to push for sensible climate policy, we must make realistic plans to greet the future, as well.

Rather than doubling down on messages of prevention and personal responsibility, hoping to achieve a better result perhaps by being more emphatic about it, Jewish environmentalism must help people adapt to the stresses of our warmer world, offer consolation to those who are mourning the one that we are losing, and prevent us from treating the present climate as “normal” by reminding us of the truly normal climate that will soon be out of living memory.

The Jewish tradition is already well suited for these tasks. As examples: rabbinic Judaism’s central narrative about moral failure leading to the loss of a land bears a striking similarity to the contemporary climate crisis, and the long process by which all types of Judaism dealt with that tragedy speaks to its ability to reinvent itself around a story of loss and recovery, a story which has served it well through other periods of persecution.

In terms of memorializing tragedy, Jewish tradition continues to commemorate events that took place more than two millennia ago, and the imperative to never forget continues to be highly motivating.

An expanded Jewish environmentalism also offers us

the chance to reconsider a basic question: Is this line of thinking for the benefit of the world or just for other Jews?

While politically minded environmental thought is strongly incentivized to spread universal messages, it does so by focusing on stories that Christians and Muslims will find relatable — Adam being charged with stewarding the world, Noah and the flood — and ignoring a much larger set of stories and ideas that are particular to Jewish tradition.

The proposed new kinds of thinking might ironically be better capable of speaking specifically to Jewish interests, developing ideas about how to adapt to a changed planet that draw from the particulars of Jewish history.

Shifting Jewish environmental thought in this direction is not without its risks. As with any strategy that takes climate change to be inevitable, this line of thought could be accused of propagating a dangerous fatalism and sapping environmental activism of its energy. The risks are serious, but Jewish educators and leaders must understand that new ideas are crucial because environmental fatalism has already become the accepted wisdom. Many young people already assume that their entire lives will play out in a world of radical climatic decay, and this plays a powerful dampening effect in their ambitions to change even non-environmental aspects of the world.

Jewish environmental thought, like the environment, is out of time. It is time to embrace this reality and think about the subject anew.

David Zvi Kalman is the scholar in residence and director of new media at the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and the owner of Printo-Craft Press. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania.

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OUR COMMUNITY

Hands in the Dirt …

Melina Bronfin and her daughter Eliana Rivka

Oak Park herbalist’s Sunny Squirrel Farm is a healing and sharing place.

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER JERRY ZOLYNSKY PHOTOGRAPHY

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Heart with Nature W hen Melina Bronfin moved into her Oak Park home 10 years ago, she looked at her neglected weedfilled garden and knew she had lots of work ahead. Fortunately, she was in her element.

Melina has loved nature since she was small and has fond childhood memories of exploring the meadows beyond her small German hometown. She’d collect wild greens and blend them into soups and salads.

Here, Bronfin cleaned her yard, began planting, and educated herself about herbs and their remedies.

“I discovered that herbs have so many beneficial uses — for beauty, nourishment and healing,” Bronfin said. “When my daughter, Eliana Rivka, was born in 2017, I knew I wanted to give her the best, and healthy choices became even more important. I then embraced a simpler lifestyle with less waste, toxins and plastic.”

During the pandemic, she further honed her passion.

“We never grew so many plants before!” she said. “I was also finally able to achieve my dream to start formal herbal medicine education.”

Bronfin began virtually attending the basic classes of Chestnut School of Herbal Medicine in 2020-2021 and became a Master Gardener and Master Rain Gardener. She’s also taken courses on soap making, lavender growing, permaculture and kid’s herbal heath, and she is always learning more and advancing her knowledge.

By late 2021, she was in business selling her “herbal crafts based on Western European traditions with a modern twist” and had formally created Sunny Squirrel Farm LLC. Sunny, of course, because all gardens need sun, and Squirrel because squirrels are always in her garden, helping themselves to her bulbs and generally being a nuisance. Bronfin’s motto is “everything but the squirrels,” referring to her large selection of 60+ types of medicinal herbs.

“Some of my herbs are native, some are ‘wild,’ others are more exotic or edible flowers. I’m always excited to discover new ones and learn more about their uses,” said Bronfin, who uses her nonGMO homegrown plants and herbs to create all-natural products like teas, candies, salves and tinctures. “I have something for everyone. Teas for every day, for cough and cold, for kids, for evening relaxation and much more.”

Hours of work go into each product.

After growing the herbs, she digs the roots, cuts the leaves and prepares and dries them, a process that can last up to a few weeks — unless she’s making a rush customized order for a customer.

All products are kosher and dairy-free, most are vegan and gluten-free as well.

She also sells plants — herbs, flowers, tomatoes, house plants, lavender, thyme, elderberry and raspberries.

Bronfin donates a percentage of each sale to Keep Growing Detroit, a local community organization that supports food sovereignty and urban gardening, and to S. Amuzu’s community and school gardens in Ghana.

While she loves what she does, she said it is not without challenges. “There have continued on page 14 JUNE 16 • 2022

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13

OUR COMMUNITY

Melina Bronfin and daughter Eliana Rivka enjoy some fun and learning in the garden.

continued from page 13

been thousands of hurdles I’ve had to overcome for my business,” Bronfin said.

“According to the cottage laws, I can’t work when my daughter is home, which can be hard.”

Because she keeps Shabbat, she’s unable to participate at many local craft and maker shows as a vendor, most of which take place on Saturday.

A FAMILY ENDEAVOR Bronfin moved to Detroit after meeting her husband, Moshe, online. Her gardening is a family affair with their daughter pitching in with watering, especially for her own darling little garden. Eliana

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Rivka grows and sells her own corn, cucumbers, herbs, marigold, sunflowers and tomatoes.

“Eliana Rivka is the biggest inspiration for my business. Without her, I probably would not have started on this journey,” Bronfin said.

The Bronfins also have an inviting-looking Little Free Library in the front yard.

“About three years ago, we put out small bins with books in them,” Bronfin said. Again, it was during the pandemic that their idea expanded. “In 2020, we hand-built a wooden house for the adult books and bought a smaller one for kids.

It was a hit with the neighbors, especially when the libraries were closed.”

In keeping with her outdoorsy spirit and passion for planting, Bronfin also keeps a mini seed library along with the books.

“We have tons of seeds and everyone’s more than welcome to come and take.

People always enjoy getting new books, but they love checking out the seeds and deciding what to try planting,” she said.

The seed library has been especially popular with teachers and people who have never gardened before but are willing to try something new if it’s free.

Best of all, according to Bronfin, are the continued on page 16

JUNE 16 • 2022

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continued from page 14

people she’s met.

“I love connecting with others, comparing gardening tips, talking plants … It’s wonderful to be outside, prepare remedies and hear that something I made helped someone,” she said. “I truly love what I do and my herbs — they are a part of me and my life.”

Some products are available at Borensteins in Oak Park. Delivery options are available in Oak Park and Southfield. Hours are by appointment. For more information, check out sunny-squirrel-farm.square.site, Sunny Squirrel Farm LLC on Facebook and Etsy or call (313) 915-6675.

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Julie Teicher T H A N K YO U to the board members who will be rolling off this year.

We appreciate your time, talents and dedication in supporting the mission of Jewish Family Service.

Dorothy Barak • Karen Goldberg Driggs • Ellen Tabak • Sara Voight jfsdetroit.org JUNE 16 • 2022

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OUR COMMUNITY SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT

COURTESY OF TBI

Temple B’nai Israel in Kalamazoo

A Fixture in Kalamazoo

Temple B’nai Israel still going strong after 150 years.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

R

eform synagogue Temple B’nai Israel (TBI) has been a fixture in the Kalamazoo community for over 150 years.

TBI was officially organized in Kalamazoo by a group of 20 Jewish families who emigrated from Germany. The bylaws were signed on Jan. 7, 1866, and Temple B’nai Israel officially came into being. Temple B’nai Israel was one of the 34 founding members of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations.

Rabbi Samuel Thurman was elected as the fifth spiritual leader in 1908. With Rabbi Thurman’s encouragement, a new building site was pur-

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chased on South Park Street.

The congregation thrived under the leadership of Rabbi Thurman. However, following his departure, membership declined. Unable to secure a permanent rabbi, the congregation’s needs were met by using the services of rabbinic students.

Without a full-time resident spiritual leader, the congregation declined in membership. The decline continued through the 1930s and 1940s, and the congregation struggled to survive. When membership declined to 20 families, the congregation decided that maintaining the building was no longer practical and, in

1946, the Park Street building was sold.

In the summer of 1992, the congregation was a beneficiary of the estate of David Lowe, a former member of Temple B’nai Israel. The financial security this gift granted the congregation stimulated a great deal of interest in pursuing a permanent home for TBI. After a lengthy search, TBI purchased the Judson Baptist Church on Grand Prairie Road in August 1994. Temple B’nai Israel had a permanent place to call home for the first time in 48 years.

During this time, the decision was made to seek an

ordained rabbi, instead of student rabbis, to serve the congregation on a part-time basis.

Rabbi Michael Z. Cahana was the first rabbi to assume this position.

Eventually, following his ordination in May 2014, Rabbi Matthew Zerwekh (who now serves at Temple Emanu-El in Oak Park) was the first fulltime spiritual leader of Temple B’nai Israel since 1969.

In July 2018, the congregation welcomed its first full-time woman rabbi, Rabbi Simone Schicker.

“The congregation as a whole is very proud of Rabbi its history and Simone the presence of Schicker the community in Kalamazoo,” Schicker said.

“A big piece of that is our welcoming nature. We’re a small place, about 100 household units, and we span the age

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range from babies to people in their 80s and 90s.”

TBI offers a number of programs and outreach opportunities, especially as the weather’s changed and things can be done outside.

“We’ve got a new play group starting up, an Israeli dancing group starting up …

We have a fire pit and we’re very big into Havdalah and s’mores. We’ve got a dinner and discussion group that’s aimed at our young professionals,” Schicker said. “Our hope is that everyone who walks through our doors can find something they’re interested in, and we can match them up with the appropriate group.”

In September 2016, the religious schools of TBI and nearby Congregation of

Temple members at a community event

Moses merged to form the Marvin and Rosalie Okun Kalamazoo Community Jewish School. TBI and Conservative CoM do many holiday celebrations together, as well as events throughout the year as one larger Kalamazoo Jewish community.

Inclusivity is a major focus for TBI. The congregation and Schicker herself are active in organizations including ISAAC (Interfaith Strategy for Advocacy & Action in the Community), the Trevor Project and OutFront Kalamazoo. TBI also had a big service for Pride Month at the start of June.

Schicker takes pride in the congregation providing a place for everyone, and says the TBI and larger Kalamazoo Jewish community are tight knit.

“They’re very devoted and committed. They choose to participate and choose to show up,” Schicker said. “And they especially show up for one another, in good times and in not good times, and that’s what community should be about.”

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OUR COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER OF THE WEEK

Larry and Janis Shulman

Brian, Rachel, Rory and Hayes Shulman; Larry and Janis Shulman; Blake, Julie and Ellie Roter; Michael and Julie Shulman (with their dog Ruxbin)

Years of Dedication

Meet Janis Shulman, a longtime JARC volunteer.

RACHEL SWEET ASSOCIATE EDITOR

M

ichigan-based nonprofit JARC nominated Janis Shulman of Farmington Hills to be our next Volunteer of the Week for her dedication and involvement with the organization over the years. The nonprofit serves people with developmental disabilities via group homes, independent living support and in-home respite care.

“Janis Shulman has been involved with JARC for many, many years,” said Jenny Kabert, director of philanthropy at JARC. “She is a board member, volunteer, chairs multiple committees and is happy to help however needed. She is very generous with JARC and has multiple funds to help the people we serve and our staff.”

Shulman began dedicating her time with JARC 16 years ago and currently sits on the board of directors as one of its vice presidents.

Shulman says JARC has become part of her whole family’s life throughout the years.

“My kids were introduced to JARC at a young age,” explained Shulman, who stopped working as a social worker in 1983 to raise a family with her husband, Larry Shulman. While she wasn’t working full time, her passion to help others didn’t go away. She says with her extra time she started volunteering for various organizations. “I had been involved

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with ORT (a global Jewish educational network). Since my kids started school, I was also involved in volunteering in the classrooms.”

Larry, who used to be on the board of JARC, introduced the family to the organization, and it was history from there.

“We went to a Shabbat dinner at one of the homes, a home that provides services for men, and our kids had an incredible opportunity to interact with these men and got to learn so much about the organization.”

Shulman says she wasn’t super-involved with JARC until her youngest son, Michael, who was a senior at the time, asked her what she was going to do once he headed off to college. He suggested that she should reach out to JARC. “I didn’t even wait till he graduated.

Right away, I started in the development department where they do fundraising and outreach, and it was a perfect fit for me,” she said.

Shulman started volunteering frequently at the organization’s office doing general mailings, making calls, leading volunteers and chairing multiple fundraisers.

Since 2008, Shulman has been on the board of the directors and served on the executive committee for many years.

Shulman says she started out as treasurer and later became the vice president and

continues to hold that position.

“I’m involved in five committees, and I co-chair two of them. It’s been a really nice experience.”

Shulman serves on JARC’s Culture and in Engagement Committee, which is focused on giving back to the staff.

“Our hope is to show the staff how much we care because the staff is everything. Without them, there would be no JARC. There would be nobody to take care of this incredible group of people who need care.”

JARC CEO Shaindle Braunstein added that the nonprofit is thankful to have Shulman around.

“Janis is the epitome of total selflessness and has an overwhelming desire to help others.” Braunstein said. “We are beyond blessed to have her as a part of the JARC family.”

Shulman says she loves being part of the JARC organization and enjoys taking on leadership roles, building relationships and making JARC part of her own family.

“It’s become a very important part of my life, working with the staff and the people we serve, who are just the most special and amazing group of people.”

Shulman has worked on many projects throughout the years.

“If they need somebody to do something, they can always call on me.

And if there’s any way I can do it, I say yes,” she added.

If you would like to nominate someone to be the next volunteer of the week, send a nomination with a short paragraph telling us why to socialmedia@thejewishnews.com.

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Remarks from President Joe Biden In a video recording, President Biden said the following: “I had the honor of calling Carl Levin my friend for more than 40 years. He was the most honorable man I've known in public life. He was brilliant, humble and principled. Carl looked everybody straight in the eye, and he listened. He always told you how he saw it with honesPresident ty and respect. That’s how Carl Joe Biden earned the trust of the people in Michigan. And that's how he earned the respect of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle.

“To be able to get so much done, protecting our national security, ending the use of torture, reining in the proliferation of nuclear weapons, standing up for the dignity of working people, working to improve gun safety, to holding corporate power accountable for their abuse and so much more.

“You know, I always loved visiting Michigan with Carl. We talked about what led each of us to public service, the civil rights movement, how we each come up through local office. The county council, in my case, the city council in his. With Carl, you knew that Detroit was written on his heart. He talked all the time about the beauty of the Detroit Riverwalk and the Great Lakes.

“When the Great Recession struck our defining American industry and the auto industry was on the brink of collapse, Carl and I worked together to help Detroit get back, and it did — because of Carl.

“Most of all, we talked about family. Jill and I are sending all our love to Barbara, to Erica, to Kate, to Laura, to grandkids, brother Sandy, nephew Andy and your families.

“Despite the full life he lived, we know the void of his loss is still big and it leaves a giant hole in the middle of your chest.

Despite his courageous fight against cancer, it still leaves a heavy toll.

“You know, Carl will always be with you, always, just as he'll be with his friends, his former staff and the people of Michigan who loved Carl so dearly. God bless you, Carl Levin, a great American and a dear friend.

“The highest compliment an Irishman can give another person is to say he was a good man. Carl was a good man.”

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OUR COMMUNITY The late Sen. Carl Levin

Carl Levin Remembered Friends, family and colleagues of the late senator remember his life at public memorial.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL DIRECTOR OF EDITORIAL

T

he family of the late Sen. Carl Levin and the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy at Wayne State University Law School honored the life and legacy of Michigan’s longest-serving U.S. senator with a memorial at 1 p.m. on Sunday, June 12, at Wayne State University’s Student Center Ballroom.

Levin, who left the Senate in 2015 after serving six terms and 36 years, died July 29, 2021. He was 87 years old. He is survived by his wife, Barbara Levin; daughters and sons-in-law, Kate Levin Markel, Laura and Daniel Levin, Erica Levin and Richard Fernandes; brother, Sander M. Levin; grandchildren, Noa, Bess, Benjamin, Samantha, Beatrice and Olivia.

When Sen. Levin passed away, his family said they received a tremendous outpouring of loving memories and tributes about the

senator. Because of the pandemic, his public memorial was delayed until now so his family could “create an in-person event that honors Carl’s legacy of bringing people together.”

Colleagues, constituents, family and friends of Sen. Carl Levin converged at Wayne State to celebrate his life and legacy.

From 2001 until his retirement in 2015, Sen. Levin served as the chairman or the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he won near-universal acclaim for his work in that role. But perhaps most importantly, beyond his stand on any one issue, was his continual work to find common ground, to reduce tensions among his colleagues and to make the U.S. Senate work.

Levin was a Jewish Detroiter at his core. Prior to his time in the

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A PARADE OF SPEAKERS The memorial, led by director of the Levin Center Jim Townsend, included a score of speakers, including his brother, former Rep. Sander Levin, and nephew, Rep. Andy Levin, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm, Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow and Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed.

Other scheduled speakers included Eugene Driker, Levin’s daughters Erica Levin, Laura Levin and Kate Levin Markel, grandson Ben Levin, Robert Marans, Ismael Ahmed, Michigan Sec. of State Jocelyn Benson, Ibrahim Parlak, Chuck Wilbur, George Fowler, Tara Andringa and Alison Warner, David Lyles, Linda Gustitus and Elise Bean, and Kathleen Gray Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, former Secretary William Cohen and President Joe Biden provided recorded remarks.

Interspersed among the speakers were video interludes consisting of memories, stories and photos of Sen. Levin shared with the Levin family by his friends, colleagues and constituents who shared how he had made an impact on their lives.

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OUR COMMUNITY

‘Not Your Mother’s Judaism’ Shaarey Zedek to present NYC’s Park Avenue Synagogue Rabbi (and U-M alumnus) Elliot Cosgrove on June 23.

JN STAFF

C

ongregation Shaarey Zedek will welcome Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove, Ph.D., head rabbi at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, to the annual Rabbi Irwin Groner Memorial lecture at 7 p.m. on June 23 at the Southfield shul.

Ordained at the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS) in 1999, Cosgrove earned his doctorate at the University of Chicago Divinity School. He is the author of 12 collections of selected sermons, including Tree of Life (2019) and Bring Them Close (2020).

He is the editor of Jewish Theology in Our Time: A New Generation Explores the Foundations and Future of Jewish Belief.

His essays and op-eds appear frequently in a variety of Jewish publications, including The Jewish Week and the Forward.

Cosgrove also sits on the Chancellor’s Cabinet of JTS and on the Editorial Board of Conservative Judaism.

A member of the executive committee of the Rabbinical Assembly, he is also an officer of the New York Board of Rabbis and a member of the board of UJA-Federation of New York.

Recently, CSZ Rabbi Aaron Starr had the chance to interview Cosgrove in anticipation of his upcoming visit to Metro Detroit. Here are the highlights of that conversation.

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Rabbi Aaron Starr

Starr: You’ve titled your lecture “Not Your Mother’s Judaism.” What do you mean by that?

Cosgrove: I wanted to convey with the title the urgent need to ask questions on the Jewish docket for our moment, not our mother’s, not our grandmother’s, not our great-grandmother’s moment. I think the task of Jewish leadership, whether lay or professional, is to ask what the questions are the Jewish community faces today.

A great philosopher once wrote that we are all destined to live in the time into which we were born. Meaning none of us has the choice that we were born into this moment where the Israel conversation is where it is, where the intermarriage conversation is where it is, where the COVID conversation is where it is … but these are the cards we’ve been dealt. And so, we need to have an honest, open conversation about what Judaism

and the Jewish people look like today.

Starr: What I’m most excited to hear is your vision and your thoughts on where we’re going as we come out of this pandemic period, which has just exacerbated, I think, everything else going on in our world. What innovations have you seen in Judaism over the last two years? And how do you think these innovations might forever change Judaism?

Cosgrove: The pandemic was something that none of us was counting on. We all had to pivot in 2020, and now we are kind of taking one step forward, two steps back, two steps forward, one step back.

And we’re asking ourselves questions about what we’ve learned.

For example, we can get the same meetings done on Zoom that we used to have to travel for.

The online opportunities led Park Avenue Synagogue to have a national and, in some cases, international presence, right? I’m a shul Jew in my kishkas, yet I have had enough conversations with people for whom we’ve been a lifeline to know that the Jewish agenda has been forwarded by way of our efforts.

However, I also think we have to privilege the in-person. That’s actually the most active conversation we’re having in my synagogue. We’ve

Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove

had a tremendous run with our online offerings, but we want tuchuses in the pews.

Starr: Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the Jewish future?

Cosgrove: The innovations over the last couple years have changed our synagogues, our lives, our trajectory in many ways.

Undoubtedly, there are silver linings, right? I used to teach my minyan class, which consisted of 10 Jews and bad synagogue coffee. Now, there are 120 people studying every Tuesday morning. That is the spread of Torah. And that, I have to say, is a good thing.

My fear is that a robust Jewish identity happens by way of community engagement, one-to-one contact.

That’s the secret sauce. Those quiet conversations you have when you’re collecting your books after an adult ed class or committee meeting. That is where the friendships are made. I think we have taken a body blow as a community

on those fronts.

I’m deeply concerned that the congregational school model was a broken model before COVID. I think it’s now laid bare its inadequacies. These kids haven’t been in a classroom in a regular way. I’m seeing that take shape as to where their identities, where their competencies are when they’re called up to the bimah as a bar or bat mitzvah. It’s of concern.

Starr: I’ll shift gears a little bit. You are on the board now of the University of Michigan Hillel. What is the experience like today for Jewish college kids? And how do you see that impacting the Jewish future?

Cosgrove: Not only am I a graduate of the University of

Michigan, I have a daughter at U-M and another daughter on her way. So, I can look from both vantage points. I think this is the best of times and worst of times to be a college student on campus.

I’m actually not concerned in a way perhaps I should be because of how strong Michigan Hillel is; but I think the Israel BDS conversation is manageable. I think it tends to get more airplay than it deserves.

I actually am more concerned about the inability of people to come together in the same way, such as it was for me, when I walked into Michigan Hillel and someone tapped me on the shoulder.

That’s not happening with the same ease now.

It seems everything has to be intentional these days.

You’ve got to show proof of vaccination, and you have to make a conscious decision that you’re going to mask up and sit with someone. The numbers of Friday night dinners are down. I know that for those students who are engaged, a good Hillel has been the anchor of community and identity. The work of Hillel is even more important right now.

Starr: Just one more question. If you could tell every Jew in America one thing, what would it be?

Cosgrove: Do a mitzvah.

When I say mitzvah, I mean an act of positive Jewish identification. It might be lighting Shabbat candles. It might be

ordering from one side of the menu, as opposed to the other side. It might be putting on tefillin in the morning. It might be any number of acts that differentiate you as a Jew. It’s Jewish mitzvahs we need to do. I think this goes to the heart of it.

We actually have a toolbox bequeathed to us through the generations by which Jews form community. And we come together at Shabbat tables and at communal celebrations at Shabbat services.

“We have the tools to do that in a distinctly Jewish way that uplifts the soul and the spirit.

This lecture is free and open to the community. Register at https://jlive.app/ events/2358.

Paid for by Janice Winfrey For Congress

JUNE 16 • 2022

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OUR COMMUNITY

The Shrine of the Little Flower at Woodward and 12 Mile was founded

by Father Charles Coughlin, who had an antisemitic radio show in the 1930s.

Truth and Reconciliation

The Royal Oak church founded by antisemite Father Coughlin hosts an event on Jewish-Catholic relations.

ANDREW LAPIN JTA.ORG

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being antisemitic? What are you talking about?”

The plaque was, to say the least, a mild way to describe the man who had been America’s most vocal wellspring of antisemitism during the Great Depression. On Father Coughlin’s nationwide radio show, which ran from 19261940, he was a fearsome demagogue: parroting Nazi propaganda, telling his listeners that “international bankers” and “Jewish Communists” were plotting their demise, stating that the Jews deserved what happened to them at Kristallnacht and encouraging the growth of the Christian Front, a pro-Nazi Christian militia that plotted to overthrow the U.S. government by attacking prominent Jews.

The proceeds from Coughlin’s media exploits PHOTOS BY JEFF KOWALSKY

ancy Gietzen needed to see if the plaque was still there.

She made her way to the foyer of the National Shrine of the Little Flower, the historic Catholic church and day school where the Jewish educator had been a substitute teacher for three years until she left after discovering how the parish had memorialized its founder, Father Charles Coughlin.

Sure enough, there it was, next to a glass case displaying the priest’s old chalice and vestments: “While Coughlin’s pastoral skills produced the splendid Shrine, his political involvement and passionate rhetoric opened him up to accusations of antisemitism.”

The wording she remembered was intact.

“It was really upsetting,” Gietzen said. “‘Accusations’ of

Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the Detroit JCRC/AJC, with Monsignor Patrick Halfpenny of the National Shrine of the Little Flower

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(which included a political party and a fascist magazine called Social Justice) paid for the Shrine’s splendor, while ensuring that generations of Detroit Jews would stay far away from it.

Until now, that is. On May 31, the Shrine held an event titled “The Jewish-Catholic Relationship: Past, Present and Future,” a series of historical lectures co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Detroit and the Detroit Jewish Community Relations Council/American Jewish Committee (JCRC/ AJC). Jews and Catholics alike filed into the pews to hear two academics, one Jewish and one Catholic, discuss the history of relations between the two faiths, most of it revolving around Catholic antisemitism.

The choice of venue was deliberate.

“There’s so much polarization in our society, we need this reconciliation, in general,” Rabbi Asher Lopatin, executive director of the local JCRC/AJC, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “What’s more powerful than for Jews and Catholics to come together in Father Coughlin’s church?”

As a fairly new arrival to Detroit who lives in Huntington Woods, Lopatin said he felt he

had the right “naivete” to mount an event at the church, inspired by the truth-and-reconciliation commissions formed in nations like South Africa and Rwanda following national traumas.

Lopatin called the event a “truth and reconciliation” effort between Jews and Catholics — acknowledging the painful history of the past while breaking new ground.

Shortly after Lopatin moved to Detroit and took his JCRC/ AJC position in 2019, the group held the first such event at a different church.

A follow-up was delayed due to the pandemic, but there was interest from both parties in hosting an activity at the Shrine. Staff at the archdiocese said a Jewish outreach event had not been held there in three decades — not since 1992, when the church publicly apologized for Coughlin’s antisemitism.

“Father Coughlin was a force to be reckoned with in the 1930s. Getting that place built was a feat,” David Conrad, coordinator of interfaith relations at the archdiocese, told JTA. But, he said, “when you have to get our government and the Pope in Rome involved to shut down his views and his antisemitism, that’s a

Rabbi Asher Lopatin speaks from the old dais of the late Father Charles Coughlin at the National Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic Church in Royal Oak. Lopatin had helped organize an event at the church discussing “The Jewish-Catholic Relationship.” Shrine’s founder, Father Coughlin, broadcasted an antisemitic radio show during the Great Depression.

stain on our history. That’s an unavoidable fact. And it has to be recognized.”

The pairing of organizations at the head of the May 31 event made for an interesting historical wrinkle: The Detroit JCRC/AJC was originally founded in 1937 as the Jewish Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit, and one of its first orders of business was to publicly oppose Coughlin’s broadcasts as antisemitic.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of Detroit supported and protected Coughlin for the first decade of his broadcasting career, until 1937, when the death of the area’s bishop combined with Coughlin’s escalating bad press led the Vatican to appoint a new bishop, Ed Mooney, who worked more aggressively to control the Radio Priest’s rhetoric.

Coughlin’s name was rarely mentioned during the program itself, although Robert Fastiggi,

a historian at Sacred Heart Major Seminary in Detroit, opened his talk from the priest’s old dais by stating, “Father Coughlin was antisemitic.”

He added that there remained elements of antisemitism in the Church today, before running through a history of Jewish-Catholic relations that climaxed with Pope Paul VI’s 1965 reading of Nostra aetate, the papal declaration that Jews were not to blame for the death of Jesus Christ.

But during the Q&A section, Jewish attendee Levi Smith, vice president of a foundation devoted to the legacy of Detroit Jewish architect Albert Kahn, made a note of the venue’s history.

“Speaking on behalf of myself and a lot of other people in our community, when we drive past the Shrine we get scared,” Smith said. “Because of Father Coughlin.”

He asked if there were plans to change the wording on the Shrine’s plaque and website to more accurately reflect Coughlin’s true nature.

He offered to be part of any discussion on the subject: “Let’s sit down, let’s talk, and let’s come up with some improvements.”

After the lectures ended, attendees were invited to take a guided tour of the church, which will mark its centennial in 2026. They were also invited to a dessert reception, which

the church’s monsignor, Patrick Halfpenny, took care to note was kosher.

As some of the Jews in attendance followed the tour guide, a Shrine parishioner named Bob Irwin approached Smith to tell him that there was a committee at the church reexamining its history, and Coughlin’s, in anticipation of its 100th anniversary.

The committee had rewritten the plaques and were awaiting approval to mount them, Irwin said. The new history would more openly acknowledge Coughlin’s antisemitism and discuss its efforts to assert its identity in the post-Coughlin years. Would Smith like to be a part of it?

Smith looked around at the church’s interior, at its high, arched ceilings and mounted artifacts of an antisemite who had once delivered his sermons to the world.

“God,” he said, “brought us together.”

Levi Smith, a Jewish attendee at the event, inspects a plaque discussing the history of its antisemitic founder, Father Charles Coughlin. Smith later offered to help change the plaque’s wording, which he and other Jews said glazed over Coughlin’s antisemitism.

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OUR COMMUNITY

Love Movies?

Hamilton’s Jewish Federation and its JCC present a Jewish Movie Club viewable anywhere on Zoom.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Wright selected six films from around the world taking viewers from war-torn Poland in 1942 to Israel in 1995, from New York City in the 1960s to the 1990s, as well as into the mind of director David Cronenberg. Topics include the representation of Jewish identity in the Golden Age of Hollywood, interfaith relationships, Philip Roth’s Jewish protagonists, the assassination of Yitzhak Rabin and more.

Wright holds a Ph.D. in cultural studies from the Institute of Comparative

Studies in Literature, Art and Culture at Carleton University and was previously the Provost Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. His writing on film history has appeared in numerous academic journals and book collections. He is the business development specialist in continuing education at the University of Windsor.

The second session began

in May and ends in October.

The first movie shown in this session was The Syrian Bride (2004). When Harry Met Sally (1989) was shown on June 14, Goodbye, Columbus (1969) will be shown on July 12, Incitement (2019) on Aug. 9, To Be or Not To Be (1942) on Sept. 13 and The Fly (1986) on Oct. 11.

Jazmin Rymberg, program coordinator for the Hamilton Jewish Federation, helped organize the club. “The first JOHN HARDWICK

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he Hamilton Jewish Federation and Hamilton JCC are presenting a program celebrating Jews on film and films about the Jewish experience called the J Movie Club. The club, based in the Ontario city southwest of Toronto, is currently in its second session and is led by film and media professor Dr. Benjamin Wright on the second Tuesday of each month through Zoom.

The club asks the central question: What is a Jewish film? To answer this, Dr.

‘Women Lighting the Way’

Jewish Women’s Foundation members enjoy gathering after COVID hiatus.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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rustees of the Jewish Women’s Foundation gathered on May 18 for their annual “Women Lighting the Way” luncheon — the first since 2019 due to the pandemic.

This year’s event, held at the Detroit Athletic Club, had a Detroit theme, including an education update from Alycia Meriweather, deputy superintendent of the Detroit Public Schools Community District.

In addition, Suzanne Honda, a Michigan poet,

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spoke about serving as a writer-in-residence for Inside/Out Literary Arts, a Detroit-based nonprofit that fosters creative writing among Detroit students.

Mara Moss, executive director of the Jewish Women’s Foundation, explained that the group sought a focus on Detroit and public education this year.

Meriweather began by highlighting her Detroit roots; she is an alumna of Detroit Public Schools and

Debra Singer, JWF chair; Alycia Meriweather, deputy superintendent/ Detroit Public Schools Community District; Mara Moss, JWF executive director; and Carolyn Iwrey, associate chair.

Wayne State University. She talked about the challenges that the school district has faced during recent years — state management with a rapid turnover of superintendents, old and poorly maintained school buildings, lack of funding

and, more recently, COVID. Meriweather said that Dr. Nilolai Vitti has provided stability and strong leadership since being named district superintendent in 2017. Among other goals, the district plans to provide a better physical learning

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session started on Zoom in October 2021, and it got a really great reception, people really enjoyed [Wright’s] talks, so we renewed it for a second session, and it’s been going great,” Rymberg said.

“He goes into what is a Jewish movie, what about it is Jewish, is it the director, the story or themes? And then we all get into a discussion,” Rymberg said.

“What’s nice is it’s a small group of us on Zoom, so we can all have our turn to speak and share our thoughts and our own personal experiences.”

Rymberg hopes the club encourages people to watch and think about film differently, leading to discussions about what they can take from it that they can identify with as a Jewish

person.

Rymberg also hopes the club continues beyond the second session and says it’s for anyone and everyone.

“It’s for all ages and, even if you think you can’t hold up a conversation about film, it’s not just about that, it’s about bringing your own personal experiences as well and watching the movie through your own lenses,” she said.

Those interested can select individual discussion sessions with the film provided for $20 each or sign up for the whole package.

environment for students by improving some buildings and building some new schools, especially in areas of population growth.

The Jewish Women’s Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit was founded in 1998 by 11 local women who were concerned about the lack of philanthropy devoted to women and girls. According to studies at that time, less than 5% of grants nationwide were funding such programs with an even smaller proportion promoting social change and gender equity.

The Jewish Women’s Foundation was established as an autonomous fund within the United Jewish Foundation, which provided initial seed money. Since then, the Foundation

has awarded more than $3 million to Jewish and secular nonprofit organizations.

Recent grants have included funds for art room updates and an art therapist at Jewish Senior Life; distance learning for bat mitzvah students through the L’dor V’dor Northern Michigan Consortium; and funds for the Alzheimer’s Association to recruit and train Jewish volunteers to support caregivers for dementia patients.

There are now more than 150 trustees who vote on the grants awarded annually.

Participation requires a gift of $10,000 over five years, which is then renewable.

Other giving levels are available for younger women and lifetime trustees.

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For more information, visit https:// hamiltonjewishfederation.regfox.com/ j-movie-club-2 or contact Jackie at (905)-648-0605, ext. 320. or jstirling@ jewishhamilton.org.

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JUNE 16 • 2022

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faces&places

JARC’s Annual Flower-a-Thon

JARC, a nonprofit agency serving individuals with developmental disabilities in 80 locations, including 24-hour care in group homes, independent living settings for adults, and respite services for children, teens and young adults, hosted its annual “Flower-a-Thon” volunteer event on Sunday, May 15.

The annual event started on Sunday when most of the volunteers participated, but then expanded throughout the week so other groups could join in. JARC thanks all the volunteers who came out. The

event drew more than 50 volunteers from JARC, Stellantis, Bloom Advisors and RouteOne to help weed, plant flowers and mulch around 11 of JARC’s group homes.

The weather cooperated and everyone had a great time getting their hands dirty together. Even some individuals served by JARC came out to help. This annual tradition really brightens JARC homes and puts smiles on everyone’s faces.

Flowers were donated to JARC from Great Lakes Landscape.

Volunteers from RouteOne are hard at work planting flowers outside of a JARC home.

A group from Bloom Advisors pose for a picture after a day of volunteering.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF JARC

Volunteers from Stellantis are all smiles at JARC’s Flower-a-thon.

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Volunteers from JARC’s Teen Action Council: Sophia Bernzweig, Allie Applebaum and Cameron Spagna.

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JUNE 16 • 2022

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faces&places

Jewish Family Fest On May 19, The Shul Chabad Lubavitch held its Great Jewish Family Festival at Heritage Park in Farmington Hills. It was a day filled with community spirit, great volunteers and gorgeous weather.

Attendees enjoyed pizza, music, mini golf, a magic show, games and more to celebrate Lag b’Omer together.

The Shul sends a special thank you to Flagstar Bank,

DTE Energy and Mark & Debbie Druck for enabling this to happen with their support and sponsorships, and to the Friday Boys and the Shinshinim (Israeli high school students participating in a six-month service program) for creating a welcoming feeling.

The day couldn’t have happened without the help from community volunteers.

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE SHUL

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TOP LEFT: Amit Bellin, one of the Shinshinim, offers a cotton candy to a happy participant. TOP RIGHT: Orin Blanca of West Bloomfield watches the festivities with her daughters Maya and Noya Blanca. BOTTOM LEFT: Frederick Klein of Farmington Hills holds his stash of marshmallows.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Kids excitedly await the marshmallows to drop from the DTE truck.

NEXT DOR

COURTESY OF PARTNERS DETROIT

VOICE OF THE NEW JEWISH GENERATION

Partners Detroit Shavuot Program RACHEL SWEET ASSOCIATE EDITOR

P

artners Detroit and Jewish Young Professionals hosted a Shavuot program at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Oak Park on Tuesday, June 2, providing an experience surrounding the power of Torah.

The Shavuot holiday celebrates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Some Shavuot holiday traditions include having a festive meal with baked goods along with staying up all night learning and reading the Torah.

Partners Detroit decided to host its own Shavout experience.

“We brought our students together to participate in a learning experience where they were paired up with local members of the Detroit Jewish community and had the chance to learn about the topic of Shavuot and what Torah study really is,” explained Erin Stiebel, an educator with the organization.

Stiebel says they added this event to their Tuesday night Partners Learning Program, where they brought together an intimate group of Jews from every pocket of the Detroit Jewish community to learn together.

During the program, they got to enjoy cheesecake for dessert in a class with Rabbi Gershon Miller, who is the new dean of the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah school system.

“He’s an incredibly inspirational speaker who has such a broad spectrum of knowledge,” Stiebel added. “He was able to really take Torah learning to a new level and help people realize how powerful and unbelievable it is to have the gift of Torah.”

Even after the program, Stiebel says people stayed to ask questions and were interested in learning more.

“We’re hoping to build bridges and relationships within the community and help people forge a stronger connection to their Jewish identity and teach that Torah is more than something you read on Shabbat or on a holiday, but that it’s still relevant to our lives,” Stiebel said.

“The more we learn and the more we bring the concepts into our lives, the stronger we’ll feel connected to our rich heritage.”

Partners Tuesday Night Learning program happens weekly. For more information, email info@partnersdetroit.org.

TOP TO BOTTOM: Partners Detroit Director Rabbi Bentzy Schechter learns with several young professionals. Lily Lerner and Malky Joffe study together. Rabbi Gershon Miller inspires the crowd with an uplifting Torah class. Partners Detroit JYP board member Meredith Kay studies with Dr. Jessica Triest.

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NEXT DOR

VOICE OF THE NEW JEWISH GENERATION

Tech Innovator

Jacob Smith

Meet Jacob Smith who’s working to connect Detroit’s Black and Jewish communities.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

T

hroughout the many pillars of Jacob Smith’s multifaceted work, one core building block connects it all: community.

“It all consolidates around this idea of community-building,” Smith, 33, of Detroit says of his personal and professional work.

From building tech ecosystems in Detroit, to growing early-stage startups, to organizing cross-cultural community events, Smith likes to practice intentional proximity, or bringing people together to increase the likelihood that connections will form.

“As opposed to bringing together a group of strangers, I firmly believe that a huge piece of the work is lowering the bar,” he explains, “and making it easy for people to be in proximity with one another.”

BUILDING ACCESSIBILITY AND INCLUSIVITY As a graduate of the University of Michigan’s school of business, Smith has worked on creating accessible communities for Detroiters and beyond since his college days.

“I had my own business and then my career fell into the technology side of the entrepreneurship spectrum,” he explains.

From there, most of Smith’s career was spent building tech startups, which brought him into the world of creating ecosystems around technology. Now, he runs a project called Collider for Altimetrik, where he hosts regular

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events and helps grow a community of ambitious tech innovators in the greater Detroit area.

“I think that is something that has always appealed to me,” he says of building community.

With inclusion top of mind, Smith says that even as a child, he didn’t want to see any kids left out on the playground. “It’s always been important to me.”

For several years, Smith has also served on the board for JCRC/AJC, which represents Metro Detroit’s Jewish community, Israel and Jews to the general community. He also served on NEXTGen Detroit’s board for nine years, stepping off as of this coming year.

CONNECTING BLACK AND JEWISH COMMUNITIES With JCRC/AJC specifically, Smith focuses on building relationships between Detroit’s Black and Jewish communities. The Coalition Series, an effort supported by JCRC/AJC, The Well and the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, is arguably Smith’s biggest

endeavor to date.

Through a collective of like-minded Black and Jewish Detroiters, the Coalition Series sets the stage for Shabbat dinner events and more where food is prepared by local chefs. At these events, Black and Jewish community members work on building connections and establishing a foundation of trust among younger generations.

While the Coalition Series saw a temporary pause due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Smith plans to bring events back and says people can expect something soon.

On May 1, Smith also led the Project Understanding initiative, a professional summit for young Jewish and Black Detroiters. After a pandemic delay, Smith was finally able to bring the event, which started in Atlanta in the 1980s, to life.

The full-day immersive program included a tour of Detroit’s Black and Jewish communities, taking in both histories and identifying where they overlapped.

One of the most fascinating overlaps that he learned about, Smith says, is the

Jacob Smith (back row, third from right) and participants from Project Understanding

involvement of the Jewish community in Detroit’s Underground Railroad.

During the years of the Underground Railroad, members of the original Temple Beth El, Detroit’s first synagogue, helped supply resources to runaway slaves to assist in their escape.

“That really piqued my interest,” he explains. “It was so unexpected.”

Following the history tour, attendees of Project Understanding listened to guest speakers and walked away with what Smith calls an “elevated understanding of the ways that we are similar and different, and where there are opportunities and challenges for working together and moving forward.”

The feedback, Smith says, was “enormously positive”

and garnered a lot of interest in continuing to build a foundation between the Black and Jewish communities.

“When people are really clicking and starting to connect as human beings … watching that relationship flourish, that’s the most rewarding to me,” Smith says.

PURSUING A PASSION FOR ART Outside of his tech and community work, Smith is an avid lifelong drawer also working on building an art career. Drawing mazes and tangles with pens, Smith is presenting his first art gallery show in Pontiac at 46 North, which will be on display from June 17-26.

“Over COVID-19, I started to realize that people responded positively to it,” he says of his art. “It was

Jacob Smith’s artwork, Us Them

a way that I could bring joy to people, and I was doing something that I also enjoyed.”

Smith plans to continue drawing and see where this

To Paint is to Live The Artwork of Erich Lichtblau-Leskly

new journey takes him.

“It’s representative of what I want to be doing next,” he says. “I really want to step up and take this seriously.”

This Special Exhibit explores the life and work of a Czech Jewish artist who used art and satire as tools of adaptation and resistance while imprisoned in Theresienstadt. It features 134 original paintings and drawings. Open now to December 31.

28123 Orchard Lake Road Farmington Hills MI 48334 holocaustcenter.org (248) 553-2400

JUNE 16 • 2022

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SPORTS

B

en Chosid didn’t hit a home run in 95 games over his four seasons with the Kalamazoo College baseball team.

That wasn’t a problem. In fact, his skill set at the plate was a huge asset in the Hornets’ offense.

“I didn’t need to be somebody I wasn’t,” Chosid said. “When I got away from doing what I did best, I’d be swinging at air and walking back to the dugout.”

The Ann Arbor Huron High School grad was a .307 career hitter for Kalamazoo, batting .320 last season as a junior and .310 this season as a senior.

The shortstop had four hits in a game several times during his Kalamazoo career and knocked in a career-high five runs against Olivet in 2021.

He scored 33 runs and had 29 RBIs this season for the Hornets, who won the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association tournament and finished 27-13, recording the second-most wins in team his-

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STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

tory.

Chosid had three hits and two RBIs in Kalamazoo’s 16-2 win over Hope in the MIAA tournament championship game that gave the Hornets an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament.

Kalamazoo coach Mike Ott said he never worried about Chosid’s lack of power.

“You don’t need to be a home run hitter to be productive in an offense,” Ott said.

“We were a top-15 offense (in NCAA Division III) the last two seasons and Ben was a huge reason for that. He turned over our lineup and got on base for the guys at the top of our lineup to do damage. He was a tremendous bunter and situational hitter.

“He was the leader of our infield and that same maturation came at the plate with him understanding what he was good at — going the other way, taking advantage of defensive shifts and placements and using the bunt game to get on base.”

Ott said Chosid had one of

Ben Chosid

KALAMAZOO COLLEGE

Kalamazoo College shortstop Ben Chosid comes up throwing after scooping up a ground ball during a game this season.

Ben Chosid did everything for the Kalamazoo College baseball team except hit a home run.

SUE MASSAT

He Created a Buzz

the biggest hits in Kalamazoo history this season.

It was a single — of course — that gave the Hornets a come-from-behind, walk-off 8-7 win in 10 innings over Mt. Aloysius (Ohio) on May 21 in the Marietta (Ohio) Regional, the first and still only NCAA Division III tournament win in Kalamazoo team history.

Chosid’s two-out single to center scored a teammate from third base, ending a day in which Chosid had three hits and two RBIs. Kalamazoo trailed Mt. Aloysius 5-2 after two innings, 6-2 after five innings, and 7-4

going into the bottom of the ninth inning.

The Hornets scored three runs after the first two batters were retired in the ninth.

Chosid had a single in the rally.

“I was so proud of Ben to take center stage in one of the biggest moments in our program’s history,” Ott said.

The ball Chosid hit for the walk-off win will forever be a part of his life. He has it, mounted and protected.

Chosid was a winner off the field, too, according to Ott. “Ben is a tremendous individual who has earned everything that has come his way,” he said.

“He comes from a terrific family. He has upstanding moral character, and his work ethic is tremendous. He had a brilliant baseball career here on the field and he made an even bigger impact off of it.

“I’m so proud of who he is and has grown into and so grateful for the opportunity to have coached and been around him the past four years.”

Ott called Chosid a “glue guy” who was a big reason for Kalamazoo’s excellent team chemistry this season.

“He genuinely was as happy for other people’s successes as he was when he succeeded. When you have selfless leadership, special things can happen,” he said.

Chosid has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he’s not going to use them.

Instead, the 21-year-old will take the business degree he earned at Kalamazoo and head to Chicago, where he will pursue a job in real estate.

“I love playing baseball and I love Kalamazoo College, but it’s time for me to move on,” he said. “I’ll be getting a new start in Chicago, I have some job connections there, and it’s close to home.”

Send sports news to stevestein502004@ yahoo.com.

quick hits

District Loss Doesn’t Tarnish West Bloomfield Baseball Team’s Season

BY STEVE STEIN

It took the No. 1 high school baseball team in the country and one of the nation’s best prep pitchers to derail the West Bloomfield express.

Orchard Lake St. Mary’s defeated Coach Josh Birnberg’s Lakers 11-1 on June 4 in the championship game of the Division 2 district tournament hosted by West Bloomfield.

The Oakland Activities Association White Division champion Lakers finished 32-8 overall this season. The 32 wins are a team season record, breaking the old mark of 26 victories in 2001.

St. Mary’s starting pitcher Brock Porter went 4 2/3 innings for the win against West Bloomfield.

The Clemson University recruit gave up four hits and one run. He had allowed three hits and one run all season leading into the game.

“The game was closer than the score indicates. We ran out of pitching late in the game,” Birnberg said. “It was a phenomenal atmosphere, a great experience for our guys.”

Speaking of phenomenal, West Bloomfield senior Josh Weiss had a great day June 4 in his final games for the Lakers.

The senior went the distance on the mound and was the winning pitcher in West Bloomfield’s 5-2 win over Troy in the district semi-

Hall of Fame Banquet Will Be at Shaarey Zedek When the annual Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame banquet returns this fall, it will be held at a familiar spot.

The banquet will be held Oct. 24 at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield, its home during its formative years.

The COVID-19 pandemic knocked the banquet off the calendar in 2020 and 2021, the first times it was canceled since it began in 1985.

Don Rudick, executive director of the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation, which oversees the Hall of Fame, said this year’s Hall of Fame inductees won’t be separated into classes of 2020, 2021 and 2022. They will all be 2022

honorees.

So will the Pillars of Excellence recipients, Dr. Steve and Evelyn Rosen Stars of Tomorrow scholarship winners and Jewish News High School Athletes of the Year, who also are honored at the banquet.

Applications for the Hall of Fame, Pillars of Excellence, Stars of Tomorrow scholarships and Athletes of the Year are on the foundation’s website, michiganjewishsports.org. The applications can be filled out online, which is something new.

There’s no need to fill out another application if one was turned in the past two years.

“But you can if you want,” Rudick said.

Chaben, Klinger Team Up to Lead B’nai B’rith Golf League

Temple Israel Dominating on the Diamond

GARY KLINGER

The duo of Kerry Chaben and Mike Klinger had a comfortable lead in the team competition of the weekly B’nai B’rith golf league as the league’s 10th season neared the one-third mark.

Chaben and Klinger had 68 points, nine in front of second-place Larry Shapiro and Bob Shapiro/Chuck Houmaian, who had 59 points, following the fifth week of the 17-week season.

Adam Vieder and Ryan Kerry Vieder were in third place Chaben and among the 12 two-man teams Mike Klinger with 56 points.

Ryan Vieder and Klinger were tied atop the league’s individual leader board, each with 35 points.

There was a logjam behind them among David Swimmer (29.5), Dale Taub (29.5), Rick Spalter (27.5), Stu Zorn (27.5), Larry Shapiro (27) and Gary Klinger (27).

League golfers receive points for winning holes and matches.

League competition, nine holes each week, takes place each Thursday at the Links of Novi.

finals.

Weiss helped his cause at the plate with a pair of doubles.

He had one of West Bloomfield’s four hits off Porter, a single up the middle.

“Josh finished strong this season,” Birnberg said. “He hit over .400 in the second half and ended up with about a .300 batting average.”

Weiss had four pitching victories during the Lakers’ 16-game winning streak that stretched from May 2-28.

Sophomore catcher Max Gross was on the West Bloomfield baseball team this season. His name was inadvertently left off a list of Jewish players on the team in an earlier Jewish News story.

Temple Israel teams owned the top spot in two of the three divisions of the Inter-Congregational Men’s Club Summer Softball League as the weekly league’s season entered its third month.

Temple Israel No. 2 was in first place in the five-team Greenberg Division with a 5-0 record through games played June 5.

Temple Israel No. 3 and Temple Israel No. 1 each had a 4-2 record and led the five-team Koufax Division.

Temple Shir Shalom No. 3 and Congregation Beth Ahm shared first place in the four-team Rosen Division, each at 1-5. Shir Shalom and Beth Ahm had played just one divisional game.

Games in the Sunday league began April 24. The regular season will continue through July 31, taking time off for the July 4 weekend.

Three weeks of double-elimination playoffs will follow the regular season and end with division championship games Aug. 21.

Keith and Drake sports parks in West Bloomfield are the league’s homes. Drake has not been available this season and probably won’t be until mid-June because of parking lot work being done there.

This is the league’s 27th season.

JUNE 16 • 2022

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BUSINESS

Jonathan and Sarah Jacobs

A Place for Kids Who Love STEM

At the Robot Garage, kids learn lifelong skills through fun engineering projects.

Jonathan and Sarah Jacobs with their oldest daughter Jane, who was an inspiration for the business

help of a $25,000 loan from Hebrew Free Loan — a program Jacobs says she is eternally grateful for — the Robot Garage opened its doors in 2011 in Birmingham.

Since then, the Robot Garage has expanded to include a second location in Rochester Hills.

Yet the goals of both remain the same: to offer engineering programming to kids that’s equally fun and educational, teaching them lifelong skills and building friendships.

USING LEGOS TO LEARN Through programs offered at the Robot Garage, kids use LEGOs as the base of their creations. “My family’s always been into LEGO kits,” Sarah Jacobs explains. “It was really a natural way to go.

We have always been a LEGOfocused business because there are so many riches that come from LEGOs and electronics and coding and robotics.”

Offering their own LEGOcentric projects and curriculum, the Robot Garage has classes for kids as young as 4 or 5, going all ROBOT GARAGE

W

hen it came time to enroll her children in afterschool activities, Sarah Jacobs realized a place just didn’t exist that met their interests. There were places to play sports and centers for art, but with kids who were interested in technology, nothing fit the bill.

“I married an engineer, and I like to joke that I gave birth to an engineer,” says Sarah Jacobs, 57, of Franklin, whose husband, Jonathan Jacobs, works as an engineer. Their three children also hold interest in technology, particularly Jane, who studied engineering. “There was no place in the world for kids to do what my kids like to do.”

This gave the Jacobs family an idea: Why not open a technology program where kids could combine engineering with design?

It was a big dream, but it wasn’t impossible.

Spending the next few years traveling the U.S., the Jacobses consulted with engineering experts and gathered best practices. Eventually, a solid business plan was in place and, with the

BRETT MOUNTAIN

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

the way up to eighth grade. They also work with high school-aged students and high school teams on an individual basis.

“We don’t use curriculum from other people,” Jacobs explains.

“The benefit of that is the same people who design our projects are actually teaching and getting feedback, so we’re constantly refining our process.”

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Robot Garage was serving up to 7,500 kids a year.

Yet, like many businesses across the country, they were impacted by the crisis and turned to an online model where they shipped project kits nationwide, also incorporating paid video content to learn on-demand. Now, they’re 30% shy of pre-COVID numbers.

Since reopening their physical doors last July at both locations, the Robot Garage is steadily returning to its original state, a process Jacobs says she and her husband are approaching conservatively. The businesses just recently dropped a mask requirement for their students, though staff continue to mask up.

CAMPS FOR ROBOTICS, VIDEO GAME DESIGN AND MORE Now, the Robot Garage is gearing up to welcome its 11th summer

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of camp programs for kids in grades 1-6. Sessions run for one week and include three themes to choose from: Robot Discovery, Video Game Design and LEGO Masters/Superhero.

“It’s just a really cool thing for kids to come in and work on a project together as a group that they are so proud of at the end of the week,” Jacobs says of the collaborative nature of the camp programs.

Local families whose children attend the Robot Garage feel the same.

“Our son, Ben, loves to understand how and why everything works and also happens to love building, especially with LEGOs,” says Brandon Gorge, whose son began sessions at age 4.

“Robot Garage has helped him understand engineering, which seems to be his passion right now, in a way I didn’t know was possible at such a young age.”

Plus, kids go home with more than just cool projects — they learn skills that they can apply to their careers. “Teaching kids how to code, that’s a skill they’ll have for the rest of their lives,” Jacobs says. “Our kids are growing up in a STEM world. No matter what they choose for a career, they are going to be living in a world with technology.”

THE DETROIT

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MAZEL TOV! DEC. 24, 2021 Oliver Finn Dodge was adopted with great love by Joshua and Philip Dodge of West Bloomfield. Very proud grandparents are Risa and Mark Finn of Waterford, and Nancy and Michael Dodge of Grand Rapids. Thrilled great-grandparents are Jeanette and Leonard Finn of Oak Island, N.C., and Lola Dodge of Jackson. Late great-grandparents are Claire Finn, Bea and Dave Dashow, Marjorie and Russell Noble, and James Dodge. Oliver will be given his Hebrew name in loving memory of his great-aunt Sandra and great-uncle Mark (Shalom Matan).

Hannah Sophie Glazer (Chana Sarah) of West Bloomfield will become a bat mitzvah at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

Participating in the ceremony will be parents, Lisa Glazer and Mendy Glazer; sister, Lilah Glazer. Proud grandparents are Charles and Linda Soberman of West Bloomfield, and Martin and Susan Jackier of Traverse City.

Hannah attends Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills.

Her mitzvah project is Soul4sole, which provides new and gently used shoes from local communities to needy families worldwide.

Kaiya Jackier (Ahava Chaya) will be called to the Torah for her bat mitzvah at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield on Saturday, June 18, 2022.

She will be joined by her loving parents, Tracey Jackier, Britton Turkett and Scott Gilden; her brother, Asher, and extended family.

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Proud grandparents are Charles and Linda Soberman, Martin and Susan Jackier, JoAnn Turkett, and Lynn Hand.

Kaiya is in the seventh grade, at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills. Kaiya’s passion for fashion led her to an organization called Soul4sole, which is dedicated to helping provide shoes for needy families all over the world, among many other things.

Lyla Solomon Komorn, daughter of Katherine Solomon and Michael Komorn, will be called to the Torah on the occasion of her bat mitzvah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Friday, June 17, 2022. She will be joined in celebration by her sister Lucy and her brother Nathan. Lyla is the loving grandchild of Lauri and Steven Solomon, and Diane and Dr. Harvey Komorn.

Lyla attends Bloomfield Hills Middle School. Her most meaningful mitzvah project was volunteering with the Doberman Underground Dog Rescue.

Freund 60th

B

eth (Peedee) and Sherman Freund of West Bloomfield are celebrating 60 years of marriage on June 16, 2022.

Their love, commitment and value of family has been practiced every day of their beautiful marriage. They are celebrated by their children, Adam and Robyn Freund, and Connie and Fred Sher, by their granddaughter, Isabelle Freund, as well as their many friends and family.

Kline 50th

E

lissa and Danny Kline of West Bloomfield celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on June 11, 2022. Their lives have been blessed with two wonderful daughters and a son-in-law, Karen Kline, and Susie and Marty Parker.

They have two cherished granddaughters, Brooke and Mia Parker. Their children and grandchildren bring joy to their lives. They plan to celebrate with family and friends this summer.

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.

Congratulations to all Gradu Farmington Hills (Corner of Halsted) 37646 W. 12 Mile Rd.

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JUNE 16 • 2022

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SPIRIT

A WORD OF TORAH

Loneliness and Faith I

have long been intrigued by one passage in this week’s parshah. After a lengthy stay in the Sinai desert, the people are about to begin the second part of their journey. They are no longer traveling from but traveling to. They are no longer escaping from Egypt; they are journeying toward the Promised Land.

The Torah inserts a long preface to this story: it takes the first 10 chapters of Rabbi Lord Bamidbar. The people are Jonathan counted. They are gathered, Sacks tribe by tribe, around the Tabernacle, in the order in which they are going to march. Preparations are made to purify the camp. Silver trumpets are made to assemble the people and to give them the signal to move on. Then finally the journey begins.

What follows is a momentous anticlimax. First there is an unspecified complaint (Num. 11:1-3). Then we read: “The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost — also the

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cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!’”

(Num. 11:4-6).

The people seem to have forgotten that in Egypt they had been slaves, oppressed, their male children killed, and that they had cried out to be freed by God. The memory Jewish tradition has preserved of the food they ate in Egypt was the bread of affliction and the taste of bitterness, not meat and fish. As for their remark that they ate the food at no cost, it did cost them something: their liberty.

There was something monstrous about this behavior of the people and it induced in Moses what today we would call a breakdown: He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on Your servant?

What have I done to displease You that You put the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? … I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me. If this is how You are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me — if I have found favor in Your eyes — and do not let me face my own ruin.”

(Num. 11:11-15) This was the lowest point in Moses’ career. The Torah does not tell us directly what was happening to him, but we can infer it from God’s reply. He tells him to appoint 70 elders who would share the burden of leadership. Hence, we must deduce that Moses was suffering from lack of companionship. He had become the lonely man of faith.

He was not the only person in Tanach who felt so alone that he prayed to die.

So did Elijah when Jezebel issued a warrant for his arrest and death after his confrontation with the prophets of Baal (1 Kings 19:4). So did Jeremiah when the people repeatedly failed to heed his warnings (Jer. 20:14-18). So did Jonah when God forgave the people of Nineveh, seemingly making nonsense of his warning that in 40 days the city would be destroyed (Jon. 4:1-3). The Prophets felt alone and unheard. They carried a heavy burden of solitude. They felt they could not go on.

Few books explore this territory more profoundly than Psalms. Time and again we hear King David’s despair: I am worn out from my groaning. All night

long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. — Ps. 6:6 How long, Lord? Will You forget me forever?

How long will You hide Your face from me? — Ps. 13:1-2 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?

Why are You so far from saving me so far from my cries of anguish? — Ps. 22:2 Out of the depths I cry to You, Lord… — Ps. 130:1 And there are many more psalms in a similar vein.

Something similar can be traced in modern times. Rav Kook, when he arrived in Israel, wrote, “There is no one, young or old, with whom I can share my thoughts, who is able to comprehend my viewpoint, and this wearies me greatly.”

Even more candid was the late Rabbi Joseph Dov Soloveitchik. Near the beginning of his famous essay The Lonely Man of Faith, he writes, starkly: “I am lonely.” He continues, “I am lonely because at times I feel rejected and thrust away by everybody, not excluding my most intimate friends, and the words of the psalmist, ‘My father and my mother have forsaken me,’ ring quite often in my ears like the plaintive cooing of the turtledove.” This is extraordinary language.

GETTING SOLACE At times of loneliness, I have found great solace in these passages. They told me I was not alone in feeling alone. Other people had been here before me.

Moses, Elijah, Jeremiah, Jonah and King David were among the greatest spiritual leaders who ever lived. Such, though, is the psychological realism of Tanach that we are given a glimpse into their souls.

They were outstanding individuals, but they were still human, not superhuman.

Judaism consistently avoided one of the greatest temptations of religion: to blur the boundary between heaven and earth, turning heroes into gods or demigods.

The most remarkable figures of Judaism’s early history did not find their tasks easy.

They never lost faith, but sometimes it was strained almost to the breaking point. It is the uncompromising honesty of Tanach that makes it so compelling.

The psychological crises they experienced were understandable. They were undertaking almost impossible tasks. Moses was trying to turn a generation forged in slavery into a free and responsible people. Elijah was one of the first Prophets to criticize kings.

Jeremiah had to tell the people what they did not want to hear. Jonah had to face the fact that Divine forgiveness extends even to Israel’s enemies and can overturn prophecies of doom. David had to wrestle with political, military and spiritual challenges as well as an unruly personal life.

By telling us of their strife of the spirit, Tanach is conveying something of immense consequence. In their isolation, loneliness and deep despair, these figures cried out to God “from the depths,” and God answered them. He did not make their lives easier. But He did help them feel they were not alone.

Their very loneliness brought them into an unparalleled closeness to God. In our parshah, in the next chapter, God Himself defended Moses’ honor against the slights of Miriam and Aaron. After wishing to die, Elijah encountered God on Mount Horeb in a “still, small voice.”

Jeremiah found the strength to continue to prophesy, and Jonah was given a lesson in compassion by God Himself.

Separated from their contemporaries, they were united with God. They discovered the deep spirituality of solitude.

ISOLATION IN OUR TIME I write these words while most of the world is still in a state of almost complete lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. People are unable to gather.

Children cannot go to school. Weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs and funerals are deprived of the crowds that would normally attend them. Synagogues are closed. Mourners are unable to say

Kaddish. These are unprecedented times.

Many are feeling lonely, anxious, isolated, deprived of company. To help, Natan Sharansky put out a video describing how he endured his years of loneliness in the Soviet Gulag as a prisoner of the KGB. From dozens of reports from those who endured it, including the late John McCain, solitary confinement is the most terrifying punishment of all. In the Torah, the first time the words “not good” appear are in the sentence “It is not good for man to be alone” (Gen. 2:18).

But there are uses of adversity, and consolation in loneliness. When we feel alone, we are not alone, because the great heroes of the human spirit felt this way at times — Moses, David, Elijah and Jonah.

So did modern masters like Rav Kook and Rabbi Soloveitchik. It was precisely their loneliness that allowed them to develop a deeper relationship with God. Plumbing the depths, they reached the heights. They met God in the silence of the soul and felt themselves embraced.

This is not to minimize the shock of the coronavirus pandemic and its consequences. Yet we can gain courage from the many individuals, from Biblical times through to more modern ones, who felt their isolation deeply but who reached out to God and found God reaching out to them.

I believe that isolation contains, within it, spiritual possibilities. We can use it to deepen our spirituality. We can read the book of Psalms, re-engaging with some of the greatest religious poetry the world has ever known. We can pray more deeply from the heart. And we can find solace in the stories of Moses and others who had moments of despair but who came through them, their faith strengthened by their intense encounter with the Divine. It is when we feel most alone that we discover that we are not alone, “for You are with me.”

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 2020.

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SPIRIT

Synagogue Directory METRO DETROIT CONSERVATIVE Adat Shalom Synagogue Farmington Hills (248) 851-5100 adatshalom.org Congregation Beth Ahm West Bloomfield (248) 851-6880 cbahm.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 Shaarey Zedek Southfield (248) 357-5544 shaareyzedek.org

ORTHODOX Agudas Israel Mogen Abraham Southfield (248) 552-5711 aymadetroit.org Ahavas Olam Southfield (248) 569-1821 Ahavasolam.com 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 Beth Tefilo Emanuel Tikvah Southfield (248) 559-5022

INDEPENDENT

Birmingham-Bloomfield Shul Birmingham (248) 996-5818 bbchai.org

Grosse Pointe Jewish Council Grosse Pointe Woods (313) 882-6700 thegpjc.com

B’nai Israel-Beth Yehudah Oak Park (248) 967-3969 bi-by.org

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JUNE 16 • 2022

B’nai Zion Oak Park (248) 968-2414 Chabad Jewish Center of Commerce-Walled Lake Commerce Township (248) 363-3644 jewishcommerce.org 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 Dovid Ben Nuchim-Aish Kodesh Oak Park (313) 320-9400 dbndetroit.org Kehillat Etz Chayim Huntington Woods etzchayim-detroit.org Kollel Institute of Greater Detroit Oak Park (248) 968-1891 kollel@kolleldetroit.org

Sara & Morris Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center of West Bloomfield (248) 855-6170 baischabad.com 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 Yagdil Torah Southfield (248) 559-5905 Young Israel of Oak Park (248) 967-3655 yiop.org Young Israel of Southfield (248) 358-0154 yisouthfield.org RECONSTRUCTIONIST Congregation T’chiyah Ferndale (248) 823-7115 tchiyah.org

Mishkan Israel, Nusach H’ari, Lubavitch Center Oak Park (248) 542-4844 theyeshiva.org

Reconstructionist Congregation of Detroit (313) 567-0306 reconstructingjudiasm.org

Ohel Moed Shomrey Emunah West Bloomfield (248) 737-2626 ohelmoed.org

REFORM

Or Chadash Oak Park (248) 819-1721 or-chadash.org

Temple Beth El Bloomfield Township (248) 851-1100 tbeonline.org

Temple Emanu-El Oak Park (248) 967-4020 emanuel-mich.org Temple Israel West Bloomfield (248) 661-5700 temple-israel.org Temple Kol Ami West Bloomfield (248) 661-0040 tkolami.org Temple Shir Shalom West Bloomfield (248) 737-8700 shirshalom.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 West Bloomfield (248) 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 TRADITIONAL Woodward Avenue Shul Royal Oak (248) 414-7485 thewas.net

MINYANS Fleischman Residence West Bloomfield (248) 661-2999

OUTSTATE Battle Creek (Reform) Temple Beth El (269) 963-4921

Yeshivat Akivah Southfield (248) 386-1625 farberhds.org

Bay City (Reform) Temple Beth Israel (989) 893-7811 tbi-mich.org

ANN ARBOR

Benton Harbor (Conservative) Temple B’nai Shalom (269) 925-8021 tbnaishalom.org

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

WINDSOR Shaar Hashomayim (Orthodox) Windsor (519) 256-3123 Congregation Beth El (Reform) Windsor (519) 969-2422 bethelwindsor.ca

East Lansing (Reform) Congregation Shaarey Zedek (517) 351-3570 shaareyzedek.com Flint (Orthodox) Chabad House-Lubavitch of Eastern Michigan (810) 230-0770 chabad.org

Kalamazoo (Conservative) Congregation of Moses congregationofmoses.org Kalamazoo (Reform) Temple B’nai Israel (269) 342-9170 Templebnaiisrael.com Lansing (Reconstructionist) Congregation Kehillat Israel (517) 882-0049 kehillatisrael.net Mackinac Island (Independent) Kehillat Hatzhav Hagadol (906) 202-9959 mackinacsynagogue.org Marquette (Reform) Temple Beth Sholom tbsmqt.org Midland (Reform) Temple Beth E (989) 496-3720 tbe_midland@yahoo.com

Flint (Conservative) Congregation Beth Israel (810) 732-6310 cbiflint.org

Mt. Pleasant (Reform) Temple Benjamin (989) 773-5086 templebenjamin.com

Flint (Reform) Temple Beth El (810) 720-9494 tbeflint@gmail.com

Muskegon (Reform) Congregation B’nai Israel (231) 722-2702 cbimkg@gmail.com

Grand Rapids (Conservative) Ahavas Israel (616) 949-2840 ahavasisraelgr.org

Petoskey (Reform) Temple B’nai Israel (231) 489-8269 templebnaiisraelofpetoskey.org

Grand Rapids (Orthodox) Chabad of Western Michigan (616) 957-0770 chabadwestmichigan.com

South Haven (Orthodox) First Hebrew Congregation (269) 637-1603 firsthebrewcongregation.org

Grand Rapids (Reform) Temple Emanuel (616) 459-5976 grtemple.org

Traverse City (Reform) Congregation Beth Shalom 231-946-1913 beth-shalom-tc.org

Hancock (Reform) Temple Jacob templejacobhancock.org

OHIO

Jackson (Reform) Temple Beth Israel (517) 784-3862 tbijackson.org

Toledo (Orthodox) Etz Chayim of Toledo (419) 473-2401 Etzchayimtoledo.org Email factual corrections or additional synagogues to list to: smanello@thejewishnews.com.

JUNE 16 • 2022

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ERETZ

MEET THE OLIM

Avi Gruber: ‘I Love Being with My People.’

AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A

vi Gruber, 72, moved back to Israel in 2016 with his wife, Abby.

Although he was born and raised in Israel, he still had to adjust to his “new” surroundings after leaving the warm community of Beverly Hills, Mich. They settled in Tel Aviv but recently moved to Hod HaSharon, where the pace feels a little more like Michigan.

JN: When did you leave Israel?

Avi: I lived in Israel until I was 26, when I settled down in Detroit.

JN: What drew you to Michigan?

Avi: I met my wife in Florida, but she was from Birmingham, Mich., and that’s how I ended up there. We first lived in Birmingham and then moved to Southfield and then to Beverly Hills. I lived in Michigan for a total of 42 years.

JN: What made you decide to move back to Israel?

Avi: There’s a dream that every Israeli has when they leave Israel. At the beginning, you are ready to go back to Israel; but as time goes by, you settle down and all these things get put on the back burner.

Our two sons, Joshua and Jordan, had both made aliyah and all our grandchildren live in Israel, so when we thought about that, we decided to live near our grandchildren.

JN: What shul and schools did your family attend in Michigan?

Avi: I was affiliated with The Shul in West Bloomfield, where Rabbi Shemtov is the rabbi. I was with him from the beginning when the minyan was in his basement all the way through until the time I left. My kids went to Sunday school at Beit Achim Southfield, where they both had their bar mitzvahs.

JN: What did you do professionally when you lived in Michigan?

Avi: I had a well-known auto repair shop called Avi’s Auto Care on Northwestern Highway in Farmington Hills. I also had a Mobile gas station on Northwestern and Orchard Lake for five years.

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Avi Gruber

JN: What do you do to occupy your time?

Avi: I’m an outdoors person. I do a lot of hiking all over Israel with different groups.

We travel anyplace we can. For example, I’m just taking off for four or five days with a friend to Cyprus, just to have a little bit of a different environment.

JN: How is it living back in Israel now after so many years of living in the diaspora?

Avi: It is a big adjustment for me and my wife. It’s not easy, but you learn to adjust.

You do the best of it, but you have to be determined because if you’re not, you’re not going to make it.

JN: Do you still have family living here?

Avi: My mother, who is in her 90s, lives here. My brother and his children and grandchildren also live here, as do my sons and their families.

JN: What do you love about being back in Israel?

Avi: I love being with my people and being close to my family. I love the environment. I joined a soccer team, called “walking football,” which is made up almost entirely of foreigners and some Israelis.

JN: Is there anything you miss about living in Michigan?

Avi: I miss the weather. Because of my business, snow was a big part of my life.

I loved waking up in the morning and cleaning our neighbors’ and my in-laws’ driveways with my plow and going crosscountry skiing.

The other thing I miss is the Jewish Community Center, which was a big part of my life. I loved the sports and the environment and seeing my friends. I also loved my neighborhood in Beverly Hills.

Detroit was very good to me in many different ways, but I realized a long time ago that it wasn’t home. Here, I feel a lot more comfortable.

JN: Do you have any advice for people thinking about making aliyah?

Avi: You should make aliyah, but you have to prepare yourself in many different ways, especially emotionally. If you’re not ready for all the difficulties you will encounter, that’s not good. It helps if you have some money saved or a profession in which you can continue earning an income. Get yourself ready and don’t dive in with your eyes closed.

ARTS&LIFE FILM

Cha Cha Real Smooth Bought by Apple TV+ for $15 Million

H

er red-carpet glam and skis were all packed. Her flight and hotel were booked.

And then Omicron hit. As everyone watched the COVID numbers continue to soar in January, Sundance Film Festival planners made the crushing decision to cancel the in-person portion of the event.

And West Bloomfield native Jessica Switch was stuck at home, attending Sundance virtually.

“Sundance is my favorite festival.

I’ve been going every year since 2014 to scout new talent — writers, directors and actors. Hollywood does a full takeover of Park City [Utah].

Schools, libraries — anything with a big space and stadium seating — are converted into a movie theater,” said Switch, senior vice president of production at PICTURESTART in West Hollywood.

“Sponsors, talent agencies and some production companies take over restaurants and bars to have events and after-parties for films.

And there’s usually a snowstorm at some point, which adds to the madness.”

Over five days of the fest, Switch typically sees six films a day, from 8:30 a.m. to the final screening at midnight. She takes notes at each one to remember what she liked and meets with her favorite directors. As a producer, Switch brought Cha Cha Real Smooth to Sundance this year.

“The screenings are one part of the festival. The sale aspect is a whole other whirlwind. The Cha Cha Real Smooth buzz started a couple hours after the screening when I started getting texts from my acquisition’s friends. Apple immediately made it known to us that they loved the movie and wanted it,” Switch said.

Apple TV+ bought the film for $15 million and will start streaming it worldwide on June 17. Cha Cha Real Smooth will also premiere exclusively at the Maple Theater in Bloomfield Township the same day.

The biggest sale at Sundance this year, Cha Cha Real Smooth also won the Sundance Audience Award. Cha Cha was written and directed by Cooper Raiff, who also stars as Andrew, a 22-yearold college graduate stagnating at home with his parents (Leslie Mann and Brad Garrett) and 13-yearold brother (Evan Assante). Andrew lands a job as a bar and bat mitzvah “party starter”— better known to Metro Detroiters as the Star Trax MC. At one bar mitzvah, Andrew

Behind the deal with Jessica Switch.

JULIE SMITH YOLLES CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jessica Switch

continued on page 48 JUNE 16 • 2022

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ARTS&LIFE FILM

RIGHT: Cooper Raiff and Dakota Johnson star in Cha Cha Real Smooth.

BELOW RIGHT: Actress Vanessa Burghardt and her movie mom, Dakota Johnson.

BELOW LEFT: Jessica Switch had her bat mitzvah in Israel and at Adat Shalom Synagogue.

continued from page 47

befriends single mom, Domino (Dakota Johnson who is also a producer on the film), and her autistic daughter (Vanessa Burghardt). Cha Cha Real Smooth is a charming story of unconventional love, relationships and finding one’s path.

“I was definitely the truth speaker for all bar and mitzvah scenes on set, and I was proud to do it,” said Switch, who first had a bat mitzvah in Israel on top of Masada followed by her Michigan bat mitzvah at Adat Shalom Synagogue.

For the PICTURESTART company website, Switch features her bat mitzvah photo as one of two headshots.

“I chose that photo because it was a pivotal moment in my childhood, and I’m proud of my 13-year-old self. It isn’t easy learning two Torah portions,” Switch says with a laugh. She graduated from the University of Michigan in 2010 from the school of public policy.

Armed with the memories of her Joe Cornell dance classes and the Star Trax MC at her own bat mitzvah party at the Hotel Baronette, Switch was expertly prepared to

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ensure authenticity to the film.

From the seating chart, to the hora, to the candlelighting ceremony,” said Switch, who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Sean Perrone, and their 20-month-old twins.

“I was also texting my mom [Andrea Switch], asking her details about the Hamotzi and challah cutting for the actor who played the zaydie.

“I take pride in the fact that the bar mitzvah parties in the film feel accurate

and representative of my childhood in Michigan. I hope Jewish audiences appreciate the attention to detail.”

When the movie premieres on Apple TV+ on June 17, Switch will be temporarily living in New Jersey with her twins for another film production.

While she won’t be attending a red carpet, Switch looks forward to having a pizza party with her two stepsisters who live in the area.

“I love the creative fulfillment of making movies and feeding my passion,” Switch says. “It’s a great feeling to know that Cha Cha Real Smooth, a project that I love and cherish, will be in Apple TV’s good hands because marketing and distribution is a big part of a film’s success.”

Cha Cha Real Smooth premieres on Apple TV+ and exclusively at the Maple Theater on June 17. For tickets, go to www.themapletheater.com.

ARTS&LIFE BOOK REVIEW

A Thrilling Adventure

Al Pessin

Shock Wave by Al Pessin, Pinnacle Books: New York, 2022.

A

deadly plot is being hatched by terrorists in the Middle East, planned

by America’s most hunted terrorist. Luckily, word has MIKE SMITH leaked to the Americans.

One of its elite countContributing Writer er-terrorist units decides to act and assigns its top undercover agent to foil the operation. He joins the terrorist group that is planning a spectacular attack, and so begins the thrilling adventure in Shock Wave, a new book by Al Pessin.

Born and raised in Oak Park, Pessin owns an extremely impressive resume as an award-winning journalist and author. For 39 years, he was foreign correspondent for the Voice of America and a member of the White House Press Corps in the 1990s. Along the way, Pessin reported from Hong Kong, Islamabad, Beijing, Jerusalem and London.

While covering the news in the People’s Republic of China, Pessin was expelled for “illegal news gathering” and “fomenting counter-revolutionary rebellion,” after the Tiananmen Massacre in 1989. In China, it appears that the truth hurts. This story was reported by the JN (July 28, 1989).

Following tried-and-true advice about the art of writing, it can be said that Pessin indeed writes about what he knows. Shock Wave is the third book in his Task Force Epsilon series. The first two, Sand Blast and Blowback are set in Afghanistan and Syria, respectively.

In Shock Wave, Faraz Abdallah, one of America’s best undercover operatives, is again asked to foil an evil plot. Like many fictional heroes, he learned his exceptional skills in the U.S. Army, but rather uniquely, he is an Afghan American soldier. Likewise,

his boss is a woman, Bridget Davenport. A West Point graduate, Davenport now heads a secretive unit that has a singular mission: fight global terrorism.

Abdallah and Davenport make a formidable team, and they need to be one. They must find America’s most-wanted terrorist, Saddiq Mohammed al-Assali, who is planning a devastating attack in Jerusalem, timed for a day when Israelis are celebrating a major holiday. The setting for the story is the West Bank and Israel.

The story begins with al-Assali in a boat on the Red Sea, traveling clandestinely to meet terrorists in-training. His recent plots have not gone well and he desperately a needs a huge, visible success to maintain his status … or just stay alive.

But, al-Assali has an idea that, if successful, will involve the United States in a Middle Eastern war.

The Americans, however, have lost track of al-Assali. They are alarmed and turn to Davenport’s covert unit. She, in turn, recruits Abdallah for the job of infiltrating the terrorist organization. Abdallah had hoped to return to regular Army life with the 101st Airborne, but the stakes are immense and his country needs him. The Americans will also need the skills and experience of Israeli intelligence.

While the concept of an attack on a holiday is not new — the 1973 Yom Kippur War, for one example — Pessin’s story is a fresh take on the idea. And his years of experience reporting from some of the world’s most troubled areas contribute to the development of the story’s primary

characters.

Son of immigrants and a patriot, Abdallah’s background as an AfghanAmerican allows him to deftly assume a new identity and infiltrate al-Assali’s organization. As he works to sabotage the plot, Abdallah meets a range of Islamic terrorists — extreme religious idealogues, antisemitic, anti-Israel terrorists, and family members forced to harbor the plotters — all with their own personal backgrounds and reasons for their willingness to participate in and die for a terrorist operation. If successful, it will result in a cruel mass slaughter of Israelis, tourists and others on Purim in Jerusalem. Fighting against the terrorists, along with Abdallah, Davenport and the Americans are Israeli agents. They also have their personal experiences, prejudices and ideologies.

The result is a well-written page-turner of an adventure in and of itself. Moreover, although fiction, the story also provides the reader with insight into the possible rationales and experiences that motivate terrorists, and likewise, the diverse nature and motivations of those fighting against them.

In this sense, it is also a thoughtful book.

Does Abdallah thwart the evil plan? I cannot say. It would blow my cover. Read Shockwave for the answer.

For an interview with author Al Pessin, please turn the page.

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ARTS&LIFE BOOK REVIEW

continued from page 49

An Interview with Shock Wave Author MIKE SMITH CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Mike Smith: Although Shock Wave is a fictional adventure story, I found it to be informative in the sense of a realistic portrayal of the fight against terrorism in the Middle East and Israel. Are there lessons you hope readers will learn from your book?

Al Pessin: Yes. The first two lessons I learned covering the Middle East, Central Asia and the Pentagon are that the people defending Israel and America make huge sacrifices and, at the same time, no victory they achieve is ever complete. There’s always another enemy just around the corner. This is due to the false but strong lure of Islamic extremism as a pathway to religious purity, political liberation, and an end to poverty and hopelessness.

But along with that goes a third lesson: Islam is not a monolith. The villains in my books are Muslims. But so is the hero. The Palestinians and the broader Muslim population are large, diverse groups of people with disparate political and religious views, who support or oppose terrorism to varying degrees. Even the supporters and perpetrators of violence have reasons they do what they do — experiences, motivations, rationalizations.

In Shock Wave, for example, there’s a Palestinian university student who is trying to embrace the modern world while staying rooted in her jihadist family. I pride myself on creating three-dimensional villains in all my novels, whether Palestinian,

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Afghan or Syrian. That’s not to show or encourage support for them, but rather to see them for who they are.

Without that, we have little hope of addressing the myriad factors that make terrorism so hard to stamp out.

MS: Your two main characters fighting a terrorist plot are not traditional American white, male special forces heroes. Indeed, one is an Afghan-American and his boss is a woman. How did you choose these characters? Do they have any basis in people you met while covering news and conflicts around the world?

AP: My main character, Faraz Abdallah, is an AfghanAmerican whose parents fled to the United States during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, much as my own grandparents fled Eastern Europe several decades earlier. Now, Faraz is a U.S. Army lieutenant conducting undercover missions to fight terrorists. Faraz would not have his unique skills and be able to accomplish the great things he does to save American lives if his parents had not been refugees. He is a fictional stand-in for the many immigrants and their children who volunteer for our armed forces and help defend us every day.

Faraz’s boss, Bridget Davenport, is a West Point grad from an American family with a tradition of military service. Although she’s a civilian now, Bridget joins Faraz in the field when he needs her most, displaying bravery, combat skills and

incredible toughness. Bridget is an amalgam of the many strong, smart, talented women I met while covering the military and the civilian Al Pessin defense establishment. I wanted to pay homage to their often-underappreciated contribution to our security.

MS: You have an impressive and extensive resume as a global journalist. How does your experience inform your books?

AP: Living in Jerusalem as a foreign correspondent, traveling throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories, and witnessing the aftermath of terrorist attacks inspired and enabled me to write Shock Wave. My personal interactions with people across the Israeli and Palestinian political and cultural spectrums gave me a fully rounded view of the situation and form the backdrop for the book.

Many of my characters are based on people I met.

Similarly, my years covering the Pentagon and traveling to the Iraq and Afghanistan war zones inform my first two novels, Sandblast and Blowback, and give them on-the-ground authenticity.

MS: You grew up in Oak Park. Did your upbringing in the Metro Detroit Jewish community have any impact upon your career and writing?

AP: For sure. B’nai Moshe,

United Hebrew Schools and Camp Tamarack (K’far Ivri) played a huge role in forging my Jewish identity. I carried that with me to High Holiday services in Hong Kong, Nairobi and London and to seders in Beijing, Mumbai and a surreptitious one behind closed curtains in Islamabad. When I arrived in Israel as a journalist, I experienced a fair amount of dissonance. I found that some Israelis did not reflect the Jewish values I had learned.

That was a wakeup call for me about diversity of views among Jews and provided a roadmap to help me recognize and understand diversity in other communities.

On a lighter note, my Jewish background also inspired my play Murder at the Butcher’s, a farce that had a sold-out premiere run just before the pandemic.

MS: Is there anything else you would like the readers of the Detroit Jewish News to know about your book(s)?

AP: Shock Wave stands alone as an adventure story and as my take on the IsraeliPalestinian conflict. The first two books in the series, Sandblast and Blowback, are available for readers who want to know more about the characters and their ongoing, almost impossibly difficult effort to defend America against terrorism.

There’s more about my books and the stories behind them at www.alpessin.com.

ARTS&LIFE

David Frankel

92. Max and his family fled Nazi Germany in 1940. He retired (1996) as the NY Times executive editor.

After a two-year delay, due to the pandemic, the American Film Institute (AFI) finally got a chance to give actress/singer Julie Andrews an AFI lifetime achievement award. As I write this, the June 9 ceremony hasn’t yet happened and, for whatever reason, the AFI never reveals, in advance, the names of the celebrities who will speak at a lifetime ceremony. But you have to figure some are Jewish.

A video of the ceremony will air on TNT at 10 p.m. on June 16, with a repeat showing at 11:30 p.m. There will also be an encore showing on TCM, but the date is not

Julie Andrews

EVA RINALDI VIA WIKIPEDIA

GOING LARGE AND WINNING; JULIE ANDREWS’ “JEWISH” HITS Jerry and Marge Go Large, an original Paramount+ film, begins streaming on June 17. It is based on the true story of Jerry Selbee (Bryan Cranston) and his wife, Marge (Annette Bening).

The couple, who are now in their 80s, was the subject of many articles and a 60 Minutes story.

The Selbees have long lived in Evart, Mich., a small town (about 2,000 people) in Osceola County. Before retiring, the Selbees made a modest living from their convenience store. Not long after they retired, Michigan introduced (2003) a new lottery game called Winfall.

Jerry, who has a college degree in mathematics, uncovered a mathematical quirk in the Winfall lottery game. Anyone (legally) could earn “net” winnings if they bought enough tickets. He enlisted friends in a “betting pool” or club.

When the Michigan game ended, the Selbees found a similar game in another state. The club’s “grand” net winnings total was $8 million, before taxes. In a 2021 profile, the couple said they still live in Evart and that they used their winnings to found a construction financing company that helps to build homes for military veterans in Northern Michigan.

David Frankel, 62, directed the film. Frankel, an observant Jew, has helmed some really big comedy hits, including The Devil Wears Prada and Marley and Me. His father is Pulitzer Prizewinner Max Frankel, now

CANADIAN FILM CENTRE VIA WIKIPEDIA

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

yet set.

When I saw that Andrews, a truly great musical actress, was being honored, I thought of the most famous musicals she starred in. They were My Fair Lady (original Broadway production; 1956-58), Mary Poppins (film, 1964) and The Sound of Music (film, 1965).

I then realized that all these musicals were written or co-written by Jews.

I suspect that Ms. Andrews knows this, too. My Fair Lady was written by Alan J. Lerner (script of musical and song lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music; Loewe’s father was Jewish). By the way, Lerner and Loewe’s first musical (1942), titled Life of the Party, was written for a Detroit theater company.

Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) wrote The Sound of Music songs (Hammerstein’s father was Jewish). The Mary Poppins songs were written by Richard Sherman, now 93, and his late brother, Robert Sherman. Julie Andrews lauded them in the 2009 documentary The Boys: the Sherman Brothers Story. It’s now streaming on the Disney Channel.

Irma Vep, an eight-episode HBO Max series, began streaming on HBO Max on June 6. The reviews were almost uniformly great.

The series centers around Mira (Alicia Vikander). She’s a troubled American movie star who comes to France to star as Irma Vep, the title character in a remake of a French silent film classic.

The role has troubling psychological effects on Mira.

Carrie Brownstein, 47, plays Mira’s agent.

THE PEABODY AWARDS VIA WIKIPEDIA

CELEBRITY NEWS

Carrie Brownstein

Brownstein is best known as a member of Sleater-Kinney, a long-popular rock band.

She showed she could act when she co-starred in the IFC comedy series Portlandia.

The series was written and directed by Olivier Assayas, 67, a famous French filmmaker. His father, Raymond Assayas, was a top French screenwriter. Raymond came from a Sephardi family that settled in France after WWI. He escaped the Nazis and joined the Free French forces overseas. On Olivier’s 13th birthday, Raymond casually told Olivier: “If we were practicing Jews, you’d have your bar mitzvah today.” Olivier, stunned, asked a few questions and his father confirmed that he was Jewish.

Olivier’s mother was raised Protestant, but she, too, has some Jewish ancestry (it’s unclear how much).

Olivier was raised Christian, but he’s long been secular.

He said in an interview: “You can’t avoid the echoes of that history [the Holocaust].

It shapes your identity. So, in a way I’ve been extremely concerned and defined by my half-Jewish identity, even if it was passed on to me in a such an awkward way.”

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ON THE GO

PEOPLE | PLACES | EVENTS

MUSICAL EVENING 7 PM, JUNE 16 The Well invites adults of all ages (21+) to join for a special evening with musical guest Deborah Sacks Mintz at Berkley Coffee, 14661 W. 11 Mile Road, Suite 500, Oak Park. Proof of COVID-19 vaccination is required upon arrival. Masks heavily encouraged when not actively eating or drinking.

Tickets are available for $18 per person at jlive. app/events/2375. Berkley Coffee’s full menu of food and drinks will be available to purchase during the show.

Deborah Sacks Mintz

ZOO SHABBAT 10 AM-1 PM, JUNE 18 Organized by Adat Shalom Synagogue. Rabbi Dan will lead a fun and musical Shabbat celebration at the Detroit Zoo. Tickets to the Detroit Zoo must be purchased prior to the event. Detroit Zoo members can enter for free without a timed entry ticket. Meet at 10 am at the Pierson Lake Picnic Site; the program will begin at 10:30 am. The tent is reserved until 1 pm.

Please bring a lunch. This special event is geared to families and their children

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POPUP PLAYDATE JUNE 21, 11 AM-NOON entering up to fourth grade. Some snacks will be provided. Advanced registration is required.

Masks are currently optional for all participants ages 2 and older inside and outside. Register: jlive. app/events/2114.

RUN FOR THE RIBBON 8 AM, JUNE 19 The MIU Men’s Health Foundation is recognizing International Men’s Health Week June 13-19 with its longstanding signature events to advocate for men’s health and prostate cancer survivorship. Run for the Ribbon is a Father’s Day tradition at the Detroit Zoo. Participants can choose between a 5K run/walk or a 1-mile walk inside the zoo while enjoying the sights and sounds of the animals.

Live entertainment will be provided by the Session

Band, and there will be airbrushed tattoos and other activities for kids. All participants should register at miurunfortheribbon.org.

STORIES & STORYTELLING 1-2:30 PM, JUNE 20 Join Jewish Theological Seminary scholars online to explore a selection of stories drawn from ancient, rabbinic, medieval and modern Jewish literature. We will consider the power of shared stories and how they transmit values, norms, culture and information, bringing Jews together across time and space. Series runs through Aug. 8. No charge; donations suggested. Register: inspired.jtsa.edu.

FAMILY LEAGUE 5:30 PM, JUNE 20 At the Mack Mayfield Municipal Golf Course, 500 Merriman, Westland.

The league will be a two-person scramble with a year-end pizza party and prizes in weeks 3 and 7 for closest to pin and

longest drive. Pricing for the league will be $225 per twosome. Register for the 8-week league at the Mack Mayfield Municipal Golf Course. Info: cityofwestland.com.

POPUP PLAYDATE 11 AM-NOON, JUNE 21 Join with other grandparents. Infants pushed in strollers are welcome.

We’ll have loads of fun on the playground, have a snack, sing songs and read a story. Mindy Krigel Bricker, JGrand Ambassador, will meet you there. Bring a beach towel to sit on at this free event. Register: jlive.app/ events/2342.

TEA, TALK & TORAH 2-3 PM, JUNE 22 At Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield, gather with Rabbi Michael Moskowitz for tea, treats and a brief study of the day’s Torah text.

Each session stands alone. RSVP is required, shirshalom.org/events. No charge for members of Temple Shir Shalom. $10/

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session for guests.

MEMORIAL LECTURE 7 PM, JUNE 23 At Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. Rabbi Elliot J. Cosgrove will speak on “Not Your Mother’s Judaism.” Rabbi Cosgrove is the senior rabbi of Park

Rabbi Cosgrove

SHABBAT IN THE PARK 5:30-6:30 PM, JUNE 24 At Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 27375 Bell Road, Southfield. Join Rabbi Starr and special guest Lindsay Mall under the William Saulson Pavilion tent for beautiful Shabbat music and bubbles. Snacks and juice will be provided. Free event. Register: jlive.app/ events/2374.

PICKLEBALL 10 AM, JUNE 26 Sponsored by NEXTGen Detroit at the Beverly Hills Club, 31555 Southfield, Beverly Hills. This fastpaced game combines the best of badminton, tennis and ping-pong. We’re also serving up some fried

chicken breakfast sammies on the sidelines. All levels welcome. Beginners can have time with a pro to learn the rules and get a few pointers. $20 includes pickleball, food and your very own NEXTGen Detroit pickleball paddle to keep.

Dietary laws observed.

Come dressed to play and wear tennis shoes.

Register online by June 23: jlive.app/events/2209.

Questions? Contact Cameron at billes@jfmd. org. This event is intended for young adults ages 21 to 45.

Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant. Send items at least 14 days in advance to calendar@ thejewishnews.com.

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SPOTLIGHT

JScreen Encourages Men to Take Control of their Health

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Screen, a national nonprofit public health initiative based out of Emory University School of Medicine, supports Men’s Health Month this June. JScreen, which is dedicated to preventing genetic diseases and hereditary cancer, urges men everywhere to use this time of increased awareness to take control of their health.

With Father’s Day and Men’s Health Month both falling in June, JScreen cannot overemphasize the importance of genetic testing to protect yourself and your family. JScreen has been offering reproductive genetic testing to help couples have healthy babies since 2013.

In addition, JScreen now offers a new CancerGEN test that assesses more than 60 cancer

susceptibility genes associated with hereditary risks for prostate, colorectal, skin and many other types of cancer. The robust cancer panel includes genes that are actionable, meaning steps can be taken to help prevent cancer if a person tests positive. This June, JScreen is working to ensure healthy futures for men and their families across the U.S. Statistics show that at least a third of all men will develop cancer during their lifetime, and that about 10% of cancer is related to genetic causes. One of the first steps to preventing cancer is knowing your hereditary risk.

“To prevent cancer on a wide scale, accessible genetic testing is key,” says Jane Lowe

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Meisel, M.D., medical director for JScreen’s cancer program.

“Cancer genetic testing makes prevention and early detection possible.”

Getting tested through JScreen is easy. All you have to do to receive your simple at-home test is sign up online at JScreen.org. You’ll then provide a saliva sample and use the pre-paid postage to mail it in.

JScreen’s tests use state-of-theart genetic sequencing technology to ensure highly accurate results. JScreen provides access to licensed genetic counselors who provide consults via phone or secure video conferencing to ensure you understand your results.

One of JScreen’s goals is to make testing affordable. With

insurance, JScreen’s reproductive genetic test, ReproGEN, costs $149, and the CancerGEN test costs just $199.

The proof of JScreen’s passion for saving lives is in the incredible stories they hear and the people who can now take action to avoid genetic diseases in their children or a future cancer diagnosis in themselves.

“With so many stressors and uncertainties in the world, your health shouldn’t have to be one of them,” says Hillary Regelman, director of National Outreach and Marketing at JScreen.

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55

OBITUARIES

OF BLESSED MEMORY

SALLY BECKER, 92, of Farmington Hills, died June 8, 2022.

She is survived by her daughter c. 1950 and son-in-law, Darlene and Judge Edward Sosnick; sons and daughter-in-law, Dennis and Lori Becker, and Kenneth Becker; grandchildren, Karen and Ryan, Meredith and Alan, Kate, and Samantha and Steve; great-grandchildren, Josephine Block, Jane, Esther and Abraham Rosette.

Mrs. Becker was the beloved wife of the late Julius Becker; the devoted daughter of the late Gertrude Techner Small and the late Jack Fox. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Children’s Tumor Foundation, 370 Lexington Ave., Suite 2100, New York, NY 10017, ctf. org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

JUDITH NANES DOLSEN, 73, of West Bloomfield, died June 9, 2022.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Holly and Eric Feikens; grandchildren, Madeline and Hunter; brother, David Nanes; her uncle, Harold Swedel; cousins and friends.

Ms. Dolsen was the devoted daughter of the late Frances and the late Burton Nanes.

Interment was at Workmen’s Circle Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

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DR. MICHAEL EIDELMAN, 75, of St. Petersburg, Fla., died June 7, 2022.

He is survived by his wife of 51 years, Leila Eidelman; son and daughter-in-law, Craig and Sara Eidelman; daughter and son-in-law, Meredith and Scott Vogel; grandchildren, Reese, Frankie, Levi and Casey; sister and brotherin-law, Diane Eidelman and Nathan Baum; brother and sister-in-law, Sylvan Eidelman and Julie Miller; nieces and nephews, Max, Rachel, Toby and David; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Martin and Esther Leibowitz.

Interment was at Adat Shalom Memorial Park.

Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

DENISE FASBINDER, 86, of Ferndale, died June 3, 2022.

She is survived by her husband of c. 1953 58 years, Stanley Fasbinder; daughters and sonin-law, Beth Fasbinder, and Julie and Alfredo Avila; son and daughter-in-law, Marc and Sheri Fasbinder; grandson, Orlando Avila; many loving nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Fasbinder was the last of 12 children of the late Myrtle and the late Robert Tompkins.

Contributions may be made to World Central Kitchen, 200 Massachusetts Ave. NW, 7th Floor, Washington, DC 20001, wck.org; or Big Fluffy Dog Rescue, P.O. Box 160485, Nashville, TN 37216, bigfluffydogs.com. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

IRVING FINK, 95, of Sarasota, Fla., died peacefully on May 16, 2022.

Mr. Fink was a devoted husband to both his beloved first wife of 36 years, Lillian (née Rosenberg), who passed away in 1988; and to Susan Silver, with whom he found love again and married in 1992.

He was a cherished father, loving grandfather, proud great-grandfather, grocer and businessman, Mr. Fink was the essence of kindness. A gentler soul would be hard to find.

Mr. Fink was born in Detroit, raised his family in Huntington Woods and took over his parents’ Hamtramck businesses, Pure Food Markets; he grew them for the next 70 years.

The Hamtramck Historical Museum’s Jos. Compau location was enabled by Mr. Fink’s donation of the building. After their 1992 marriage, Mr. and Mrs. Fink resided in Ann Arbor for many years before eventually settling in Florida.

Mr. Fink is survived by his wife of 29 years, Susan Fink; children, Susan (Cliff) Zucker, Mara (Patrick) Trumbull and Andrew Fink; daughter-in-law, Mimi Haas; stepdaughters, Stephanie Siegel (Jeff Whalen) and Lisa Siegel (David Stein); grandchildren, Jacob Zucker, Benjamin (Emma) Zucker, Jesse Knox, Sam Whalen (Jess Knight), Jessica Whalen (Andrew Jenkins), Aliza (Galen) Whalen, Daniel Whalen, Max (Anna) Neumeyer, Olivia Stein and Noah Stein; great-grandchildren, Wolfram Zucker, Lina Zucker, Sasha Neumeyer and Beau Jenkins; sister, Miriam Meyers; many adoring nieces, nephews, cousins and friends.

Preceding Mr. Fink in death were his first wife, Lillian; son, Kenneth; brothers and siblings-in-law, Dr. Jack (Florence Waze) Fink, Dr. Samuel (Bertha “Babe” Slutsky) Fink, Charles Meyers; dear parents, Nathan and Dvora.

If you would like to honor the memory of Irving Fink, you may do so by contributing to Tidewell Hospice, 3550 S. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, FL 34239, tidewellfoundation.org/ donate; or to a charity of your choice.

MYRNA FISCHER, 86, of Boca Raton, Fla., and Bloomfield Hills, died June 2, 2022.

After 64 years of marriage, three beautiful daughters, six grandchildren and one great-grandchild, when the time came, Myrna and husband, Philip, could not bear to be apart in death any more than they had been in life.

Phil died on a Monday and Myrna joined him 10 days later, just enough time so that her passing would not interfere with his funeral, but not so long afterwards that he would miss her too much, or she him. Their love and devotion were a model and a legacy that their children and grandchildren will be able to grow old reflecting on and learning from.

Myrna was a teacher, a librarian, a volunteer, a great mom and a best friend to all her daughters. She was kind, loving and always supportive of her husband, daughters and grandchildren. A witty conversationalist, she loved entertaining her family, her friends and the friends of all her children and grandchil-

dren. The more the merrier because she believed a full house was the best home.

She enjoyed cooking, playing bridge, and shopping with her girls and Phil, and the quiet focus of needlepoint and knitting. She had wonderful girlfriends and relished the time she spent with them. She was as dependable with them as she was to her family.

Mrs. Fischer was the beloved wife for 64 years of the late Philip B. Fischer; cherished mother of Andrea Fischer Newman and Frank Newman, Jill Fischer Rachesky and Mark Rachesky, and the late Loren Beth Fischer; loving grandmother of Lauren and David Seidman, David Newman, Allison Rachesky, Samantha Rachesky, Steven Rachesky, and Kate Rachesky; proud great-grandmother of Benjamin Seidman.

Myrna now joins Phil, together again and, at last, with daughter Loren who has waited for them since 1982. Their family celebrates their love for one another and feels immense gratitude that they are together at last.

Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park.

Contributions for the late Myrna R. Fischer may be made to University of Michigan, the Philip B. and Myrna R. Fischer Fund for Alzheimer’s Research, Michigan Medicine Office of Development, 777 E. Eisenhower Pkwy., Suite 650, Ann Arbor, MI 48108, victors.us/myrnarfischer, (make checks payable to University of Michigan).

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

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continued on page 58

JUNE 16 • 2022

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OBITUARIES

OF BLESSED MEMORY continued from page 57

FREDRIC FISHER, 79, of Waterford, died June 3, 2022.

Former Grosse Ile resident Fred Fisher and his golden retriever, Bridgette, may have been new to hospice visits, but they have nearly a decade of experience supporting those in need. The pair spent nine years visiting nursing homes,

hospitals, schools and other organizations across the state and country.

Fred and Bridgette assisted in disaster recovery efforts following the devastation of Hurricane Irma and also spent time as an education assistance dog (R.E.A.D.) with Trenton Public Schools, listen-

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During the coming week, Kaddish will be said for these departed souls during the daily minyan at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. Your support of the Torah learning of our children and our Kollel’s Torah Scholars brings immeasurable heavenly merit. Please call us at 248-557-6750 for more information.

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JUNE 16 • 2022

ing to children read as a way to boost confidence in their literary skills.

Fred also loved photography and golf, and he cherished going to the baseball and hockey games of his grandchildren.

He is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Randy and Susan Fisher of Pinckney; daughters and son-in-law, Kim and Doug Krest of Waterford, Katie Fisher of Grosse Ile, Alyson Fisher of Westland; sisters, Nora Fisher, Lynn Levin; grandchildren, Anna Fisher, Madeline Fisher, Nick and Meghan Krest, Tyler and Allison Krest; great-grandchild, Mia Krest; dear nieces, Jenna and Lonnie Elswick, Heidi and Eli Kalman; nephew, Austin Carson; other relatives and friends; and his favorite “daughter,” Bridgette the dog.

Contributions may be made to Hospice Therapy Dog Program at Hospice of Michigan, hom.org; or any other animal charity. A funeral service was held at Hebrew Memorial Chapel. Interment took place at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements

by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

GOLDIE GARTZ, 94, of Oak Park, died June 1, 2022.

She is survived by many loving cousins, extended c. 1955 family and friends.

Goldie was the loving daughter of the late Jacob and the late Fannie Gartz; dear sister of the late Rose Gartz and the late Dorothy Gurwitz.

Contributions may be made to Meals on Wheels, c/o National Council of Jewish Women, 26400 Lahser Road, Suite 306, Southfield, MI 48033; or to a charity of one’s choice. A graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial

Park. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

VARDA GOLDBERG, 84, of Farmington Hills, died June 8, 2022.

She was born in the then-Palestine/Israel in 1937. She was a true sabra of Eastern European descent.

Her parents were Yehoshua and Fania Tiker.

She met her husband, Dr. Julian Goldberg, a South African doctor, around 1956, when she was a nurse at Kaplan Hospital, Israel. She gave birth to her oldest son, Allon, in Israel, and when Allon was about 10 months old in 1959, the young family moved to Johannesburg, South Africa. In South Africa, Varda gave birth to three more sons, Paul, Daniel and Martin.

Tragically, the marriage was short; Julian passed away from cancer in 1965.

Varda worked for many years in her family’s wholesale clothing business, managing the Baby Center with her sister-in-law, Pamela Segal. In 2004, after all her children had left South Africa, she made the move to Michigan, where Allon and family reside.

Mrs. Goldberg is survived by her son, Dr. Allon Goldberg and his ex-wife, Tessa Goldberg; their daughter, Dr. Amy Goldberg; their son-in-law, Aakash Gupta; their grandson, Aviv Goldberg Gupta (Varda’s great-grandson); son, Dr. Paul Goldberg; his ex-wife, Dr. Lana Lipkowitz; their daughters, Kirah and Simone Goldberg; son, Daniel and his wife, Dr. Gwynne Goldberg; their children, Jesse and Zoey Goldberg; son, Martin and his wife, Becky Goldberg; their sons, David, Yoav and Omri Goldberg. She is also survived

by many loving nieces and nephews in South Africa and Israel.

Interment was held at Adat Shalom Memorial Park in Livonia. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

JUDY GOLDFADEN, 87, of West Bloomfield, died June 5, 2022.

She is survived by her sons and daughterin-law, Howard and Nancy Goldfaden, and David Goldfaden; daughter, Susan Goldfaden; grandchildren, Pamela and Joseph Schwarcz, Lindsay and Josh Kay, Daniel and Jennifer Goldfaden, Julie and Daniel Baum, Josh Goldfaden and Amanda Goldfaden; great-grand-

children, Griffin, Miles and James Schwarcz, Benjamin, Emma, Skylar Kay and Lila Goldfaden; many other loving family members and friends.

Mrs. Goldfaden was the beloved wife of the late Jacob Goldfaden.

Interment took place at Adat Shalom Memorial Park in Livonia. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

DEVORA FRIEDA “DEBBIE” LIEBERMAN, beloved mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully at age 91 on June 5, 2022, in Holland, Ohio.

Debbie was born in Detroit to Charles and Lillian Apsel.

Raised in a musical family, she

took lessons privately and in school to learn the saxophone, which she continued to play into adulthood and performed in concerts.

Debbie graduated from Central High School in Detroit, where business coursework prepared her for a career path as a bookkeeper and office manager in the wholesale office supply industry.

As a member of the B’nai B’rith organization, Debbie bowled in local leagues and travel tournaments for years as well as serving as treasurer for her league. After retiring at age 65, Debbie served as treasurer on the board of her senior living community.

Her appreciation of the performing arts got her involved voluntarily with the Fox and Birmingham theaters, where she ushered and enjoyed productions. For leisure, she loved

traveling and socializing with friends from poker and mahjong groups.

Mrs. Lieberman was preceded in death by her parents, Lillian and Charles Apsel; sister, Estelle Kaufman (the late Harry); and brother, Leonard Apsel.

She will be dearly missed by her daughter, Peggy Ann Ziegler (Lieberman); son, Gary Robert Lieberman; grandchildren, Jason (Amy) Ziegler, Aaron Ziegler (partner, Phu Pham), Dale (Stephanie) Ziegler, Mara (Nate) Hawkins; great-grandchildren, Jacob Ziegler, Morgan Ziegler, Milo Ziegler, Lila Ziegler, Lillian Hawkins and Maxine Hawkins.

Contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association, to B’nai B’rith or to Bjorn This Way. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. continued on page 60

We believe that every Jew has a portion in the world to come.

Trust us to prepare your loved one for that journey.

JUNE 16 • 2022

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OBITUARIES

OF BLESSED MEMORY continued from page 59

MARVIN PALMER, 91, of Royal Oak, died June 6, 2022.

He lived a long, graceful life filled with wit, integrity and generosity. He died one day short of his 67th wedding anniversary, surrounded by people who loved him.

We will always smile as we remember him in a leather jacket, a glass of Jack Daniel’s at hand, a golden retriever by his side or a cat in his lap, and Frank Sinatra playing in the background. He built the strength of family over decades of persistence and devotion. He was a pillar, supporting family with the fortitude to stand tall even after his passing.

Mr. Palmer is survived by his wife of 67 years, Geraldine Palmer; daughters, sons-in-

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JUNE 16 • 2022

law and daughter-in-law, Linda and Jim Greenwood, Cathy and Steven Goldsmith, and Marci Mayer and Chris Kriss; grandchildren, Sarah Greenwood, Samuel Goldsmith and Courtney Lorraine, Joel Goldsmith and his fiancée, Mattie Adam, Benjamin Mayer and Alicia Morrier, Daniel and Rachel Mayer, Jason Greenwood, Emma Kriss and Hannah Kriss; great-grandchildren, Tallulah Mayer, Eavie Mayer and Lily Valdes-Greenwood.

The family would like to give special thanks to his wonderful caregivers, Blossom, Marie, Mim and Ola, and to the hospice support team for end-oflife guidance.

Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may

be made to Michigan Humane Society, 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025, michiganhumane.org/tributes; Temple Emanu-El, 14450 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park, MI 48237, emanuel-mich.org; or Leader Dogs for the Blind, P.O. Box 5000, Rochester, MI 48308-5000, leaderdog.org. Arrangements

by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

GERALDINE “GERRY” SAKWA, 91, of Farmington Hills, died June 8, 2022.

She is survived by her children, Sharlee and Mel Hoberman, Dr. Marc and Meryl Sakwa, and Dr. Neal Sakwa and Linda Taubman; grandchildren,

Tony Hoberman, Jenna and Jake Kastan, Connor Sakwa, Sydney Sakwa, and Alexander and Corri Taubman; great-grandchildren, Lawson Kastan and Olimpia Taubman.

Mrs. Sakwa was the loving wife of the late Dr. Saul Sakwa.

Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to American Heart Association, 27777 Franklin Road, Suite 1150, Southfield, MI 48034, heart. org/en/affiliates/michigan/ Detroit; Susan G. Komen for the Cure, 200 Friberg Pkwy., Suite 3020, Westborough, MA 01581, komen.org; or to a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

KEN SCHIFF, 65, passed away peacefully on May 25, 2022, surrounded by his loving family in his home in Tucson, Ariz.

Ken grew up in Southfield, where he built friendships in his neighborhood, school and work that stayed with him through his entire life. After graduating from Wayne State University, he spent the first half of his career in sales, accumulating stories and friends, crisscrossing the state selling glasses for Luxottica.

He later became a mortgage broker, eventually moving to Florida with his family in 2006. Ken moved back to Michigan in 2019 while waiting for a kidney transplant; he was able to reconnect with his friends, family and community. He received his transplant in 2020 and moved to Tucson to start a new life in 2021.

Ken will be remembered for his “joie de vivre,” his ability to turn anything into a great story and how unapologetically he loved his family and friends.

Mr. Schiff is survived by his wife of 39 years, Marlynn, in Tucson; his 31-year-old son, Alex in New York. He was the son of Marilyn and the late Edwin Schiff of West Bloomfield; a brother to Andra, Peri and Gayla; and an uncle, brotherin-law, nephew and friend to many.

Ken’s family will hold a virtual Celebration of Life service on June 21, 2022, at 3 p.m. EST. For access details for the service, please email alex.schiff1128@gmail.com for an invite.

JOLENE D. SCHWARTZ, 75, of West Bloomfield, died June 8, 2022.

She is survived by her husband of 57 years, Jacob Schwartz; son and daughter-in-law, Aaron and Rachel Schwartz of Oak Park; brother, Kurt Lebow of New York City, N.Y.; sister, Benita Lebow of New York City; grandchildren, Pearl Schwartz and Leo Schwartz.

Contributions may be made to Congregation Beth Shalom, 14601 Lincoln, Oak Park, MI 48237; or Michigan Humane Society, 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025. A funeral service took place at Hebrew Memorial Chapel. Interment was held at Hebrew Memorial Park.

Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

LINDA STERN, 80, of Farmington Hills, died June 5, 2022.

She is survived by her sons and daughter-in-law, Michael Stern, Evan and Lisa Stern; grandchildren, Bailey, Landon and Austin Stern; brother and sister-in-law, Dr. Robert (Dr. Kristin Keskey) Shaw; sister-in-law, Rena (Ronnie) Weintraub; many loving nieces, nephews, other family members and friends.

Mrs. Stern was the beloved wife of the late Ronald L. Stern.

Interment took place at Adat Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia.

Contributions may be made to the Michigan Humane Society or a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

DR. DAVID STULBERG, 91, of West Bloomfield, died June 7, 2022.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Nancy Stulberg; daughters and sons-in-law, Dr. Tracey (David Dulberg) Stulberg, Julie (Dave Rubenstein) Stulberg, Sheri (Dr. Abe) Slaim, Jody (Ron) Weiss; sons and daughters-inlaw, Jim (Claudia) Stulberg, Neal (Kristen) Stulberg, Rob (Lori) Silverstein, Bradley (Brandy) Silverstein; daughter-in-law, Kelly Stulberg; grandchildren, Zach and Alex Stulberg, Dani (Sean) Philippart, Dylan and Brie Dulberg, Jake and Jordan Solomon, Dalia and Blake Rubenstein, AJ Chase and Cruiz Stulberg, Jill, Dana and Sam Silverstein, Lucy Silverstein, Darren and Todd Weiss, Logan Most, Renee (Dan) Ruiz and Kevin (Eed) Dorn; sister, Ruthie Katz; sister-in-law, Joanie (Irv) Miller; six adoring great-grandchildren; many other loving family members and friends.

Mr. Stulberg was the father of the late Jeff Stulberg; brother-in-law of the late Herb Katz.

Interment took place at Clover Hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham. Contributions may be made to the Gary Bernstein Health Center-the Bernstein Clinic or to charity of one’s choice. Arrangements

by Dorfman Chapel.

SHERWIN EARL WILNER, 83, of Farmington Hills, died June 8, 2022.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Harriet Wilner; sons and daughter-in-law, David and Melinda Wilner, and Jay Wilner; grandchildren, Jake, Carson and Victoria Wilner;

brother and sister-in-law, Ronnie (Nancy Fishman) Wilner; brother-in-law Seymour Garsoff; sisterin-law, Zina (Barry Simon) Rosen-Simon; many loving nieces, nephews, other family members and friends.

Mr. Wilner was the brother of the late Marilyn Garsoff.

Interment took place at Machpelah Cemetery in Ferndale. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

RONALD WEITZMAN, 79, of Ferndale, died June 8, 2022.

He is survived by his wife, Julie Weitzman; daughter and sonin-law, Margo Weitzman and David Forsythe; stepchildren, Sarah Scott Fraser, Michael and Beth Scott Fraser, Rob Kinnaird; sisters and brothers-in-law, Beverly and Gary Pierce of Bloomfield Hills, Judith Shubow of Southfield, Maxine and Dan Lievois of Birmingham; grandchildren, Ryan Fraser, Lucas Fraser, Sophia Kinnaird, Lucienne Kinnaird.

Mr. Weitzman was the treasured stepfather of the late Kathlyn Kinnaird.

Contributions may be made to Chabad of Bingham Farms, 7475 Wing Lake Road, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301; or to a charity of one’s choice.

A funeral service took place at Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

Interment was held at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements

by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

JUNE 16 • 2022

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Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

Blast from the Past

M

oving to a new home, or just renovating and need a few new appliances? Maybe a stove, refrigerator or new cooling system? Well, I’ve got some suggestions for you from the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History.

If you need a new stove or water heater, the Detroit City Gas Company has the perfect solution (assuming that you have gas lines to your house in 1920): the Citygas Garland Special. When the advertisement ran in Mike Smith the Aug. 6, 1920, issue Alene and Graham Landau of the Jewish Chronicle, Archivist Chair the company claimed that 23,527 gas stoves were in use in Detroit, “So, Why Experiment? Need a water heater as well, City Gas had the KompaK Automatic Gas Heater. Only $175 installed, and ‘especially adapted to restaurants, hotel, apartment house and large barber shop use.’”

Need a fridge? The 1937 Norge might be for you. The Schecter Furniture Company had the latest models as low as $109 (about $2,200 today). The Norge was “superpowered,” had a 10-year warranty and “absolute protection against food spoilage” (Sept.

3, 1937, Chronicle). Hmm — would potato salad last forever?

Need to upgrade your sound system?

In 1929, Newman-Gornbein Furniture Co. had a wide selection of radios.

This is an interesting ad since it was published only seven years after WJR began the first radio programming in Detroit (Dec. 27, 1929, Chronicle).

Newman-Gornbein’s advertisements for Majestic and Zenith Automatic Radios (is everything new “automatic” in the old days?) also carried important messages. The first one suggests that an intelligent person “knows what’s going

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JUNE 16 • 2022

on in the world,” and that the way to gain such knowledge is “only by use of a Majestic radio.”

Newman-Gornbein also had the cure for domestic conflict. Its ad for Zenith radios claim that, for a constantly quarreling couple, the company had “stepped in as a peacemaker” with a Zenith radio.

Obviously, divorce rates would be much lower if everyone bought Zenith Radios. Hmm — Majestic vs. Zenith, world knowledge vs. a peacemaker? Tough choice.

Looking for something smaller?

The Hadley Finsterwald Co. had the answer, and it was “ThrilledPacked.” The Admiral Combination was an automatic (there’s that word again) record player and AM radio, in a mahogany finish cabinet with a gold French grille. Very swanky and only $69.95 (about $800 today) or pay $1 weekly (Dec. 31, 1949).

For another form of entertainment, see the Grinnell Brothers. After all, “there is no need of being without a piano.” Moreover, pianos were magnificent gifts for “the June Bride, the Daughter soon to graduate or for the Wedding Anniversary.” Apparently, no single boys or men allowed.

Perhaps you would just like to cool your home? Indeed, “Why Make Faces at the Sun?” Get a Hunter Attic Fan from Schiller Construction Co. (Aug. 8, 1955, JN). The guy in the ad does look a bit perturbed while the sun is grinning at him.

Finally, if all the shopping and moving of the fridges, stoves and radios has tired you out, don’t worry. A 1967 ad for the Detroit Jewish News had “Just what the doctor ordered.”

Want to learn more?

Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

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