DJN January 21, 2021

200 Jan. 21-27, 2021 / 8-14 Shevat 5781

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Battling Human Trafficking Sanctum House seeks funding to sustain and expand haven for victims.

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contents Jan. 21-27, 2021 / 8-14 Shevat 5781 | VOLUME CLVIII, ISSUE 25

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Views 6-15

Seniors 23

Entrepreneur helps mature homebodies become tech tigers.

JEWS INTHED 16

Battling Human Trafficking Sanctum House seeks funding to sustain and expand its haven for victims.

18

Got Kiddos at Home?

19

‘Deadly Medicine’

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JCC ‘Off -Centers’

The new concept would have the JCC lease multi-purpose programming space in Berkley/Oak Park and Detroit.

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Moments

Spirit 22

Torah portion

Quick Hits

My Mother’s Pain, My Mother’s Resilience

Documentary explores Holocaust survivor’s grief — and love of life.

30

Holocaust History

32

Joan Micklin Silver Remembered

Moments 21

Beloved softball and hockey player has survived brain surgeries, cancer, COVID-19, mass shooting and a tornado.

Posen Library releases volume on “Catastrophe and Rebirth.”

Filmmaker portrayed the romantic and cultural struggles of Jewish women.

Celebrity Jews

Online Events 34

Nosh 36

Nothing Stops Brad Kallen

ARTS&LIFE

U-M Hillel Winterfest Enriching students during January.

Vaccine update

Sports

Actvity ideas from ‘Martha Jewart.’

Holocaust Memorial Center sets Holocaust Remembrance Day online program and new exhibit.

Turning Boomers into Zoomers

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Conveniently Kosher

‘Fresh n ready’ meals are Chef Cari’s new creation.

Etc.

The Exchange Soul Danny Raskin Looking Back

37 38 45 46

Shabbat Lights

Shabbat Starts: Friday, Jan. 22, 5:16 p.m.

Shabbat Ends: Saturday, Jan. 23, 6:21 p.m.

Tu b’Shevat: Thursday, Jan. 28

* Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar.

ON THE COVER: Cover photo/credit: Edee Franklin, right, and a member of Sanctum House.

Photo by Jerry Zolynsky.

Cover design: Michelle Sheridan

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VIEWS jewfro

The Year of the Citizen

L

ast month, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services revised the civics questions for the naturalization test for the first time since 2008.

There are now 128 questions, up from 100. Answering 12 out of 20 correctly is one of the many steps for anyone applying to become a United States citizen.

Here are a few of the questions and their official Ben Falik answers, followed by my righteously wrong responses.

To be clear: (a) I love America more than any other country in the world; (b) exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually; (c) I’m paraphrasing James Baldwin and not recommending these for anyone actually taking their naturalization test; (d) all of the above.

28. Why does each state have two senators?

• Equal representation (for small states) • The Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise) By design, the Senate is undemocratic.

It constitutionally underrepresents some Americans in favor of others. In 1790, Pennsylvania had about seven times as many people as Delaware. California now has 70 times the population of Wyoming.

The Senate and Electoral College both favor rural, white Americans by orders of magnitude, so it is incumbent upon diverse metropolitan constituencies to align and advocate for their interests.

53. How many seats are on the Supreme Court?

• Nine (9) The 2008 answer was “Visit uscis.gov/ citizenship/testupdates for the number of justices on the Supreme Court.” Perhaps it was wishful thinking by the outgoing administration that the number of justices remain unchanged.

The Supreme Court is, ultimately, if not electorally, accountable to the body politic; it is in the realm of possibility that

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additional justices could be necessary to ensure that accountability.

116. Name one U.S. military conflict after the September 11, 2001, attacks.

• (Global) War on Terror • War in Afghanistan • War in Iraq In the months leading up to the 20th anniversary of 9/11, we should be evaluating the consequences of the attacks and the country’s response. The question doesn’t say “military conflict justified by,” but we can’t overlook the extraordinary cost of the military industrial complex, nor the Patriot Act’s infringement on civil liberties, the persistence of Islamophobia, the reality that the country’s greatest terror threat is homegrown.

129. What is the moral difference, if any, between a civilian and a citizen?

• A citizen accepts personal responsibility for the safety of the body politic, defending it with his life, a civilian does not.

Actually, that’s from Starship Troopers, the 1997 film featuring bugs more charismatic, but less deadly than the one we’re currently battling.

Here’s the real question: 70. What is one way Americans can serve their country?

• Vote • Pay taxes • Obey the law • Serve in the military • Run for office • Work for local, state, or federal government OK, that’s a start — and a timely reminder for law abidance. Today, less than 12% of American adults “are involved in military, public and national service at the local, state and federal levels” combined, according to Brookings. (In 1945, 12% of the population served in the armed forces.)

For the other 88% of us, what — beyond W-2s and I Voted stickers — might citizenship look like?

Windsor native Jeff Dell after being naturalized as a U.S. citizen on Dec. 11, 2020.

Weeds. Not weed, though marijuana legalization is as good an example as any.

The weeds are those local and regional meetings, hearings, conferences, surveys, reports, etc., where our fellow citizens make decisions that affect our lives.

To get into the weeds, I recently joined the Detroit Documenters, “citizens and civic actors; creators and collaborators; representing a broad base of intergenerational, diverse communities … democratizing news & information at the local level.”

At detroit.documenters.org, you can find everything you never knew you were looking for. The Great Lakes Water Authority, which services 4 million Michiganders, voting to purchase East Lake Baptist Church for $440,000 more than its appraised value.

The 30,000 side lots available for purchase through the Detroit Land Bank Authority and resident Joanne Warwick’s frustration at being unable to purchase one in her neighborhood. @couponchess live tweeting the Belle Isle Park Advisory Committee.

You can see all the agencies’ upcoming meetings and add them directly to your calendar. It’s like the old saying goes — whether you think you have a stake in the Detroit Regional Convention Facility Authority or you don’t, you’re right.

So, yes, happy new year, new president, new senate majority, new vaccines, new normal.

And, yes, volunteer, donate, recycle, shop local, buy stamps, clean up after your dog, return your shopping cart, give pedestrians the right of way, check out library books and return them more or less on time, mask up.

Just remember that all politics is local and 2020 is hindsight.

Nazli G. Sater

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VIEWS column

Interfaith and Proudly Jewish

S

everal years ago, I was sitting in a nondescript room in a nondescript hotel at conference for a national Jewish organization. I cannot recall what the session was supposed to be about, but the speaker turned to the subject of Alicia intermarriage.

Chandler I braced myself for the litany of tropes that would follow. Those that intermarry are choosing to opt out of the Jewish community. Those that intermarry are destroying the Jewish future.

Intermarriage is the end to the experiment that was liberal Judaism. In frustration, I caught eyes with intermarried friends in the room — Jewish professionals and lay leaders dedicating their lives to strengthening the Jewish community while simultaneously being told that we are the downfall of the community that we love.

I am thankful to the Jewish News for giving me an opportunity to write a monthly column about the experiences and realities of interfaith marletters

Kudos for Reading Lawsuit Coverage

The Jewish News is to be commended for publishing a detailed account of the lawsuit over state funding to enhance educational opportunities for Detroit schoolchildren (Dec. 31, cover story). Particularly, the role of Mark Rosenbaum in achieving success is well described. All of this has been

riage in the Jewish community today. I come to this issue both personally and professionally.

I have spent the last 22 years either dating, engaged or married to my Catholic husband.

Professionally, in 2019 I chose to leave my career as a health care attorney to pursue the academic study of interfaith families, first at Hebrew College and now as a graduate student in Wayne State University’s Sociology department. The question I am researching is simple: How will the ever-increasing amounts of intermarriage impact the American Jewish community?

In a matter of weeks, it is expected that Pew Research Center will publish its follow-up study to 2013’s “A Portrait of Jewish Americans.” That study found that 44% of all current married Jews who responded to the survey were married to non-Jews. When the study narrowed its focus to only those Jews that had married since 2005, the number rose to 58%.

If Orthodox Jews were removed from the analysis, 71% of Jews married since 2005 married non-Jews.

But these marriage statistics ignored by Detroit media; but there is more to the story. That is, even after voiding segregation in Bradley v Milliken and enhancing the educational programs of the Detroit schools, students are still deprived a good education by underfunding.

Hopefully by Rosenbaum’s and others’ great work the school system will get on and stay on the right track.

— The Honorable Avern Cohn Detroit

are only part of the story. As we know from history — or Fiddler on the Roof for those who are inclined to learn their history through Broadway musicals — there was a time that marrying outside of the community meant that one was forced to leave the Jewish community.

This is no longer true in most parts of the Jewish world. Pew Research Center found that if an American over 65 had one Jewish parent, the overwhelming likelihood was that they did not identify as Jewish. However, for those under 30 with one Jewish parent, the majority (59%) identified as Jewish.

As Pew asked, “Does intermarriage lead to assimilation and weaken the Jewish community? Or is it a way for a religion that traditionally does not seek converts to bring new people into the fold and, thereby, strengthen as well as diversify the Jewish community?”

While the academic in me may long to debate these questions, the Jew in me rejects the premise entirely. While I cannot speak for all 71% of liberal Jews that have married non-Jews in the past 15 years, I can say

that I did not get married as a religious statement. I met a boy, discovered he was my bashert and chose to spend the rest of my life with him.

For those who believe that this choice precludes me — or my children — from living a Jewish life, I would simply ask them to look around this community. Intermarried Jews and their non-Jewish spouses are praying in synagogues, sitting on the boards of Jewish organizations, writing checks to Jewish charities, driving carpool to Sunday schools and day schools, and living Jewish lives every single day.

This year I hope to explore alongside the readers the myths and facts about intermarriage in the Jewish community, the joy and the pain that can accompany these choices, and what intermarriage can teach us about creating a more engaged, more inclusive, more welcoming Jewish community.

Who Supports Trump Now?

stone of Jewish belief. How is a president who has sought to do away with health care funding, immigration and protection of the environment worthy of a Jew’s respect, much less support?

Since Trump lost his bid for reelection, he has done nothing but claim falsely that he was robbed. The COVID-19 pandemic rages on. The number of dead from this modern plague makes Trump the greatest mass murderer of his own people in U.S. history due to his non-

I’ve never understood how my fellow American Jews could support Donald Trump.

Whenever I put the question to one of them, the response was usually, “He’s good for Israel and the Jews.”

Since Trump took office, the U.S. has seen a dramatic rise in Jew-hating incidents, culminating in the murder of 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue.

Tikkun olam is a corner-

Alicia is the founder of Multifaith Life LLC, a consulting firm helping Jewish institutions and the Jewish community adapt to the increase in interfaith families, and a graduate student studying sociology at Wayne State University.

continued on page 12

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VIEWS Guest column

New Year for Trees

A

ccording to Jewish tradition, if one is studying Torah while walking on the road and interrupts their learning and says, “What a beautiful tree!” scripture considers that person liable for death.

Wait. Really?!

Rabbi Nate How could this DeGroot be? How could a moment of nature appreciation be seen as a distraction so sinister that it warrants the death penalty?

In the words of Rabbi Marc Soloway, “Rav Kook … and others, teach that the key word in this text is “mafsik,” breaking off, separating. That is to say: If we understand the appreciation of a tree as an interruption from our studies, meaning, something separate from Torah, a break in our religious sensibility or intellectual curiosity, we might as well be dead. Spirituality is inherently an integration of body and soul, the earth and

the heavens.”

In other words, a moment of nature appreciation isn’t an interruption of our wonder, but the source of it. Stopping to smell the flowers is not a break from Torah; it is Torah.

And it’s through remembering this truth and acting fervently on it that our life, and perhaps life itself, remains vibrant, flourishing and intact.

From sundown on Jan. 27 through sundown on Jan. 28, Jews all over the world will celebrate the holiday of Tu b’Shevat, affectionately known as the New Year for the Trees.

While historically this day signaled when to tithe trees’ fruits, and in the temperate Middle East it marks the season when sap begins to rise in the trees, what might it mean for us, in cold and snowy Michigan? Perhaps this holiday’s enduring message can be found in the lesson learned from the story above.

Generations alive today face a climate crisis that is unprecedented in human history. The

task before us is grand and the urgency is great. But according to our tradition, the very best way we can respond is by reconnecting with the natural world and reinvesting in the deeper understanding that we are all — humans and the natural world — part of a single, precious and miraculous Divine whole.

With that in mind, your friends at Hazon encourage you to incorporate nature connection into your Tu b’Shevat celebration. Take a walk outside. Examine that interesting tree branch. Taste fruits or nuts from local trees. Try a fruit you’ve never eaten before.

Feel what bark feels like on your palm.

And then, from Jan. 27-31, join us at the Big Bold Jewish

Climate Festival (www.jewishclimatefest.org). This five-day virtual festival, put on by a team that includes Hazon, will feature more than 120 worldclass programs, from spiritually uplifting Tu b’Shevat seders, to top-notch sustainability programming, expert climate education and meaningful calls to action.

Gather together with thousands of participants from across Metro Detroit and the globe, who care about Judaism and the Earth, and believe the time has come to put climate change as a central moral issue of our community. Tu b’Shevat sameach and see you there!

Rabbi Nate DeGroot is the Hazon Detroit associate director and spiritual & program director.

LETTERS continued from page 10

feasance and malfeasance in dealing with the spread of the disease.

The horrific storming of the capitol at Trump’s instigation on Jan. 6, 2021, was by far the lowest point of his term and begs the question to my fellow American Jews, “Do you still support him?”

— Ted Friedman Via the website

Further Thoughts on Dr. Peven The behavior of all these fer-

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

tility doctors violates the most basic elements of medical ethics. Patients have an absolute and unrestricted right to full knowledge regarding all aspects of their care, whether they choose to “question the doctor” or not, and the doctor has an obligation to provide that knowledge. That would include basic information about sperm donors, which determine the genetics of their children. Peven surreptitiously chose to spread his own DNA to an unknown number of

offspring, and Trythall’s actions were equally abhorrent in regularly using a donor that would likely have been unacceptable to the recipients. This is shameful and the behavior of these physicians deserves condemnation.

— Alan Sheiner, M.D. Encino, California Website comment

I find it interesting that the mothers of the inseminated kids all felt guilt or shame about their child’s birth. My

Mom was the exact same way in regards to my adoption.

— Michelle Rosenfeld Globerson Via Facebook

CORRECTION Gilead “Gil” Kapen, who co-wrote “The United Nations: A Major Obstacle to a TwoState Solution in the Middle East,” Jan. 7, did not grow up in Metro Detroit, although he does consider it a “second home.”

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

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13

VIEWS Guest column

Taking Extremism Seriously Jan. 6 was a watershed moment for the far-right.

So where do we go from here?

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA

M

ost of us have had barely a chance to collect our thoughts about the horrific events that occurred in our Capitol on Jan. 6. The Michigan ADL has been busy fielding many inquiries from our concerned Carolyn Normandin community, and there has been a great deal of commentary from others about the terrible challenge to our nation’s democracy. On Jan. 8, the ADL made history by calling for the removal of the president.

In our 107-year-old record, our organization has never even come close to such an action. What is baffling is the fact that — only now — have many people started to take white supremacists and far-right extremists seriously.

For years, we have talked about the rise of extremism and ADL’s concerns over the far-right. I’ve personally given briefings, presentations, delivered research, and conducted media interviews about the dangers of domestic extremism. More than a year ago, I served on a National Governor’s Association Task Force on Preventing Targeted Violence, and a large part of our effort focused on domestic terrorism.

Some people have listened and have added their voices.

A scene from the Capitol rioting, Jan. 6, 2021.

Some have accused the ADL and others who monitor extremists of exaggerating the dangers. The active disinformation and conspiracy theories promulgated on digital platforms like Facebook and Twitter, including from President Trump’s own feed, have been frightening. And it continues, even after we know people were trampled and hurt, offices were trashed, the Capitol building was damaged and people died.

Astonishingly, some elected officials — those who have been actively pushing misinformation and stoking the flames — have now come out with forceful rhetoric, pretending they can somehow erase the stain of their complicity. But we must hold people accountable for their actions.

For several months — under the moniker “Stop Hate for Profit,” ADL —

along with others like Color of Change, Common Sense Media, Free Press, LULAC, Mozilla, NAACP, National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC) and Sleeping Giants — have repeatedly called for digital platforms to create policies about hate speech and guidelines for these companies to enact.

Last week, we issued a statement demanding digital media organizations remove Donald Trump from their platforms and permanently ban him from participating.

By Friday evening, platforms were rapidly removing Donald Trump’s account or accounts affiliated with proTrump violence and conspiracies, such as QAnon and #StoptheSteal. Mainstream platforms like Twitter, Google, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and even Pinterest had removed him; it’s about time.

I want to be very clear

about a few things: • No one who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6 was radicalized overnight. They were extremists with a common cause who were animated by a conspiracy theory of a stolen election. But make no mistake: People were radicalized. And the fires were fueled by years of dangerous misinformation and hateful rhetoric.

• There is zero evidence that “antifa” followers created violence. Our experts in ADL’s Center on Extremism have already begun to identify far-right individuals and extremist groups involved in the events. We immediately began working with law enforcement and identified members of the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, QAnon adherents and other far-right extremist groups.

• This is not political.

Holding the president accountable for inciting violence and hate is not a partisan issue. Actions have consequences.

• Extremist ideology often quickly accelerates toward hatred of the Jewish people. The notion of antisemitism as the “canary in the coal mine” rings true because we see some of the same age-old tropes and commentaries spewed in publications from the early 1900s as we saw on digital platforms last week. In ADL offices all across the U.S. we’ve seen this rhetoric fostered in outrageous proportions. When it comes down to it, fearmongering and blame are key ingredients for antisemitism.

So where do we go from

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2475West12Mil–Ste.10

michprobate.com here? We must have a complete and transparent investigation into the activities and violence of Jan. 6. We must look with clarity at the stark inequities between the way Black Lives Matter protesters were treated at anti-racist protests over the summer, compared to the way armed extremists storming the Capitol were handled. We must remember those efforts that occurred to disseminate lies and attempt to disrupt democracy. This is not just looking to place blame; it’s holding the right people accountable. And we must learn from this experience so we do not make the same mistakes.

We must be vigilant that the inauguration remains safe and secure. And we

must collectively make a decision to take a real stand against domestic extremism in the U.S. And that includes holding digital platforms responsible and demanding they create guardrails and stand by their own guidelines. ADL and other organizations like ours can help. But like all “house rules,” it’s the duty of the homeowners to ensure policies are followed.

Jan. 6 was a dark day for America. It has marked a certain period in our nation’s history. But it does not have to prescribe our future. We must strive to be better. And I promise ADL is unwavering in its commitment to be on the front lines.

Carolyn Normandin is the Regional Director of ADL Michigan.

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

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JEWSINTHED

care could be to trafficking survivors.

She didn’t waste any time.

Franklin, a real estate agent, assembled a planning committee and did five years of research and development.

They put together a comprehensive plan to help survivors heal and, in 2015, gained a

ON THE COVER

Battling Human Trafficking

PHOTOS BY JERRY ZOLYNSKY

Sanctum House founder Edee Franklin of Huntington Woods and member Claire discuss issues.

Sanctum House seeks funding to sustain and expand its haven for victims.

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

W

hile Claire was living in a university town, a group of men had been watching her for a while without her knowledge.

One day, they sent someone to her door. He was crying and wearing a sling. She didn’t know what to do but she wanted to help, so she invited the man in for a glass of water.

“And that’s sort of how things changed,” Claire told the Detroit Jewish News. (Only her first name will be used in this article to protect her privacy.)

The man was a human trafficker. Human trafficking is the practice of coercing a person into labor or to engage in commercial sexual actions. It is sometimes referred to as modern-day slavery.

Claire would go on to be starved, brainwashed and abused.

“A few days later — I don’t even know how long, because they call it “trauma brain,” like,

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you lose sense of time — I was able to escape,” Claire said.

She got him to take her to a public place where she knew people. From there, she went to a hospital. That’s how she found out about Sanctum House, a group home in Oakland County providing 24/7 support for women who’ve been trafficked.

“After this happened, if I hadn’t come to Sanctum House, yes, doctors would have prescribed me Ativan and Xanax and whatever else for the rest of my life. But, trauma takes more than that,” she said.

During Claire’s first two months at Sanctum House, she was in shock. The trauma she felt was so intense that if it had been on the outside of her body, she’d have been in a “full body cast for like a year,” she said.

The traffickers had broken her down completely, to the point where she had no trust left and no tools to relate to the outside world, she told the JN.

Today, Claire is still living at Sanctum House as she pursues a master’s degree. The residential program has given her the tools to move forward with her life after trauma. Sanctum House, she said, is a “national game-changer.”

“When you come to Sanctum House, here is the space where you can start to unpack that,” Claire said. “And it’s more than just sort of giving a man of fish.

If you give a man a fish, he eats only for a day — but Sanctum House teaches you how to go back to living.”

A UNIQUE APPROACH When Huntington Woods resident Edee Franklin was doing a self-improvement program in 2013, she began to think about creating a group home for survivors of human trafficking.

A recovering heroin addict herself, Franklin realized how important longer-term, trauma- and addiction-informed

A woman does dishes in the kitchen.

501(c)3 designation for the new nonprofit.

Sanctum House finally opened its doors to human trafficking survivors in February 2018. The organization keeps its exact location private to protect its residents.

“Now we’ll be open almost three years, and we’re ready for expansion,” Franklin said.

“We’ve really grown. We’ve really created, I think, a wonderful program.”

Sanctum House was the first of its kind in Southeast Michigan and one of only a few similar programs in the United States. The program serves women ages 18 and up, who generally stay in the house for about two years — though some women feel ready to leave before the two-year mark, and some stay a bit longer, Franklin said. Referrals are accepted from all across the country.

The program includes comprehensive healthcare including

mental healthcare and trauma therapy, vocational skills training and job placement, financial education, peer support and much more.

It’s “very much designed in a woman’s needs and what they want,” Franklin said. “We have people now who want to go to culinary school, who are work-

that we take care of one another,” she said. “And the goal is to heal the world. I mean, that’s what we do.”

COVID CHALLENGES Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted Sanctum House over the past year.

Luckily, the house has stayed

The pandemic has pushed trafficking itself further underground. Lockdowns and quarantines have made it so women in trafficking situations are brought into public less often, and more internet sales and pornography have taken place, Franklin said.

“Women are being trafficked

who run the therapeutic programs. She’s then aiming to raise an additional $1 million for ongoing operations.

Sanctum House has already received several large pledges for the purchase of the building.

Now Franklin is hoping to find “a few angels” who can help Sanctum House make its goals

Program Manager Shannon Brandt of Farmington Hills and Executive Director Karen Moore of Dearborn play cards with Katrise and Jesa.

House members watch TV.

ing outside of the house, who purchase their own vehicles.”

Sanctum House has partnerships with hospitals, social workers and over 30 different organizations that supplement its services.

Since its beginnings in 2018, Sanctum House has helped more than 55 women through its residential program with 24-hour care. All residents are drug-free and are working through appropriate 12-step programs; many have found jobs outside the house. Nineteen have reunited with family members, and six are attending college — including one who made the dean’s list.

For Franklin, who grew up attending Adat Shalom Synagogue, the spirit of the house is connected to her own Jewish faith. She said she created Sanctum House in the spirit of tikkun olam, repairing the world.

It’s “from the spirit of Judaism

COVID-19-free, but the tumult has limited the growth of women at the house in some ways, Claire said — it’s much harder to get out and start to build a new life during a pandemic.

Even more than that, COVID-19 has affected Sanctum House’s ability to spread awareness of human trafficking. More than 20 speaking engagements for people affiliated with Sanctum House were canceled this year, Franklin said.

Sanctum House has also provided training to hundreds of first responders and hospital employees on how to spot human trafficking and react appropriately when they see the signs — that’s not possible in the same way this year.

“You can’t get the word out,” Claire said. “And that’s really fundamental to fighting human trafficking and saving people from human traffickers.”

and abused and sexually assaulted, so we can’t forget,” Franklin said. “Everything is still going on while COVID is going on.”

CONTRIBUTORS SOUGHT The virus has also cut down on Sanctum House’s ability to raise money, as its usual engagements and fundraisers have been canceled. Franklin is still writing grants and depends on sponsorships, but now she’s launched a three-phase, $3 million capital campaign.

The organization is currently trying to raise $1.4 million to purchase its property and the adjacent lot. This will allow it to nearly triple the number of women it can serve at a time, from 12 up to 34, Franklin told the JN. Franklin is also hoping to find around $600,000 to make necessary improvements to its campus and ensure funds for operating expenses and salaries for the trained professionals

for sustaining funds.

“We’re in this capital campaign for sustainability,” Franklin said. “If you don’t have a program, you’ve got nothing to give the women that they can hang their hats on.”

Despite the challenges of the year, Franklin and the rest of the staff and stakeholders at Sanctum House remain committed to helping survivors and raising awareness of human trafficking.

“It may be a heinous crime, and you don’t really want to look at it,” she said. “But there are women that are being tortured and abused. Once you’re aware — once you know better — you do better.”

Above all, “we’re all entitled to our civil rights and sanctum,” Franklin said.

January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month. To learn more about Sanctum House and its capital campaign, visit www.sanctumhouse.org/about-sanctum-house/.

JANUARY 21 • 2021

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JEWSINTHED

Got Kiddos at Home?

Keep them busy with ideas from ‘Martha Jewart.’

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ARIELLE ENDELMAN

I

f you are a parent of a preschooler and possess an ample supply of last year’s coveted rolls of toilet tissue and paper towels, hang onto that cardboard center. According to Arielle Endelman, creator of the recently launched Instagram crafting site @itsmarthajewart, the humble cardboard roll can be used for countless projects to keep preschoolers occupied during these long pandemic months.

When Endelman, of West Bloomfield, is not working from home at her job as director of admissions for Frankel Jewish Academy, she is keeping her 3-year-old son Blake entertained though the joy of arts and crafts.

Endelman and Blake began their foray into craftiness at the beginning of the pandemic by collecting those toilet paper rolls and turning two into a pair of make-believe binoculars that kept him entertained and exploring through the spring and summer.

As the seasons changed and fall set in, Endelman and Blake created collages of Thanksgiving turkeys made with feathers and

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stray buttons. It was at this point that she and Blake had amassed quite the crafting portfolio. Her husband and sister suggested she photograph the creations and upload them to a dedicated Instagram account to share ideas with other families.

“My husband and sister have called me ‘Martha Jewart’ as a joke, and the name stuck,” said Endelman. “So, when I saw that name was available, I used it for a new Instagram account.”

Now, @itsmarthajewart has about 250 followers. The posts are photos of mainly collage-like projects pasted to construction paper: an airplane with paper clips for wings flying through a blue sky dotted with cotton puff clouds; dinosaur silhouettes painted and cut out and glued on shimmery paper, and a “snow globe” with a snowman made of white paper circle cutouts with pipe cleaners for arms and a thin piece of yarn for a scarf.

In addition to secular craft ideas, @itsmarthajewart also includes projects for Jewish holidays.

For Chanukah, Endelman and Blake created a latke frying

pan by covering a paper plate with aluminum foil and formed “latkes” with torn bits of brown construction paper. Endelman also posted about simple science experiments that involved mixing water with oil.

“Craft projects can also lead the way into simple science experiments with things most everyone has in their pantry, including food coloring and vegetable oil.”

For a more kinetic craft to create a firework display to celebrate New Year’s, Endelman cut the end of some toilet paper rolls into fringes. Blake dunked the fringed ends into colored paint and then slammed them onto construction paper.

Endelman said all these crafts are simple and can be done quickly, which makes them ideal for parents trying to juggle childcare while working from home.

“Kids having lots of screen time has become unavoidable,” Edelman admits. “But if you have a small space or box dedicated to crafts stocked with supplies like crayons, paper plates and pipe cleaners, you your and kids can take half-hour breaks away from the screen and create something that is fun and experiential.”

Endelman said that she is amazed at the “genuine feeling of community” the Instagram account is creating across parents from a wide range of backgrounds and geographic areas.

“I have moms from all over the country and also

FAR LEFT: Blake Endelman, 3, uses a pair of make-believe binoculars he made with toilet paper rolls.

Switzerland, Sweden and Israel,” Endelman said.

“I may not have many followers yet, but what I have found is that we are building a community about coming up with how to engage small children in something creative during this pandemic.”

TU B’SHEVAT IDEAS As Tu b’Shevat (Jan. 27) approaches, Endelman suggested the following crafting or science experiment ideas to introduce preschoolers to the New Year of the Trees: • Go on a nature walk, collect twigs and use them as paint brushes.

• Create a tree: Dip feet in brown paint and step on construction paper. Make branches with handprints and leaves and fruit with fingerprints.

• Dye a bag of rice green with vinegar and food coloring. Print or draw the outlines of a tree trunk and leaves. Cover the tree shape with glue and then with the green rice. Shake off excess rice to create tree with textured green leaves.

• Once again, put those toilet paper rolls to use. Print out or draw a tree trunk. Then, pinch the toilet paper roll end into a leaf shape and dip in various color paints to make leaves.

“It’s all about those toilet paper rolls,” Endelman reminded. “For preschool crafts, they are like gold.”

Medical-Professionals-Ad.ai

Students at the Berlin School for the Blind examine racial head models circa 1935. Students were taught Gregor Mendel’s principles of inheritance and the purported application of those laws to human heredity and principles of race.

BLINDEN-MUSEUM AN DER JOHANN-AUGUST-ZEUNE-SCHULE FUR BLINDE, BERLIN

JN STAFF

T

he Holocaust Memorial Center will host How Healers Became Killers: Nazi Medical Professionals, to commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day, Wednesday, Jan. 27. The program also is the opening event of the new featured exhibit, Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race, which opens Jan. 17 and runs through July 11, 2021.

“This thought-provoking exhibit and opening program scrutinizes the role medical professionals had in the Holocaust,” said HMC CEO Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld. “The most important lesson we teach is that history is made through a series of choices and that every choice has a consequence. By teaching the lessons of the Holocaust, our fervent hope is that each of us will be upstanders, not bystanders, when we witness wrongful actions.”

On Wednesday, Jan. 27, at 7 p.m., How Healers Became Killers: Nazi Medical Professionals will address the integral role medical professionals played in the planning and implementation of Nazi racial

4:02 PM

Nazi Medical Professionals International Holocaust Remembrance Day Program

7 pm Wednesday January 27 Join Dr. Patricia Heberer-Rice from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum at the virtual exhibit-opening program for Deadly Medicine Creating the Master Race.

Register at www.holocaustcenter.org/January

policy. The online program features Dr. Patricia HebererRice, senior historian from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, who will discuss how medical professionals enforced policies of compulsory sterilization, as well as the “euthanasia” program. Register at www.holocaustcenter.org/events/ upcoming-events/.

NEW EXHIBIT Produced by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the traveling exhibit Deadly Medicine: Creating the Master Race examines how the Nazi leadership, in collaboration with medical professionals, used science to help legitimize persecution, murder and genocide.

Through reproductions of photographs and documents, films and survivor testimony, the exhibit traces how the persecution of groups deemed biologically inferior led to the near annihilation of European Jewry. It also challenges viewers to reflect on the present-day interest in genetic manipulation that promotes the possibility of human perfection.

1/15/21

How Healers Became Killers

‘Deadly Medicine’ And Nazi Doctors Holocaust Remembrance Day online program and exhibit.

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JEWSINTHED

JCC ‘Off -Centers’ JCC to lease space in Oak ParkBerkley, and possibly Downtown.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

T

he Jewish Community Center of Metro Detroit is in the beginning stages of developing a concept called “Off-Center” — a satellite JCC operation to serve as an “east side hub” located in the Oak Park-Berkley area and a possible additional location in Downtown Detroit.

JCC Assistant Executive Director Judy Loebl, who helped conceive of the idea, says this is the latest step in the

Judy Loebl

JCC’s shift from being a “building” to a “concept” — the ability to provide programming to the entire Metro Detroit Jewish

community.

The Off-Center idea is part of the JCC’s current strategic plan, though the center has no timeline yet for bringing it to fruition. It was discussed by JCC CEO Brian Siegel in an inter-

Student ‘Winterfest’ U-M Hillel slates extra Jewish learning events during January.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

H

illel International has launched its first-ever “Winterfest” throughout the month — virtually connecting students through small group experiences at 85 campuses.

University of Michigan Hillel is participating in Winterfest, and Rabbi Lisa Stella, U-M Hillel’s director of religious life & education, knows how valuable these opportunities are in a time where it’s difficult for students to learn and bond in ways they’re used to.

“These learning experiences

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

have been a way for students to connect with each other, build community and also develop their Jewish identity further,” Stella said.

U-M Hillel is doing a couple programs through Winterfest, including “New Year’s Boot Camp for the Soul,” a program where students received daily messages in the first week of January including songs, podcasts and exercises to practice mindfulness and work on character traits, including gratitude and generosity.

Another program is a cook-

view with MyJewishDetroit.

Siegel said the JCC would explore leasing “hyper-efficient touchpoints of moderate scope and size — approximately 3,000 to 8,000 square feet of floorspace — where the community can easily gather for activities and events.”

Loebl confirmed the JCC would lease, not own, its OffCenter locations, and that it is looking for multi-purpose space: “Something that could be used from morning to evening.”

Possible uses would include “multi-generational programs,” including exercise classes, Judaic studies, senior and children’s programming, and book fairs.

In 2015, the JCC closed its satellite Oak Park location, which upset many community members.

Since then, the JCC has used synagogues and temples, Aish HaTorah and Jewish Senior Life facilities in the Oak Park area

for events.

But as it expanded its programming, Loebl said, it began to look for a non-affiliated site of its own.

“We saw the need for a place that the whole community could gather that was neutral,” Loebl said.

The JCC had been close to identifying an Off-Center location in the Oak Park-Berkley area when the pandemic hit and put the search on hold, Loebl said.

The JCC is also looking at doing more programming in Downtown Detroit, including possible programming at the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue.

These new plans don’t mean the JCC will stop working with congregations or facilities they’ve partnered with in the past, Loebl said.

“The logistics make it much easier when you have your own place.”

ing class called “Knead to Know,” which started with a latke-making class for Chanukah.

Every class is themed either for a holiday or a Shabbat experience.

Rabbi Benjamin Berger, Hillel International’s vice president for Jewish education, believes Winterfest can help with the dramatic increase in mental health concerns for college students.

“The reality is this situation has been hard on college students. There’s a profound sense of loneliness they’re feeling. One of the ways Hillel has been really effective over the course of the pandemic has been through the development of small group learning,” Berger said.

be responsive to the dramatic and traumatic events of the moment, and quickly developed a teaching session about the defilement of the U.S. Capitol.

Berger said the teaching tied in Jewish history, Jewish text and what prayer looks like in times of crisis, having the students develop their own prayer for the nation in this moment.

“We put that out there to all these campuses saying, ‘use this as you wish,’” Berger said. “Our teaching is a way of processing and providing a Jewish sense on what’s going on in this moment in our country.”

Hillel International will go back to regular programming in February. Representatives for Michigan State University Hillel and Hillel of Metropolitan Detroit told the Jewish News they are not participating in Winterfest.

EVENTS AT CAPITOL Hillel International is also using Winterfest as an opportunity to

MOMENTS BIRTHS OCT. 19, 2020 Carolyn and Andrew Blechman of West Bloomfield happily announce the birth of their son, William Ari Blechman. Excited older sister is Gabriella Paige. Thrilled grandparents are Randa and Richard Feldman of West Bloomfield, and Rosanne and Karl Blechman of Silver Spring, Md. William was named in loving memory of his great-grandfather Wilfred Feldman and his great-grandmother Anne Weinstein. William’s Hebrew name, Simcha Matan, was given in blessed memory of his great-great-uncle Stanley Stein, his great-grandfather Samuel Stein and his great-uncle Mike Goldfine.

JUNE 18, 2020 Jonathan and Maria (Lissitsyna) Bloom of Arlington, Mass., are pleased to announce the birth of their daughter, Katya, derived from Ekaterina, sister of Aviva. The grandparents are Susie Bloom of Farmington Hills, Dr. David Bloom of Orchard Lake, and Tatiana Koudinova and Vladimir Lissitsyn of Arlington. The proud great-grandfather is Dr. Gerald Bloom of Novi. The child is named in loving memory of her great-grandmother Elaine Greenfield.

MAZEL TOV! Camryn Joy Raitt will lead the congregation in prayer as she becomes a bat mitzvah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. She will be joined in celebration by her proud parents, Laura Raitt and Jeffrey Raitt, and brother Devin. Camryn is the loving grandchild of Patricia and Robert Baer, Lois Raitt and the late David Raitt.

She is a student at Warner Middle School in Farmington Hills. As part of her most meaningful mitzvah project, Camryn raised funds and awareness for the American Cancer Society.

Jonah Robert Zekman (Yonah Raphael) of Bloomfield Hills will be called to the bimah at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield for his bar mitzvah on Saturday, Jan. 23, 2021. He is the son of proud parents, Drs. Richard and Esther Zekman; brothers are Aaron and Asher; grandparents are Irma Weiss and Steven Polevoy, Scotti McCarthy and the late Robert Zekman.

Jonah is in seventh grade at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills. He has devoted his mitzvah project to the Detroit2Nepal Foundation by volunteering at Buckets of Rain Urban Gardens, raising money for a solar streetlight for Avalon Village, and collecting and donating clothing for the Original Mothers Inc.

MILESTONES

Dembs-Mikon

D

eena and Arnold Mikon of Huntington Woods and Terri and Howard Dembs of West Bloomfield are thrilled to announce the marriage of their children, Renee Mikon and Brad Dembs.

The wedding took place on Aug. 29, 2020, in a small, intimate ceremony outdoors in Farmington Hills with immediate family and close friends.

The couple reside in Chicago, Ill.

Jacobs 70th

M

uriel and Bertrand Jacobs of Farmington Hills celebrated their 70th anniversary on Dec. 23, 2020, with their two children, Jan Jacobs and Bradley Jacobs.

Bert is a retired dentist with a long history of volunteering in the community. Muriel is a retired teacher and a wellknown fiber artist. The couple are the loving aunt and uncle to the Barr and Jacobs families and have a “surrogate daughter,” Lyn Scharret, whom they “adopted” five years ago.

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@renmedia.us or (248) 351-5147 for information or for a mailed or emailed copy of guidelines.

JANUARY 21 • 2021

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SPIRIT

TORAH PORTION

Lessons of the Past

T

his week’s parshah, Bo, encourage our children to ask contains what I believe is questions and why in answering one of the Torah’s most them we point to the text from important mitzvot: It is a dediwhich we seek our answers. cation to education, to knowing When we look at this week’s our past and ensuring that our portion, we read v’gam erev rav history informs our future. alah itam (a mixed multitude Having just won their freewent up with them.) While dom from Egyptian these five words don’t bondage, the Israelites change the essence of our are instructed by story of liberation, they do Moses on the laws of expand it. In the erev rav Passover, which they (mixed multitude) we find are to observe for all not only ourselves and the Rabbi Ari time. As they prepare people who look like us, but Witkin for their sojourn in a people inherently comthe desert, Moses says, posed of multiplicity.

Parshat “And when your chilIn the midst of a struggle Bo: Exodus dren ask you, ‘What for liberation, it can be easy 10:1-13:16; do you mean by this to narrow our conception Jeremiah rite?’ you shall say ‘It is of who is “with us.” Each 46:13-28. the Passover sacrifice year, when we return to to the Lord because He passed parshat Bo, we have the opporover the house of the Israelites tunity to expand it again and …” (Exodus 12:26-27). Here, at remember that not only are we the most climatic moment in more diverse than we may have the people’s history, standing thought, but that our story is on the edge of freedom, Moses also not ours alone. demonstrates a most important In the midst of a year when MEL DRYMAN Raised in Detroit, Experienced in Arizona skill for any religious leader — the forces of oppression are Your Professional bringing the ritual to life and more apparent than ever, we & Dedicated making it relevant. can all be buoyed by another ARIZONA REALTOR More than 2,000 years later, five-word phrase. Not from the Mobile: (480) 239-8686 the Passover seder is the most text of the Torah but painted on mel.dryman@azmoves.com observed ritual in Jewish life. the windows of our houses and According to the Pew Research signs in our front yards —“We Center, more than 70% of are in this together.”

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

Senior Living HOME | HEALTH | LIFE

Turning Boomers into Zoomers STEV E

N KA TZ

Entrepreneur helps mature homebodies become tech tigers.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A

year ago, few would have imagined so many of our personal and business interactions would be conducted online, using our computers, iPads and smartphones to “meet” and socialize safely during the pandemic.

Various online platforms — Zoom, Skype, FaceTime and Microsoft Teams, to name a few of the most popular — are now a common way to celebrate family birthdays, have medical appointments and attend classes and concerts.

But not everyone was familiar with this technology before COVID-19, and the use of these platforms can be challenging.

That’s where Katie Wallace comes in — she is a tech-savvy coach for using this technology at home.

Wallace, 31, was living in Royal Oak and working at a nonprofit in Eastern Market when the pandemic lockdown began. She temporarily moved back home with her parents in Huntington Woods. Soon they and their friends were asking for help with Zoom meetings.

Often they didn’t know to mute their computers or adjust the cameras.

“Zoom wasn’t really for consumers. I want to empower

people to use their technology,” she explains.

With some patient one-onone instruction, she was able to “reduce their anger and irritation.” Through word of mouth, requests increased for technology help from two demographics — adult children and their parents. Wallace, who was laid off in May, officially launched her business, Boom Chicka Zoom, LLC, in November. She credits the clever name to Gilda Jacobs, her parents’ neighbor.

Wallace’s clients are mostly Baby Boomers (ages 59 to 74) and older adults who want to communicate with family members who often live out of town.

Some have IT services available through their workplace but are grateful for her help.

Gregg Orley of Bloomfield Hills is one of Wallace’s satisfied

clients. Orley thought it would be much more professional and easy to work with her than asking family members for help. “She is amazing. I write out questions and she makes it all clear for me. We meet over Zoom,” explains Orley.

He wanted to download a fitness app and by holding up his phone, Wallace was able to help him while communicating through Zoom. “I am so appreciative of her warmth and patience,” Orley says.

Wallace, who graduated from U-M, expects to receive an MBA with a co-major in management and entrepreneurship and innovation from Wayne State University this year. She has worked as an intern at Federation, at the American Diabetes Association and Yad Ezra.

“I WANT TO EMPOWER PEOPLE TO USE THEIR TECHNOLOGY.” — KATIE WALLACE

A NATURAL TECHIE While her academic background hasn’t focused on information technology, she was the “go-to tech person” at some of her workplaces. Boom Chicka Zoom combines what she is good at with what she likes, Wallace explains.

“I’m providing support for people, not trying to replace IT,” she explains. That support can mean helping people set up wireless printers, Alexa and smart TVs. If clients want, she will store their computer serial numbers and passwords, and often helps with iPhone, WordPress and electronic calendars.

Wallace works online with clients, sometimes using software that enables her to “take over” their computers and show them how to do things.

Sometimes she works through Apple chat on their behalf.

Coaching/consulting can be for a few sessions or on an ongoing basis. Wallace’s hourly fee is $40; a package of three hours can be spread out over time and costs $100. Typically, the first half-hour of needs assessment is free. Visit boomchickazoom.com for more information.

JANUARY 21 • 2021

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Senior Living HOME | HEALTH | LIFE

Oakland Urges Patience on Vaccine “Save Your Spot” for county shot — and check for alternative sources.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

T

he Oakland County Health Division (OCHD) is asking residents currently eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine, including all residents over the age of 65, to remain patient while the county works to increase its supply.

The county does not have enough vaccines to meet demand after Gov. Gretchen Whitmer announced the state has entered its “Phase 2” of vaccine distribution, which

includes residents 65 years and older as well as frontline essential workers including police, first responders, preK-12 teachers and childcare providers.

As an alternative to the county’s supply, the vaccine might be currently available through local hospital systems or municipal health departments. The OCHD is encouraging residents to check their health provider’s online medical chart or portal, as the providers are making

appointments for their patients.

As of Jan. 15, OCHD had received 7,800 doses of the vaccine, administered about 6,500 vaccines, and scheduled an estimated 17,000-plus firstand second-dose appointments through the end of February.

“Minimal vaccine supply, however, limits our ability to schedule appointments for the hundreds of thousands of eligible workers and Oakland County residents who are still waiting to be vaccinated,” a department statement said.

The OCHD release noted there are over 217,000 residents age 65 and older eligible to receive the vaccine in the county.

OCHD is encouraging use of the newly launched “Save Your Spot” link on its website, oaklandcountyvaccine.com, to help identify individuals who are eligible for the vaccine. For anyone unable to complete the form, the health hotline can be

reached at (800) 848-5533.

OCHD is also asking residents to register their email address on the site or text “OAKGOV” to 28748 to receive updates on vaccine availability.

Nurse On Call, a phone service which offers info on other health resources, is available at (800) 848-5533 to answer questions, make COVID testing appointments and assist those unable to use the “Save Your Spot” link.

“We are asking the community to help us plan for administering future doses of vaccine we receive by completing this new form,” County Executive David Coulter said in the statement. “This will help us reach residents and workers who are eligible for vaccination when more doses become available.

As we receive more vaccine, we will continue to administer them quickly and efficiently until everyone has the opportunity to receive the vaccine.”

Celebrating the 2021 HONOREES

Linda Brodsky

Emery Grosinger

Faye Jacobs

Sye Linovitz

Sy Manello

Janet Moses

Saul Saulson

Dr. Lou Soverinsky

Jewish Senior Life’s Eight Over Eighty recognizes eight

distinguished leaders in our community, all over the age of 80, who have demonstrated a lifetime of dedication to the Jewish value of Tikkun Olam-Repairing the World.

For Sponsorships, Journal Ads or Event Information visit www.jslmi.org or contact Beth Tryon at 248-592-5026 TTY #711 or btryon@jslmi.org Proceeds Benefit Quality of Life Fund

SAVE THE DATE!

Sunday, May 23, 2021 Virtual Event

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sports HIGHlights CHUCK FRIEDMAN

brought to you in partnership with

NMLS#2289

Nothing Stops Brad Kallen

Beloved softball and hockey player has survived brain surgeries, cancer, COVID-19, mass shooting and a tornado.

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

BRAD KALLEN

I

Brad Kallen scores a run for Temple Israel No. 3 during an Inter-Congregational Men’s Club Summer Softball League game.

quick hits

BY STEVE STEIN

B’nai B’rith Bowling Leagues in the Gutter Because of COVID-19

History has been made in the Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson and Downtown Fox-MLZG B’nai B’rith bowling leagues. But it’s not the kind of history the weekly leagues want repeated.

For this first time in each league’s long existence, the season has been canceled.

Blame the COVID-19 pandemic, of course.

Capacity and other restrictions placed on bowling alleys by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to stop the spread

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

f there’s anyone who has the right to say, “Why me?” it’s Brad Kallen.

The 50-year-old West Bloomfield resident has undergone brain surgery at Henry Ford Hospital twice — in 2017 and Jan. 4 — to remove a benign tumor, a Stage 2 meningioma.

He underwent surgery for bladder Brad Kallen cancer six years ago at the University of Michigan Hospital and is cancer-free.

He was taken down for a few weeks in November by a nasty case of the COVID-19 virus.

“Brad’s symptoms ran the gamut,” said his mother, famed boxing manager Jackie Kallen.

“He wasn’t able to taste or smell, he had a fever, he vomited, he was lethargic,” she said.

of the virus made it impossible for the leagues to operate normally, but there was a more important reason for the cancellations.

Several bowlers in each league — at least eight or nine in Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson and an undetermined number in Downtown Fox-MLZG — have been infected by the virus.

Nobody wanted to take the chance of turning a fun, competitive night of bowling into the source of a virus outbreak.

“Too much risk,” said Gary Klinger, spokesman for the Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson league, when asked why the league’s board canceled the season in December.

“It was the right decision,” Klinger said about the board’s call.

In 2017, Brad and a few friends were in Las Vegas and found themselves near a mass shooting at a country music festival at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino that killed 59 and injured 527.

After hearing gunshots, Jackie Callan said, Brad and his friends saw people running from the shooting scene.

Brad ran with the crowd, then hid in a clump of bushes. He was separated from his friends, but he caught up with them later.

In 1976, when Brad was 6 years old, every window in the Kallen house in West Bloomfield was blown out by a tornado.

“It was at 7:15 p.m., March 20, 1976. I’ll never forget it.

We all ran downstairs just in time,” Jackie Kallen said. “Junk flew into the house from every direction. We had to move out temporarily.”

Justin Kaplan, president of the Downtown Fox-MLZG league, said it would have been irresponsible for the league to have 70-plus members of the community bowling weekly inside a building.

“It’s our duty and responsibility to the community to keep everyone safe,” Kaplan said. “As much as I want to be bowling, and I’m sure the league members feel the same, we have to wait until it’s safe to do so.”

Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson league competition was tentatively scheduled to begin Jan. 4 and continue each Monday night at Country Lanes in Farmington Hills, the league’s longtime home before moving to the 300 Bowl in Waterford the past two seasons.

No opening date was set for the Downtown Fox-MLZG league. It

Also that year, Brad underwent surgery for a double hernia.

Through it all, Brad hasn’t stopped smiling. He’s relied on a positive attitude and love for his family — his wife, Molly, their three children ages 8-12, two dogs, two cats, a hamster and a goldfish — to pull him through each crisis.

“Brad doesn’t complain. He takes his lemons and makes lemonade, always with a smile. He’s a survivor,” Jackie Kallen said.

In 2014, three years before his first brain surgery, Brad was named the recipient of the Inter-Congregational Men’s Club Summer Softball League’s Jeff Fox Sportsmanship Award.

He was nominated for the prestigious award by a unanimous vote of his Temple Israel No. 3 teammates.

“That’s because Brad is selfless,” said Temple Israel No. 3 planned to bowl Tuesday nights at its regular home, Hartfield Lanes in Berkley.

Each league saw its 2019-20 season end early because of the pandemic.

It was the 59th season for the Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson league. The Downtown Fox league has been around for more than 100 years.

The last Brotherhood-Eddie Jacobson bowling night of the 2019-20 season was March 9. Five weeks of regular-season competition and three weeks of playoffs remained for the 18 teams.

There were 16 teams in the Downtown Fox-MLZG league when it shut down in March.

If all goes well, each league hopes to resume competition in the fall.

CHUCK FRIEDMAN

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FIND A HOME YOU LOVE IN 2021 Work with an experienced team Brad Kallen (center) of Temple Israel No. 3 holds the Jeff Fox Sportsmanship Award presented annually by the Inter-Congregational Men’s Club Summer Softball League. With Kallen are Temple Israel No. 3 manager Elon Friedman and Adam Fox, Jeff’s son.

manager Elon Friedman. “He was a great teammate who played anywhere on the field where he was needed and always got the job done. He also was a good hitter.”

Friedman also was Brad’s teammate and manager on a coed floor hockey team called the Ugly Pucklings that plays in a league at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit in West Bloomfield when there isn’t a pandemic.

“Brad was our goalie. He was the best goalie in the league,” Friedman said.

Brad doesn’t play softball, floor hockey or ice hockey anymore because of his brain surgeries. But he and Friedman still see each other because they’re good friends and their families are close.

The two men talked for an hour the night before Brad’s brain surgery earlier this month.

“Brad said he couldn’t wait to get the surgery done and over with,” Friedman said.

“The surgery was originally scheduled for Dec. 23, but Brad postponed it because he didn’t want to miss winter break time with his kids. His family went to Florida for a vacation.”

Jackie Kallen said her son missed about a month of work following his 2017 brain sur-

gery. Brad owns a residential construction company and is a part-time disc jockey.

Friedman still marvels at what he saw Brad doing about a week after the 2017 surgery.

“There he was, with staples in his head, up on a ladder painting his house,” Friedman said.

Brad isn’t doing any house painting these days as he’s recovering from brain surgery once again. But he is spending time catching up with well wishes from friends near and far.

“I’m overwhelmed by the outpouring of prayers, love and support I’ve received,” Brad said in a text message.

“This was my second brain surgery, so at least I knew what to expect. It’s not easy (recovering), but with the right attitude, anything is bearable. I’m fortunate to have such a strong family and such great friends. I can’t thank everyone enough.”

Friedman said Brad is a guy who likes the simple things in life. All the medical issues and drama don’t fit his lifestyle.

“For Brad, a treat is a slice of cheese pizza from Buddy’s, French fries from McDonald’s or a regular Coke,” Friedman said.

Those wishing to send get well wishes to Brad can post them on his Facebook page.

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COURTESY OF VERONICA SELVER

ARTS&LIFE DOCUMENTARY

DETAILS

S Veronica Selver and Irmi Selver, c. 1991. BOTTOM: Susan Fanshel and Irmi Selver also taken in 1991.

My Mother’s

usan Fanshel always will remember one important characteristic of the late mother of her best friend, Veronica Selver. When the two friends were teens and summering near the Atlantic Ocean, Irmi Selver invariably would walk along the coastline as they swam, watching them with a compelling intensity.

Fanshel could sense anxiety in the woman’s expres-

Pain, My Mother’s Resilience

Documentary explores Holocaust survivor’s grief — and love of life.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

Irmi can be seen beginning Tuesday Jan. 26, as part of the New York Jewish Film Festival. The festival, running Jan. 13-26, features each film beginning at noon on the specified date and holding for 72 hours. $12 each. Listings and reservation information are available by accessing filmlinc.org or calling (212) 875-5367. sion, but she did not understand fully until decades later, after reading Irmi’s memoir meant for those who knew her well.

Irmi described growing up in Germany, moving to other countries in escape of the Nazi onslaught and settling in America with a husband and two daughters. Most heart-wrenching was the part about traveling from Europe to Chile on a boat that hit Nazi explosives; Irmi was the only survivor of her earlier family, which had included a beloved husband, young son and younger daughter.

Fanshel, who settled in New York, and Veronica Selver, who moved to California, came to share career goals that recently joined them in letting others know about Irmi’s fortitude, which could not be squelched.

Now professional colleagues as filmmakers, the two have revealed a biography in a film appropriately titled Irmi.

The film is being spotlighted Tuesday, Jan. 26, as the last feature of the New York Jewish Film Festival, which this year is available to a wider audience because of digital presentations necessitated by the pandemic.

The lineup, running Jan. 13-26, showcases 17 features and seven shorts.

“I feel my mother lives on when people experience her presence and spirit,” said Selver, who has specialized in social issue documentaries and whose credits include KPFA on the Air, Raising the Roof and Cape Song.

“Her story is an important part of Jewish history, and I feel very strongly about that.”

The narration for the film, which delves into how Irmi connected with people and worked into her 80s, resulted from audio interviews Selver had with Fanshel, whose earlier documentaries include Nevelson in Process, Made in the Bronx and A Weave of Time, The Story of a Navajo Family. Much of the personal video came from the camera Selver often carried with her.

Selver, who began the film before Fanshel joined the project, was the fundraiser and found the team. Both women looked for archival material to set the historical background and jointly did the editing.

FEELING HER LOSS “What I discovered in the course of making the film is that, for the first time, I could experience my mother’s pain,” Selver said.

“As we were growing up, my sister and I were very close and determined to avoid resurrecting that because we wanted to keep her from living it again.

We didn’t deny it, but we kept it under wraps.

“When the film gets to the passage about losing her

family, I get to cry. That has been my own release of pain.

Interviewing my sister for the film, I discovered how she carried the same weight of all my mother went through.”

Fanshel personally holds many positive reactions to Irmi.

“As Irmi’s story unfolds, I think it becomes increasingly moving because she was a woman who seemed to rise to every occasion in ways that are very moving,” Fanshel said.

“I hope the audience is moved

by Irmi’s experiences and uplifted by her resilience and her joie de vivre. Irmi had a generosity of humanness. She really enjoyed people and made them feel special.

“Irmi wasn’t just resilient,” she added. “Instead of closing her down, [her tragic experiences] made her very empathetic and sensitive to creating real connections to people of all ages and all kinds. There was clearly something in her temperament that life brought out.”

That humanness and continuing contacts have played out in Ann Arbor through Irmi’s filmmaking daughter, who has visited the city to see the people so important to Irmi and then later generations.

Selver’s niece, Anna SelverKassell, who appears in the film, saw her aunt during years as a student at the University of Michigan. Emily Santer Joyce, who lives in Ann Arbor, traces the closeness of families to grandparents Trude and Max Victor, referenced in the film segment spanning years in Holland and England.

“I hope the film comes across showing the balance in Irmi’s nature, which reveals positive exuberance and gumption at the same time it maintains the presence of the loss she carried within her,” Selver said. “I believe Irmi shows you can overcome something but still carry it within you.”

JANUARY 21 • 2021

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LEFT: Holocaust and Rebirth (Kibbutz Nezer Sereni, Israel), 1965–1968, Batia Lichansky was the first woman in Israel to sculpt national monuments and memorials. Her contributions to Israeli art earned her the Dizengoff Prize for painting and sculpture in 1944 and 1957. Photo

by Avishai Teicher.

INSET: The cover of The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization; Volume 9: Catastrophe and Rebirth, 1939–1973, edited by Samuel D. Kassow and David G. Roskies.

ARTS&LIFE BOOKS

Holocaust History Posen Library releases volume on “Catastrophe and Rebirth.”

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

D

eborah Dash Moore thought back through Holocaust history when she watched the storming of the United States Capitol on Jan. 6. What came to mind was the burning of the German Parliament’s Reichstag Building on Feb. 27, 1933.

Deborah Dash Moore Knowing Jewish history is everyday for Moore, editor-in-chief of the Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, not a physical library but a published collection available for purchase in hard copy by the Yale University Press and online for free.

“The events in Washington, D.C., reminded me of one of the events that led to Hitler taking power,” said Moore, based in Ann Arbor. “The Capitol wasn’t

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burned like the Reichstag was, but the kind of efforts to grab political power by using an organized armed mob of people is something that has echoes of the rise of fascism that produced the Holocaust.”

As Holocaust Remembrance Day approaches on Wednesday, Jan. 27, Moore wants the public to be aware of the accessibility of historical information through the latest Posen Library

volume, Catastrophe and Rebirth, the fourth segment in the series that ultimately will have 10 volumes with some innovative twists.

Online resources (at posenlibrary.com) provide Jewish history enhanced with cultural readings and images relevant to the commemoration.

“I think the new edition, covering 1939-73, will provide viewers with a way of thinking about the Holocaust that is radically new,” said Moore, who directs a staff of eight researchers and editors. “Its structure broadens into the entire Jewish world during that time period.

“While it allows people to see what was happening in Europe, in the camps and the ghettos, it also provides information on how Jews were treated in other places. These

are juxtaposed with each other in ways that are very powerful.”

The segment about the diary of Anne Frank, for example, is joined with other diaries to give a more diverse sense of personal Holocaust experiences. Among the references to treatment of Jews beyond Europe at the time of the diaries is a description of how one member of each Jewish home in Baghdad was wounded or killed in 1941.

The library was founded and funded by Felix Posen, a retired commodities trader, through the Posen Foundation. Work began in 2005, and the first volume, covering 1973-2005, was issued in 2012. It is expected that all 10 volumes will be completed by 2024, although the volumes are not completed in chronological order. The next volume, to be released around Passover, will be the beginning volume as it delves into Biblical times and ancient Israel.

“The library was the idea of Felix Posen,” Moore said. “He brought together, at the beginning of the 21st century, leading scholars from the United States, Israel and Felix Posen Europe. His goal was to provide access to the riches of Jewish culture, presented in English, for all sorts of people but especially Jews.

“He wanted Jews to be aware that their culture included

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“Working for the Posen Library project these past three years has been a blast,” he said.

“I spend much of my day globetrotting through thousands of primary sources, texts and images created in the past 3,000 years. My job is to make these accessible (often through translation) so anyone can learn about diversity, developments and delights in Jewish life and culture.

“I often joke to my friends that I spend my days time traveling; for example, today, I was reading a Judeo-Persian Haggadah from 17th century Kaifeng, 1980s Hebrew poetry and then the Dead Sea Scrolls — all before lunch.

“I also work with an incredible team of folks, both on the editorial side and also with scholars and experts all over the world, which makes doing this work so much easier and quite often fun.”

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more than what was understood to be religious culture.

He thought of it as a very diverse, imaginative culture and believed putting religious restrictions around it narrowed it and excluded all kinds of wonderful materials.”

Going beyond historical text, different literary genres are included — cultural, political, religious thought, life writing and reportage, fiction, drama, children’s literature, poetry and popular song. Besides text, viewers will find illustrative segments from artistic pictures to comic books. (See artistic samples.).

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ARTS&LIFE

the tables overflowing with Jewish cuisine, a friend’s fainting spell at a bris and the warm depiction of Grossman’s bubbie by Reizl Bozyk (previously a Yiddish theater star), which draws out generational shifts over time in Jewish-American life.

In Hester, flashpoints between traditional norms and assimilation are more pointed and dramatic — as when, at a picnic, Jake (Steven Keats) demands of his more reserved, recently arrived wife (Carol Kane): “Am I a Jew or a gentile? Just by what you see.” Anxious to pass freely as a white gentile, he clearly wishes for her to say the latter.

Though Hester’s scope is modest, it speaks — like Delancey — to the struggles of many in finding the best route among an overwhelming many in approaching diasporic existence and the complex ways personal aspiration often grates against social mores.

(Both films are available for VOD rental on iTunes. Hester is also available on streaming service Fandor.)

While Silver distinguished herself as a great director of actors early on (Carol Kane netted a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Hester Street), and she collaborated with many big names (Gena Rowlands, Sissy Spacek, Rita Wilson), she struggled throughout her career to secure funding for projects, a difficulty attributable to persistent industrial bias against women creators. In light of this, her body of work — populated by characters whose aspirations and self-conceptions seem at odds with the lives they’ve managed to build and the expectations of those around them — seems all the more impressive.

FILM

Joan Micklin Silver with Amy Irving in Crossing Delancey (1988).

Joan Micklin Silver Remembered IMDB

Filmmaker portrayed the romantic and cultural struggles of Jewish women.

GEORGE ELKIND CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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of Russian-Jewish immigrants, though she grew up in Omaha, Nebraska — showed the compromises, frustrations and tensions common to New York Jewish life.

Jewish neighborhoods in each film are what they so often really are: symbolic spaces rich in sometimes associations with identity, heritage, class and culture. Silver’s work tended to focus on romantic aspirations and struggles between characters who are caught between romance and independence, tradition and contemporaneity, and often Jewish and American identity.

Though she worked on a small scale, Silver had an accomplished eye for casting and directing actors, a broad grasp of social reality, and a sharp eye for details of spaces ranging from newsrooms to publishing parties and Jewish weddings.

And there are many sweetly realized, quite disarming details across her work through which Silver showed a grounded, firsthand understanding of Jewish identity.

In Delancey, it’s Irving’s dense halo of curls,

Joan Micklin Silver couldn’t interest a Hollywood studio in doing a film about early Eastern European immigrants to New York, which would incorporate some Yiddish. So she wrote, directed and co-produced Hester Street (1975) herself.

JEWISH WOMEN’S ARCHIVE

A

fter decades making movies starring characters — often women — bristling against social strictures and navigating romance in ways that tended to surprise even themselves, Jewish filmmaker Joan Micklin Silver has died at 85.

Silver, who died Dec. 31, 2020, was bestknown for 1988’s Crossing Delancey, a surprise hit. The film finds Isabelle Grossman (Amy Irving), a 30-something Manhattan bookseller, navigating romance amid the pressures of not just various men — as is typical — but the influence of the older Jewish women she grew up with, who prove eager to find a match for her. These forces clash against Grossman’s own feminist-informed expectations of herself, of how she should find love and her desire to see herself as an independent person.

In Delancey, as in 1975’s Hester Street, which was set in a close-knit Polish-Jewish enclave (many potential distributors dismissed it as “too ethnic,” leading her to self-finance), Silver — herself the daughter

CELEBRITY JEWS

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

SEGEL; LEBOWITZ; SEX AND THE CITY REBOOT Our Friend, a “tearjerker” dramatic film, opens in a few theaters Jan. 22 and is also available that day on video-on-demand. It is based on a 2015 Esquire article in which Matthew Teague detailed the death of his wife, Nicole, from ovarian cancer.

The couple’s best friend, Dane, upended his life and stayed with them for months, assisting with everything, including helping with their two young daughters. Jason Segel, 40, plays Dane, his first major film in four years. Casey Affleck plays Matthew, with Dakota Johnson as Nicole.

Critics were divided, but all praised Segel’s performance.

In 1978, Fran Lebowitz, now 70, came out of almost nowhere with Metropolitan Life, a collection of stories featuring acerbic, brilliant and funny observations about contemporary life. It was a smash, as was Social Studies (1982), a similar collection of stories. Lebowitz was in demand as a paid speaker and talk show guest for most of the 1980s. Most people, I think, assumed she came from an intellectual family and had an Ivy League degree. In reality, her father ran a New Jersey furniture store, and she was a high school dropout (she did get a G.E.D.).

Lebowitz worked menial jobs until magazines started buying her stories, some of which were in her first book. Her Cinderella story faded as she wrote virtually nothing after 1982, blaming a writer’s block. Then, in 2010, Martin Scorsese brought her

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ARTS&LIFE

back into the public eye with Public Speaking, an HBO documentary mostly about her entertaining speaking appearances. A decade has passed, and Scorsese has stepped up again to showcase Lebowitz in a new documentary. Pretend It’s a City, was released on Netflix on Jan. 8. Scorsese pretty much points the camera at Lebowitz and she opines, in

her funny/snarky way, about New York City, the pandemic and other things. A memorable line: It would take one subway ride for the Dalai Lama to turn into a lunatic, crazy person.

On Jan. 9, it was confirmed that a revival or reboot of Sex and the City will begin filming this spring for HBO Max. Three out of the four leads will return: Sarah Jessica Parker, now 55, as Carrie, Cynthia Nixon as Miranda and Kristen Davis as Charlotte, who converted to Judaism and wed Harry, a Jewish guy played by Evan Handler, now 60. It’s likely that Handler will be in the reboot. Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha, has said that she wouldn’t appear in another sequel.

Few details are available, just a vague press release about the ladies navigating the realities of life and friendship in their 50s.

rs, Dear Reade

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ON THE GO

PEOPLE | PLACES | EVENTS

THEATRE PRODUCTION THROUGH JAN. 29 The Nicely Theatre Group presents what happens after happily ever after. Disenchanted! revisits familiar princess characters to get their side of the story. Tickets are $15 per household for the 65-minute musical production. You can watch it whenever you'd like and as often as you like during the run since it is not a ZOOM-style production. Rather, it was filmed by industry professionals at the Berman Theatre in West Bloomfield while observing appropriate social distancing protocols for the actors and crew. Get tickets at nicelytheatregroup.org.

Jaimie Branch

MUSIC SCENE 7:30 PM, JAN. 22 The Kerrytown Concert House in Ann Arbor, 415, N. 4th Ave., will present Jaimie Branch on trumpet. For ticket info: kerrytownconcerthouse. com.

DIA FOR KIDS 1 PM, JAN. 23 The Detroit Institute of Arts presents this free special edition of Wimage LLC.’s engaging and live online show for kids — Wimee’s Words. Wimee is a fun lovable robot that inspires kids to learn through creativity.

Each special DIA episode will feature interactive songs, wordplay and more inspired by exhibitions and

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works at the DIA. Watch live on the DIA’s Facebook page and You Tube channel. This episode will take a close look at Construction Watcher’s, a photograph featured in the special exhibition Russ Marshall: Detroit Photographs, 1958-2008.

Dr. Micah Goodman

JEWISH IDENTITY 10 AM, JAN. 24 A middle ground is emerging between religious and secular Jews who want to engage with their heritage without being restricted by it or losing it completely. This concept is addressed by Dr. Micah Goodman in his new book, The Wondering Jew, which will be the subject of “The Wondering Jew: Israel & the Search for Jewish Identity,” an online program hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC (JCRC/AJC), in partnership with the Shalom Hartman Institute. There is no cost to attend the event, which is open to the community. Register at bit.ly/3qN7dVA.

VIRTUAL YOGA 10 AM-NOON, JAN. 24 Certified yoga therapist Donna Raphael will lead a gentle flow yoga class, with optional chair yoga modifications. Wear comfortable clothes and have a mat, rug or chair. This event is for paid Congregation Shaarey Zedek Sisterhood members.

A link to join will be sent on Friday, Jan. 22. To become a member of sisterhood, go to cszinfo@shaareyzedek.org and see #CSZSisterhood.

SYMPOSIUM ON POLITICAL CULTURE 11 AM-1:45 PM, JAN. 24 The Sterling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel in East Lansing will present three consecutive panels. Links will be sent via email. Register at jewishstudies@list.mus.edu.

A SCHOOL’S HISTORY 2 PM. JAN. 24 The Jewish Historical Society of Michigan will present this Zoom meeting. “Dreaming of a Different World” is with Marcia Ruff, Roeper School historian. George and Annemarie Roeper arrived in Detroit in 1941, having fled Germany in 1937. Once here, they founded the Roeper Grade School, now known as the Roeper School, one of Michigan’s best-known independent schools. They used the model of the pro-

Wimee’s Words

gressive German school founded by Annemarie’s parents to help them develop a clarity of vision that guided them through challenges and still provides inspiration for Roeper School today. No charge. Register by 9 pm Friday, Jan 22; instructions for joining the Zoom call will be sent the day before.

Klezmer Conservatory Band

YIDDISHLAND 2 PM, JAN. 24 The Yiddish Book Center will present “40 Years in Yiddishland: The Yiddish Book Center Celebrates the Klezmer Conservatory Band,” a video special celebrating the anniversaries of the Yiddish Book Center and the Klezmer Conservatory Band (KCB). It will include a historical overview of the band’s history, along with exciting video concert footage from over the years. The 90-minute special will be presented live via Zoom and will also stream live on the Yiddish Book Center's Facebook page. To reserve a virtual seat in the Zoom audience, which will allow you to submit questions, registration is required: https://tinyurl.com/ y2o33u42 FILM FESTIVAL 3 PM, JAN. 24 Sponsored by the Jewish Community Center, author Howard Jacobson, screenwriter Martin Stellman and the Detroit Film Theatre’s Elliot Wilhelm will discuss the place of the U.K.’s Jews in

media and popular culture with moderator Jaemi Loeb, senior director of Cultural Arts at the JCC. To see where Jews are and aren't in British film, check out these: Babylon: an incendiary portrait of racial tension and police brutality set in Brixton, London; Dough: The owner of a struggling Jewish bakery hires Muslim African immigrant teenager Ayyash Habimana to work in the shop. Tickets: $5 per person per film. Info: filmfestival@ jccdet.org.

JEWISH-MUSLIM SEMINAR 11 AM-NOON, JAN. 25 The University of Michigan Frankel Center for Judaic Studies will present “Affective trouble: A Jewish/ Palestinian heterosexual wedding threatening the Israeli nation-state?” with Roey J. Gafter, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev & Tommaso M. Milani, University of Gothenburg.

The aim of this presentation is to illustrate and analyze the reactions of some mainstream Israeli politicians to a celebrity marriage between Tzahi Halevi, a Jewish Israeli actor, and Lucy Aharish, a Palestinian Israeli TV personality. Advance registration required: umich.zoom.us/ meeting/register/tJYldeiopj4sGdD5vHKjgcHI9tOIfbyR8LiR. HILLEL OPEN HOUSE 6 PM, JAN. 26 For grades K-4, Hillel Day School will host this event.

RSVP by Jan. 21 to ensure delivery of dinner and other surprises. Info: ashlussel@hillelday.org; 248-5349-1484.

COMBATING HATE 7 PM, JAN. 26 The Jewish Community

Holly Huffnagle

Relations Council and the American Jewish Committee will sponsor this event.

AJC’s U.S. Director for Combating Antisemitism, Holly Huffnagle, will speak on “After Auschwitz: Antisemitism in America,” an online program sponsored by the Eastern Michigan University Center for Jewish Studies in partnership with JCRC/AJC, Hillel at Eastern Michigan University, Eastern Michigan University Campus Life, and the Harold Grinspoon Foundation.

There is no cost to attend; however, registration is required at https://tinyurl. com/yxeothoo.

BETTER HEALTH 1-2:30 PM, JAN. 27 Jewish Family Service will sponsor this Zoom program with Brittany Denis. She will discuss the connection between balance, fall risk and brain health. Included in the presentation is a discussion of how you can tap into your mobility to improve your brain health, an overview of various fall risk factors along with the latest research on the connection between fall risk and brain health.

Register in advance for this meeting at: zoom.us/meeting/register/tJYrduurpjssHtJOUSJt94a2sFAf4VasESRB. A Zoom link will be sent after registration.

SPIRITUALITY IN SOLITUDE 7 PM, JAN. 27 The InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit will present an online panel to discuss how faith and spiritual practice are affected by COVID-19.

Panelists will represent five faith perspectives: Baha’i (Dr. Paula Drewek), Buddhist (Dharmanandu Bhikkhu), Christian (Rev. Wendy Van Tassell), Jewish (Suzanne Levin) and Muslim (Dr. Saeed Khan). To register, visit iflc. wufoo.com/forms/spirituality-in-solitude/. A Zoom link will be sent after registration.

The program is free but donations to the nonprofit InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit are welcome.

WINE CLUB 8 PM, JAN. 27 NEXTGen Detroit will host this event for adults 21-45.

This first meet-up is free of charge. Register by Jan. 26.

Info: Hannah@hberger@jfmd. org.

A PLAY SERIES BEGINS JAN. 27 Theatre NOVA, Ann Arbor’s professional theater with an exclusive focus on new plays and playwrights, presents its new Zoom Play Series, featuring new plays written specifically for the

Zoom format each month: a new short play (20-40 minutes long) each month, January through April, 2021.

The series will open with Whatcha Doin? by Jacquelyn Priskorn, performed live on Jan. 27 and available on video for the month of February. Tickets are $10 each month, or $30 for a Series Pass, which admits ticket holders to a new play each month. Purchase tickets online at TheatreNova. org. Information: a2theatrenova@gmail.com. All proceeds benefit Theatre NOVA’s ongoing efforts to stay alive through the pandemic.

KIDS & FINANCES 7:30-8:30 PM, JAN. 28 The Well team and board member Lowell Weiss will present a workshop on teaching kiddos about finances with a Jewish lens.

They’ll cover all the bases from spending to saving to giving and leave plenty of time for Q&A. Due to the generosity of donors, this event is available at no cost, but registration is required. A complimentary workbook will be dropped off at your home before the program as well.

Info: Marni Katz at marni@ meetyouatthewell.org.

WINTER COURSE The Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies will offer a new lecture series titled, “Life After Life” brought to you by the Bais Chabad Torah Center. Use the link for more details and info on how to register. Classes begin Jan. 31: https://tinyurl.com/ y3vketmd.

Send items at least 10 days in advance to Sy Manello, at smanello@ renmedia.us.

JANUARY 21 • 2021

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EATS | DRINKS | SWEETS

Conveniently Kosher

CHEF CARI FACEBOOK

NOSH

‘Fresh n ready’ healthy meals are Chef Cari’s newest creation.

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

M

ost of us are involuntary homebodies these days because of the pandemic lockdown.

For nutrition, we might rely on carryouts and deliveries from restaurants or devise meals of our own, of varying quality.

At this point, many households might welcome a healthy and convenient new option. One just starting to roll out to the public is “Fresh n ready by Chef Cari.” The all-natural, gluten-free and fresh prepared-meal system is a new venture for Chef Cari Kosher Chef Cari Catering, a proHerskovitz fessional catering service since 2003.

Chef Cari Herskovitz, a 2000 graduate of the Natural Gourmet Cookery Institute for Food and Healing in New York City, is the exclusive caterer at Congregation B’nai Moshe in West Bloomfield.

She has private and corporate clients throughout Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor and the greater Toledo area.

“While large catering events may not be on the books for

another season, getting food to our communities is our priority,” she said. “There is a huge void in health-supportive, ready-to-eat meal delivery service for a kosher consumer.

We are happy to fill that void.”

Her glatt kosher company includes Wok In Cari Out, a Southfield-based Chinese restaurant, and two food trucks. The Fish Bowl truck offers English-style fish-andchips, while The Spot specializes in falafel and shawarma.

Everything prepared is under the kashrut supervision of the Council of Orthodox Rabbis of Greater Detroit.

HEALTHY OPTIONS Chef Cari expressed excitement that her new food program allows clients to create clean, customized meals “without added fat, sugar and salt.” Those with special dietary requirements — including vegan and low-carbs — can be accommodated.

“We are also working with a nutritionist and a health coach to give our clients the specific meals they need and want to maintain their lifestyles,” she said.

Chef Cari’s recipes are tried

One of the Fresh n ready meals: roasted chicken, roasted cauliflower and butternut squash.

“THE FOOD IS SO FRESH AND DELICIOUS, WHY NOT?” — CHEF CARI HERSKOVITZ

and true, including international cuisine, but she will offer new flavor profiles if needed.

Her freezable meals can be ordered in microwave or oven containers. The meals are “perfectly portioned for one nutritious serving,” she said.

Each is a balanced meal incorporating the client’s choice of a protein, vegetables and, if not choosing the keto plan, a low-glycemic starch.

The available proteins include grilled chicken, baked salmon and turkey meatloaf.

The vegetables list has roasted cauliflower, braised purple cabbage and mushroom medley with fresh herbs. For sides, the choices include quinoa pilaf, butternut squash and lentil and brown rice mujadara.

A minimum order of 10 meals is required at $15 each, plus sales tax. Delivery is offered at no charge throughout the local area.

“We accept one-time orders,” Chef Cari said, “but assume a subscription will follow. The food is so fresh and delicious, why not?”

DETAILS Until the online subscription order system is fully in place, Fresh n ready by Chef Cari meals may be ordered by calling the business phone at (248) 770-6521 or by emailing cari@chefcari.com. Chef Cari Kosher Catering is at 6800 Drake Road in West Bloomfield, chefcari.com.

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SOUL

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school, 35 of which went on to college. They have supported the Coville 21, 2020.

Apartments for Jewish She was born in Munich, seniors since 1981.

Germany, on April 19, After moving to their 1929, to Berthold home on Bird and Lena (Ly) Key in Sarasota Triest. In 1939, in 1994, Margot Margot, her brother was involved with Howard and her Jewish Family parents fled the and Children’s Nazis. Her parents Services, the were taken by the Jewish Federation Nazis in 1940. At and Aviva Jewish Margot E. Coville that time, Margot Home for Senior was sent to a Jewish Living. She was children’s home in also active in France. At 13 years Ringling College, old, Margot led 10 Ringling Museum, children across the Selby Gardens and border to Switzerland the Asolo Rep, and spent three years “adopting” many with friends of the family student actors, whom she in Zurich. A documentary kept in touch with. film, Journey to Justice, was Margot had a great love produced by the family for glass and a sense of and tells the story of the design and color. Her glass Triest family. collection can be seen in Margot came to the the Kotler-Coville Pavilion United States in 1946 at the Ringling Museum. to live with an uncle in The last three years, Detroit. On her second she and Warren resided at week in the states, she Plymouth Harbor. met Warren J. Coville on Mrs. Coville is sura blind date and they were vived by her husband, married in April 1948.

Warren; daughters, Lynn of They adopted three daugh- Westbrook, Conn., Betsy ters. of Lutz, Fla., Claudia of Margot volunteered at Sarasota; grandson, Gabriel Children’s Hospital for Curtidor and his wife, Liz; more than 20 years, three granddaughter, Ashley days a week, eight hours a Curtidor; great-grandday. She and Warren startdaughter, Sofia. ed the I Have A Dream The funeral was a private Foundation Detroit and family graveside service in supported 78 inner-city Sarasota. fifth-graders through high

JOANNE ARONOFF, 81, of Farmington Hills, died Jan. 6, 2021.

She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Larry Aronoff; children, Marc Aronoff, Jacqui Aronoff and Michael Kinsella, April Aronoff and Bruce Gerstman, and Nance Aronoff and Kari Spaeth; grandchildren, Alexander Kinsella, Emily Kinsella, Dominique Hall, Leo Chiasson-Aronoff, Hugo Gerstman and Nathaniel Gerstman.

She was the devoted daughter of the late Rudy and the late Ruth Africh; the loving grandmother of the late Olivia Aronoff Kinsella.

Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Haven, 30400 Telegraph, Suite 101, Bingham Farms, MI 48025, haven-oakland. org/donate; Lighthouse of Oakland County, 46156 Woodward Ave., P.O. Box 430508, Pontiac, MI 48342, lighthousemi.org/howto-help/give; Yad Ezra, 2850 W. 11 Mile Road, Berkley, MI 48072, yadezra.org/ donate; or P.J. Library, 67 Hunt St., Suite 100, Agawam, MA 01001, pjlibrary.org/donate.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

FRANCES “BEBE” DEVINE, 88, of Bloomfield Township, died Jan. 13, 2021.

She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Clifford and Anita DeVine; grandchildren, David

DeVine and Sarah Massard, Alison and Billy Bodle.

Mrs. DeVine was the beloved wife of the late Bernard DeVine; the devoted daughter of the late William and the late Frances Holskin.

Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Michigan Humane Society, Development Dept., 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 480254507, michiganhumane. org/tributes; or ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals), P.O. Box 96929, Washington, D.C. 20090-6929, aspca. org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

TEDDY FREUND, 82, of Southfield, died Jan. 6, 2021.

He is survived by his sons and c. 1980 daughters-inlaw, Jay and Lori Freund of Glendale, Ariz., Adam and Alla Freund of Bothell, Wash.; daughter and son-in-law, Tammie Freund and Daniel Kaufman of Clifton Park, N.Y.; grandchildren, Benjamin Kaufman, Sean Keller, Matthew Freund.

Mr. Freund was the cherished son of the late Regina and the late Jacob Freund; and his birth parents, the late Tova Rivkah and the late Yehoshua Ashendorf who died during the Holocaust; dear brother continued on page 40

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JANUARY 21 • 2021

Hero of Israel’s Founding Dies at 96 His daughter remembers him as a fierce supporter of Jews and Israel.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A

COURTESY OF SHARI LESNICK

aron Friedman, a massacre of Jewish resifounding hero of dents of Hebron in 1929. He the State of Israel, demonstrated his courage and died Jan. 6, 2021, at the age commitment when he was of 96 in the Los Angeles area, only 16, lying about his age where he lived so that he could for many years. join the Jewish Friedman helped Settlement Police to smuggle Jewish who protected refugees from Jewish settlements Europe to Palestine against Arabs. during the British In 1946, Yaakov mandate when Dori, chief immigration was of staff of the banned. He was a Haganah, appointlifelong friend of ed Friedman to David Ben-Gurion, be one of BenAaron Friedman c. 1940 the founder and Gurion’s personfirst prime minister al bodyguards. of Israel, and served as one of Friedman attributed his his personal bodyguards. appointment to his relationHis daughter, Shari Lesnick, ship with Ben-Gurion and his a West Bloomfield resident, connections with Jewish milidescribed him as having a “big tias, some of which he said personality. He was the life of threatened Ben-Gurion. As the party. When he walked one of the youngest members into a room, it was as if the of the Haganah, he served sea parted.” with Moshe Dayan and was Friedman was born in Jaffa, near him when the military Israel, the son of Russian leader was injured, resulting immigrants to what was in the loss of one eye. then Palestine and grew up From 1946 to 1947, he was in what he described as a sent by Jewish leaders to coor“shantytown” near the sea. dinate the smuggling of Jewish Ben-Gurion lived nearby, European refugees, especially and Friedman met him as a scientists, who were living child. Friedman was a talented in displaced persons camps swimmer and soon became on Cyprus. Britain and the well known as a lifeguard on United Nations had clamped the Tel Aviv beach, where down on immigration to he met Golda Meir, Yitzhak Palestine. Friedman met his Shamir, Ariel Sharon and future wife, Esther Shawmut, other future Israeli leaders. an American volunteer in Friedman said in an interthe Haganah, who was on a view some years ago that his ship near Palestine, when she concern about the Jewish jumped overboard to avoid people was instilled by the capture by the British. She

wasn’t a strong swimmer and was fortunate that Friedman, the former lifeguard, was nearby and rescued her. They married four years later.

Lesnick said her father was most proud of his service as a bodyguard to Ben-Gurion and for “being an integral part of the smuggling operation.

He coordinated several runs from Marseille.” She says that he spoke more often about his life before the Israeli War of Independence and was discouraged by what he viewed as “political squabbles” afterward.

In 1954, Ben-Gurion asked him to go to the United States to develop “an atmosphere of love and support for the State of Israel. Lay the seeds, lay the foundation.” Friedman then moved to the U.S. and eventually became youth director for the USY (United Synagogue Youth) for the Pacific Southwest Region. He was responsible for dramatic increases in the participation of Jewish youth in USY. “He inspired so many Jewish men and women to become Jewish leaders — to become rabbis, to make aliyah, to become emissaries for Israel. His passion was creating Jewish leaders,” says Lesnick.

Lesnick remembers when Ben-Gurion was being honored in Los Angeles in the 1960s. As soon as Ben-Gurion spotted her father at the large gathering in a hotel, he immediately came up and said “Mendela, Mendela (a childhood name) Friedman” and they spoke for an hour.

Friedman admired that BenGurion was committed to all Jews, regardless of their religious affiliation or political views.

In the 1970s, he received an offer from the Israeli Ministry of Education to work with Ethiopian Jews, and the family moved to Israel. However, Lesnick says, “it wasn’t a good fit” and they returned to the U.S. Her father maintained a connection to the Israeli government by participating in the Los Angeles Israeli Consulate Speakers Bureau.

Lesnick says that her son Maxx Lesnick spent time in Israel at Tel Aviv University.

She says of her son Ben that his “grandfather gave him the courage to speak his mind.”

Both grandsons are attorneys.

Friedman was honored for “protecting the Jewish homeland and people” during Israel’s 50th anniversary celebration and was recognized in 2015.

Aaron Friedman was the husband of the late Esther Shawmut Friedman and is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Shari and Howard Lesnick; grandsons Maxx Lesnick and Ben (Amanda Farber) Lesnick; and many loving nieces and nephews.

Contributions may be made to Chabad of Tarzana, California, www.chabadofthevalley.com or to a charity of one’s choice. Interment was at Eden Memorial, Mission Hills, Calif. Arrangements by Chevra Kadisha.

JANUARY 21 • 2021

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Sheldon Adelson, Megadonor to Israel and GOP, Dies at 87 JTA

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MANDEL NGAN/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA

S

heldon Adelson, the Jewish casino magnate whose philanthropy shaped American and Israeli politics, died Jan. 11, 2021, at age 87.

Adelson, the chief executive of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, had an especially outsized influence in Las Vegas, the seat of his global gaming empire where many Jewish institutions are named after him and his wife, Miriam.

Adelson was a megadonor to Republican causes who, in his final years, was a supporter of former President Donald Trump but reportedly fell out of favor with Trump over what Trump erroneously thought were the diminished size of his gifts, according to Politico.

In one of his final big purchases, Adelson reportedly paid $67 million for the mansion in Israel that was the U.S. ambassador’s residence until Trump moved the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

He also was the main funder behind Israel Hayom, a free Israeli daily newspaper that is seen as favoring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right. Adelson started Israel Hayom in 2007 to compete with Israel’s other dailies, which are less friendly to the right, and the paper has been considered instrumental to Netanyahu’s

Sheldon Adelson listens to President Donald Trump address the Israeli American Council National Summit 2019 at the Diplomat Beach Resort in Hollywood, Fla., Dec. 7, 2019.

continued success.

Born in Boston in 1933, Adelson was known for his deep and polarizing involvement in local, national and international politics, especially his support for Israel and the Republican Party.

His aggressive approach resulted in conflict at times: In 2019, a federal judge ordered him to pay millions of dollars in fees to the National Jewish Democratic Council for using what the judge called “legal sadism” to effectively put the group out of business. Adelson was a major donor to the Republican Jewish Coalition.

During the coronavirus pandemic, Adelson also gained attention for being magnanimous to the thousands of employees of his casinos, whom he kept paying long after other Las Vegas casinos cut off paychecks to their workers.

The extent of Adelson’s

giving to causes and institutions he believed in has few equals in American philanthropy. He was the largest donor to Trump’s 2016 presidential bid, chipping in $25 million, and was the nation’s largest political donor in the 2012 election, at nearly $93 million.

He gave $127 million to Birthright Israel since 2007 according to IRS filings cited by the Center for Public Integrity. And he was a major backer of the Zionist Organization of America and Israel’s Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum. Earlier in his career, he was a major funder of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, until he shifted his giving to more conservative pro-Israel organizations.

Adelson was also a major supporter of drug addiction programs, a speciality of his wife Miriam, a physician. A drug abuse treatment clinic in Las Vegas is named for the couple.

“Sheldon was the love of my life,” Miriam Adelson said in a statement Tuesday.

“He was my partner in romance, philanthropy, political activism and enterprise.

“He was my soulmate.

To me — as to his children, grandchildren, and his legions of friends and admirers, employees and colleagues — he is utterly irreplaceable.”

of the late Alexander Ashendorf, who also died during the Holocaust.

Contributions may be made to Friendship Circle, 6892 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322; or to a Jewish charity of one’s choice. A family graveside service was held at Workmen’s Circle Cemetery.

Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

NANCY MAGID GLANZMILLER, 89, of Hallandale Beach and Deerfield Beach, Fla., formerly of Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, passed away on Jan. 7, 2021.

She was the devoted mother of Ellen (the late Rabbi Melvin J. Glazer) Mossman-Glazer, Larry (Marlene) Glanz, Debby Drutz, Ronn (Philip Freedman) Glanz; loving grandmother of Matthew (Jes Skillman) Mossman, Jeremy Mossman, Devorah Glanz, Brooke (Shlomo) Peretz and Madison (Michael) Hallen; proud great-grandmother of David Mossman, Mitchell Mossman and Elazar Peret.

She leaves many loving nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends.

Mrs. Glanz-Miller was the beloved wife of the late David Abraham Glanz and the late Aaron Miller; cherished sister of Martin (Sue Beale) Magid and Ralph (Stevie) Magid; beloved daughter of the late Ann Magid and the late Benjamin Magid.

SANDRA KOPELMAN, 69, of Franklin, died Jan. 10, 2021.

She is survived by her husband of 48½ years, Jeffrey Kopelman; daughter and son-in-law, Lisa and Aaron Fenberg; grandchildren, Luke and Justin Fenberg; sisters and brothers-in-law, Arline and Allan Rein, and Rhea and Richard Sweet; brother-in-law, Michael Kopelman. She was also loved and adored by her canine companions, Brooklyn and Yogi.

Mrs. Kopelman was the cherished mother of the late Rachel Kopelman; the devoted daughter of the late David J. and the late Rose C. Schachter.

Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery.

Contributions may be made to Rettsyndrome. org, 4600 Devitt Drive, Cincinnati, OH 45246, rettsyndrome. org; or Karmanos Cancer Institute, 4100 John R, Detroit, MI 48201, karmanos.org/ give. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

PATRIZIA LEVINE, 67, of West Bloomfield, died Dec. 30, 2020.

She is survived by her beloved husband, Bernie Levine; sons, Mike Adach, Brian Adach; daughter and son-in-law, Stacey and Ryan Columbus; grandchildren, Brooklynn, Spencer, Mallory and

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Samantha; sisters and brothers-in-law, Georgia and Chuck Robertson, Rhonda and Mike Matlack, Martha and Paul Lee; brothers and sisters-in-law, Victor and Jody Commons, Raymond and Catherine Commons; many loving nieces, nephews, other family members and friends.

Interment took place at Beth El Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia.

Contributions may be made to the American Cancer Society. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

JESSE POLAN, 71, of Franklin, died Jan. 11, 2021.

In the rising of the sun and in its going down, we remember him. In the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter, we remember him. In the opening of buds and in the rebirth of spring, we remember him. In the blueness of the sky and in the warmth of summer, we remember him. In the rustling of leaves and in the beauty of autumn, we remember him. When we have joys we yearn to share, we remember him. In the pitching of the ball and the calling of the strike, we remember him. In the casting of the rod and the catching of the fish, we remember him. In the swinging of the club and the putting for a par, we remember him. So long as we live, he too shall live, for he is forever a part of us, as we remember him.

Interment was at Franklin Cemetery. Donations not necessary. If you wish to, please contribute to the Franklin

Baseball League. Arrangements

by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

PHYLLIS FRANCES RADER, 88, of Novi, died Jan. 9, 2021.

She is survived by her sons, Jeffrey Rader and Mel Rader; grandchildren, Kelley Rader Stackpoole and Kevin Stackpoole, Maureen Rader West and Anthony West, Daniel and Kimberly Rader, and Kevin Rader; seven greatgrandchildren; her niece and nephew, Susan and Jeffrey Lederer Levine; many loving relatives and friends.

Mrs. Rader was the loving mother-in-law of the late Kathy Rader.

Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Jewish Hospice & Chaplaincy Network, 6555 W., Maple, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, jewishhospice. org; or Yad Ezra, 2850 W. 11 Mile Road, Berkley, MI 48072, yadezra.org/donate.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

LARISA RUBEL, 64, of Farmington Hills, died Jan. 7, 2021.

She was a talented artist in jewelry, crafting and many other mediums.

Mrs. Rubel is survived by her son, Roman Rubel of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; daughter and son-in-law, Marina and Daniel Schiffman of Larchmont, N.Y.; granddaughter, Olivia Schiffman.

She was the beloved wife of the late Yury Rubel; dear sister of the late Eugene Mazur.

Contributions may be made to Jewish Family Service, 6555 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322. A family graveside service was held at Adat Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia.

Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

GEORGE H. SIMMONS, 95, of Bloomfield Township, died Jan. 10, 2021.

He is survived by his sons and daughtersin-law, Mark and Ellen Simmons, and Michael Simmons and Stacey Dobrusin; grandchildren, Matthew and Andrew Simmons, Megan and

Jared Alosio, and Amanda Simmons; brother, Dr. Milton Simmons; sister-in-law, Sondra Schubiner; many loving nieces, nephews, cousins, friends; his valued customers from Simmons & Clark Jewelers.

Mr. Simmons was the beloved husband for 53 years of the late Ruth Simmons; the loving brother-in-law of the late Edie Simmons, the late Bud Schubiner, and the late Sharon and the late Irving Wolf; the devoted son of the late Fred and the late Lillian (Kirschbaum) Simmons.

Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to JVS Human Services, 29699 Southfield Road, Southfield, MI 48076,

jvshumanservices.org; or to a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

LAWRENCE “LARRY” SINGER, 81, of Farmington Hills, died Jan. 10, 2021.

He is survived by his wife, Rena Singer; children, Staci and Scott Kelley, Marci and Steven Rotenberg, and Barri Singer and Monique Aziz; grandchildren, Max Rotenberg, Sydni Rotenberg, Logan Rotenberg and Carson Kelley; brother and sisterin-law, Dr. Stanford and Judy Singer; brother-in-law,

Sanford Stacey. He leaves many loving nieces, nephews and a world of friends.

Mr. Singer was the dear brother-in-law of the late Gloria Stacey.

Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to American Cancer Society, 20450 Civic Center Drive, Southfield, MI 48076, cancer.org; B’nai B’rith, 5600 W. Maple Road, Suite A-100, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, bnaibrith.org; or to a charity of one’s choice.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

continued on page 44

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SONJA SZAKAL, 67, of Southfield, died Jan. 6, 2021.

She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Gabriel and Jenny Szakal, and Jason Szakal and Danielle Cook; other loving relatives and friends.

Mrs. Szakal was the beloved wife of the late Robert Szakal; the devoted daughter of the late Irene and the late Arthur Snitchler, and the late Alexander Mann.

Contributions may be made to Jewish Family Service, 6555 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, jfsdetroit. org; or American Heart

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Association, 27777 Franklin Road, Suite 1150, Southfield, MI 48034, heart.org/en/ affiliates/michigan/detroit.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

ADRIENNE ROBERTS TELFORD, 77, of Keego Harbor, died Jan. 7, 2021.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Gina and Kenny Walters; grandchildren, Benjamin Philip Walters and Cara Brooke Walters; sister and brother-in-law, Jan and Larry Freedman; niece, Robin Bologna and her family; husband, John Telford; many

friends and other family.

Ms. Telford was the loving aunt of the late Jill Freedman; the devoted daughter of the late Philip and the late Harriet Glickman.

Contributions may be made to Michigan Palliative & Hospice Care, 39111 Six Mile Road, Suite 154, Livonia, MI 48152; or National Multiple SclerosisMichigan Chapter, Attn: Memory of Adrienne Roberts Telford, 29777 Telegraph Road, #1651, Southfield, MI 48034, nationalmssociety. org/Chapters/MIG. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

OBITUARY CHARGES The processing fee for obituaries is: $125 for up to 100 words; $1 per word thereafter. A photo counts as 15 words. There is no charge for a Holocaust survivor icon.

The JN reserves the right to edit wording to conform to its style considerations. For information, have your funeral director call the JN or you may call Sy Manello, editorial assistant, at (248) 351-5147 or email him at smanello@ renmedia.us.

RASKIN

THE BEST OF EVERYTHING

Detroit’s Long History of Fine Middle Eastern Food

F

olks used to love going to Cedars of Lebanon Lounge on Columbia, Detroit … Customers will never forget the potpourri of Middle East food that was so exotic … as well as the wonderful native dancing that brought many stomping feet.

The food brought out always tickled the tongue with an odor of pleasing excellence … Like the humDanny Raskin mus with tahini …a dish that Senior Columnist consisted of mashed chickpeas and sesame seed butter … lightly dusted with paprika … Dipping the unleavened Lebanese bread in this marvelous tasting spread made a perfect beginning for what followed.

I remember having an entrée and several side dishes, including baked kibbeh, stuffed grape leaves, stuffed cabbage and stuffed squash … The entrée itself, cooked as it was on a skewer with chunks of green pepper, tomato and onion was a succulent treat.

The highly spirited native dances, we were told, dated back to the days of Solomon and Sheba, and had changed very little over the thousands of years that had passed.

Hummus

Shish kabob

ONE OF THE reasons Detroit had so many fine restaurants was the polyglot and typically American makeup of its people … Wherever a large and varied number of ethnic groups live side-by-side, restaurants would spring up serving exotic food prepared in the fashion of the “old country” …

Another such restaurant was the Sheik, dining in the very best fashion of old Arabia …

It took but one trip to see that the food was superb … The eggplant a la Sheik was delicious, consisting of eggplant, rice, ground meat and tomato sauce.

I recall writing down the entrée, shish kabob, tender chunks of lamb cooked on a skewer but served on a platter … These chunks of lamb became even more tasty when dipped in sour cream or the hummus.

A really wondrous side dish, I wrote down, was the kibbeh, a ground lamb and wheat baked in an oven … the result was a cake-like goody, not sweet, but distinctive.

DOES HE KNOW SOMETHING …or somebody higher up? … Many restaurant owners are kept busy just holding their own

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paying bills or whatever … And Joe Vicari keeps adding to his entourage of dining spots … Many other eateries are busy with take-out or carryout or delivery service … as is Joe, but the Joe Vicari Restaurant Group also continues to work on future new eatery openings.

OLDIE BUT GOODIE … A visitor to Israel attended a concert at the Moscovitz Auditorium … He was quite impressed with the architecture and the acoustics …

He inquired of the tour guide, “Is this magnificent auditorium named after Chaim Moscovitz, the famous Talmudic scholar?”

“No,” replied the guide. “It is named after Sam Moscovitz, the writer.”

“I never heard of him. What did he write?”

“A check,” replied the guide.

CONGRATS … To Dr. Stuart Kirschenbaum on his birthday … To Janet Sloan on her birthday.

Danny’s email address is dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.

Bookkeeper/Office Administrator Job Opportunity 24 – 30 hour per week position for Bookkeeper/Office Administrator in West Bloomfield Synagogue. This job is an ideal position for an experienced and capable multi-tasker who can follow through on the many aspects of bookkeeping in a relaxed small office atmosphere.

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Please send resume including experience and references to cbminfo@bnaimoshe.org JANUARY 21 • 2021

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Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

Justice for Louis Gross

T

wo weeks ago, I had a very interesting conversation with Judge Avern Cohn. To be sure, a chat with Judge Cohn is always interesting.

This time, he told me a story that led me into the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit history for this week’s “Looking Back.”

The front page of the Nov. 10, 1949, issue of the Jewish Chronicle has a headline that reads: “He Was Innocent: 16-Year Nightmare Ends in Justice for ‘Murderer.’”

It referred to a story about Mike Smith Jewish Detroiter Louis Alene and Graham Landau Gross, who had spent 16 Archivist Chair years in prison for killing Mortado Abraham, a member of the Syrian community in Highland Park. He was convicted after a friend of Abraham falsely stated that Gross was hired by Abraham’s estranged wife to kill him in 1932.

Although no weapon could be located and evidence was flimsy at best, Gross was tried and convicted in 1933, largely on the witness testimony. He was sent to Michigan’s Jackson State Penitentiary, and subsequently, he was refused a retrial.

Gross was a classic “fall guy,” or falsely accused victim for a crime he did not commit, but his story did not end there.

Three well-known people, two from Detroit, one from California, decided to investigate: Rabbi Joshua Sperka, Earl Stanley Gardner and the JN’s own Danny Raskin.

Rabbi Sperka was a well-known local religious figure. Born in Poland, Sperka was a rabbi at Congregation B’nai David in Detroit. He had also served at Beth Tephilath Moses in Mt. Clemens and Beth Israel in Ann Arbor, and spent his last 24 years at Young Israel. Sperka was a prolific author and educator, and pertinent to this story, a chaplain at Jackson

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State prison.

Erle Stanley Gardner was a lawyer turned author, creator of the famous “Perry Mason” stories and, in the 1940s, one of the most famous writers in America. In 1948, he was working with the “Court of Last Resort,” sponsored

by Argosy magazine, a famous pulp magazine, 1884-1978. The “Court” sponsored private investigations into the wrongly accused or “fall guys” from 1948 to 1958.

After deciding Gross had been “railroaded,” Rabbi Sperka wrote to Gardner about his case. Gardner then came to Detroit and the “Court” began an investigation. Ballistics testing and the resulting publicity in Argosy magazine led to a Detroit Times investigation.

Danny Raskin began to follow the case in his “Listening Post” columns in the JN.. In short, Danny smelled something fishy. His Aug. 9, 1949, column laid out the specious nature of the case.

Danny followed the case throughout the fall of 1949. Gross was retried and acquitted in November 1949.

In 1952, Gardner published a book with the same title of the Agrosy’s initiative — Court of Last Resort.. One chapter focused on the Gross case. The book and the “Court’s” investigations also led to a TV show of the same name.

There was another sidelight to the case. It was Gardner’s “first experience with a Jewish rabbi.” As he said in his book, Gardner found Sperka to be “a compact bundle of energy, functioning at high speed.”

So, thanks Judge Cohn for this great story. I suppose Danny Raskin might say: “Did I tell you the one about a rabbi, a judge and a writer …”

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

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