DJN May 21, 2020

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The Ex-Nazi Next Door Detroiter Jeff Schoep ran America’s largest neo-Nazi group for 25 years before leaving in 2019. How should Jews feel about his reformation? See page 12

INSIDE Virtual Synagogues: 18 ADL Report: 20 Jewish Sports News: 28

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contents May 21-27, 2020 / 27 Iyar-4 Sivan 5780| VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 16

Views 5-8

On the Cover The Ex-Nazi Next Door 10 Detroiter Jeff Schoep ran America’s largest neo-Nazi group for 25 years before leaving in 2019. How should Jews feel about his reformation?

Jews in the D Gift of Life 16 They met as teens at BBYO; years later their lives intersected in a profound way.

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Anniversary Surprise 17 Community helps Holocaust survivor and his wife mark a milestone in quarantine.

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Shabbat Lights

On the cover:

Quick Hits

Shabbat starts: Friday, May 22, 8:37 p.m. Shabbat ends: Saturday, May 23, 9:47 p.m.*

Cover photo/credit: By Glen Triest Cover design: Michelle Sheridan

His Career is Officially Over

Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar.

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28

Faces & Places Circle of Mitzvah Fun 29

Moments

24 JN OFFICE CLOSED TO VISITORS JN’s Southfield office remains closed to visitors during Michigan’s stay-athome order, which runs through May 28. Those who need something urgent must come around to the west side loading dock (next to Fishbone’s) from 9-2, M-Th., and must be wearing a face mask or they will not be helped. If you need something, email jheadapohl@renmedia.us.

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Spirit Torah portion

The ‘Virtual Synagogue’

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18 Congregations offer more than prayer and education during COVID-19 pandemic.

Arts&Life

Double the Hate?

32 Filmmaker Andrew Goldberg talks about his new documentary that premieres on PBS May 26.

20 Michigan anti-Semitic incidents doubled in 2019, ADL audit says.

Quarantine Matchmaker

Viral Anti-Semitism

Celebrity Jews 34

22 Adat Shalom alumni reunite to remember a Hebrew Fiddler.

Online Events

Blue Mask Initiative

Etc.

23 University of Michigan students raise money for masks for front line workers.

Diversity Champion 24 Joel Marwil is all about inclusion.

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The Exchange Soul Raskin Looking Back

35 37 45 46

Sports No Greenberg and Softball Stalled, but B’Nai B’Rith Golf is a Go 26

OUR JN MISSION: We aspire to communicate news and opinion that’s trusted, valued, engaging and distinctive. We strive to reflect diverse community viewpoints while also advocating positions that strengthen Jewish unity and continuity. As an independent, responsible, responsive community member, we actively engage with individuals and organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life, and Jewish life, in Southeast Michigan. MAY 21 • 2020

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Eugene and Marcia Applebaum, Jewish Community Campus

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COURTESY OF BEN FALIK

Views Jewfro

Books of the People

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fter decades of declining sales, as newspapers and printed documents lost out in the digital age, many manufacturers converted to making tissue products, like toilet paper and wipes.” Reading that in the New York Times on my phone in an undisclosed location made me flush. With Ben Falik confusion. Another moment of disorientation and disruption courtesy of an invisible contagion that has magnified the usual unusual aspects of contemporary life. The only consistent antidote I have found to this virus vertigo has been books. Not scrolling, not skimming; not Spritz, the speed-reading app that streams one word at a time at 250-1000 “wpm.” Book books, preferably paperback with matte finish covers, but I’m not one to judge. Look, I’m not here to tell you that you should read or how you should read. You clearly have excellent taste. Yet it seems to be worth noting that ever-higher-definition media technology algorithmically engineered to flood the pleasure centers of our brains can’t really compete with the immersive experience of squinting at the sweet serifs (Go, Garamond!) on some pulped-up pine. To that end, I have three books to recommend and a few dozen more to offer. I got my advance copy of Healing Politics by Abdul El-Sayed on March 8. Reading it over the weeks that followed helped me grasp the tapestry of public health drivers and deficits, just as our institutions were unraveling.

Before he was a pundit and podcaster — before his run for governor and homecoming at the helm of Detroit’s health department — Abdul was an epidemiologist. In Healing Politics, he blends a useful primer on the history and methods of epidemiology with a study of his own opportunities, in contrast to his cousins in Egypt and in spite of the Islamophobia pervasive throughout his adult life. Abdul hypothesizes — and contextualizes and quantifies — an epidemic of insecurity: structural barriers to equity and unsustainable policies that affect everyone, but disproportionately devastate vulnerable communities of color. Readers who already “feel the Bern” will find Healing Politics plenty validating, but there’s even more to gain for moderates like me (and maybe you) and even center-right (still a thing?) readers open to a cogent, evidence-based case for “the politics of empathy.” You’ve spent quality time with Barry Sonnenfeld, whether you realize it or not. Tracking Nic and Holly with a wide-angle lens in Raising Arizona. Out a sunroof on a limo ride with Tom in Big. Across the couch from elderly couples, then Billy and Meg, at the beginning of When Harry Met Sally. We have seen so many things through the lens of Barry Sonnenfeld, but — unless you were an avid reader of his Esquire column, “The Digital Man,” or caught his interviews on Letterman — you haven’t had a voice to accompany his eye. And the voice of Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother: Memoirs of a Neurotic Filmmaker is one for this moment, starting

with the mantra “Regret that Past, Fear the Present, Dread the Future.” Note: Chapter 19 — which he wrote first and then placed smack dab in the middle of 38 vignettes that travel with turbulence from his slapdash bar mitzvah at an Upper Manhattan Catholic church to shooting Blood Simple in Austin to Will Smith’s bathroom — is not for the faint of heart. In fact, maybe just skip Chapter 19. And just so that admonition doesn’t make you more tempted to read it, when there are 37 other chapters chalk full of humor and pathos, just know that it chronicles the filming of nine feature-length pornographic films in nine days. I don’t want to spoil any of Barry’s other marginally more family-friendly anecdotes. Instead, I’ll share (JN online exclusive!) his many Michigan connections, which we discussed on the phone while one of us was overlooking the mountains in Telluride and the other was corralling Rushmore the Newfoundland. We received Ronan Boyle and the Bridge of Riddles through Literati, a subscription box for children’s books, unrelated to the primus inter pares Ann Arbor bookstore. I suppose Ronan Boyle is a children’s book, but I appreciated it on a whole ’nother level than my dumb kids. Ronan Boyle is an awkward 15-year-old who stumbles into

a secret police unit tasked with managing Ireland’s very real faerie folk and quickly learns they’re “not a friendly pack of elves who will fill your shoes with candy while you sleep. They are small, hard-drinking swindlers who would steal your nose and replace it with a turnip if they thought they could make one single euro from doing it.” We read it out loud, replete with a whole range of regrettable accents, and did the same with Ronan Boyle and the Swamp of Certain Death as soon as it came out. No spoilers from me about whether Log MacDougal, the pugilistic garda cadet, gets reunited in Tir Na Nog with the leprechaun parents who kidnapped her as a baby and raised her as a log. But you don’t have to take my word for it! Judah, Phoebe and I launched the Burton Book Brigade to share some favorites with you and yours to support our friends in Detroit. Specifically, Summer in the City has a stockpile of more than 1,400 new books: 40+ copies each of 30+ titles. Rather than letting them collect dust until summer — whatever summer will ultimately look like — we are making the books available to anyone in the area for a donation of any size. Check out summerinthecity.com/books and bless your binding bibliophilia.

MAY 21 • 2020

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Views editor’s note

Why We Profiled an Ex-Nazi

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wrote this week’s cover story, and it’s a long one, so I won’t take too much of your time here. But I do want to explain why we put a former neo-Nazi on the cover of the Jewish News. I first heard of Jeff Schoep Andrew Lapin earlier this year, as he was beginning his anti-hate outreach. I was intrigued by his former prominence within the neo-Nazi movement and also by the fact that he lives in Detroit. The timing of Schoep’s exit also coincided with the JN’s AntiSemitism Project, our effort to tell stories about how hate and bigotry against Jews has evolved and mutated in the modern day. From my perspective, this was an easy call. What better way to have a conversation about anti-Semitism in our community than by sitting down with a local figure who,

until very recently, was one of the country’s foremost perpetrators of it? I understand my decision to profile Schoep won’t sit well with everyone. But I think it’s important for us, as Jews, to grapple with this essential question of what leads to hate. The only way we can understand bigotry is to learn how and why people are led down this path, and what might have the potential to lead them away from these toxic beliefs. Schoep received plenty of publicity while he ran the National Socialist Movement and gets his fair share of skepticism now that he says he’s left all of that behind. I was skeptical, too. But in our hours of interviews, many emails and social-distanced interactions at his photo shoot, I’ve found him to be thoughtful and introspective, willing to acknowledge the hurt that he’s caused, wishing

to make amends with Jews specifically and struggling to find a path forward after a lifetime of abhorrent behavior. He’s not hiding, and I give him credit for confronting his past in our pages — although I think he still has much work to do, and I’ve told him so. I’m not trying to provide cover for Schoep and his past deeds. It should be obvious I despise everything he stood for in his adult life up until this moment. But he wants to do better now. And truth be told, I’m less interested in the question of whether he’s “for real” than in the question of how Jews should respond to figures

like him who want to reform. The story discusses Charlottesville for a reason. We are now living in a time of resurgent white nationalism and anti-Semitism and, therefore, we must grapple with people like Schoep — both the “before” and the “after”— one way or another. It’s better, I think, to do so on our terms. And since Schoep can no longer appear in public owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, this is how we have that conversation. I’d like to invite the community to talk about this more in-depth. I will be hosting a Facebook Live video at 1 p.m on Tuesday, May 26, where I will address reader response to the article. Please contact me in advance with any (respectful) questions, critiques or thoughts you have, and I will be sure to address them. I look forward to talking through this with you.

guest column

If Summer Camp Closes: Embracing the moment and opening the door for new opportunities for families.

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ome people express that summer camp is a privilege for kids. For those who have seen camps’ incredible impact, summer camp is an important opportunity for children that helps shape our comDr. Daniel munity’s future. Klein Jewish identity, authenticity, leadership, lifelong friendships,

problem-solving skills, respect for the outdoors, disconnection from technology and independence represent just some of what kids gain. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are raised by our communities each year to make camp financially accessible. Inspiring young leaders give up internships and opportunities for higher paying summer jobs to accept a coveted counselor position. Professionals and

volunteers work tirelessly yearround to create two magical months. After living through unimaginable times over the past eight weeks, comes the news that our beloved camps have made necessary decisions to close for the summer. Camps are adhering to the first rule they teach: Safety first. Parents’ initial instinct is to protect their children from hurt. Watching our children experience yet another COVID-

related loss is so tough. For those for whom camp is so important, losing a precious camp summer is akin to a grief process. The initial emotions are very raw. Parents and kids are feeling disbelief, sadness, anger, questioning, denial and understanding, to name a few. At this moment, what our kids need from their parents is to be attentive, present and available. Listen. Validate. Show empathy. Hug and hold your continued on page 8

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MAY 21 • 2020

letters

Memories of Kaline I enjoyed Alan Muskovitz’s column regarding Al Kaline immensely (May 7, page 5), having been to a number of the Tiger Fantasy Camps and actually knowing Mr. Tiger. He was put in a very high regard and very comfortable talking with the campers. One of my fonder memories is when I was sitting on the camper’s bench during a game against the Tiger alumni. The camp director, Jerry Lewis, came over to me and asked me to be a last-minute replacement as the real Tiger players’ manager. I said, “What are you talking about? I can’t manage the team.” He convinced me to do it and told me if I had any problem, just tell the players that he sent me over. So I go over to the Tiger bench, and as soon as I walk in the players say, “What are you doing here? You belong

over there with the phony players! There’s only real ballplayers over here.” Al Kaline, seeing the mess I was in, stands up off the bench and says, “Harv, is it OK if I go in the next inning and play shortstop?” And I’m looking at him like, hey, I’m the manager and I’ve got to tell Al Kaline, no, you can’t? I said, “Of course, Al, you go ahead and do what you want; that’s fine.” Turns out, Al made two great plays at shortstop the next inning, and as he came back into the dugout, he looked at me to make me feel better and said for all the players to hear, “Nice job of managing, Harv!” Al Kaline was a super gentlemen, kind and cordial, even with all the demands put on him daily. — Harvey Saperstein, DPM West Bloomfield

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Dr. Saperstein treats Al Kaline back in 1988.

CORRECTION The column “Pizza! Pizza!” (May 7, pg. 45) incorrectly stated that Ilitch Holdings Inc. CEO Chris Ilitch was a Detroit Jewish News Athlete of the Year as a high school hockey player. In fact, Ilitch, who is not Jewish, was selected as the Alvin Foon Humanitarian Award recipient at the 2019 Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ceremony.

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MAY 21 • 2020

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Views continued from page 6

child. Use words such as: “I hear you.” “This hurts so much.” “This is so incredibly disappointing.” “This is so hard to believe.” Encourage your kids to share their feelings. Give them space, if and when needed. Some kids will have a lot to say and show many emotions. Others may take time and will need help verbalizing their feelings. Many teens may lean more into their friends. This is OK. Encourage their connections and let them know you are there. While feelings may be very intense, avoid words such as “devastating” and “catastrophic.” Reflect where they are with accurate labels while modeling a resolve that we will recover and heal. Providing hope for the future can be helpful while recognizing kids may not be ready to hear about how they will have many more summers or opportunities. Adults have this vantage while kids’ perspective is based more in the present. Encourage your kids to connect with friends and family, share photos, stories and memories. Allow for them to talk about what they will miss and what is lost. Arthur M. Horwitz Publisher ahorwitz@renmedia.us F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us | Editorial Editor: Andrew Lapin alapin@thejewishnews.com Associate Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Social Media and Digital Producer: Nathan Vicar nvicar@renmedia.us Multimedia Reporter: Corrie Colf ccolf@renmedia.us

One of the concerns for many campers is the plan for next summer. Will they get to make up the program that was lost? The honest answer is camps have so much to figure out in the weeks and months ahead. Acknowledge the uncertainty and discuss how they have successfully dealt with the unknown in the past. Encourage kids to share ideas with their camp. Having their voice heard can help. Think of ways to financially support our community camps as they will need our help to survive. FINDING THE POSITIVE Families are now facing very practical challenges with job commitments and day care. Children and teens desperately want to see their friends again. Families are stressed. The old adage of one day at a time is a good approach for now. We need to find positives in each day while we navigate these uncharted waters. Parents are asking how to keep our kids occupied with meaningful activities. Here is a golden opportunity that lies in the days and weeks ahead: When the raw emotion Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin2132@gmail.com Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar rsklar@renmedia.us Contributing Editor: David Sachs Editorial Intern: Yael Eichhorn yeichhorn@renmedia.us Contributing Writers: Nate Bloom, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Ben Falik, Maya Goldman, Mike Smith, Steve Stein

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MAY 21 • 2020

begins to settle and the time feels right, talk with your kids about what they gain from going to camp. Ask your child why the camp experience is so important. Parents should reflect on this question, too. Is it about connecting with friends? Building and growing new friendships? Being authentic and your best version of yourself? Trying new things? Unplugging? No, we can’t re-create camp in the same exact way. We can’t replace the loss. However, if we really consider these thoughts as opportunities, we can approach our coming weeks similar to camp. By being creative and resourceful, we can tap into the spirit, the essence and even some of the magic of camp. Talk with your child, teens and/or young adult about how they can be more authentic, vulnerable and accepting in their relationships. Light Shabbat candles. Sing together. Take your child on a hike. Build a fire. Find new and unique arts and crafts projects. Create a family Havdalah, reflecting on the past week together while sharing feelings and looking ahead. Look out at the stars | Advertising Sales Vice President of Sales and Business Development: Carol Kruemmer ckruemmer@renmedia.us Senior Account Executive: Keith Farber kfarber@renmedia.us Account Executives: Catherine Grace, Kathy Harvey-Mitton

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each night. These are just some examples and together families can discover many more. If we integrate these types of experiences into our families in the coming weeks, the impact will be great for your family and the memories can be very special. Losing a summer of camp is very painful for our kids and the community of camps. At the end of the day, it’s said that camp is about people and the relationships. This is not just a camp lesson but also a lesson we learn in life. Relationships shape the core of who we all are, and they will help us heal from this moment in time. No relationship is more important than the one with your child. This is exactly what will help you, your family and community get through this very difficult time. Dr. Daniel Klein is a licensed clinical psychologist and founder of Child and Family Solutions Center. A self-described “camp lifer” whose career was inspired by camp, he is a former camper, counselor and parent of two campers who live for their summers. He presently serves as an officer on the board of directors of the Bloomfield Hills based nonprofit Tamarack Camps.

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Keeping Seniors Connected

Our STORY

JVS, Jewish Senior Life continue work with dementia patients over Zoom. YAEL EICHHORN JN INTERN

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JVS HUMAN SERVICES

rior to the spread of COVID-19 and statewide stay–at–home order, seniors with dementia in Metro Detroit received in-person services through a partnership between JVS Julie Verriest Human Services and Jewish holding a music session Senior Life. Those programs “They help each other out, focused on interacting with like someone who is in the earliothers and making face-to-face er stage of dementia might help connections: crucial components someone who’s a little later in the for high quality of life. dementia journey to answer a Now, Julie Verriest, manager question.� of senior adult services at JVS These online sessions provide Human Services and supervisor important interactions for parof the Dorothy and Peter Brown ticipants but are also beneficial Jewish community adult day for caregiving partners, Verriest program at Jewish Senior Life, said. Some are working from has moved programming online home, teaching from home and to continue to give seniors some now also providing full-time stability and therapeutic services. care for family members. Zoom “Socialization and connection sessions provide respite so carewith other people is really the giving partners can complete most important thing for people other tasks. with dementia,� Verriest said. This online program also In-person services included provides support services and hands-on activities like exercise, sessions specifically for caregivpet therapy and community ing partners as the alternative outings. Online, these programs to in-person support. The prohave been altered slightly. For gram’s social worker now spends music sessions, Verriest plays the all her time calling families and guitar over Zoom as participants checking in to see how they are clap and sing along. Exercise doing. sessions are also led by Verriest, Sam McKnight has been takwith participants providing ing his wife, Jackie, to participate input. in services at the Brown Center People living with dementia for several years now, and the can have visual and auditory fact that there are services availprocessing issues, which pose able online is helpful to both a potential challenge when it of them, McKnight said. Jackie comes to holding sessions virtuparticularly enjoys the music, ally. To help, Verriest makes sure poetry and bingo that have taken to leave extra time when talking place virtually. to participants, which she says Sam said he’s been especially helps them stay responsive. pleased with “the familiarity of “The real magic is they interit all and the ability to connect, act with each other much like even though it’s a little more difthey do on-site,� Verriest said. ficult.�

Kevin Kellman and Marc Kellman spent 20 years in a family business that was doing well, but wasn’t what they really wanted to do. With Kevin’s love of cooking, and Marc’s practical, “numbers guyâ€? outlook, they jumped into Detroit’s burgeoning foodie culture with Brother Truckers food truck, and found their calling. Armed with their business experience and lots of research, Kevin and Marc approached Hebrew Free Loan’s Marvin I. Danto Small Business Loan Program for help getting launched. As their third season approached, Kevin and Marc had a lot of their calendar for lunches and events booked early, and looked forward to increasing their business even more. “We exceeded expectations in our ďŹ rst two seasons, and we thought this would be the year it really took off,â€? Kevin said. “Then the quarantine hit, and the outlook went from bright to bleak.â€? As the truck sat, people who knew the Kellmans asked if Brother Truckers could come out like an ice cream truck and do meals. From that, the Subdivision Tour was born. “We don’t cruise, we park in one neighborhood, and people come to us. We go to HOAs for permission and to spread the word among the neighbors, and we feed lots of families who are tired of cooking, or maybe looking for a change from their carry-out options,â€? Kevin said. “It also gives some of the neighbors a chance to come out of their homes and socialize at a distance while we cook. Everything is safe and minimal contact, and the response has been tremendous. This might actually become part of our business. We appreciate our customers and the welcome we received in the neighborhoods. We also appreciate HFL, because without them, our story would look a whole lot different.â€?

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The Ex-Nazi Next Door Detroiter Jeff Schoep ran America’s largest neo-Nazi group for 25 years before leaving in 2019. How should Jews feel about his reformation? ANDREW LAPIN EDITOR

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MAY 21 • 2020

JEWISH NEWS

Jeff Schoep, former commander of the National Socialist Movement, now says the hate group functioned like a “cult.”

on the cover

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n summer 2019, Rick Eaton heard something shocking. One of the most prominent neo-Nazis in the U.S. was leaving the movement. As co-director of the digital terrorism project at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angelesbased Jewish human rights organization which tracks hate group activity, Eaton interacts with his fair share of white supremacists. And he was very familiar with the National Socialist Movement (NSM), the largest neo-Nazi group in America, and its “commander”, Jeff Schoep (pronounced “Scoop”), who had been in the group for the past 27 years and led it for the last 25. Until now, it seemed. Schoep, now 46, had just walked away from hate groups for good. “I wanted to go and meet him immediately,” Eaton said, remembering how, more than a decade prior, he had met Schoep while working undercover at an NSM barbecue. So he flew from the center’s L.A. offices to Detroit. This time the two were meeting as each other’s authentic selves, in a hotel lobby by the DTW airport. (Schoep will only say he lives in “the Detroit area,” not wanting to reveal his location for fear of retaliation from the group he once led. “They view me as a traitor,” he said.) The two talked for hours about Schoep’s journey, and Eaton pushed him to bring his message to a broader public. Schoep wanted to enter the world of peacebuilding, where he could try to use his story to deter people from joining hate groups like he had. Eaton could help him do it. “As soon as I sat down with Jeff in the lobby and started talking to him, personally, I felt that he was real from the beginning,” Eaton said. Six months later, he brought Schoep to face a crowd of Jews at Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob, a Modern Orthodox shul in Skokie, Illinois. It was the same Chicago suburb where, four decades earlier, a different neo-Nazi infamously won a Supreme Court case that allowed his hate group to march through a neighborhood filled with Holocaust survivors. But Schoep was there to ask forgiveness. And he received it. “The people were so kind and forgiving and loving,” he told the Jewish News two months later, from COVID quarantine, after fumbling with his Zoom settings. “I don’t think I ever received so many hugs in my entire life, until I got there.”

JEWISH NEWS

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Ever since he could remember, Jeff Schoep had wanted to be a Nazi.

His grandfather was one, he said: an ethnic German from Prussia, he fought in the Wehrmacht (Nazi armed forces) against Allied troops during WWII, on the Eastern Front as well as in the Ardennes. After the war, Schoep’s grandparents were sent to POW and refugee camps before finally coming to the U.S. Growing up in rural Minnesota, Schoep was fascinated by his grandfather (who died last year) and read everything he could about Nazis. He didn’t come from a traumatic childhood like many who are drawn into far-right ideologies; both of his parents had good jobs, and his family was middle-class, he said. Schoep’s interest in Nazism was purely his own decision. When he was 15, Schoep traveled to Germany to visit a great-uncle who had also fought for the Nazis and had half his face burned off at the Battle of the Bulge. This was shortly before the Berlin Wall fell, and while in Germany, Schoep met his first group of skinheads. “I was fascinated by the Third Reich,” he said. He didn’t know any Jews, but he hated them all the same. “The Jew was the cancer and the other races were symptoms of that cancer,” he said of his beliefs at the time. When Schoep got back to the U.S., he wrote letters to every American neo-Nazi group he could find. In 1992, at age 18, he joined what was then called the National Socialist American Workers Freedom Movement, based near him in St. Paul, Minnesota. Members read literature like Hitler’s Mein Kampf and Henry Ford’s The International Jew. Before long Schoep was enthusiastically attending the group’s rallies, holding anti-Semitic signs like “Six Million More.” Shortly after Schoep joined, the group’s leader stepped down and appointed him in charge of the movement. He was 21 at the time. Schoep shortened the group’s name to the National Socialist Movement — a more direct nod to Nazism — and his long career at the head of the country’s most prominent hate group had begun. Up until he left the NSM in 2019, Schoep had spent his entire adult life in the movement. He earned his income from operating a white-supremacist music and apparel label called NSM88 Records; “88” is white nationalist code for “Heil Hitler.” He orchestrated their rallies and their entire public image, and issued strict edicts to his followers: no bad words or racial slurs (except, of course, for the swastika on their flags); no sharing of violent or racist memes online; no real-world violence, “only self-defense.” All of this was done against the wishes of his own family, including his grandfather, who warned him not to get involved in any Nazi movements. Schoep was unwilling to discuss more details of his family on the record, but Eaton continued on page 12 MAY 21 • 2020

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PHOTO FROM WHITE RIGHT: MEETING THE ENEMY, DEEYAH KHAN/FUUSE FILMS

on the cover

Schoep, center with crossed arms, leading the NSM during his movement days. His patch displays the revised NSM logo; he replaced the swastika with the Odal rune in 2016. continued from page 11

said Schoep’s mother, an attorney, had once lost a judgeship February at an event hosted by NEXTGen Detroit and others. appointment after links to her son were made public. Even this In addition, Schoep said he befriended an Orthodox Jewish wasn’t enough, at first, to dissuade her son from his cause. woman in the Detroit area, whom he declined to name, citing In 2007, Schoep moved from Minnesota to Detroit, taking safety concerns. the NSM headquarters with him and incorporating the group Beginning to doubt the hate he preached, but too scared to in the state of Michigan. Detroit’s dramatic economic downturn, strike out on his own, Schoep tried to rebrand the NSM in a he reasoned, would make for fertile white nationway that would make it acceptable to mainstream alist recruiting ground, and he was right. “The politics. After Donald Trump was elected president, movement did better in the big cities,” he recalled, Schoep saw an opening. In fact, he said, the state “especially cities that had racial strife or economic of America in 2016 was what the NSM had always problems.” wanted. Besides, he added, Michigan had always been Jewish News Editor “I had hoped for that kind of polarization,” he one of the most-represented states in the NSM, Andrew Lapin will host said. “We wanted America to break down, you though he said he never kept an accurate count of a Facebook Live session know, a socioeconomic collapse, because we felt that the group’s total members. But the state does have a Tuesday, May 26 at 1:00 during that time, that’s when the movement would long strand of bigoted activity, including prominent p.m. EST to respond to rise up and people would be looking for answers.” and still-active membership in the Ku Klux Klan; reader questions about Schoep directed the NSM to insert themselves the Michigan Militia movement that launched in this story. You can submit into the immigration debate by setting up their the mid-1990s; and anti-Semitic preachers like questions ahead of time own “patrols” along the Southwest border. The ploy Father Charles Coughlin and James Wickstrom. to alapin@thejewishworked: new members signed up because they saw Both of them were quoted frequently within the news.com or via the JN’s the group as “the only ones doing anything about NSM. Facebook page. illegal immigration.” It took many years for Schoep to begin to see the Most significantly, in 2016, Schoep removed the error of his ways. swastika from the NSM’s flag. The move was deeply controversial within the group (most of its followers were still ■ ■ ■ proud Nazis), but Schoep was no longer interested in emulating He first began to have doubts about his cause in the midhis own Nazi heritage. He promoted the NSM instead as “a white 2010s, unsettled by positive interactions he’d had with people civil rights group,” in the vein of the growing popularity of “altfrom various minority groups who’d reached out to him. Among right” groups promoting similar ideology. some of his unlikely new friends were Daryl Davis, a black This was what the NSM looked like to Acacia Dietz when she blues musician who’s played for Chuck Berry and B.B. King and decided to join the group in 2017. Dietz, now 36, was raised in a is known for befriending Klansmen and convincing them to conservative Christian family in rural Ohio and initially moved renounce their memberships; and British Muslim documentary to Metro Detroit to attend Rochester College (today Rochester filmmaker Deeyah Khan, who profiled Schoep for a documenUniversity), a private Christian school. Her father was a pastary, White Right: Meeting the Enemy, which screened locally in tor, and as a child, her favorite movie was Fiddler on the Roof. In

Further Discussion

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MAY 21 • 2020

We wanted America to break down... That’s when the movement would rise up and people would be looking for answers.

school, she said, one of her biggest vation of the Lee statue and other mentors had been a Black dean; “historical” memorials as “a good she even named her son after him. cause.” None of that stopped Dietz But being named in the suit from joining the NSM. Thanks “stressed me out,” he said. Even as to Schoep’s rebranding, she didn’t he made public statements defendknow about its Nazi ties. She only ing the NSM, he said he realized knew it as a civil rights group for he couldn’t be a part of the group white people, and, she tells the anymore. JN, that was enough for her. She This led to a series of dramatic — JEFF SCHOEP was initially motivated to join by twists. Schoep confessed to James her anger at the left for what she Hart Stern, a black activist he’d believed was their own intolerance become friendly with, that he of people with right-wing views. wanted to leave the NSM. Stern “When I first got involved, my mission was to show that these successfully convinced Schoep to hand legal ownership of the individuals were human too,” Dietz said. “I guess you could say I group over to him; planning, as he told reporters at the time, to was pretty naïve.” use the group to deter new followers through techniques like Like Schoep, Dietz rose through the ranks of the group quickplaying Schindler’s List on its official website. ly. Shortly after joining, she became the NSM’s propagandist, As soon as Schoep had turned over the group, Stern attempted responsible for editing the group’s online videos and crafting its to “plead guilty” to the lawsuit on behalf of the NSM. Because message on social media in order to lure in new followers. In a this was a civil case, he was legally prohibited from doing so. major accomplishment, she got the NSM reinstated on Twitter The move felt like a betrayal to Schoep, and the two had a bitafter being previously banned for hate speech. ter falling-out; he wrested control of the NSM back from Stern, Dietz said it was only later, after she was already immersed in only to formally announce his retirement from the group a few the group, that she realized what its members believed all along: weeks later, in March 2019. (Stern died of a heart attack that “The Jews control everything.” October, at the age of 55.) “I didn’t even know what anti-Semitism was,” she said. “I had Dietz was on the NSM’s board of directors at the time Schoep never been really exposed to that.” One day she finally asked left and briefly became the legal owner of the group before she, Schoep what it meant. “He’s like, ‘You’re kidding, right?’” too, made the decision to leave after two years on the inside. In the process, she dissolved the NSM in the state of Michigan. ■ ■ ■ Another member would soon revive the group in Florida, and In August 2017, Schoep took the NSM and their new, swastitoday the NSM continues to spread hate without its former leadka-free flags to Charlottesville, Virginia, to march in the now-iner, including through its Detroit chapter. At the city’s June 2019 famous “Unite the Right” rally. What unfolded there would prove Pride Parade, several NSM members marched while screaming central to his decision to leave the group. ethnic and homophobic slurs at passersby. Many chapters have Organized by an array of far-right and white supremacist returned the swastika to their flags, as well, according to Eaton, groups in response to the Charlottesville city council’s attempts who has continued to monitor them. to remove a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee, the But Schoep and Dietz were now home free. Both still living in rally became one of the largest public displays of anti-Semitism the Detroit area, they connected with each other on the outside in American history. Hundreds of marchers chanted, “Jews will to form an anti-hate group called Beyond Barriers. Today they not replace us!” and one individual drove his car into a group of describe the NSM as a “cult,” and are both grateful to have left. counter-protesters, killing one and injuring 19. When people still in hate movements reach out to Schoep, he One month after the rally, a group of 10 Charlottesville resitries to convince them to leave, too. Dietz, the onetime propadents filed a civil suit against the organizers, naming Schoep as a gandist, makes their videos. co-defendant in his capacity as leader of the NSM. Drawing on a ■ ■ ■ statute known as the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, which gives the president power to combat white supremacist organizations, the There is a growing international community of people who lawsuit (which is still ongoing) accuses the Unite the Right orgahave left hate groups. They call themselves “formers.” nizers of conspiring to commit racist violence. Among the more famous formers: Derek Black, son of Don Today, Schoep calls the rally “horrific” and denies that either Black, founder of the white nationalist website Stormfront he or the NSM played a role in planning it. “I wasn’t even on the (Derek lived for a time in Michigan after his retreat from hate); speakers list,” he said, claiming that he “wasn’t really interested Megan Phelps-Roper, granddaughter of Westboro Baptist in going,” but went anyway because he saw defending the preserChurch founder Fred Phelps; and, now, Schoep. continued on page 14 MAY 21 • 2020

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on the cover continued from page 13

All three made their journeys at least in part aided by Orthodox Jews they had befriended while still in hate movements. Since other formers have found media attention and speaking engagements from their own high-profile exits, some observers have questioned whether Schoep’s transformation is sincere. A recent New York Times article cast doubt on his journey, emphasizing the relative quickness between his formal exit from the NSM and the beginning of his public outreach. Complicating Schoep’s rehabilitation is the fact that he continues to defend himself in the Charlottesville lawsuit, strongly denying that either he or the NSM played a role in organizing the march or the violence that followed. By his own admission, if the suit goes to trial, he could find himself on the same side of the courtroom as people who continue to actively preach hate and anti-Semitism. But he’s willing to do that. “This is about being transparent, and if I go in and tell lies about something that isn’t true, then I have no honor,” he said. For his part, Eaton believes Schoep’s conversion wholeheartedly. “I’ve done enough of these [hate group conversions] that I think I have a sense of what’s sincere and what’s not,” he said. “And I do believe that Jeff is extremely sincere about all this. Plus the fact that it’s not like something you can do for a year and then renege on. You know, he’s chosen his path, and it’s a good one.” But maybe the right question isn’t whether Schoep is serious about leaving hate groups behind — by all accounts he appears to be. Maybe the right question is what Jews are to do with a man who once led calls for their extermination and is now suddenly appearing in synagogues, saying he wants to lead people like himself away from what he spent a quarter-century doing. To this point, Schoep is especially interested in doing work with Jews. It’s why he agreed to be profiled by the JN in the first place. “The more I can reach out to the Jewish community, for me, it’s an honor,” he said. “I’ll always carry the burden and the shame from my past and the things that I’ve done, but if in some small way… I can turn a negative into something positive, then it’s a good mission to be on.” COVID-19 interrupted Schoep’s anti-hate tour before it could really begin, but his first Jewish stop in February was already life-changing for him. At Skokie Valley Agudath Jacob, Rabbi Ari Hart welcomed him and showed him the congregation’s Torah scrolls, though Hart did not plan the visit. Hart told the JN he still struggles with the question of how to respond to figures like the one who entered his synagogue. “On the one hand, we believe in teshuva [atonement] and we should show the beauty and dispel the myths and lies people say about our people,” Hart wrote in an email. “On the

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Schoep and Acacia Dietz, former National Socialist Movement propagandist, look to leave their past behind. They have formed a new anti-hate group called Beyond Barriers.

other hand, we need to stay safe when we know that there are so many out there who seek to do us harm.” At his talk in Skokie, which was posted to YouTube, Schoep confessed that, though he is free of it now, his anti-Semitism was the very last prejudice to leave him. More than a month after hearing that, Hart admitted, “I am still processing that statement.” But if others struggle with what Schoep stands for today, Schoep himself is more confident than ever about his new path. He has already seen enough of this new world, he says, to reject the conclusions that informed his old one. “I once believed, and many of the people in the movement believe, that the Jewish people hate non-Jews,” he said, adding that after he left the NSM, “a guy I once knew for years told me the Jews will hang me one day, and hang all of us that fought against them, and I would never be forgiven. “That’s the kind of message I get, but I don’t believe it anymore. I used to think that way, too, so now I try to fix others’ way of thinking. If nothing else, it’s less people hating each other.”

JFS is here to help

Elaine is a single mom of two girls who works as a pharmacy tech. When the COVID pandemic led to the schools closing and the stay-at-home order, she knew she would be unable to continue working. While she does receive unemployment, it’s not enough to cover her mortgage, monthly bills and her older daughter’s medication. Anxious and uncertain, she called Jewish Family Service. JFS was able to connect Elaine with a therapist to help her manage her anxiety, as well as a social worker to help provide assistance with groceries and utilities. Elaine, like all of us, is living in a world with many unknown factors. But how she’ll feed her kids is no longer one of them. If you need help during this challenging time, please contact JFS at 248.592.2313 or resourcecenter@jfsdetroit.org.

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Jews in the D

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Not long after, Alicia experienced licia Chandler and Lesley some health issues and underwent Miles met as teens at gallbladder surgery. She had to BBYO. Alicia went to North wait for medical clearance before Farmington High School and Lesley she could move forward with the went to Berkley. After graduation, transplant. they each went their separate ways. While Alicia recovered from surLittle did they know back then gery, Lesley underwent four surgerhow their paths would cross again ies to prepare one of her arms for 20 years down the road when they dialysis, which she would start in connected again on Facebook, sharJanuary 2020, hoping it would only ing items about their busy lives. need to be temporary. Alicia was married to Jeff By the end of December, Alicia Chandler and raising two children, was medically cleared for transplant 11-year-old Brady and 9-year-old surgery. “Even after her gallbladder Morgan, in Birmingham. An active surgery, she still went forward and community member and president that just tells you how amazing a of the JCRC/AJC, Alicia had left person she is — one of those peoher position as a health care attorple who is ridiculously amazing,” ney to study for her master’s degree Lesley said. in Jewish education and Jewish On Jan. 2, 2020, Alicia went studies through a distance-learnto the mikvah with Rabbi Meg They met as teens at BBYO; ing course from Hebrew College, Brudney of Temple Beth El, who Boston. Her goal is to consult with years later their lives intersected had written a ritual ceremony to organizations that help interfaith in a profound way. help her prepare for the surgery. couples navigate family life. “My Jewish values permeated the Lesley had been working in JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR whole experience,” Alicia said. pharmacy-related health support The next day, Alicia, at age 40, services and living with her partdonated one of her kidneys to ner, Andy Kitchen. She and her her childhood friend. She recovyounger brother were born with a ered quickly and went home. type of polycystic kidney disease Unfortunately, Lesley endured that affects the kidneys and the weeks of complications. She recovliver. When her brother was 6 years ered at her Ferndale home with the old, he received a kidney and liver help of her mom and Andy. Even transplant. with all the problems, her new kidLesley had lived with worsening ney is working exactly as it should. but manageable kidney disease “My gift to Lesley is that she lives until now. Her kidney health was a long and full life,” Alicia said. declining. After a medical eval“I am uncomfortable with all the uation, her nephrologist told her attention. I don’t think of myself she would need to start dialysis. as ‘being a hero.’ The reason I talk In fall 2018, Lesley posted on her about it is so that people underFacebook page that she needed a stand you can give up a month of new kidney. TOP: Lesley Miles and Andy Kitchen on the day of the surgery. your life, with no restrictions afterAlicia saw the post and told her ABOVE: Jeff and Alicia Chandler at last year’s Kidney Ball ward, and save someone’s life.” family she wanted to be tested as a Lesley will return to her position potential donor. Her mother-in-law of the Jewish value of pikuach nefesh, to as director of risk adjustment survived kidney cancer, and her husband, save a life. I thought the opportunity to and strategy and performance for Jeff, has served on the volunteer comhelp Lesley was a blessing.” Advantasure, an organization that helps mittee for the Kidney Ball, a National A year later, after a lengthy health eval- health plans navigate the health care Kidney Foundation of Michigan (NKFM) uation, Alicia was confirmed as a kidney system. She said she feels the need to annual fundraiser. He has also been donor match for Lesley. Alicia reached protect her new kidney and help others elected to the NKFM volunteer board of out to tell Lesley the good news. with kidney disease. directors. “It’s one of those things that is difficult “Someone gave me a part of herself,” “The likelihood of someone popping to put into words,” Lesley said. “‘Thank she said. “It came out of her body and up from my past who needed a kidney you’ just isn’t enough. She did it because was given to me. If I can’t protect it, then was low, and it felt like this was what I she wanted to. I am just so fortunate to it feels almost disrespectful.” was meant to do,” Alicia said. “I thought have had her come forward.” PHOTOS COURTESY OF NKF

Gift of Life

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COURTESY OF LOWENBERG FAMILY

CLOCKWISE: Lawn signs celebrate the happy couple; Carol and Martin wave to their parade; the Lowenbergs’ 1960 wedding photo; one of the parade “floats.”

Anniversary Surprise Community helps Holocaust survivor and his wife mark a milestone in quarantine ROBIN SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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ith smiles and waves, honking horns and shouts of “Mazel Tov,” dozens of family members and friends, congregants from Young Israel of Southfield and even total strangers helped Holocaust survivor Martin Lowenberg, 92, and his wife, Carol, 87, celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The 32-car parade May 12 in front of the couple’s Southfield home was all a big surprise coordinated by Young Israel Rabbi Yechiel Morris and the Lowenbergs’ oldest daughter, Cheryl Jerusalem. Family members also decorated the lawn with “Happy Anniversary” signs and pictures of the couple’s three children, 14 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. (Two more babies are due in June.) “Thank you, thank you,” Mr. Lowenberg said as he stood in his driveway waving at the cars and grinning from ear to ear. Carol sat on a lawn chair beside him. “Look how popular you are,” shouted one of the drivers passing by. A municipal tree trimming truck and another city vehicle were even spotted among the procession. Car parades are a new tradition helping people to celebrate special occasions while maintaining a safe distance to avoid spreading the virus. “It was just amazing, seeing them so happy and seeing how much their com-

munity means to them,” Jerusalem said. “It touched all of our hearts.” Mr. Lowenberg was born in Germany and spent his teenage years in five different concentration camps. His parents and twin brothers were killed during the Holocaust; only he and his sister survived. He often talks to groups about his life experiences and the healing power of love. “Quarantine is not [a] strange word to me,” he said. “After I was liberated from the concentration camp to Sweden, I was in quarantine for more than a month.” Martin met Carol, the love of his life, through mutual friends six decades ago. They moved to Detroit in 1965 and raised their three daughters Cheryl, Anita and Sandra, all of whom are married with families of their own. Before COVID-19, Mr. Lowenberg attended Young Israel of Southfield three times a day. “They’ve been very careful during the pandemic,” Cheryl explained. “We have frequent FaceTime calls, but they miss being with their community and with family.” That’s one more reason the anniversary surprise was so special. May 12 was also Lag b’Omer, celebrated on the 33 day of the Counting of the Omer between Passover and Shavuot. For decades, the occasion has been marked with — you guessed it — festive parades.

“[The car parade] was really something,” Mr. Lowenberg said. “It was quite a surprise to my wife and myself. I was completely overcome. It was a wonderful happening.” Elana Miodownik was among those riding by to help the Lowenbergs celebrate. “The ability to come together as a community to honor and celebrate these special people brought everyone so much joy,” she said. “Despite these difficult times, when we are in many ways disconnected, we were able to sit back, smile and share in the sweetness of living life to the fullest.” MAY 21 • 2020

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VIA TEMPLE ISRAEL FACEBOOK

The ‘Virtual Synagogue’ Congregations offer more than prayer and education during COVID-19 pandemic. SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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hile synagogues and temples are physically closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, many are reaching out to their members in new ways. Live-streamed Shabbat services, classes and minyanim are common, and some congregations are offering children’s lullabies, a virtual women’s retreat, cooking classes and Trivial Pursuit through Zoom or social media. Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park offers a shivah minyan by Zoom. Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield has a Café Zedek that enables members to share their talents for music and storytelling. Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield offers an “Online HangOut” with Rabbi Steven Rubenstein and recently presented an online Lag b’Omer concert. Temple Israel in West Bloomfield has offered a “Jewish Yoga and Kabbalah” program taught by Yogi Johnny Kest and Dan Mesa Rabbi Paul Yedweb.

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MAY 21 • 2020

Daniel Mesa, Bloomfield Townshipbased Temple Beth El’s executive director, says that their rabbis are dropping in virtually at prearranged times to connect with some families before live-streamed Shabbat services. “It’s opened up a new Rabbi Josh line of conversation with Bennett members. We have home videos of board, staff and members on our Facebook page. We’ve overhauled our website,” he says. Temple Beth El’s “Pump up Shabbat” program includes more than 1,000 viewers, according to Mesa, while classes attract anywhere from 50 to 150 people. Some programs enable participants to type in questions on Facebook for “live” responses. Rabbi Josh Bennett of Temple Israel says that the temple has a “robust and exciting online presence” and that the “average reach of their programs has been remarkable” and includes all ages.

“We are finding modern, innovative ways to connect with people.” Congregations are focused on the community’s emotional and practical needs as well. Temple Israel has a program called “Coping with Loss during COVID.” Congregation Beth Shalom is planning to raise funds to help those who have lost jobs or experienced the death of a family member during this time. Bais Chabad Torah Center in West Bloomfield has an emergency task force to help members who need help. Shaarey Zedek has provided lunch for the Southfield Police Department in conjunction with Zoup!, a restaurant owned by one of its members. In addition, clergy and board members of Temple Beth El, Congregation Beth Shalom, Congregation Shaarey Zedek and Temple Israel, among others, are calling individual members to connect with them during this shelter-at-home period. These phone calls are a way to check on members’ welfare, to maintain congregational connections despite lack of in-person contact and to offer assistance if needed. During such routine “health and welfare” calls by Temple Beth El’s board, members were asked if they needed anything, and several responded that they were having trouble finding such

FACING: Temple Israel clergy shared their favorite moments serving the community on Zoom. LEFT: ‘A Rabbi and a Pastor Zoom into a Pandemic’ with Dr. Steve Bezner and Rabbi Jen Lader.

household items as paper goods and cleaning supplies. That led the temple to contact several members whose businesses could provide these items, which they agreed to provide at cost. A letter was then sent to members offering these household necessities through curbside pickup at the temple. According to Mesa, each day they receive requests from a small number of people who then pick up the supplies.

In a few cases, items have been delivered, including one drop-off at Meer Jewish Apartments. Those who can afford it pay a fee to cover costs. “People are glad to be back at temple and to see a friendly face. The service is not just for Temple members,� he says. Mesa adds that the temple plans to offer catered meals to members in a few weeks. He adds that some members visit just to walk the grounds,

saying that it comforts them to be near the temple even though they can’t go inside. Temple Israel volunteers and staff have been calling older members on a weekly basis and have delivered food to some individuals. The temple has expanded its Food Pantry that provides free fresh food to members and the general community in partnership with Forgotten Harvest. Rabbi Bennett says that prior to the pandemic, about 100 families received food assistance every other week, referred mainly by local social service agencies and schools. Now that number has increased to 250 families due to COVID-19, he says,

including 15 to 20 percent who are temple members, some of whom have lost their jobs. Food packages are being supplemented by additional food donations from temple members. (For additional information, call Temple Israel at 248-661-5700.) Clergy and administrative staff at area synagogues and temples have found that their work lives have changed due to the pandemic. A rabbi live-streams a presentation for members from his dining room table. By phone, an executive director helps members figure out how to access online programs. “We’re helping people differently than before,� Mesa says.

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COURTESY OF DAVID HOLDEN

Jews in the D

Double the Hate? Michigan anti-Semitic incidents doubled in 2019, ADL audit says.

A swastika found at Temple Jacob in Hancock, Michigan, in 2019.

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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nti-Semitic acts in Michigan doubled from 2018 to 2019, up to 42 incidents from 21 incidents two years ago, according to the Anti-Defamation League’s 2019 audit. ADL Michigan Director Carolyn Normandin told the Jewish News that as far as she knows, this is the highest year on record for Michigan. Thirty-two of the reported incidents in Michigan were acts of harassment, which involved one or more Jewish person feeling intimidated by anti-Semitic language or actions. The other 10 events were acts of anti-Semitic vandalism. The ADL did not receive any reports of anti-Semitic assault in Michigan in 2019. However, 12 of the ADL’s reported incidents (28%) represented weekly protests at a synagogue in Ann Arbor that have been ongoing for over 16 years. The JN reported on the situation — and a lawsuit filed against the protestors late last year — in April. The ADL did not count these protests in its 2018 statewide audit. Incident reports come to the ADL through phone calls, emails or an online reporting tool on the organization’s website. Each report is then vetted by the ADL — Normandin said this includes talking to

people involved and looking for visuals to corroborate statements. “We believe that data drives decision-making and policy, so by having data, real data, we’re able to stand by these statements that we make. They’re factual,” she said. About 122 total reports were made to ADL Michigan in 2019, Normandin said. Forty-two of those were corroborated anti-Semitic events, but about a third of the total reports were examples of white supremacist propaganda, which the ADL does not count toward its total for anti-Semitism. Another roughly 20 percent were found to be other forms of hate. A small handful of the total reports could not be corroborated or were deemed to be false reports. The audit shows that 18 of last year’s reported events in Michigan occurred at Jewish institutions or schools. Another 10 events happened in public spaces, and six took place at non-Jewish schools. The remaining events occurred in business establishments, colleges or universities, a cemetery, a home and online. Normandin said that the ADL only began receiving reports on the Ann Arbor synagogue protests last summer. This was also when a lawyer began compiling infor-

ADL Michigan has already corroborated and approved 14 incidents of anti-Semitism for the 2020 audit, which is about on track with last year. 20 |

MAY 21 • 2020

mation for a lawsuit against the protestors, filed later in the year. The number 12 was a stand-in for the protests’ weekly presence and decided on through multiple conversations with the Ann Arbor synagogue and the Center on continued on page 21

ALEX SHERMAN

A Witness for Peace protester readies his signs for the weekly Shabbat protest that started in 2003 outside Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor. ADL Michigan included the protests in their anti-Semitism counter for the first time in 2019. continued from page 20

Extremism, which helps compile the ADL’s annual audits. Normandin said the groups felt that counting the protests 52 times would distort the data but counting them only once seemed unrepresentative. In the end, they decided counting the protests once a month made the

most sense. The protests were not included in the 2018 audit because they were not reported to the ADL that year, according to Normandin. In the summer of 2019, the organization did receive a report, which was coupled with “a real intensity in

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

C

amp Walden in Cheboygan, Michigan, will delay its possible start date until at least mid-July, according to an email sent to camper parents May 14. The email, sent by Camp Walden owners Scott Ruthart and Liz Stevens, says even if the state of Michigan allows summer camps to run at some point this year, Camp Walden may still not open. It will depend on the conditions the state puts forth for opening camps. “We want to run the camp that we want to run. We want to run the camp that the kids expect; we

CAMP WALDEN

Camp Walden Delays Potential Start Date to Mid-July Family camp is a possibility for later in the summer.

tion has put the entire country on edge, and there is no doubt that all types of hatred have risen,” she said. “They’re using old anti-Semitic tropes like blaming and scapegoating, particularly to Jews and particularly to Asian-Americans.” To fight back against anti-Semitism and all types of hate, Normandin recommends people stand up to apathy, demand that educators and public officials stand up to hate and hold digital platforms accountable for preventing online hate. She said Michiganders can also advocate for stronger hatecrime laws and increased security funding for places of worship. “We can’t be apathetic about [anti-Semitism],” Normandin said. “We can’t take the approach, ‘Oh we’ve heard this before, we know what this is.’ We need to really, really continue to call it out.”

the rhetoric that was used at the synagogue,” Normandin said. This year’s increase in incidents is part of a nationwide trend. Nationally, incidents rose by 12 percent over the last year to 2,107 — the highest number ever recorded by the ADL since it began tracking anti-Semitic acts in 1979. In 2015, there were only six incidents of anti-Semitism corroborated by the ADL in Michigan, Normandin said. “It’s gone up seven-fold in the last five years,” Normandin said. “People are definitely feeling as if they have the authority to do this. They’ve gotten emboldened.” Normandin said ADL Michigan has already corroborated and approved 14 incidents of anti-Semitism for the 2020 audit, which is about on track with last year. “The current COVID situa-

Camp Walden owners Scott Ruthart and Liz Stevens lead the first-night campfire last year.

don’t want to run a camp where if you’re in Cabin G3, you’re not allowed to go into G4 and braid your friend’s hair,” Stevens told the Jewish News. Stevens said they decided to delay Walden instead of canceling at this point because there are a lot of unanswered questions about how summer camps will look this year. “It just gives me a pit in my stomach to think that I might not see any of those kids this summer,” she said. “On the other hand, it’s a relief to know we’re not going to have to rush into something we’re not 100 percent comfortable with.”

The email also asked parents to indicate their interest in participating in “family camp” at Walden if that seems like a feasible option later in the summer. Stevens said they haven’t figured out how that might look yet, but that it would involve allowing families to come to Walden and use the camp’s facilities. Since sending out the email, “there’s been ringing endorsement for family camp,” Stevens said. “Family camp is a whole different animal, but if it’s what we can do safely this summer, then we will seriously consider offering that sort of experience for fami-

lies,” she said. If parents choose to cancel for this summer, they have the option to roll their deposit over to next year. They can also decide to pay a $150 processing fee to get a refund, but the email warns that campers who cancel now will not have a spot reserved if the camp does open at some point this summer. As of now, Stevens said not many parents have chosen to cancel their children’s enrollment. The camp usually hosts 430 to 450 kids throughout the summer, along with about 115 staff. “If we were to have regular camp, I’m certain that the numbers would be lower, and that’s OK,” she said. “But we would still want enough campers to make it a real camp experience.” The family-run coed sleepaway camp has been a popular destination for Metro Detroit Jewish families for generations. Camp Walden expects to send out another update around June 1. MAY 21 • 2020

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Jews in the D

Detroit Jews for Justice Gets Accelerator Boost

A scene from the 1966 Adat Shalom production of Fiddler shows (seated) Michal Tamuz (Michelle Sinkoff) as Golde; Malka Littman (Marilyn Glaser) as Tzeitel; Rabbi Ralph Goren as Mottel.

Quarantine Matchmaker:

Adat Shalom Alumni Reunite to Remember a Hebrew “Fiddler” DORIS RUBENSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

W

e came to be together after decades of separation: from the four corners of the United States, from Canada. We came all the way from Israel, despite the shelter-in-place orders. This was not for Holocaust survivors. This was a Zoom reunion of performers and crew gathering to recall our allHebrew production of Fiddler on the Roof at Adas Shalom Synagogue (now Adat Shalom) in 1966. What motivated us to come together after 54 years? “That Fiddler production bonded us in a way that few other experiences could do,” explained Rabbi Dorit Seligson Edut of Huntington Woods (who played Grandma Tzeitel) to me when she asked me to help organize the event. Because I’m a retired fundraiser, I knew if could track down lapsed donors, I could track down our old friends. My biggest challenge was finding those who had left Michigan physically. But I knew if I could find them, their hearts would still be at the synagogue’s original location in Detroit, on

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Curtis Street near Livernois. Our “stars” were the first to be found. Rabbi Daniel “Tevye” Shevitz responded “Yes!” from Venice, California. Michal Tamuz (known as Michelle Sinkoff when she was Golde) was happy to resurrect “Tevye” from her home in Brooklyn, New York. Rabbi Ralph Goren in Atlantic City shared an amusing story about how he hated singing “Wonder of Wonders” in his role as Mottel Kamzoil. Marley Weiss, a law professor in Maryland, was one of Tevye’s daughters. Other cast members had joined the rabbinate: Chorus member Gordon Fuller is a rabbi in Maryland. I reached him through Elizabeth Cahan, widow of Rabbi Leonard Cahan, who had been one of the show’s directors. Joel Kaplan of Vancouver, British Columbia, was an executive in Jewish community institutions across the U.S. and Canada. Connections made during the play continued for many years. Chorus member (now retired judge) Susan Moiseev had her first job in the legal world in the firm of the play’s assistant director, Marvin Berris.

Dr. Jerry “Fyedka” Kohen, a dentist in Chicago, recently moved back to the Detroit area. Cast members Maxine Finkel Kane logged in from La Jolla, California; and Howard “Perchick” Berris and Michelle Sher Newman greeted the group from Florida. On opposite ends of the Atlantic, Susan Newman Barr has stayed close to home — and is still a member of Adat Shalom in Farmington Hills. From Jerusalem, crew member Ava Goldberg stayed up late to participate in the reunion. A high point of the gathering was looking at black-and-white snapshots of the production. I was amazed at how young we were, but, comparing those faces with the ones in the Zoom gallery, I could still see those same kids in the eyes of our gray-haired and sometimes wrinkled faces. I think Rabbi Edut put it best when she called me after the reunion. “It was a great party! Thanks to Zoom and modern technology for bringing these old friends and former ‘temporary residents’ of Anatevka together! A blessing on all our heads — and treasure every ‘Sunrise and Sunset!’”

COURTESY OF DORIS RUBENSTEIN

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

Detroit Jews for Justice, a local Metro Detroit social justice organization, was one of eight organizations to be accepted into the UpStart Venture Accelerator, a nationwide Jewish program that enables the success of groundbreaking Jewish ventures. Since its founding in 2014 by Congregation T’chiyah in Oak Park, DJJ has helped organize Metro Detroit’s Jewish community to partake in movements for racial and economic justice. Led by founding Executive Director Rabbi Alana Alpert, DJJ draws from Jewish tradition, thought and culture to enhance its initiatives. DJJ’s core focus is currently clean and affordable water issues, but it has also engaged volunteers in contributing to meaningful campaigns for racial and economic justice, housing, voting, immigration rights, transit and more. “It’s amazing to have national experts join the ranks of dedicated local volunteers and colleagues who have been rooting for us and helping us grow,” Alpert told the Jewish News. “We hope this support will help us meet the demand we’re experiencing. While we obviously don’t do the work to receive accolades, it is so important to feel valued.” The UpStart Venture Accelerator, started in 2006, has served as a guide and launchpad for more than 90 Jewish organizations nationwide. EDJJ will also have access to a pool of nonrestricted funding, up to $100,000, to use for maximizing its growth and impact. “We work in coalition with activists who understand that it’s not enough to feed the poor, but that we have to fight for a living wage — that it’s not enough to donate bottled water if we aren’t organizing for policies to make water clean and accessible,” Alpert said. “And we do it all with a deep sense of our Jewishness: learning, singing and celebrating Judaism all along the way.”

WIKIMEDIA

Jews in the D

Blue Mask Initiative University of Michigan students raise money for masks for front line workers. MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

COURTESY OF RACHEL ISRAEL

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group of University of Michigan students are raising money to provide KN95 masks to nursing home staff and healthcare providers in Detroit through a project called the Blue Mask Initiative. Blue Mask Initiative, started in early May by University of Michigan students Adhavan Arivalagan and Akash Rau, has also partnered with similar groups from other schools, including Michigan State University, Northville High School, Detroit Country Day and Cranbrook, to raise money for their supplies. Together, all the groups participating in the initiative have raised nearly $1,250, which the project’s leaders say could purchase 390 KN95 masks. Rachel Israel, a rising University of Michigan junior who is an alum of Hillel Day School and North Farmington High School, said she decided to join the project as a board member when Rachel Israel she realized that many nursing homes are unprepared to face the coronavirus pandemic. “I spent the year volunteering at a nursing home in Ann Arbor,” Israel said. “I read an article that there were a couple cases [of COVID-19] at that nursing home that I

was working at. I just remember all the people I met, and I made such a connection with them that it just kind of spooked me, and I was thinking that they don’t have any kind of gear they need.” Israel’s grandma also lives in a senior living home. Israel said she felt lucky her family was given the option to have her grandma come live with another relative for the time being. “But a lot of people, the only place they can really live is in one of those nursing homes, which are unfortunately not a great place during a pandemic, and they need the gear,” she said. Blue Mask Initiative has partnered with a doctor who has a connection to a mask supplier in Alabama. She will order the masks and ship them directly to nursing homes, Arivalagan said to JN. “We’ve already pledged to [donate masks to] 20 nursing homes, but we’re thinking about reaching out to even more,” he said. The group hopes to expand to nursing homes in other cities aside from Detroit, including Flint and Dearborn. To donate to the Blue Mask Initiative, email joinusbmi@gmail.com.

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ALAN MUSKOVITZ

Jews in the D

Lila Zorn, president of B’nai B’rith Great Lakes Region, presents the B’nai B’rith International President’s Award to Joel Marwil.

Diversity Champion Joel Marwil is all about inclusion.

J

oel Marwil, 73, of Farmington is the recipient of the 2019 B’nai B’rith International (BBI) President’s Award for his efforts in distributing the winning books from the Diverse Minds Writing Challenge to Detroit-area preschools and elementary Alan Muskovitz schools. The Contributing organization has Writer been championing human rights since its inception in 1843. The national BBI Diverse Minds Writing Challenge competition asks high school students to write and illustrate a children’s book for elementary-aged students “that tell a story of tolerance, diversity or inclusion.” Contest winners in each city/region receive a $5,000 college scholarship and have their books published. BBI Great Lakes Region

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president Lila Zorn of Farmington Hills accepted the award on Marwil’s behalf during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., this past November. “Joel is the consummate volunteer who cares about people,” Zorn said. “He took on the book distribution because he so strongly believes that a positive message of diversity be taught to our young children.” “As satisfying as it is to receive the award,” said Joel, “I’m just happy to be able to give back to the community. That’s the real meaning behind it.” He plans on distributing more books and making himself available to read at schools once normal sessions resume. Since 2006 B’nai B’rith said it “has published 41 original children’s books, some in two different languages (English and Spanish), awarded more than $337,000 in college scholarships and grants, and donat-

ed more than 45,000 books to public schools, libraries, and community organizations across the country.” You’d be hard pressed to distinguish the books of these high schoolers from their professional counterparts both in form and function. Joel has a long history with B’nai B’rith. He’s been a member since 1972, ascending to trustee and president of the Tucker-Grant Lodge. He is a vice president of the executive board of the Great Lakes Region. WITNESS TO INJUSTICE When he was just 11, Joel became acutely aware of the impact that inclusion, or lack thereof, could have on an impressionable young mind. He remembers clearly the day in the summer of 1957 he and his 12-year-old friend Sidney spent an afternoon at the beach in Cape May, New

Jersey. If not for segregated beaches, they may have enjoyed the afternoon together. Joel is the Detroit grandson of Aaron and Fera Zavelle, his mother Lenore’s parents, who owned a prominent Philadelphia bookstore. Sidney was the son of Bill Harper, a longtime black employee of the Zavelles. The Zavelles’ relationship with Bill and his family extended past the confines of their bookstore and their skin color. On this particular weekend in 1957, they welcomed the Harpers into their Cape May summer home. However, when the families left the front porch, Jim Crow laws prohibited them from enjoying the same beach. Joel couldn’t fully comprehend why he and Sidney had to go their separate ways that day. “I was confused at first,” he said. “It didn’t sound fair that one person had to go someplace else because of the color of their skin…. I kept silent. I didn’t know what to say. I was getting an education.” Words escaped him, but not the feeling it left with him. Seven years later, during another summer excursion to the East Coast, Joel and Sidney again arrived together at a beach in Atlantic City, only this time they did not part ways. Together, they were the beneficiaries of change that came with the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 that year. Joel still feels the joy of that new experience at the beach. “It was a wonderful thing that happened, a gift to humanity,” he said. The witnessing of an injustice in 1957 and the righting of a wrong in 1964 are moments in time that Joel says “stayed with me the rest of my life” and profoundly impacted him personally and professionally.

The witnessing of an injustice in 1957 and the righting of a wrong in 1964 are moments in time that Joel says “stayed with me the rest of my life.” TEACHING LITERACY A 1965 graduate from Mumford High School, Joel went on to receive his teaching degree from Eastern Michigan University (1970) and a master’s degree in reading from Oakland University (1978). He has spent the last 50 years teaching children and adults in a diverse number of settings in cities throughout Metro Detroit, including a fulltime teaching stint in the Detroit Public Schools, from which he retired in 1981. That books would be part of the Marwil DNA is no coincidence. Aaron Zavelle passed his passion for books along to his sonin-law Milton Marwil, Joel’s late father. Generations of Detroit students frequented the beloved Marwil Bookstore, a fixture on Cass Avenue that Milton founded in 1948 and operated until its sale in 1983. It remained in operation under the family name until its closing in 2013. The promotion of diversity by Joel and the Marwil family extends to the annual JCC Lenore Marwil Jewish Film Festival that Milton endowed in 1998 in memory of his wife Lenore. Its mission is “to enhance a sense of community and inclusion for a broad range of audience members.” Due to the coronavirus, this year’s festival, originally scheduled for May, has been

postponed until further notice. In the meantime, film festival enthusiasts can go to http://filmfest.jccdet. org for information about ongoing virtual events. Prior to the school year being suspended, Joel was dividing his time between two preschools, helping children hone their English and Spanish language skills. You could also find him teaching citizenship to the Hispanic community in Mexican Village under the auspices of Michigan United, a policy advocate 501(c)3 that helps “ensure that our government and economy reflect our values of dignity, fairness, equity, and opportunity.” Sixty-three years ago, Joel Marwil witnessed social injustice firsthand. Making a difference on that front continues to be part of the fabric of his life’s work, especially in light of today’s pandemic crisis, political divide, immigration crisis, global conflicts, and rise of anti-Semitism that reminds us to reflect on how much progress we still have to make. It’s a message he plans on sharing with the children upon his return to the classroom. “The pandemic is making people pause about who they are and who they should be,” Joel said. “I can talk to them about being kinder and gentler to one another.”

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sports HIGHlights

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No Greenberg and Softball Stalled, but B’nai B’rith Golf is a Go Record number of teams in B’nai B’rith league at Links of Novi. STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

by the JCC Association of North America. It’s going to be a summer like no other for three of the most important events on the Detroit area’s Jewish sports calendar. The COVID-19 pandemic is to blame, of course. There is a silver lining among the dark clouds. The B’nai B’rith golf league teed off last week. Competition began May 15

SARI CICUREL

at the Links of Novi among a league record 12 teams and will continue each Thursday through Aug. 27. RESCHEDULED FOR 2021 The Greenberg Invitational was scheduled for June 8 at Franklin Hills Country Club in Farmington Hills. It was postponed until Sept. 14, then canceled for the first

time in its history after Franklin Hills decided not to host any golf outings this year. The Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation presents the Greenberg Invitational, a fundraiser for cancer research and treatment and children’s camp scholarships. Foundation Executive Director Sari Cicurel said she’s sad the invitational won’t be

CHUCK FREEDMAN

T

he 30th annual Hank Greenberg Memorial Golf and Tennis Invitational was postponed in March, then canceled a few weeks ago. The 25th season of the InterCongregational Men’s Club Summer Softball League is in limbo. The JCC Maccabi Games & ArtFest was canceled in March

CHUCK FREEDMAN

LEFT: Former Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Morris (left) answers a question while broadcaster George Blaha and emcee Jeremy Schaap listen during the sports panel at last year’s Hank Greenberg Memorial Golf and Tennis Invitational. CENTER: Evan Chudnow (left),Karen Gordon and Joe Bernstein from Temple Kol Ami/Congregation B’nai Israel team up to retire baserunner Joey Lebovic from Adat Shalom Synagogue at third base during a game last season. RIGHT: Softball players from Bais Chabad Torah Center and Adat Shalom Synagogue exchange high fives after a game last season.

COURTESY OF ROSENBLATT FAMILY

BY STEVE STEIN

Rosenblatt

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Ben Rosenblatt’s lifelong dream has come true. He’ll be playing Division I soccer. The Berkley High School senior and Huntington Woods resident will play at Elon University, a private school with about 6,800 students located in Elon, N.C. An email sent by Rosenblatt while he was looking for a college to attend connected him to Elon. During a visit there, he said, he meshed with the soccer team and coaches. He plans to study prelaw while he is playing soccer for the Phoenix. Rosenblatt played soccer for Berkley only in his sophomore year. The 5-foot-10, 160-pounder is a product of the United States Soccer Development Academy, playing for U14, U17 and U19 teams over five years in a program based at Oakland University. A right back and center midfielder, Rosenblatt said he prefers playing right back and it appears that will be his position at Elon.

Merv Aronoff loves to play golf. The first time he played this year, the 73-year-old West Bloomfield resident shot his first hole-in-one. The ace came May 2 on the 153-yard par-3 eighth hole at the nineAronoff hole south course at Tanglewood Golf Club in South Lyon. Playing into a strong wind, Aronoff hit a 3-hybrid tee shot over a lake onto the green. He said he didn’t see his shot go into the hole, but his playing partner Larry Garfinkle saw it and Hanley Gurwin, his other playing partner, drove a golf cart to the green to verify what Garfinkle saw. Aronoff said he wasn’t excited

about the ace even though he’s been playing golf since he was 15. “I was more excited about getting a ‘1’ on my scorecard,” he said. “Every time you take a shot, it has to land somewhere.” Aronoff’s hole-in-one shot landed a few feet in front of the pin and rolled uphill into the cup. “If the ball rolled downhill, it might have gone past the hole,” he said. Aronoff shot 46 on the nine-hole north course at Tanglewood before shooting 40 on the south course. That gave him a combined 86 for 18 holes. Aronoff is a member of the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Commission. He said he plans to run for re-election to a third four-year term in November. COURTESY OF ARONOFF FAMILY

quick hits

held, but relieved in one respect. “If we held the Greenberg in September, you know a lot of the conversation at the event would have centered around the pandemic, and that wouldn’t have been good,” she said. “It could have made the day stressful instead of fun.” Baseball Hall of Fame relief pitcher Goose Gossage (Hank Greenberg Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award), ESPN NFL expert Adam Schefter (Dick Schaap Memorial Award for Media Excellence) and the Grenader family and Camp Mak-A-Dream (Barry Bremen Memorial Inspiration Award) were supposed to be honored at this year’s Greenberg Invitational. The honorees are expected to receive those awards next year. The rescheduled 30th annual Greenberg Invitational will be held June 7, 2021, at Franklin Hills. Cicurel said those who paid for sponsorships or reservations for the 2020 Greenberg Invitational can donate the money to the foundation’s causes, apply it toward to the 2021 Greenberg Invitational

COURTESY OF BRODSKY FAMILY

g Adat

or receive a refund. A raffle for two tickets for the third or fourth round of the 2021 Masters golf tournament plus amenities, a $6,500 value, is still on. The raffle winner would have been chosen June 8 at the Greenberg Invitational, but now the drawing will take place Sept. 14 on Facebook Live on the foundation’s website, michiganjewishsports.org. Raffle tickets are $100 and can be purchased online. No more than 200 tickets will be sold. Also still on — for now — is the annual Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame induction banquet, presented by the Michigan Jewish Sports Foundation. It takes place in the fall at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit in West Bloomfield. No date has been set. From 250 to 280 people attend the Greenburg Invitational and Hall of Fame banquet annually.

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BATTER UP? The Inter-Congregational softball league, which feacontinued on page 28

Barry Brodsky’s quest for a four-peat will have to wait a year. The Birmingham Marian High School girls soccer coach has guided his team to three straight Division 2 state championships. The Mustangs’ hopes for a fourth consecutive state title were wiped out in March when the Michigan High School Athletic Association canceled spring sports because of the public health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. “It was very disappointing for us at first to have the season canceled, but as Brodsky time has passed, we’ve realized what’s happening around us is bigger than sports,” Brodsky said. “The health of our families and other loved ones is more important.” Brodsky was heading into the season with a challenge: He did not have a goalie with varsity experience. “There’s no doubt we had a strong starting lineup,” he said. “The goalie situation would have made the season interesting.”

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MAY 21 • 2020

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DONNA HURSHE

sports HIGHlights continued from page 27

number of teams pieced together by league organizers. That would be similar to the league’s six-week fall season, which normally begins the Sunday after Labor Day. FORE! There’s no uncertainty surrounding the B’nai B’rith golf league’s eighth season. A dozen two-man teams are expected to compete for 16 weeks. There were 10 teams and 22 golfers (two substitutes) last year. Weekly play in the ninehole league usually starts in late April. Opening day was scheduled for April 30 this year. League organizer Gary Klinger said he delayed the start a couple weeks “because we could and it’s usually cold, but mainly because of COVID-19.” Only one golfer is allowed in a golf cart at the Links of Novi, and there’s a limit of two carts in a group. Flag sticks must stay in and there are no rakes to smooth sand traps.

quick hits BY STEVE STEIN

The secret is finally out. West Bloomfield High School freshman Ryan Krauthamer won one head-to-head race and lost twice in an episode of American Ninja Warrior Junior taped last summer in Los Angeles and did not advance in the ages 13-14 division of the competition. Episode 11 of the show’s second season aired May 1 on the Universal Kids channel. Krauthamer and his family members were not allowed to discuss the episode publicly until it aired. “I was disappointed that I didn’t move on to the next round, but I had a blast out there, and I’m proud that I finished all three of my races,”

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MAY 21 • 2020

COURTESY OF KRAUTHAMER FAMILY

tures a slew of games on Sundays at Drake Sports Park and Keith Sports Park in West Bloomfield, was supposed to have had its opening day May 3 and finish its playoffs Aug. 23. Seventeen teams, representing temples, synagogues and shuls across the area, are still hoping to play this summer. Steve Achtman, one of the league’s organizers, said he’s not confident a season will be held, but he has some ideas about how the season can be salvaged. The options are dependent upon executive orders issued by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and social distancing and other safety measures that are put in place in Drake and Keith parks by the West Bloomfield Parks and Recreation Commission. Achtman said there could be a summer/fall softball season with the 17 teams, the same number of teams as last season. Or there could be a summer/fall season with a fewer

Krauthamer

Krauthamer said. “It was a little difficult at first not being able to talk with anyone about how I did, but after time it didn’t become much of an issue,” he said. Krauthamer flew across the country to compete in the show. He was attending Surprise Lake Camp in Cold Spring, N.Y., the nation’s longest-running Jewish sleepaway camp, at the time of the American Ninja Warrior Junior taping.

His Career Is Officially Over STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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urt Hurshe ended his decades-long career as a high school sports official this spring. It wasn’t the swan song he wanted. The cancellation of high school spring sports across the state because of the COVID-19 pandemic meant Hurshe couldn’t be an umpire at a few dozen baseball and softball games. And he didn’t get to be honored for 50 years of officiating by the Michigan High School Athletic Association at an annual banquet May 2 in East Lansing. The Waterford resident previously was honored by the MHSAA for 20, 30, 40 and 45 years as an official, but the latest award is extra special. Hurshe, 74, was going to ask his wife of 40 years, Donna, to accept his 50-year award at the banquet to thank her for all the sacrifices she made through the years to allow him to pursue his passion for officiating. When he was honored by the MHSAA for 45 years as a high school official, Hurshe received a gold-plated whistle in a Lucite case. He’s awaiting his 50-year memento. “I’m heartbroken and sad about this last season,” he said. “I didn’t officiate high school sports for the money. It was about the commitment made by the athletes and the respect I had for the coaches.” Hurshe officiated high school football, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball. He did state championship games in girls basketball and softball and a state semifinal game in boys basketball. Four

Burt Hurshe worked football, boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball and softball games during his 50-year career as a high school official.

Detroit Public School League city championship games in football and two each in boys basketball and girls basketball also are on his resume. The biggest high school game he officiated, in his eyes, was a 1998 PSL semifinal boys basketball game between Detroit Pershing (ranked No. 1 in the nation by USA Today) and Detroit Cooley (ranked No. 2 in the state) in front of 11,000 fans at Joe Louis Arena. Every game was important to him, not just the big ones. “You have to go out each time with the mindset that this is the last game you’re going to officiate,” he said. Hurshe said he changed his approach to officiating about 25 years ago, and it made a big difference. “I stopped taking things personally,” he said. “People do things and say things in the heat of the moment. You need to focus on the game, not what people are saying.” Hurshe received a Michigan Jewish Sports Hall of Fame Pillars of Excellence award in 2012. Earlier, he was inducted into the Detroit PSL Hall of Honor, Detroit Catholic League Hall of Fame and Cooperstown Youth Baseball Hall of Fame. He was a teacher for 31 years at Southfield Public Schools and five years at Waterford Public Schools, and he’s still a substitute teacher in Waterford. He was the Southfield High School girls basketball coach for two seasons (1979-81).

Circle of Mitzvah Fun Celebrating Lag b’Omer outside, from inside.

BAIS CHABAD

Jews in the D | faces&places

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

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ith the will of getting out and celebrating the holiday of Lag b’Omer, local families found a way to enjoy a socially distanced, three-part observance, highlighted by before, during and after participation. Days prior to the May 12 event, decorations, including window markers, posters, balloons and streamers, were delivered to the homes of those registered. These adorned their cars, featuring any chosen mitzvah and added embellishments to complete the design. “They then gathered at the Bais Chabad of West Bloomfield parking lot to display their ‘Mitzvah Mobiles’ and enjoy lively music, words of Torah and, most importantly, each other’s company, all from within their individual cars,” said Rabbi Shneur Silberberg, who, with his wife, Zeesy, is the center’s outreach director and

event organizer. Approximately 30 chalked, feathered, foiled and kid-filled vehicles circled to the beat of music from a portable sound system with passengers window-waving across the lot. A crew of exotic animals was on hand for parade-goers to view from afar. To continue the festivities when back home again, masked, gloved volunteers distributed boxed pizza and to-go packages of Lag b’Omer crafts and treats. The holiday marks the anniversary of the passing of the great sage and mystic, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar. It takes place on the 33rd day of the Omer, which is the 49-day period between the second night of Passover and the holiday of Shavuot. The Omer is also a time of mourning in remembrance of the students of Rabbi Akiva, who died

of a plague during the first 33 days in the second century C.E. The practices of mourning are lifted for this day, and Lag b’Omer is celebrated with music, often with parades and bonfires. “Lag b’Omer is a festive event which usually includes people gathering together, outdoors,” Rabbi Silberberg said. “Both of these issues are challenging at the moment. It was beautiful to see how everyone cooperated — not easy keeping children inside a car — to allow for a safe, yet communal, exciting, meaningful Lag b’Omer experience. Parents and children were thrilled to be able to connect to one another, albeit from a distance and be reminded that we are all still part of loving, tight-knit community.”

TOP LEFT: Decorated cars circle the parking lot in a Lag b’Omer parade. TOP RIGHT: Celebrants get a close-up view of an exotic visitor. MIDDLE RIGHT: Jeremy and Chaya Goodman of West Bloomfield and their children Rochel, 2, Josh, 8 and Jacob, 5, participate in the festivities from both inside and outside their car. BOTTOM LEFT: Lisa Berenholtz of West Bloomfield and her daughter Ava, 4, enjoy the fun. BOTTOM CENTER: Children reach from their cars to greet a visiting kangaroo. BOTTOM RIGHT: Mitzvah Mobile participants get a look at a very large creature.

MAY 21 • 2020

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Moments

A Centennial Honoree Caleb Yishai Starr of Southfield will celebrate becoming a bar mitzvah on Saturday, May 23, 2020 at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. Caleb is the son of proud parents, Rebecca and Rabbi Aaron Starr, and the big brother to Ayal Starr. Caleb’s honored grandparents are Margie and James Starr of Troy, and Betty and James Line of Harbor Springs. He is also the grandson of the late Carol Line. He is the great-grandson of Wolf Gruca of Troy. Caleb is a student at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills.

Caplan-Bernard

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he parents of Stacie Caplan and Joshua Bernard are thrilled to announce that these newlyweds were married at Knollwood Country Club last summer. The bride is the daughter of Belle Caplan and Jay Caplan of Toronto, Canada, and the granddaughter of the late Ben and the late Estelle Pollack, the late Pearl and the late Jlius Caplan. The groom is the son of Hadas and Dennis Bernard of Birmingham and the grandson of Naomi and Amnon Reiter, and the late Geraldine (Geri) and Lewis Bernard Jr. Stacie and Joshua met traveling in Paris and subsequently honed their careers living in New York City before moving to Detroit, where they now live.

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 for information or for a mailed or emailed copy of guidelines.

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MAY 21 • 2020

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arvin Kozlowski of West Bloomfield recently celebrated his 100th birthday with many participating in a car parade, driving by his West Bloomfield home. Most were family and friends while some were strangers who just wanted the chance to honor him on his birthday as he waved and smiled at passersby. Mr. Kozlowski was born April 26, 1920, in the city of Radom, located in Poland not far from the largest city of Warsaw. As a young man, Marvin was sent to labor and concentration camps. After the war, Marvin and his beloved wife, Edith, raised a beautiful family of three, Ruthie, Jay and Joseph. As a survivor, Marvin refused to let the past hold him down. Being a great tailor, he took work tailoring suits in the Washington Building in Detroit. He also made clothing for both men and women. At one point, he hired on at a German-owned sausage factory called Pressel in Hamtramck. He would awaken at 4 a.m. and take three buses to arrive at the job by 5:30. He would go to a second job that evening. At the factory, Marvin ran the machine that made hot dogs. Experience with a seemingly pejudiced boss caused Marvin to move on to another job. In 1952, he applied to work for Sears in Highland Park. He was hired on as head tailor and stayed at Sears for 18 years. Thinking he would not be able to support his son Jay in college, Marvin left Sears to open his own shop called Devon Clothiers. While he

worked in the back, Edith worked the front of the store, selling clothes. Marvin also sat on the board of the Radomer Society Organization, which was created to connect people from his hometown of Radom, Poland. At Hebrew Memorial Park is a monument Marvin instituted memorializing by name those massacred by the Nazis. Family and friends often gather there as a tribute to the ones lost during this war. In recounting Marvin’s very full life, daughter Ruthie Kozlowski says, “He is the wisest, kindest and most accepting man. He has wisdom beyond belief despite his limited education. He always knows the right thing to say all the while being simple and brilliant.” The family also includes Renee, Jay’s wife, and Jill, Joseph’s wife. They miss the presence of Jay’s first wife, the late Linda. Their grandchildren are Anna (Bryan), Rachel, David, Julia, Max and Ben Kozlowski and their one greatgrandson, Elliott. Centenarian Marvin Kozlowski represents the selfmade man living an American dream.

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essary. Did God not know the his week’s portion is number of Israelites encamped the first in the Book of in the desert? Taking account Numbers, known also as of them one by one, R. Arama Bamidbar/In the Wilderness. argues, serves to teach that The English name is drawn each one has individual worth, from the census of the Israelites and is not just a member of the that takes place in the desert. . collective. ‘They were all equal Why, at the beginning of a in stature,’ Arama writes, ‘and book chronicling the dramatic yet the stature of each one was ups and downs of a peodifferentâ€?’ (Akeidat Yitzhak, ple in formation, are we Bamidbar, 72). subjected to a tedious His commentary pushes and technical census? us to consider how our Today, we are indeed various choices reflect an in the wilderness: underlying assessment The coronavirus has Rabbi Alana of a person’s worth. For catapulted us into those of us with economic Alpert uncharted territory. privilege, will we go back Like the Israelites, we Parshat to ignoring and exploiting find ourselves counting. Bamidbar: those who pick and packCounting days of isoNumbers age and deliver our food? lation. Counting 6 feet 1:1-4:20; Or will we take this opporapart. Counting risk I Samuel tunity for cheshbon nefesh factors. Counting pre20:18-42. (soul accounting) and cious dollars lost from (Shabbat reevaluate our concepMachar retirement funds. That’s tions of whose labor and Chodesh) just on the personal lives are valuable? And level; what about the will we translate that new various collectives of which we understanding into action, like are a part? Our organizations joining Detroit Jews for Justice’s are counting money in reserve; long-standing involvement in our communities are counting the effort to guarantee paid sick lives lost; our society is counting time for all workers? months until a vaccine. Throughout Passover, comOn a deeper level, another munities gathered online for sort of counting is going on. Hallel, the festival service of The shutdown has forced socipraise. The morning I led the ety to ask: Who counts? Who prayers, I was stopped in my is disposable? Whose lives are tracks when I came across the worthy of protection? We’ve verse from Psalm 118: “The witnessed a wave of strikes from stone that the builders rejected those deemed “essential workhas become the chief cornerers;â€? from Instacart to Amazon, stone.â€? A beautiful thought that workers are trying desperately always seemed aspirational at to bring attention to lack of best suddenly felt within reach. adequate pay and protection. Perhaps we can emerge from The pandemic has laid bare the this pandemic with transformed brutal hierarchy of human life consciousness and accompaour society is built on. nying practice, that affirm the Perhaps the biblical census inherent dignity and holiness serves to undermine the logic of of every human being. Ken yehi slavery in addition to the inhuratzon, may it be so. manity of our own social order. Rabbi Shai Held writes: â€œR. Isaac Arama (1420-1494) asks Ariana Alpert is the director of Detroit why all the seemingly dull Jews for Justice and the rabbi of details of the census are necCongregation T’chiyah in Oak Park.

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Rabbi Elisar Admon of the Jewish Burial Society discusses the 2018 Pittsburgh shooting in the documentary Viral.

Arts&Life documentary

‘Viral’ Anti-Semitism Filmmaker Andrew Goldberg talks about his new documentary that premieres on PBS May 26. MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER | PHOTOS COURTESY OF VIRAL: ANTISEMITISM IN FOUR MUTATIONS

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he new documentary Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations examines four different iterations, or “mutations,” of anti-Semitism across the globe today. Its director, Emmywinning filmmaker Andrew Goldberg, trains his focus on the political far-right in the U.S., the far-left members of the United Kingdom’s Labour Party, a government-backed propaganda campaign in Hungary and Islamic extremism in France. Goldberg has directed and produced other films on Judaism and anti-Semitism, including 2007’s Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence. He spoke to the Goldberg Jewish News ahead of Viral’s TV debut. This interview has been condensed and edited.

JN: What was the inspiration behind this film? Why did you decide to make it? Goldberg: After the [2016] election, there were a number of indicators that showed anti-Semitism was on the rise … And it just sort of suddenly raised eyebrows that there was a change in tenor in the conversation, certainly here in the United States. And when we looked internationally, we started to see the same thing was happening, but each different country had its own variant, if you will, and its own mutation. And that’s kind of what gave us the idea for “viral” — that this affliction in each country was the same premise but a different expression.

about anti-Semitism? Goldberg: Every year at the seder, my relatives would bring up other examples of hate, other examples of bigotry, other examples of racism, other examples of anti-Semitism … I find that it’s all kind of similar. I mean, people just continue to spew hate, and we do our best to report on it and try to cover it. And there’s an awful lot of overlap. So it was different in the architecture and it was different in the structure, it was different in some of the technology, but the stories are very similar. We’re interviewing perpetrators and victims and experts, and that doesn’t really change.

JN: How did you decide which countries — which mutations — to include? Goldberg: We looked at a lot of countries, but these… were just four very clear examples. We had anti-Semitism on the right in the U.S.; on the left in England. We had it from the government in Hungary and then we had it from Islamists in France… We felt that these four were the most emblematic, I think, of where the conversation was today.

JN: How long did it take to film this movie, from start to finish? Goldberg: Three years, but it would have been shorter if we didn’t have [the] Pittsburgh and Poway [synagogue shootings] because that really sort of changed the conversation. Keep in mind that when we started this film, those things hadn’t even happened yet. In the process of making this film, a woman was thrown from her window to her death in France, and more and more statistics came out of France, and then the

JN: How did making this movie feel different or similar to making your first film

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Hungarian campaign went up significantly. And the anti-Semitism in the Labour Party just got louder and louder and louder, and here in the United States we then had shootings. I felt like we were playing Whack-A-Mole because we couldn’t keep up with the reports. And every time we would want to close off a section, something new would happen and we’d find ourselves chasing a statistic or a quote. JN: You were one of the only filmmakers allowed into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh to talk to people after the shooting. Goldberg: We were just very respectful in our requests, and they were ultimately granted. And we didn’t want to re-traumatize anybody. I mean, it was a very important thing for us to do it in as sensitive a way as we possibly could. JN: And how did you interview the survivors sensitively? That must’ve been really difficult. Goldberg: It wasn’t so much that the interviews were sensitive ... We knew that Pittsburgh was going to be — that Pittsburgh is still — traumatized by this event.

We wanted to present it in a somewhat neutral and calm way. We didn’t want to sort of weigh in with any extensive descriptions‌ This film is unlike many, many others because you’re pulling in issues of race, issues of religion, issues of very passionate ideas and ideologies, politics from many, many countries, the Arab-Israeli conflict ‌ I mean, everything is so careful. But you’re never going to get it right. It’s like walking a tightrope. The right people say you’re too far to the left and the left people say you’re too far to the right, and the progressives say that you’re too sympathetic to capitalism and the capitalists say you’re too sympathetic to socialism. And it just never ends ‌ there’s no real place to stand. It’s impossible. JN: What is your target audience for this film? Goldberg: I think that it’s important that as many people see it as possible, so they’re educated‌ I believe that the well-informed populace is really the best starting place to move forward. Viral: Antisemitism in Four Mutations premieres on PBS May 26 and will be available for streaming on PBS Passport following its TV debut.

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Arts&Life celebrity jews

THE STILLERS AND THE PULITZERS There have been a lot of tribute articles in the Jewish and general media about Jerry Stiller, who died last week, age 92. But I was most moved by a couple of sentences in Ben Stiller’s announcement of his father’s death. Ben wrote: “He was a great dad and grandfather, and the most dedicated husband to Anne for about 62 years.” I was drawn back to the many times I saw Jerry and Anne do comic routines or just ad lib some funny banter. You could see that she really adored this not-so-handsome Jewish fellow, who was several inches shorter than her. Their love grew as the years passed. She was a Catholic when they married in 1954, and Jerry never asked her to

convert. But, on her own, Anne converted to Judaism shortly before the birth of the Stillers’ first child, Amy, in 1961. Anne said she did so because: “I wanted my children to know who they were.” Jerry said that Anne drew him more into Judaism, and Ben said shortly after her passing in 2015 that he credited her most for his Jewish upbringing. It took a great guy, like Jerry, to find such a great woman (vice versa, of course). By coincidence, Ben Stiller, 54, is the host of the first of two NBC Red Nose (for charity) specials airing on Thursday, May 21. Celebrity Escape Room starts at 8 p.m. First, Stiller explains what escape rooms are (in short, they are “themed rooms.” Within these rooms there are clues, like in a painting on COURTESY OF NBC

NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST

the wall, that help you — and your partners — figure out how to escape within a limited time). After Ben finishes explaining the game, Jack Black, 50, takes over as the Game Master. The escape room contestants include Stiller, Lisa Kudrow, 56, Adam Scott and Courtney Cox. The 2020 Pulitzer Prizes were announced on May 4. Here are the Jewish winners: Brian M. Rosenthal of the NY Times for

investigative reporting (exposed predatory lending that destroyed the lives of thousands of NYC cabdrivers). He grew up in West Lafayette, Indiana (near Chicago). His father is a retired Purdue University health sciences professor, and his mother is a nurse (who credits her Jewish background for her work as a social activist); Ben Taub, 29, the New Yorker, for feature writing (about conditions at Guantanamo Bay detention facility). While still a Princeton student, he was a contestant (2011) on The Voice, and he used his winnings to finance a trip to report on the Arab Spring. He then got his grad degree in journalism; Barry Blitt, 62, the New Yorker, editorial cartooning; and Benjamin Moser, 44, the Biography Award for Sontag: Her Life and Work (about Susan Sontag, the late social critic). Moser is fluent in many languages, including Hebrew.

On The Go virtual events | learnings

STAYING CONNECTED

At this time of social distancing, the Jewish News will try to bring awareness to events/learning situations offered online by synagogues, temples and community organizations.

Learning on Thursday, May 21; and Tuesday, May 26, at 3 p.m. Register at myjewishlearning.com. Also be aware of a discussion of “Tools in the Genesis Story to Deal with Disaster” on Tuesdays at 1 p.m.

MENTAL HEALTH 7 PM, MAY 21 Women’s philanthropy of Jewish Federation will host mental health advocates Deborah and Sophie Riegel, sharing perspectives and stories to help those struggling with anxiety. Get info at jewishfederation@ jfmd.org.

TOUR – TEL AVIV-YAFO NOON-1 PM, MAY 26 Temple Shir Shalom is offering a live, virtual tour of Israel with Rabbi Daniel Schwartz and Israeli tour guide Beni Levin. Learn the history and stories of Tel Aviv-Yafo on this one-hour guided tour on Zoom. To learn more or register, call 248-737-8700, or email audrey@shirshalom.org.

HOLIDAY LEARNING Traditionally read on the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, the Book of Ruth is about building and rebuilding relationships. Join educator Abby Eisenberg for a series that looks at three key characters: Ruth, Naomi and Boaz, and their relationships to one another. Join My Jewish

HOLISTIC MEDICINE FOR COVID-19 11 AM, MAY 27 Zoom with Dr. Jen Green for “Holistic Medicine for COVID-19: Integrative Approaches to Coronavirus Prevention,” followed by Q and A. Free. Call Hadassah Greater Detroit, 248-683 5030 to register.

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MAY 21 • 2020

TRIVIA 7 PM, MAY 27 The Jewish Historical Society of Michigan will host a trivia night, Cost: $10 for members; $18 for non-members. A Zoom link will be sent to registrants the day before. For info, contact kschuchman@ michjewishhistory.org. CONCERT 7:30 PM, MAY 27 Lisa Fishman in concert, featuring Jewish standards and some unknown gems sung in Yiddish and English with a modern twist, and influenced by klezmer, jazz, musical theater, cabaret, folk rock, Latin, blues and a touch of comedy. Lisa. nytf.org/live and on Folksbiene’s Facebook page at facebook.com/ folksbiene. WE NEED TO TALK 7 PM, MAY 27 We Need to Talk presents an evening with Will Heininger, former

Will Heininger

defensive lineman for the University of Michigan Wolverines football team and outreach coordinator at the U-M Depression Center. He struggled with depression and has made it his mission to raise awareness and shatter stigmas surrounding mental health issues. Hear Will’s personal story and learn how to support yourself or someone else struggling with mental health. Registration info: Jaime@jfmd.org. Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant Send items at least 14 days in advance to calendar@thejewishnews.com.

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Call 248-351-5129 Or email sales@thejewishnews.com 25

Soul

of blessed memory

FRANK PAUL BLASE, 89, of Lake Orion, died May 12, 2020. He is survived by his sons and daughter-in-law, Steven Blase of Israel, Sanford and Gretchen Blase of Woodhaven; daughter and son-in-law, Carol and Ken Harrison of Lake Orion; grandchildren, Bradley and Mandy Harrison, Brett and Katie Harrison, Andrea Blase, Grace Blase, Katie Blase, Rachel and Mike Crumm; great-grandchildren, Breslyn Marie Harrison, Mackenzie Grace Harrison, Michelle Crumm, Lillian Crumm, Cayden Crumm, Michael Crumm. Mr. Blase was the beloved husband of the late Rita Blase; loving father of the late Cindy Blase; dear brother of the late Bernard Myer Blase. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. EMERY BROWN, 93, of Bloomfield Hills, died May 12, 2020. He was a patient, loving and funny dad, grampi and husband. He was always, always kind. He was devoted, entirely, to his wife, son and grandson. His humor was a bright light, even in hard times. His love for his family was unwavering and unending. He was loved so fiercely and will be missed. Interment was held at Clover hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham. Contributions may be made to the

Holocaust Memorial Center. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. EUGENE CITRON, 91, of Farmington Hills, died May 9, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Barbara Citron; son and daughter-in-law, Gregg and RuthAnn Citron; daughter, Leslie Citron; brother, Henry Citron; brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Sidney and Jackie Wineberg; many loving nieces, nephews and friends. Mr. Citron was the loving brother of the late Betty and the late Irving Zimmerman, and the late Ernest Citron. Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. NECHAMA “NELLIE” COPLEY, 85, of Bloomfield Hills, died May 14, 2020. She is survived by her beloved husband, Marvin Copley; nieces and nephews, Judy and Paul Glassman, Julie and Tom Schilling, Sandie Curnow, Lorraine and Denni Raczkowski, Danielle Moynihan and Cheryl Austel; many loving great-nieces and great- nephews, other family members and friends. Interment was held at Clover Hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. EARL ERNSTEIN, 84, of Novi, died May 8, 2020. He loved to fish and

spent many happy times in Charlevoix. Mr. Epstein is survived by his sister, Myra (Mel) Jacobs; niece, Amy (Scott) Taxman; nephew, Mike (Jessica) Jacobs. He was the devoted son of the late Harry and Bertha Ernstein. Contributions may be made to the National Bone Marrow Transplant Link. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. ALBERT GINNS, 94, of West Bloomfield, died May 13, 2020. He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, Barbara Ginns, Cheryl Friedman, Linda and Dr. Joel Zacks, DeAnne and Harry Gruenberg; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, other relatives and friends. Mr. Ginns was the beloved husband of the late Hilda Ginns; dear father-in-law of the late Dr. Richard Friedman. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Graveside service was held at Adat Shalom Memorial Park in Livonia. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. CAROL GORMAN, 81, of Pleasant Ridge, died May 9, 2020. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Jill Gorman and Larry Duncan; son and daughter-in-law, Michael and Dana Gorman; grandchildren, Max, Jac and Ty Gorman; sister, Nancy McKay; brother and sister-in-law, David and Yvonne Ebstein. She is also survived by her faithful dog, Harley. Mrs. Gorman was the devot-

ed daughter of the late Martin and the late Judy Ebstein; the loving sister of the late Bonnie and the late Sandy Goldston; the sister-in-law of the late Tony McKay. Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Michigan Humane Society, Development Dept., 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025-4507, michiganhumane. org/tributes. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. SYLVIA (NOVECK) HANDLER, 96, of Newton, Mass., formerly of Michigan, died May 13, 2020. She taught preschool at United Hebrew Schools for 40 years. Mrs. Handler is survived by her daughters and son-in-law, Risa and Larry Bressler of West Newton, Mass., Gail Handler of Sandy Springs, Ga.; grandchildren, Jonathon Louis Bressler, Matthew Aaron Bressler; sisterin-law; Doris Noveck; nieces and nephews. She was the loving sister of the late Rabbi Simon Noveck, the late Harold Noveck, the late Sidney Noveck. Contributions may be made to Temple Emunah, 9 Piper Road, Lexington, MA 02420; Guiding Eyes for the Blind, 611 Granite Springs Road, Yorktown Heights, NY 10598; or to a charity of one’s choice. Graveside service was held at Adat Shalom Memorial Park in Livonia. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. continued on page 38

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Soul

of blessed memory

A Patron of The Arts

L

ila Silverman, 86, of Bloomfield Hills, passed away peacefully (nonCOVID) at home on May 7, 2020, after a courageous, 12-year battle with cancer. She was born on July 25, 1933, in Detroit, the daughter of Mary and Morris Smith. She married Gilbert B. Silverman in 1962, and together they went on a grand and beautiful adventure of collecting art and repairing the world. Passionate and visionary collectors of modern art, Lila and Gil left an indelible mark on many art institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, Detroit Institute of Arts and the Israel Museum, Jerusalem. They donated their unparalleled Fluxus Collection to MoMA in 2008; after Gil’s passing, Lila also donated to MoMA the Gilbert and Lila Silverman Instruction Drawings Collection, which includes iconic works by John Cage, Yoko Ono and Robert Rauschenberg. Equally generous with her time and wisdom, Lila served as a member of MoMA’s Trustee Committee on Archives, Library and Research; as an honorary trustee of MoMA; a founding member of the Visiting Committee for European Sculpture and Decorative Arts of the Detroit Institute of Arts and as the chair of the DIA’s Friends of Modern and Contemporary Art Committee. A steadfast mentor to countless artists and individuals she encountered in her travels

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MAY 21 • 2020

across the world or to show off her and during her lifegranddaughter’s violin long involvement in playing. She remained the Detroit commustrong, opinionated, nity, Lila was a combeautiful and gramitted supporter of cious. so many social jusBeloved wife of tice and charitable 54 years of the late causes. She was a Gilbert B. Silverman, founding trustee of Lila Silverman Lila is survived by her the Jewish Women’s sons, Eric (Svetlana) Foundation of Metropolitan Silverman and Paul (Jennifer) Detroit; she served on the Silverman; loving Nana to board of directors of DMC Katarina Silverman, Aleksia Foundation, chaired both the Silverman, Eliana Silverman, Doreen and David Hermelin Nathan Silverman and Levi Breast Imaging Center at the Silverman. She is also survived Karmanos Cancer Institute by Gilbert’s children: Marsha and the Sommerset Imaging (Tom) Brunelle, Wendy Center at the Karmanos (Mitch Master) Silverman, Cancer Institute, and she Gilbert B. (“Buzz”) Silverman served as the co-chair of the Jr.; and former daughter-inAlexander Walt Breast Center law, Jan Silverman; Gilbert’s at the Karmanos Cancer grandchildren, Jessica (Sarah Institute. Thornton) Silverman, Lesley As a lifetime member of the Silverman, Michael Silverman League of Women Voters and and Cynthia (Chris) Brunelle a fierce supporter of Planned Cifrino; Gilbert’s great-grandParenthood, Lila was also a daughter, Cora Cifrino; her founding member of EMILY’s loving extended family and list, Michigan and served on caregivers, as well as her loving the Committee for Midtown companion, Tiger V. Economic Development. She She was the loving sister of was also an honorary board the late Gloria Wagner; devotmember of Greening of ed daughter of the late Morris Detroit. and the late Mary Smith. Lila had impeccable taste Interment was at Clover Hill in fashion, gave fabulously Park Cemetery. Contributions elegant parties and organized may be made to Detroit people and trips to far-flung Institute of Arts, 5200 locations like no one else Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI could. 48202, dia.org; Karmanos She was a loving and proud Cancer Institute, 4100 John R, mother and grandmother, Detroit, MI 48201, karmanos. who displayed her grandsons’ org/give; or Jewish Federation school assignments alongside of Metropolitan Detroit, 6735 priceless art in her homes, Telegraph Road, Bloomfield never missed a chance to make Hills, MI 48301, a silver dollar pancake breakjewishdetroit.org/donatefast for her grandchildren at online/. Arrangements by Ira the family home in Vermont Kaufman Chapel.

continued from page 37

BERNICE ROSENBAUM HERTZ, 97, of St. Louis Park, Minn., formerly of Farmington Hills, died May 9, 2020. She is survived by her daughters and sons-inlaw, Joanne and Michael Margolin, and Ellen Hertz and Randy Zats; son and daughter-in-law, Marshall and Denise Hertz; grandchildren, Becky and Scott Ackerman, Lisa Margolin, Ben and Adri Margolin, Ben and Lauren Hertz, and Annie and Jason Guzman; great-grandchildren, John, Ayla and Alex Ackerman, Archie and Maddox Margolin, Matilda and Simon Hertz, and Penelope Guzman; numerous loving nieces and nephews. Mrs. Hertz was the beloved wife of the late Benjamin B. Hertz; the devoted daughter of the late Meyer “Max” and the late Anna Ruth (Goldner) Rosenbaum; the loving sister of the late Herbert and the late Doris Rosenbaum. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, 200 Oak St. SE, Suite 500, Minneapolis, MN 55455, makingagift.umn.edu/give/ fund.html?id=18704; or to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. DR. SHERMAN HIRSCHMAN, died May 10, 2020, on the eve of his 85th birthday. He is survived by his lov-

ing wife of 60 years, Audrey; his loving children, Shari (Michael) Scher and Sam Hirschman. He will also be missed by his grandchildren, Matt and Josh Scher, and Merrick and Jasmine Hirschman; and many loving nieces and nephews. Dr, Hirschman was the beloved brother of the Late Louis (Claudia) Hirschman, and Charlotte and the late Harold Merritt. Contributions may be made to ALS Association, 3242 Parkside Center Circle, Tampa, FL 33619, (813) 6379000, webfl.alsa.org; or JARC, 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite. 100, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301, (248) 940-2617, jarc. org. JOYCE KLIGER, 79, of Farmington Hills, died May 7, 2020. She is survived by her children, Nancy Kliger, Scott Kliger, and Jill Kliger Saliba and Nabih Saliba; grandchildren, Nathan Kliger, Zachary Kliger, Shayna Kliger, Cam Kliger, Samuel Saliba and Alana Saliba; brother, Gary Milan; other family and friends. Mrs. Kliger was the beloved wife for 54 years of the late Seymour Kliger. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to American Cancer Society, 20450 Civic Center Drive, Southfield, MI 48076, cancer.org; World Vision, P.O. Box 9716, Federal Way, WA 98063, worldvision. org; or Humane Society of Michigan, 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham

Farms, MI 48025, michiganhumane.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. BARBARA LICHTIG KUX, 95, died May 15, 2020, of natural causes. She liked nothing better than to be on a golf course; she played at Franklin Hills Country Club until she was 92, by which time she wasn’t keeping score. Mrs. Kux lived her life in and around Detroit (a 1943 graduate of Central High) although she delighted in trips to the south of France with her great friend Lee Robinson and traveled extensively throughout the world. She was an enthusiastic volunteer, working for the Brandeis book sale for many years and as an active member of Temple Beth El and their sisterhood, serving on their board and as the youth adviser from 1965-71. She hosted countless meetings at her home on Birchcrest Drive, providing counsel, humor, red pop and strawberry Twizzlers. Mrs. Kux was married to Richard Kux for 29 years. She leaves two children and their spouses, Nancy and Roger, and Bill and Frank. She loved seeing her two nieces, Carol (Ross) and Cathy, and talking with a large circle of friends. She found a supportive home at Brookdale Southfield and was looked after by a splendid hospice team and by her “angels,” Vanessa, Tiffany, Sonia and Deon. Her memory can be kept alive with a donation to one of

her favorite causes, the Actor’s Fund of America or UJA. When this craziness of the pandemic abates, there will be a luncheon in her honor. MARTIN MARX, 95, of Bloomfield Hills, died May 13, 2020. He is survived by his devoted caregiver, Nedra Stephen; as well as many loving nieces, nephews and friends. Mr. Marx was the beloved husband for 64 years of the late Bernice Marx; the cherished father of the late Jeffrey Marx, the late Fern Marx and the late Jamie Marx. He was also predeceased by his eight brothers and sisters. Interment was at Adat Shalom Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s AssociationGreater Michigan Chapter, 25200 Telegraph Road, Suite 100, Southfield, MI 48033, alz. org/gmc. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. MYRNA RUTH MILLER, 82, died peacefully on May 5, 2020, at her home in Ann Arbor, following a courageous 10-year battle with cancer. She was the daughter of James and Lillian Schusterman Portman, born in Chicago, Ill., on Sept. 12, 1937, and raised in that city. After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School and earning an education degree from the University of Michigan, she began her career as an ele-

mentary school teacher in the Ann Arbor Public Schools. Myrna married Newell Miller in 1959 and devoted her time to raising their three children and supporting the work of organizations close to her myriad interests. Although she ended her formal teaching career to raise a family, Myrna remained a teacher throughout her life by demonstrating to her family and friends the importance of trying her best, caring deeply about others and remaining true to herself. Her generous spirit, innate kindness and values of honesty, sincerity and selflessness shone through all she did. Wherever Myrna went, she gathered around her a family of friends and had the ability to focus on what was important to each. A lifelong passion for the arts led Myrna to be a longtime volunteer at the University of Michigan Museum of Art. She was also a dedicated volunteer at Jewish Family Services of Washtenaw County, where she helped immigrants settle into their new community. Following her mother’s death in 1997, Myrna and husband, Newell, established the Lillian and James Portman Conference for caregivers of dementia patients at skilled nursing facilities throughout Michigan, in gratitude for and recognition of those who helped care for her mother when she lived at Huron Woods in Ann Arbor. Myrna also served on the Advisory Council of Silver Club Memory Programs at Michigan Medicine Geriatrics Center and stayed active. continued on page 40

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Soul

of blessed memory continued from page 39

Myrna’s enthusiasm for her adopted home city made her an ideal representative for Around Town Inc., a company working with the university and major corporations to offer prospective recruits customized tours of the city. She was the perfect tour guide to extol the benefits of living in Ann Arbor because she knew so well the neighborhoods, schools and wealth of cultural and retail opportunities; of course, most tours would end at Michigan Stadium. Anyone who knew Myrna knew her love of fitness; modern dance, Jazzersize and yoga classes were important in her life. She frequently attended concerts, plays, and dance and musical theater performances in Ann Arbor and other cities. Her fascination with world cultures inspired extensive travel in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean, as well as throughout the United States and Canada. The vacations they took their grandchildren, when each turned 10 and 16, created indelible memories for all; their exposure to her open-mindedness continues to shape them today. In addition to traveling, Myrna enjoyed playing bridge with her friends and keeping her mind sharp and current on popular culture by playing trivia. Being Myrna’s friend meant that she remembered your birthday and interests. She always sent the perfect card for every occasion, and it always arrived on time. Her attention and care were not limited to her immediate

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MAY 21 • 2020

circle; she maintained contacts with friends of her children and grandchildren as well. As her health declined, the outpouring of love she received from so many people was a daily affirmation of the impact she had on others. Myrna Miller is survived by her husband, Dr. Newell Miller; their children, Todd (Elaine) of Pittsburgh, Pa.; Beth of Hamden, Conn., and Eric (Nancy) of Charlotte, N.C.; grandchildren: Ross (Kayla) Miller of Pittsburgh, Danielle (Michael) DiIonno of Denver, Dr. Joseph Miller of Ann Arbor; Evan Miller of Pittsburgh; Allison Miller of Los Angeles and Isaac Miller of New York. She is also survived by Zdenka Potancokova Bartscht of Ann Arbor, whom Myrna and Newell sponsored as a student from Slovakia and considered a member of the Miller family since her arrival in 2002. A private funeral service is planned. A celebration of life ceremony will take place at Temple Beth Emeth at a date and time to be determined. Contributions may be made to Silver Club Memory Programs or the Rogel Cancer Center, Dr. Mark Kaminski Lymphoma Program Fund at Michigan Medicine. Visit victors.uc/ myrnamiller to make your gift to Silver Club or to the Rogel Cancer Center. Checks may be sent to the Michigan Medicine Office of Development, 1000 Oakbrook Drive, Suite 100, Ann Arbor, MI 48104; or call 734-764-6777.

ELLA MOSKOVITZ, 77, of West Bloomfield, died May 12, 2020. She was a longtime, beloved teacher at Adat Shalom Synagogue and Hillel Day School. Mrs. Moskovitz is survived by her husband, Arie Moskovitz; sons and daughter-in-law, Avi and Kristin Moskovitz, and Gil Moskovitz; grandchildren, Emma, Lily, Sara and Danielle Moskovitz; brother, Elyakim Hassidof. She was the devoted daughter of the late Avi and the late Malka Hassidof; the dear sister of the late Arie Hassidof. Interment was at Adat Shalom Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Adat Shalom Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills, MI 48334, adatshalom. org/tributes; Yad Ezra, 2850 W. 11 Mile Road, Berkley, MI 48072, yadezra. org; JARC, 6735 Telegraph, Suite 100, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301, jarc. org; or Hillel Day School, 32200 Middlebelt Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48334, hillelday.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. BARBARA NIMCHONOK, 80, of West Bloomfield, died May 9, 2020. She is survived by her husband of 30 years, Harold Nimchonok; son, Robert Charns; daughter, Nancy Farris; grandchil-

dren, Allie and Ryan Farris; niece and nephew, Julie Beth Harris and Andrew Harris; sister-in-law, Kitty Charns; many loving cousins, nephews, friends and her loyal dog, Lizzie. Mrs. Nimchonok was the devoted daughter of the late Jeannie and the late Jerry Manheim; the loving sister of the late Lois Wahle; the dear sister-in-law of the late Phillip Charns. Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. BENJAMIN “BENJIE” PEARLMAN, 93, of Bloomfield Hills, died May 9, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 66 years, Lois Pearlman; children, Jeff and Ellie, Tom and John, and Andrew and Andrea; grandchildren, Ben, Ava, Noah, Adam, Nick, Zack, Allyssa and Joey; great-grandson, Jacob. Mr. Pearlman was the loving brother of the late Ruth Levenburg and the late Jack Pearlman. Interment was at Adat Shalom Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to American Red Cross, Washtenaw Chapter, 4624 Packard Road., Ann Arbor, Mi 48108, wcredcross.org; or Magen David Adom, P.O. Box 96402, Washington, DC 20090-6402, afmda. org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

LYNN PORTNOY, 81, of Bloomfield Hills, died May 12, 2020. She was the owner of Lynn Portnoy Clothing at the Claymoor in Southfield. Ms. Portnoy was the devoted daughter of the late Morris and the late Betty Portnoy; the loving sister of the late David Gary Portnoy. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association-Greater Michigan Chapter, 25200 Telegraph Road, Suite 100, Southfield, MI 48033, alz. org/gmc. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. SIDNEY ROSE, 95, of Bloomfield Hills, died May 12, 2020. He was a WWII Army veteran. Mr. Rose is survived by his brother, Arthur Rose; many loving nieces, nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews. He was the beloved husband of the late Annette Rose; the dear brother-inlaw of the late Jean Rose. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Yad Ezra, 2850 W. 11 Mile Road, Berkley, MI 48072, yadezra.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. continued on page 42

HOW EVERY NEED IS MET.

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MAY 21 • 2020

of blessed memory continued from page 41

Monuments and Markers Bronze Markers Memorial Duplicating Cemetery Lettering & Cleaning

1 Sivan May 24, 2020

Soul

RUTH (WISPE) SHAFER, 94, of Commerce Township, died of natural causes on the morning of May 14, 2020. She was the beloved wife of David B. Shafer for nearly 75 years; dear mother of Hilary (Barry) Spolan and Bradley (Susan) Shafer; loving grandmother of Lindsay (Daniel) Pinchuk, Zachary Spolan, Andrea Shafer and David Shafer; proud “GG� of Jordyn and Lila Pinchuk; loving aunt of Linda (Dennis) Kayes, Beverly (Linda Walker) Shafer, Harry Shafer and Steven Shafer, and Sharon Crafton and Elana Victor; devoted cousin of Ronald (Carolyn) Sherr, Leonard Wispe and Diane Karp. She is also survived by special friends, Art and Julie Rott. Mrs. Shafer was the daughter of the late David and the late Frances Wispe; sister of the late Lawrence Wispe. Interment was held at Hebrew Memorial Park Cemetery in Mt. Clemens. Contributions may be made to Yad Ezra. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. ELAINE GITTLEMAN SIEGLER, 87, of Farmington Hills, died May 13, 2020. She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Marc and Linda Siegler, Steven and Kimberly Siegler of Trenton; daughter and son-in-law, Vickie and Neal Levey of West Bloomfield;

sister, Cindy; sister-in-law, Anna; grandchildren, Aaron, Jori, Jaime and Matt, Ashley and Eric, Meredith and Dave, Elizabeth and Michael; great-grandchildren, Shane, Max, Benjamin, Hope, Poppy, Preston, Aidan, Nandarani, Mira; many loving nieces, nephews and cousins Mrs. Siegler was the beloved wife of the late Walter Siegler; dear sister and sister-in-law of the late Monty and the late Evelyn, the late Roz and the late Sid, the late Larry; loving greatgrandmother of the late Jade. Contributions may be made to breast cancer research or to a charity of one’s choice. Graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. SAMUEL LEE SIMPSON, 86, died on March 5, 2020. Sam was in the Air Force during the Korean War; later he began working as an elementary school teacher, summering as a Tamarack camp counselor and then an attorney for 50 years. He was chief administrator at the Wayne County Juvenile Court and then a member of the law firm Charfoos and Christensen for more than 20 years. Mr. Simpson was a strong, independent-minded man; he always carried himself with dignity and distinguished style. He will be missed dearly by his family, many, many dear friends and the legal community he served with dignity and staunch ethics.

He is survived by his loving wife of 35 years, Nancy (Kurland) Simpson; sons, John, Chris and Matthew; seven grandchildren. Memorial contributions are suggested to humanitarian or legal causes of your choice. IRIS SMITH, 95, of Southfield, died April 1, 2020. She spent her life in the Detroit area. She loved her family and is survived by her children, Todd (and Roberta), Andrew (and Donna); grandchildren, Eric, Micah (and Espie), Alexander; and the newest love of her life, greatgranddaughter, Maitea.

Her engaging spirit will be missed. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. BERTRAM STAHL, 82, of Bloomfield Hills, died May 9, 2020. He is survived by his daughter, Dori Weiss; son, Evan Stahl; grandchildren, Jaiden, Jillian and Rachel Weiss. Mr. Stahl was the beloved husband of the late Lynn Stahl; the loving brother of the late Freddie Stahl. Interment was at Hebrew Memorial Park. Contributions may be

made to Jewish Hospice & Chaplaincy Network, 6555 W. Maple, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, jewishhospice. org; or Parkinson’s Foundation of Michigan, 30400 Telegraph Road, Suite 150, Bingham Farms, MI 48025, parkinsonsmi. org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. GENE TENDLER, 94, active in the Adlai Stevenson presidential campaign in 1952 c. 1960 and longtime San Diego area resident, died in

Carlsbad, Calif., on April 27, 2020, due to natural causes. Born January 1926 in Detroit, Gene Shettler Cochran attended the prestigious Leelanau School in Glen Arbor. Gene graduated from Wayne State University (’52) with a B.A. in education and received her teaching certificate (’69) the University of Detroit. A longtime educator in both Detroit and San Diego, she retired with the San Diego County Office of Education. Gene was the first woman to hold the position of personnel director for the Michigan State Fair (summers 1953 to 1962). continued on page 44

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Soul

of blessed memory continued from page 43

Politically active in the Democratic party of Michigan during the 1950s, Gene met her husband of 63 years at a political event in Detroit. She married Mitchell Tendler in 1955. Mitch passed away in December 2018. In 1970, Gene and Mitch decided they had shoveled enough snow and followed several relatives west from Michigan to San Diego. After retirement, they enjoyed extensive travel throughout Canada and the United States as well as to international ports of call: the United Kingdom and Western Europe were favorites. Tours also included Russia, Viet

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MAY 21 • 2020

Nam, China, Japan and New Zealand, often through Road Scholar. Death Valley was a local beloved vacation spot. Summers they could be found enjoying horse racing at Del Mar. Mrs. Tendler is survived by her children, Maren Gleason (husband, Ray), Walter Tendler (wife, Linda), Mark Tendler; and her sister in law, Paula Miller (husband, Alan). Contributions may be made to the San Diego Food Bank. IRITH WITTEN, 74, of Richmond, Va., died peacefully on May 7, 2020, surrounded and supported by family.

Mrs. Witten immigrated to Richmond from Israel at 5 years old. She was a lifetime member of Hadassah. She is survived by her beloved husband of 44 years, Floyd Witten; sons, Darrin (Julie), David (Jaimee) and Paul; her daughter, Dyan (Jay) Holloway; grandchildren, Jacob, Jessica, Tripp, MaKenzie, Cannon, Tyle and Alex; siblings, Ronald Wolff and Arlene Ekstein; many nieces and nephews. Contributions may be made to Richmond Animal League, Attn: Project TNR, 11401 International Drive, Richmond, VA 23236.

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

An Empire State of Mind Looking forward to the return of Empire Kitchen and Cocktails once the crisis is over.

A

COURTESY OF EMPIRE KITCHEN

second year in the restaurant business is considered to be the hardest for many new dining enterprises … Original impressions have a lot to do with it but, in the long run, what many may consider as flaws are mostly corDanny Raskin rected. Senior Columnist The lucky ones are those whose restaurant experiences would allow them to either correct negligible blemishes or none at all. Among them is the temporar-

Mike Abrams, Aaron Lowen and Brian Adelman

VIA EMPIRE KITCHEN FACEBOOK

ily closed Empire Kitchen and Cocktails, corner of Woodward and Erskine in Downtown Detroit, whose boyhood owner friends will hopefully soon celebrate a better-than-expected second anniversary. Owners Mike Abrams and Brian Adelman have yet to find any serious flaw, and when the current coronavirus crisis is over can look forward to enjoying their second year of success … Perhaps previous successful experiences with ownership of Five Guys, Mr. Joes, etc. has much to do with it … along with that of its fine executive chef, Aaron Lowen. Their outdoor patios during the summer months may still see some days of high success as they probably present dining features like big-sellers dry-rub chicken wings, pizzas, burgers, branzino, etc. Highly accepted entrees of mushroom pasta, lamb chops, shrimp pasta and cauliflower fried rice have gone over big along with salmon, chicken

scallops, steak, including New York Strip, aNd six styles of pizza, regular or available with gluten-free crust … Past experience with beer on draft and bottle or wine by the glass or bottle have gone over in a large way. The 30-foot bar, when available, ordinarily serves a large variety of specialty cocktails, wine and beer … Much goodness at the table when the health problem has past is again expected with Empire in full swing. DJ entertainment may also be available on Friday and Saturday nights, if allowed. Seating capacity, when available, at Empire is 200 … with a large bar seating 20 … a Happy Hours segment is on Saturdays, 11 a.m-1 p.m. That the new Empire Kitchen and Cocktails has enjoyed a successful first year is indicative of its further acceptance to come with many additional visits after the dreaded crisis has passed. REARVIEW MIRROR … The House of Hunan took over the site of two former delica-

tessens, Point After Deli and Nosherie Deli … When asked why he didn’t open a Jewish Chinese delicatessen, owner Joe Chue replied, “Did you ever taste an egg roll made with chopped liver?” OLDIE BUT GOODIE … A funeral service is being held at the synagogue for a man who had just passed away … At the end of the service, the pallbearers are carrying the casket out, when they accidently bump into a wall, jarring the casket … They hear a faint moan, open the casket and find that the man is actually alive … He lives for 10 more years and then passes away … A ceremony is again held at the same synagogue and, at the end, the pallbearers are again carrying the casket … As they are walking out, the wife cries, “Watch out for the wall!” CONGRATS … To Linda Nudell on her birthday … To Michael Layne on his birthday.

Email dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.

FRESH Weekly Headlines

Delivered to Your Inbox. thejewishnews.com/newsletter

MAY 21 • 2020

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

The Oldest Form of Hate

L

ast month, the JN launched “The AntiSemitism Project,” a yearlong inquiry and analysis of one of the world’s oldest prejudices. It is a social problem that has not been eradicated. At one time, there was hope that anti-Semitism would fade away. Mike Smith Alene and In 1884, the first Graham Landau edition of the Archivist Chair Oxford English Dictionary even excluded “anti-Semitism” because it was thought that the word would have a very short shelf life. It can be found in any English dictionary today. Anti-Semitism is certainly not as rampant as it was during certain historical eras like the 1930s. But, just as one begins to perceive a dramatic drop in anti-Semitic thought and practice, the bias against Jews rises again. We are in the midst of another swell of anti-Semitism as we witness its rise in Europe, continued hatred of Jews in the Middle East, shootings at synagogues in the United State, BDS on college campuses and Nazi symbols freely displayed at recent protests in Lansing and Chicago, to name just a few indicators. I certainly want to do my part to support the JN’s project. So, I explored the discussions and reports of anti-Semitism that might be found in the historic pages of the Detroit Jewish Chronicle

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MAY 21 • 2020

and the Detroit Jewish News in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. The term appears on a whopping 26,426 pages in the Archive. Anti-Semitism was mentioned in the first issue of the Chronicle on March 3, 1916, and in the first issue of the JN on March 27, 1942. Indeed, anti-Semitism is mentioned, discussed or reported upon on about 8% of all Chronicle and JN pages over the years. If the pages that were entirely devoted to advertisements were left out of this calculation, the percentage of those including reference to anti-Semitism would be much higher. In short, anti-Semitism was, and still is, a critical topic of interest to Detroit’s Jewish community. The ebb and flow of anti-Semitism is well documented in the Davidson Archive. Stories in Detroit’s Jewish newspapers are wide-ranging and fascinating, as well as sobering, disgusting and/or sad. For example, see the item in the June 23, 1916, issue of the Chronicle: “AntiSemitism in the National Guard.” Or 100 years later, see the commentaries in the JN on Aug. 3, 2017: “Special Envoy Needed to Combat Anti-Semitism” or in the Feb. 15, 2018, issue: “Today’s Anti-Semitism.” In between those dates, there is a story in the March 30, 1945, issue of the Chronicle that cited the National Commander of

Jewish War Veterans, who warned about “The Threat reat of Political Anti-Semitism. sm.” And many, many more.. Abe Foxman, former longtime national director of the AntiDefamation League, spoke in Detroit on Nov. 20, 2019, and noted that anti-Semitism m “is a virus without an antidote dote or a vaccine. It serves so many masters for so many reasons.” Unfortunately, the fight against anti-Semitism must still be waged. The Davidson Archive holds proof that the JN has, and always will, do o itss best to be part of the solution. tion n. First, the study of anti-Semitism is not an exact xact science and, second, it hass no one single cause.

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

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thejewishnews.com/contribute In addition to contributing online, you may also send a contribution to: The Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Highway #110, Southfield, MI 48034 APRIL 9 • 2020

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