DJN June 11, 2020

I want the public to know that they live in a safe place and that we are all working hard to keep it safe, while respecting and upholding the rights of all.

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200 June 11-17, 2020/ 19-25 Sivan 5780

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thejewishnews.com

Black What LivesComes Matter. Next?

Finding the Jewish response to racial injustice.

See page 14.

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contents June 11-17, 2020/ 19-25 Sivan 5780| VOLUME CLVII, ISSUE 19

Shabbat Lights Shabbat starts: Friday, June 12, 8:52 p.m.

Shabbat ends: Saturday, June 13, 10:05 p.m. * Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar.

On the cover: Cover photo: Citizens protest in the streets of Detroit. Photo by Alexander Clegg/ Jewish News.

Cover design: Michelle Sheridan

18

36

5-12

One Summer Camp Presses On: Camp Tanuga

Special Coverage: Jews and Racial Justice

Overcoming Fear of Failure

Views

“Heartbroken, Scared and Exhausted” 14 Local Jews of color respond to George Floyd’s death.

Jewish Groups Respond to Civil Unrest 18 Interfaith leaders stand together to denounce racial injustice.

“I Want Them to be Visible”

29 The Kalkaska-based sleepaway camp will move forward pending new state guidelines.

30 New grad appreciates how far she’s come battling depression and anxiety.

Jewish Live, 24/7 Festival of Digital Judaism 31 New website fills void during the quarantine.

Big Buddies of Bloomfield Connects Students of all Ages

44 Ready to Reopen 38 Consultant provides advice to small business owners excited to get back to business.

Arts&Life Music Evokes Emotions from Armenian Genocide 40 Album and documentary go digital.

Celebrity Jews 42

Online Events 43

20 Rep. Brenda Lawrence asks the Jewish community to stand in solidarity with the black community.

32 Older teens and younger children pair up to provide students with social and educational tools.

Nosh

Moments

Community Protests 22 The suburbs mobilize for Black Lives Matter.

Moments 33

44 Local restaurants prepare to reopen with new health guidelines.

Attacked in Detroit

Cap & Gown

25 Downtown Synagogue VP among protesters injured, arrested by Detroit police.

34

Jews in the D

Torah portion

Community Collaboration

Business

26 Federation raises $7.5 million through COVID-19 emergency campaign.

COVID Conspiracy Theorists Blame Jews 28 Extremists seize on coronavirus for anti-Semitic attacks.

Spirit

Eating Out Will Feel Different

Etc. The Exchange Soul Danny Raskin Looking Back

47 49

53 54

34

Gary Torgow: We Accept This Challenge 36

Detroit’s Tech Elevator Looks for Jewish Students 36

thejewishnews.com Facebook @DetroitJewishNews Twitter @JewishNewsDet T Instagram @detroitjewishnews

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.

JUNE 11 • 2020

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| 29

Views for openers

A Home-y Language

W

e know of “Home on the Range.” We have been told that a house is not a home. We have seen how repairs go on This Old House.

Often what has not been stressed is the prevalence Sy Manello of basic house Editorial components in Assistant our everyday speech. Not until now, that is.

Do you often find that you need your space? You need to

be able operate free of encumbrances. You badly need elbow room or wiggle room. You have found on occasion that there is often not enough room to swing a cat. Breathing room is also vital.

A performer is known to work the room. However, he may be aware that there are topics that cannot be discussed without raising tempers; he must know when there is an elephant in the room.

Ever been pressed for a quick solution to a problem? Then you know what it is like to have your back against the wall. When you are keenly aware of a negative outcome, you have seen the

handwriting on the wall. (This is also true, in a more literal sense, if you have young children who are discovering crayons.)

Speaking of children, I must warn you to be aware of what you discuss at home since the walls have ears. Young people’s actions have been known to drive parents up the wall. Are kids experiencing a “sugar rush?” Then they may be bouncing off the walls. Want to be in the know about teens’ lives (since they are so reticent to share)? Then you may wish to be a fly on the wall.

Been shopping recently? Then you know that the cost of items may make you go through the COURTESY OF CLARE KINBERG

commentary

‘Nothing New’

A

friend in St. Louis once told me that as a kid she thought “Pogrom” was a village in Eastern Europe because that was where her grandmother said she was from.

The 1903 Kishinev pogrom, Clare Kinberg a three-day binge of violence and terror during which 49 Jews were murdered, 600 women were raped, 700 houses destroyed, 600 businesses looted and 2,000 families left homeless, drove hundreds of thousands of Jews to leave Eastern Europe. My grandmother, Yetta Schwartz, was among them.

She was 16 when she left Romania in 1903. In the late

1930s, Yetta’s second born, my aunt Rose, married a non-Jewish African American man from Oklahoma and moved away from St. Louis and the family, settling in Vandalia, Michigan.

Rose was the aunt I never met. I looked for her for 40 years. Now I am writing a book about Aunt Rose and her husband, Zebedee Arnwine, learning about their lives before they met and their lives as an interracial couple living in southwest Michigan.

In May 1921, 19-year-old Zebedee Arnwine was living in Muskogee, Oklahoma, working as a farmer with his father.

Not an hour away, the black community of Greenwood in Tulsa was attacked by a white mob. After nearly 100 years, new mass graves have been dis-

Clare Kinberg’s Aunt Rose

covered. Several square blocks were burned to the ground and 10,000 people made homeless.

Greenwood had been a prosperous black city within a city with its own thriving economy, professionals, shops and banks.

One eyewitness account of the coordinated destruction of Greenwood was recorded by the lawyer Buck Colbert Franklin in his autobiography … “The building where I had my office was a smoldering ruin … I went to where my rooming house had

roof or at least hit the ceiling. If you look to have a great time at a party, you may want to raise the roof.

Never fail to see a window of opportunity. If you are a fan of window shopping, do not get so carried away that you throw common sense out the window.

If you overeat, you may develop a bay window; and then if you block someone’s view, you may be reminded that you make a better door than a window.

Remember that “walls do not a prison make nor iron bars a cage.” No, the saying has little to do with the above content, but there is nothing like ending with a deep observation.

stood a few short hours before, but it was in ashes … As far as one could see, not a Negro dwelling-house or place of business stood."

One purported trigger for the Kishinev pogrom was newspaper articles accusing Jews of killing a Christian child to make matzah from his blood, a familiar yet baseless anti-Jewish lie. Buck Franklin describes the trigger to the Tulsa massacre as a false accusation against a teenage son of a well-known and respected Greenwood businessman.

My daughters were 11 and 14 years old on Feb. 26, 2012, when Trayvon Martin was murdered in Florida for walking through a neighborhood where a black youth was considered a trespasser, even though his father lived there.

Another year later, on Aug. 9, 2014, my daughter came down the stairs to tell us about Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, continued on page 8 JUNE 11 • 2020

|5

Views editor’s note

Learning from History Why Metro Detroit’s Jews should stand up for justice and equality.

I

n March, the Jewish News ran a story about Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard and his senior staff paying their regular visit to the Holocaust Memorial Center. Sheriff Bouchard went there, he told us, so that he and Andrew Lapin his staff “can better prepare ourselves to not let history repeat itself.” Many of our readers praised local law enforcement for their efforts.

Now, it’s time for us in the Metro Detroit Jewish community to reflect on the events of the past few weeks, and, with that same spirit, to take a stand with those advocating for racial justice and local police reform and accountability. Because history is indeed repeating itself.

We have witnessed the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, the umpteenth such police killing of a black civilian captured on video for the world to see (alongside many more with no video); the arrests and charges of the officers responsible (including one for second-degree murder); and the weeks of ongoing civil unrest this tragedy kicked off around the country. That includes in Detroit, where, to disperse crowds and enforce an imposed curfew, police have shot protesters with rubber bullets and tear gas and targeted members of the media, while opportunists (most from outside the city) have seized on the protests

as an excuse for violence and looting. One 21-year-old man was shot and killed, not attributed to police. Other Michigan cities, including Royal Oak and Ferndale, have held mostly peaceful protests; elsewhere, demonstrators smashed windows at the governor’s office in Lansing and engaged in looting and vandalism in Grand Rapids.

Detroit is a city that, on top of being one of the hardest-hit nationwide in the COVID-19 pandemic, knows all too well the devastating consequences of police brutality toward its black residents — and the ways in which the destruction of local businesses, especially black-owned ones, over a few days of unrest can set a population back for generations.

We saw this scene play out a half-century ago in the events of 1967, precipitated by, yes,

continued on page 10 Protesters and police clash in Detroit during demonstrations following the May 25 police killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd.

ALEXANDER CLEGG/JEWISH NEWS

6 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

police violence against black residents. These events accelerated the departure of many of our Jewish families from our homes and businesses in Detroit and into the suburbs.

This is what I want to say. Because of our largely white skin, most of us in the Ashkenazic Jewish community have never been on the receiving end of police violence and America’s systemic racism.

And yet these systems have helped shape our community today. Prior to and following the ’67 unrest, we largely fled from Detroit to Oakland County, where we could afford to establish our own communities, assuring local law enforcement would protect our interests.

From 1992 until his death last year, Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson helped facilitate that reality,

GET ENGAGED Local groups in our community are engaged in peacebuilding work from within the Jewish community, including the Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, the JCRC/AJC, Repair the World Detroit and Detroit Jews for Justice.

National groups working toward reform include the Marshall Project, a nonprofit investigative newsroom focused on criminal justice, and the National Police Accountability Project, a nonprofit that offers legal assistance and educational programming to advocate for individual rights in police encounters.

Black-owned businesses in the Detroit area could use our support and patronage: Log on to visitdetroit.com/detroitsblack-owned-businesses and check your local neighborhood Facebook groups for more.

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit United Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

Combined Annual Meeting

Notice is hereby given that the

Notice is hereby given that the

Annual Meeting of the United Jewish Foundation

Annual Meeting of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

will take place on Thursday, October 1, 2020 7:30 p.m.

will take place on Thursday, October 1, 2020 7:30 p.m.

Petition Candidates: Other persons may be nominated for membership on the Board of Directors by petition signed by not less than twenty-five (25) members of the United Jewish Foundation and filed with the Chief Operating Officer not less than 90 days prior to the date of the Annual Meeting. Only one person may be nominated in each petition, and no nominations shall be valid unless the nominee shall have consented to be a candidate in writing either in the petition.

Petition Candidates: Other persons may be nominated for membership on the Board of Governors by petition signed by not less than one hundred (100) members of the Jewish Federation and filed with the Chief Operating Officer not less than 90 days prior to the date of the Annual Meeting. Only one person may be nominated in each petition, and no nominations shall be valid unless the nominee shall have consented to be a candidate in writing either in the petition.

Filings should be sent to: United Jewish Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit Steven Ingber, Chief Operating Officer P.O. Box 2030 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303-2030

Filings should be sent to: Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit Steven Ingber, Chief Operating Officer P.O. Box 2030 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303-2030

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|7

Views editorial

If You Can Breathe, You’re Privileged

I

t seems as if the ability to breathe — amid a pandemic where a highly contagious virus prevails and continues to attack the respiratory systems of vulnerable individuals — should now be considered a luxury. The Nicole Dean opportunity to take a deep breath — whether it is used to ground yourself in an argument or in an effort to eliminate the current stressors in your life — is permitted only for those who are strong enough to withstand the toll of this virus. A now-luxurious act that we once took for granted.

But what if the ability to breathe was a luxury all along?

While our nation’s elderly population is subject to the highest death rate as a result 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

of the spread of COVID19, we must not dismiss the notion that the virus is disproportionally impacting black Americans at a jarring rate as compared to white Americans. A Washington Post analysis found that predominately black communities hold a coronavirus death rate nearly six times higher than predominately white communities.

Could this disparity be due to a troubling institution in which black Americans do not receive the same access to healthcare as do their white counterparts?

A report from the National Academy of Medicine found that minorities receive “lower-quality health care” as compared to white people, all other qualifiers held equal.

Or could it be due to an unjust housing system where black Americans are more likely to face housing 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: Jenna Anderson, Nate Bloom, Suzanne Chessler, Shari S. Cohen, Maya Goldman, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jen Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Danny Schwartz, Mike Smith

The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 29200 Northwestern Highway, #110, Southfield, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to: Detroit Jewish News, 29200 Northwestern Hwy., #110, Southfield, MI 48034.

8 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

NOTHING NEW continued from page 5

discrimination — a situation which presents serious consequences to the health and well-being of these very individuals?

Perhaps this disproportionate access to “air” dates back to an inherently problematic society in which the ability to breathe is considered a luxury — reserved only for those who the air was originally intended for.

Perhaps our systematic way of living, rooted in ideologies stemming from a time of slavery, is why so many individuals — individuals of color — remain gasping for air to this very day.

Perhaps the death of George Floyd, who choked out the words “I can’t breathe” in his final seconds, was a consequence of an inherently unjust and unequal society that was created only to protect the breath of white individuals. continued on page 12

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a suburb of my hometown of St Louis, who had been gunned down by a white police officer.

My daughters’ emerging identities as young black women, their self-love and their self-doubts, their righteous anger, their rising independence, their bold confrontations with risk, developed amid looping replays of white cops beating, strangling and shooting black and brown bodies. They want me to understand their feelings of anger and vulnerability; they doubt I can because I am white.

Yet, when there was a shooting in a synagogue in Poway, California, and when a rabbi’s house guests were attacked with a machete in Monsey, New York, my daughters are the first to check in with me.

Their ears are attuned to danger.

My family is black and Jewish.

The murder of George Floyd revealed nothing new to us, the eruptions of mass violence, the government collusion, nothing new. Yet perhaps this time our collective memories will give us the insight, strength and resilience to walk into a better future.

Clare Kinberg is the editor and publisher at the Washtenaw Jewish News.

| Production By Farago & Associates Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Jessica Joannides, Kelly Kosek, Kaitlyn Schoen, Michelle Sheridan

| Detroit Jewish News Partner: Arthur M. Horwitz ahorwitz@renmedia.us Partner: F. Kevin Browett kbrowett@renmedia.us Partner: Michael H. Steinhardt How to reach us see page 12

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most read on the web

Each month, the JN will let you know the stories that were read most often online. If you missed any, you can go to the jewishnews.com and search for them by title. Here’s what was most popular in May. TOP 10 ON THE WEB 1.

2.

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Lansing Demonstrators Protest Whitmer with Hitler Signs Gay and Jewish Jokes Cap & Gown Gallery Burt Hurshe Ends Decades-Long Career as High School Sports Official 5. ‘Rewind’: Jewish Filmmaker Confronts his Traumatic Childhood 6. A Shavuot Revelation 7. Highway to Challah: Cousins Ensure Families Can Enjoy Fresh Challah on Shabbat 8. Rabbi Shaiall Zachariash: Service Well Beyond the Call of Duty 9. Tamarack Camps Cancels All Summer 2020 Programming Due to COVID-19 10. The Ex-Nazi Next Door

TOPS ON FACEBOOK 1.

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Tamarack Camps Cancel All Summer 2020 Programming Ann Arbor Art Fair Canceled Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Bagel Boys to the Rescue DJN Business Profiles: Warren and William Frenkel of UniVoxx 5. Cousins Ensure Families Can Enjoy Fresh Challah on Shabbat

TOP 5 ON INSTAGRAM: 1. Community Helps Holocaust Survivor and His Wife Mark a Milestone in Quarantine 2. Dealing with Dyslexia: Local Teen Shares His Journey to Overcome Learning Challenges 3. Years After BBYO, One Friend Gives Another the Gift of Life 4. Graduation Without a Celebration 5. Flint Rabbi Delivers Food After Mid-Michigan Flood Devastation

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JUNE 11 • 2020

ALEXANDER CLEGG/JEWISH NEWS

Views

Detroit police control protestors in the streets of Detroit.

LEARNING FROM HISTORY continued from page 6

promoting the area where most JN readers live as a thriving economic hub that welcomed Jews. Patterson did this while disparaging Detroit and its citizens in vile, heinous language, calling the city “an Indian reservation.” In his own words, he said he would “rather join the Klan” than help a group of CEOs rebuild Detroit. As the Oakland County prosecutor prior to becoming its executive, he expressed similar sentiments.

It was clear Patterson thought nothing of Detroit’s majority-black population; to him, these black lives didn’t matter. In Patterson’s eyes, Oakland County, and the many Jewish-owned businesses that helped power its economic engine, could only find success if Detroit failed.

We can’t allow ourselves to think like that anymore. We must realize that our fates are directly tied to those of our black and brown brothers and sisters, including Jews of color, with whom we share the Detroit Metro area, and indeed this entire country.

We must help to heal this deep wound in our society, starting right here in Detroit.

Above all, please listen to and acknowledge this pain

and anger. Rather than looking for reasons to invalidate it or finding ways to rationalize a violent police response to it, take a moment to understand where it comes from. When it comes to interactions with law enforcement, our own history demands we find a peaceful alternative to the structural prejudice that leads to police violence against entire groups of people.

We have local examples to point the way forward, consistent with Jewish values. In Flint, seeing a crowd of protesters approaching, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson disregarded his training. He laid down his baton and riot gear and accompanied civilians on a peaceful march.

And since protests began, Sheriff Bouchard has supported Michigan Senate Bill 945, requiring mandatory bias training for the state’s police forces.

Many more reforms are needed. We may need to completly rethink the relationship between our communities and the police. But amid all the horror, these are positive steps. We all must learn from history to avoid repeating it.

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Views IF YOU CAN BREATHE continued from page 8

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Detroit Jewish News | 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110 | Southfield, MI 48034 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.

JUNE 11 • 2020

better. I acknowledge the times that I have actually held my breath, instead of choosing to hold people accountable for their problematic actions.

That changes today.

When you are short of breath, you are commonly told to “just relax.” Maybe you are told to calm down or maybe you are told to take a deep breath. But black Americans — who are now gasping for air — cannot just relax. They cannot calm down, and they cannot solve this inherent issue by taking a deep breath.

Because the second they do, their voices will no longer be heard.

It is time for those who have the luxury of breathing in society to play a part of a systematic change in which creates a society that protects the breath of all individuals — no matter the color of their skin. That change starts at the polls.

Nicole Dean is a University of Michigan alum and Metro Detroit native. She is a member of Congregation Shaarey Zedek Synagogue in Southfield.

Greenberg’s View

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Perhaps government officials responded to the protests in honor of George Floyd’s life with tear gas because they felt threatened by the fact that black Americans were finally gaining their breath. Perhaps the long-term effects of tear gas on the respiratory system is the only way for leaders of our institutions — the institutions our country was built on — to take the breath away from those who threaten this very system.

If you can breathe, you’re privileged. And I don’t just mean this in a literal sense.

If you are an individual who has time to breathe in between their sentences — an individual who does not feel the need to be fighting for their human rights in every single breath they take — consider yourself fortunate.

I acknowledge the fact that I can breathe. I acknowledge the fact that I do not need to waste a breath fighting for my rights. I acknowledge the countless breaths I have wasted on things that do not challenge our society to be

JUNE 11 â&#x20AC;¢ 2020

| 13

charged in connection with his death, but the protests over systemic racism in policing have raged on.

In February, the Jewish News profiled Solomon and other Jews of color in an article about the joys and challenges of being a minority among a minority. This week we invited those individuals to share their thoughts on the protests, the death of George Floyd, the current state of our country and what they would like to see from their Jewish community. This is what they said.

Jews in the D jews and racial justice

“Heartbroken,

Scared and Exhausted” Local Jews of color respond to George Floyd’s death.

Olivia Guterson

W

hen Shabbat ended Saturday, May 30, Ashira Solomon sat uncomfortably in front of her computer as she processed images of protesters and police clashing on the streets of Detroit over police brutality and racial injustice.

Solomon, who is a Jew of color, described feeling absolutely devastated.

A subsequent text from her best friend helped ease some

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JUNE 11 • 2020

of the pain. “I hope you know this goes without saying, but I’m going to say it anyway because I feel it’s necessary,” the message said. “We see you, we love you and we support you.”

“My best friend is a dirty blonde, green-eyed Jewish girl who grew up across the street from me,” Solomon said. “As children, we came from two different worlds, but when met, our souls connected

instantly.”

Locally, Jews of color have expressed a range of emotions as they continue to process all that has happened in the country since the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Minneapolis man killed by a white police officer pressing his knee into the man’s neck.

The officer has since been arrested and charged with second-degree murder, and three other officers have been

PHOTOS TAKEN BY CJ BENNINGER OF OLIVIA GUTERSON

AS TOLD TO JEN LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OLIVIA GUTERSON, DETROIT I’m heartbroken, scared and exhausted. I’m seven months pregnant with a black child and deeply concerned about the world they will be born into. I hope everyone is paying attention and listening to the pain, sorrow and rage, and that there is a collective understanding that the tragic, unnecessary death of George Floyd and many others are not isolated events, but the reality of America’s 400-year epidemic that is American racism.

I’ve had a lot of white friends, co-workers and community members reach out, expressing their sorrow and pain and asking what they should do. I wish instead of asking me and other BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) to educate and shoulder their trauma, they took time to listen to what the community is telling the world we need (and have needed) and creating space to witness our feelings, processing and coping.

Vote, donate, read books,

COURTESY OF CHRIS HARRISON

go to marches, register new voters, organize â&#x20AC;Ś Ultimately, if you feel moved at the moment (and we all should), commit to being in it for the long haul. I would like to see the Jewish community using their political powers and platforms to align with the policies and campaigns that advocate for human rights and decency. Let this not be a moment but a movement.Â

Chris Harrison

CHRIS HARRISON, WATERFORD As a Jew, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t think of a better form of sacred action than protest. And protest can mean anything from being on the front lines marching with signs to donating money and time to antiracist causes; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s all valid.

Further, seeing not only so many black people protesting, but also non-black allies, is incredible. This is how it should be.

I feel a heightened sense of paranoia. I hope I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get pulled over by the wrong cop

or my neighbors donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t racially profile me for walking my dog. Despite everything, however, I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t help but feel hopeful. Seeing how seriously everyone is finally starting to take police brutality, unchecked authority and systemic racism makes me think that the tide might be shifting; that non-black people are fully seeing whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s happening.

Make antiracism a priority in your congregations and institutions. This isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t optional; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a necessity. This is not just because black people are suffering in your surrounding communities, but because there may very well be black Jews and black family members of Jews in your very Jewish communities who need to be listened to and actively included.

Address your individual and institutional implicit biases and learn to be OK with the discomfort that comes with it. Read books and articles and watch videos by antiracists. I also recommend rabbis, cantors and lay leaders also read the Union for Reform Judaism article â&#x20AC;&#x153;Ways Your Congregation Can Act Now for Racial Justiceâ&#x20AC;? by Rabbi Jonah Pesner.

When people ask me for suggestions, I feel really glad that theyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re asking, but it can also get overwhelming right now. I want to be there to help people, but I also want them to feel confident enough to look things up themselves. The Jewish community alone has plenty of resources.

Our STORY â&#x20AC;&#x153;It began with rain, and our roof leaking into our house,â&#x20AC;? said Diane Starr. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know the cause, or the extent of the damage, or even if it could be easily repaired. Keith and I called in a rooďŹ ng company to look at it, and once they examined it, they found the whole thing needed to be replaced.

In the way it so often happens, there was structural damage underneath, as well as on the surface, and more work and more money than we hoped.â&#x20AC;?

Diane and Keith, not wanting to do things cheaply and then run into further problems along the way, looked for a way to cover the full cost of the necessary work, and turned to Hebrew Free Loan. â&#x20AC;&#x153;We both have jobs, but this is a big investment, and one we werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t expecting,â&#x20AC;? Diane said. Their family was familiar with HFL because their daughter used the agency for help with college expenses, and they know HFL staff members. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The application process was so simple. Everyone was kind, and the interview was very supportive and nothing to be nervous about. It wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t at all intimidating, like going to a bank would have been, and the HFL loan was not only interest-free, but because it is created, funded and administered by people in our own community, it was a process we could trust.â&#x20AC;?

Hebrew Free Loan, Diane said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;enables Jewish people to stay in our community and be supported.

It seems like an unexpected expense for anything in your life, from a roof to college, to IVF to a funeral, could be made easier through the support of our community. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s such a wonderful resource.â&#x20AC;?

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continued on page 16

JUNE 11 â&#x20AC;˘ 2020

| 15

COURTESY OF DANIEL HODGES

Jews in the D jews and racial justice

COURTESY OF ALIZA KLEIN

Daniel Hodges and his son Jacob

“If your biggest outrage in all of this is rioting or looting, you’re not paying attention.”

— ASHIRA SOLOMON continued from page 15

Aliza Klein

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JUNE 11 • 2020

DANIEL Y. HODGES, NOVI My rabbi was the first Jewish person to reach out and ask me how I am. There have been others who’ve responded to my Facebook posts, but my rabbi called me.

For those protesting peacefully, I applaud and hold high. I struggle to hold myself among you. But my pain is real. I lost my father to racists just after my bar mitzvah. I have not burned. I have not broken. But my eyes flame, and my heart cracks.

In this interview, the first question was, “How do I feel about the protests?” This mirrors what has been asked of me by most other people with a few exceptions. It was not, “How do I feel about the

death of George Floyd?”

It’s taken me a while, but I’m crying a bit now for the first time at George’s death.

I’m remembering my own father. I’m also deathly afraid of my son suffering like I still do to this day because of the potential for someone to murder me because I scared them with my blackness. I see my entire family under that cop’s knee.

My message to the greater Detroit Jewish community is, “Get your priorities right.

Also, be actively antiracist.

Don’t just say, ‘I’m not racist.’”

As to what the Jewish community can do, publicly stand up and stand with George’s family. Call or write elected officials and demand that

there be immediate and effective actions to combat racism.

Racism is not non-threatening. These organizations practice hate and plot harm.

They will not stop with black people.

ALIZA KLEIN, OAK PARK I’ve had so many people reach out to me within the last few days, who provided me with empathy and support. I can’t thank them enough. Their kind words helped me ease my pain and helped me feel like I’m not alone.

It’s great that I see individuals standing up for racism and hate on social media, but it takes a lot more than just that. However, it is a start in the right direction. We have to truly dig deeper and have more insight into ourselves.

Ask yourself this question: If you were faced with a racial situation in person, beyond social media, would you be willing to have the courage to stand up to that person? We have to check our own unconscious biases, get uncomfortable and learn about our neighbor, not just from media, but from real people.

ASHIRA SOLOMON, SOUTHFIELD I have seen peaceful protest footage honoring the life of George Floyd from all over the world. The protests continue to exist and rightfully so. People around the globe are showing up to protest the injustices revolving around the countless murders committed by an array of police officers against people of color in America.

I’m paying attention. I’m watching every country, every company, every industry.

I’m watching friends, and I’m watching acquaintances.

I’m watching loudly, and I’m watching silently.

RE’UVEIN RICKMAN, FARMINGTON HILLS There’s prejudice everywhere.

What we can do as a community is look at the prejudice within our community and try to address it.

I know members of my congregation teach in the inner city and help the kids there learn to read and better themselves. I was deprived of my education. I made it, but it was very, very difficult. There are so many black children out there, and they’re proud. I’m proud.

Help the black community in a way where they’re able to

COURTESY OF ASHIRA SOLOMON

help themselves and be proud.

The Jewish community helped me. They helped me be able to read from the Torah. I know we can help those who can’t help themselves.

I was walking my dog and a policeman pulled beside me, slowed down and got out of the car. He said, “Nice dog.” And I said, “Yeah, thank you.” The next thing out of his mouth was “do you live around here?”

I knew why he stopped me.

He stopped me because I was black and he was wondering why I was out here in this neighborhood and I just felt like this never ends.

When I was living in Livonia, there was a gym over there where I was training clients. I had a client at 5 a.m. and I got pulled over every morning. Every morning. One morning, I said to the officer, “Why do you pull me over every morning? You know who I am. I’m the only black guy who comes over here.”

He never said anything to me. He just ignored me like I was nobody. Even today, when I take my dog to the park in Livonia, I don’t feel comfortable.

I’m concerned about the police. I’m getting ready to get a body camera. It won’t save my life, but I just feel like I’m a target for some racist police officer because there’s always going to be one in the system.

That won’t save my life, but I just don’t want the person to get away with it. This is how I live. I don’t worry. I’m not afraid. I’m just sad that I have to prepare myself like that.

Not to save my life but to save other lives.

I feel loved and I know it and I’m not mad. I’m just really saddened by human beings taking the lives of other human beings. Being black, it just hits home more.

Ashira Solomon and her daughter, Naomi JERRY ZOLYNSKY

This is one of those instances where you’re either on my team — the team of all that is good and just and right — or you’re not.

There are no blurry lines, and there is no gray area.

Justice must be demanded.

I will fully rebuke my support for any organization or acquaintance who does not stand on the side of what is just and right.

If your biggest outrage in all of this is rioting or looting, you’re not paying attention.

Imagine a teacher in a classroom. She’s in the middle of her lesson when all of a sudden, one of her students begins tantrumming. It’s not only inconvenient for the teacher, but also feels completely random and unwarranted. How many times that week, or that year, did she ignore all the opportunities he gave her to listen? How many times did she walk away from him when he was begging to be heard? And why? Why did it take a complete outburst in the middle of her lesson for her to open her eyes to the pain he was feeling all along, and that he was counting on her to see him through?

Re’uvein Rickman in his usual seat at Adat Shalom

JUNE 11 • 2020

| 17

Protesters and police clash in Detroit during demonstrations following the May 25 police killing of Minneapolis man George Floyd.

Jews in the D jews and racial justice

Jewish Groups Respond to Civil Unrest Interfaith leaders stand together to denounce racial injustice.

ALEXANDER CLEGG/JEWISH NEWS

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

A

fter the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis May 25, civil unrest has broken out throughout the country, including in Detroit, Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and others.

In response to the events, many Metro Detroit Jewish organizations have shared their thoughts on Floyd’s death, the protests and how best to stand with members of the black community during this time.

The Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, a partnership between the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC and the Council of Baptist Pastors of Detroit and Vicinity, along with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Michigan chapter, released a joint statement on June 1 in response to the death of Floyd.

“First, let’s acknowledge that white people don’t fully get it. We may be moved to the point of tears when we see racial injustice, but if we’re being honest we must admit that we live different lives than people of color in this country and thus we don’t/can’t realize their experience in America,” the statement read. “It just means that we mustn’t pretend that we stand in their shoes, just like they don’t stand in ours. Many Jews can surely relate to the ways in which non-Jews can empathize and support us and work with us in effective coalitions. Many American Jews

lost family in the Holocaust. We know that many non-Jews are empathetic, and that touches our hearts immensely.”

The statement emphasizes the need to acknowledge the growing number of Jews of color in the community, and how Jews should not perceive them as invisible during this time. The organizations ask communities to come together and recognize the changes that need to be made in our society.

“There is much to be done. We must join hands and do this together. We must be for each other and we must do it now,” read the statement. “This is a time for outrage, for there is much to be outraged about. But it’s also a time for us to be outraged together.

Our unity in the face of racial injustice is our strength. Good people of all colors, faiths and ethnicities can and must step up our efforts. This is a time for solidarity, for commitment, for community involvement.”

The Coalition also hosted a June 4 Zoom webinar, “Dear White People... Please Listen”, in which a selection of local black faith leaders shared their perspectives on racial injustice in America. The talk was recorded and can be viewed on the Coalition’s Facebook page.

Also on June 4, Coalition members marched peacefully in Detroit alongside

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and several other interfaith leaders.

The National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan (NCJW) chapter’s president, Amy Coulter, told the JN their mission statement has always been to strive for social justice for all women, children and families, regardless of race.

“We stand with the people who are protesting against the murder of George Floyd,” Coulter said. “We demand justice as well and stand with all of our sister organizations and all of our sections across the country.”

The NCJW has chapters in 28 states and has roughly 90,000 members.

“Our mission is social justice for all,” Coulter said. “There is no line between color, between religion, between anything.”

Sarah Allyn, executive director of Repair the World Detroit, said she was horrified and saddened by the death of George Floyd.

“At Repair the World Detroit, we are making sure the people who have been impacted by this the most, our friends and colleagues in the black community, are making sure the white voices are not center-stage,” Allyn told the JN. “We really want to lift up the voices of the black folks who are being directly impacted here.” continued on page 21

18 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

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Jews in the D jews and racial justice

“I Want Them to be Visible” U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Rep. Brenda Lawrence asks the Jewish community to stand in solidarity with the black community.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER Brenda Lawrence

T

he Congressional Caucus on Black-Jewish Relations released a joint statement on June 2 condemning the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota, calling his death “nothing less than a modern-day lynching.” The caucus also called for an end to systemic racism and demanding justice.

U.S. Representative Brenda Lawrence (D), who represents Michigan’s 14th district, is one of the co-chairs of the caucus.

Lawrence believes that now is the time for the caucus to spring into action and calls on the black and Jewish communities to continue to come together like they have in the past.

“We’re going to have legislation and laws that will address hate crimes and civil rights for everyone,” Lawrence told the JN. “This is an opportunity for us to work together. We must become very clear in our government and in our policies to publicly have zero tolerance for people who commit hate crimes, for people who discriminate and for people who are racist and anti-Semitic.”

In the next few weeks, the caucus is planning a national

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JUNE 11 • 2020

town hall event to be aired on PBS. They are still working on the logistics for the town hall so they can include a variety of voices.

The caucus, started in the fall of 2019, brings together bipartisan leadership to raise awareness of the needs of the communities, as well as to initiate measures to combat hate and stereotypes. As the representative for a district that includes

Floyd’s murder takes place, the investigation should not be conducted by its own police force.

Instead, she said, it should be handed over to the FBI for investigation.

Lawrence would like to see more changes in the training, education and hiring of police officers. Many cities, Lawrence said, require rookies to take diversity training courses, but once officers are sworn in, the

“Someone told me yesterday, ‘No matter how dark the night, morning will come.’

And I am counting on that.”

— BRENDA LAWRENCE large parts of Southfield, West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills, as well as Pontiac and much of Detroit, Lawrence has long had to balance the needs of her black and Jewish constituents.

Lawrence said the caucus is putting a package of legislature together. One policy she wants to see is that when a crime like

courses never come back into play.

“We all have our own personal biases and life experience that allow us to have certain feelings,” Lawrence said. “But being a police officer, we must find a way to train, monitor, hold accountable and remove those police officers who are not fulfilling their duties.”

LAWRENCE STANDS WITH PROTESTERS While protests are happening throughout the country in response to the police killing of Floyd, Lawrence advocates for people to stand up, use their voices and stand in solidarity with the black community. She also asks for the Jewish community to continue to lend their undeniable support.

“The civil rights we have gained in this country were because of the Jewish community stepping up legally, stepping up by protesting and stepping up in financial support for groups,” Lawrence said. “What we need now is the Jewish community to stand with us. The Jewish community to me are my brothers and sisters. I want them to be visible.”

Lawrence understands this fight is the same fight generations have been combatting for years, similar to how the Jewish community continues to battle anti-Semitism, white supremacy and hate crimes.

“When are we going to create an environment that shows this is unacceptable?” Lawrence said. “Someone told me, ‘You

can’t legislate racism.’ I can’t make anyone like me or dislike me because of the color of my skin. But I sure can protect the environment we work and live in, create laws that will swiftly hold those to the judicial process and make sure everyone knows if you choose to do this, there are consequences.”

Lawrence was grateful for the peaceful protestors in Detroit, where there was little arson or looting like there was in the 1960s when she was a child.

“We burned up our city and we destroyed it. There’s enough of us around who aren’t going to let that happen,” Lawrence said.

The black community was also devastated by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in Michigan. Lawrence knew many people, including two family members, who were diagnosed with the virus and

battled the illness.

“We have been locked up in our homes, grieving deaths and sickness with this virus and then when this happened; it was like dry brush and this event was the flame that just lit up all of these emotions,” Lawrence said. “It was just back to back, with the young man who was jogging down the street and was shot down like he was animal prey and somebody was hunting him. The disregard of life for the young lady who was in her own apartment and police broke in and took her life.

“And then, to watch a man die, and take his last breath, from what I call a modern day lynching, because when you lynch someone, you cut off the air by their neck and that’s what happened here. To watch that, it was just too much. We had to get out and scream and tell people that this is not right, and

we deserve more because we are Americans.”

Lawrence called on local mayors, governors and the president to unite the country as one, instead of causing more division.

“We should vote for those people who understand their job is to bring us together and to be the uniter of these United States of America, of your city and of your state,” Lawrence said. “We don’t elect people who will divide us and actually prey on parts of our community and make them disposable.”

Lawrence encourages the black and Jewish communities to engage with “the BlackJewish dialogue.” When she was younger, she said, people would open their homes and sit with one another, listen to each other and form inclusive bonds.

“We have moved this dialogue to synagogues and town

halls, but what about that intimate setting in someone’s home talking about what is happening, especially now?” Lawrence said. “I’m a firm believer that when small groups of people come together on the same issue we can truly start making a difference.”

Serving formerly as Southfield’s mayor and now as a congresswoman, Lawrence is proud of the connections of the black and Jewish communities in her district. While it is not a reality in a lot of areas throughout the country, it is a powerful tool that the community can use to fight for the equality and justice that the country needs, she said.

“Someone told me yesterday, ‘No matter how dark the night, morning will come.’ And I am counting on that,” Lawrence said.

JEWISH GROUPS RESPOND continued from page 18

Allyn and Repair the World Detroit say they will follow the lead of Detroit Jews for Justice (DJJ), since “they work so closely in organizing and activism, especially around anti-racism.”

“We acknowledge that in most our Jewish spaces, we see a lot of white faces and hear a lot of white voices, and that is really not the time for that,” Allyn said.

DJJ’s founding executive director, Rabbi Alana Alpert, is planning education and action opportunities for the community. Alpert also asks the Jewish community to support campaigns and organizations, like DJJ, during this time.

“The killing of black people by police is an egregious example of the systemic racism that we are committed to fighting.

We condemn this horrific violence and affirm that Black

“We cannot be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and crush the life out of another.”

— RT. REV. BONNIE PERRY Lives Matter,” Alpert told the JN in a statement. “Were it not for the pandemic and its disproportionate impacts on people of color and residents of Detroit (itself a result of structural racism), we would be actively mobilizing our supporters to demonstrate following the leadership of our trusted partners.”

Alpert said DJJ has been approved for a grant from the Jews of Color Field Building Initiative to work with synagogues on diversity, equity and inclusion.

“The grant will also support

us to amplify the voices of Jews of Color, who have been telling us unequivocally that we in the Jewish community must show up for black Jews and for all black people targeted by state violence,” Alpert’s statement read.

The Detroit Free Press reported that faith leaders from varying backgrounds throughout Metro Detroit have come together to speak out against Floyd’s death and demand justice and peace. At Greater New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit on May 31, rabbis, an imam and

Rev. Kenneth Flowers spoke out against the racial injustice and condemned Floyd’s death.

During the livestreamed mass, local news outlets reported, Jewish leaders told the predominately African American congregation that “on behalf of the Jewish community of Detroit … we are with you at this time.”

Muslim faith leaders, Arab American advocates with the Arab American Civil Rights League, the Dearborn mayor and police chief also gathered at the Dearborn Police Station and criticized the injustice.

Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan, Rt. Rev. Bonnie Perry, also acknowledged Floyd’s death during mass and said, “We cannot be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit and crush the life out of another.”

JUNE 11 • 2020

| 21

Jews in the D

MAYA GOLDMAN/JEWISH NEWS

jews and racial justice

‘White Silence is

Violence’ Weekend protests in suburban neighborhoods support Black Lives Matter.

JN STAFF

Across Metro Detroit, many protesters in majority-white suburbs with large Jewish populations mobilized on foot and in vehicles in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Jewish News staffers reported from several of these scenes.

WEST BLOOMFIELD About 500 people gathered at a police reform protest in West Bloomfield Friday afternoon, June 5.

As the crowd amassed, volunteers walked around to help attendees register to vote.

Protesters stood on either side of Orchard Lake Road between 14 and 15 Mile roads.

Cars honked in solidarity as they passed.

It was organized by college students Thomas Callahan of Southfield and Raniyah Reynolds of Detroit. The pair founded an organization called Black Leader’s Reformative Institute. Reynolds, a junior at Michigan State University, said it was important to her and Callahan that the

22 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

police reform movement have a presence in the Detroit suburbs.

“I just wanted to make sure that we took it outside to places that are not necessarily known for police brutality but making sure that we’re all united, we’re all a community, we all understand that this is not OK,” Reynolds said. “We wanted to make sure that West Bloomfield had a voice as well.”

While many organizers across the country — including in Detroit and Ann Arbor — are demanding that their cities defund police forces and instead invest in other community services, Reynolds and Callahan organized their march around police reform.

People from across West Bloomfield and surrounding cities came out to protest.

Nancy Cohen, a West Bloomfield resident and a Hillel Day School teacher, said she came to the event to send a message to her students and her own children.

“As a woman in her 50s, I’ve never felt so

disheartened by the events and the political divide of our country,” she said. “You can’t sit quietly. You’ve got to be involved.”

Teri Weingarden, who serves as the treasurer of West Bloomfield Township, said she felt the Jewish presence at the event was important because of Judaism’s belief in tikkun olam. “It is our responsibility to repair the world,” she said.

Weingarden believes the township board would fund additional anti-bias training for their police department if a proposal were to be made.

The crowd marched down Orchard Lake to the West Bloomfield Police Department for a short rally.

Rabbi Rachel Lawson Shere of Adat Shalom Synagogue held two signs — one with a Hebrew verse from the Torah and the other saying “I Can’t Breathe,” the final words of George Floyd.

“The word in Hebrew for ‘breathe’ is the same word for ‘spirit,’” Shere said. “People’s

ANDREW LAPIN/JEWISH NEWS

— RABBI RACHEL LAWSON SHERE the beginning of the protest. A man with a gun clipped to his waistband approached a group of protesters.

In a video clip posted to Facebook by West Bloomfield resident Claire Jolliffe, Callahan tells the man the organizers didn’t want any private citizens with guns in the vicinity. The man said he believed in the same cause as the organizers, but that he wanted young people to understand that “firearms don’t incite violence.”

After a few moments, West Bloomfield Deputy Chief Curt Lawson came over to explain the man had a right to be at the protest with his gun. “I know him, he’s not a threat,” Lawson told Callahan.

Callahan told the JN after the protest that

ALEXANDER CLEGG/JEWISH NEWS

HUNTINGTON WOODS An estimated 700 people, many of them teenagers, staked out their own Black Lives Matter protest in Huntington Woods, a city of around 6,000 residents, late in the afternoon on Friday, June 5.

Marchers largely stuck to the sidewalks as they made their way from the Huntington Woods Lutheran Church on 11 Mile Road and Scotia, onto a brief, busy stretch of Woodward Avenue, before turning down Lincoln Drive into a residential neighborhood. Many cars along Woodward honked their approval.

“Huntington Woods cannot be silent — we must support the movement for black lives,” Maya Edery, who co-organized the march with a group of seven of her friends, neighbors and immediate family, told the JN. Edery, 27, is a Huntington Woods native home from New York for the summer. She said she was inspired by her grandparents, longtime Huntington Woods residents Arnie and Lainie Shifman, who “taught me the importance of speaking out when something is unjust and the importance of taking action to create the world you want to see.” Arnie Shifman died this January; Lainie marched on Friday alongside her family.

Chants reciting the names of police violence victims George Floyd and Breonna Taylor were accompanied by one marcher’s drums.

The peaceful march was organized on social media channels, as well as via email listservs, and the majority of marchers were white. Almost

ALEXANDER CLEGG/JEWISH NEWS

“We’ve lived too long in a completely ignorant and raciest society, and I’m sick of it.”

although the situation was uncomfortable, he understood the man had a right to bear arms. He also appreciated Lawson’s efforts to “help contribute to the de-escalation of the situation, which is what we stand for.”

Jolliffe hopes there will be another protest in West Bloomfield soon that highlights the problems with policing in Oakland County.

- Maya Goldman

MAYA GOLDMAN/JEWISH NEWS

ANDREW LAPIN/JEWISH NEWS

spirits are dying and we’re standing idly by…

We’ve lived too long in a completely ignorant and racist society, and I’m sick of it.”

In the police station parking lot, Reynolds and Callahan each said a few words, followed by a short speech from West Bloomfield Police Chief Mike Patton. Protesters also observed a moment of silence for Breonna Taylor’s birthday. Taylor was killed in her Kentucky home on March 13, when police officers entered her apartment on a search warrant and shot her at least eight times.

“Right now is a time for police officers to listen to what their communities are telling them,” Patton said.

There was one uncomfortable encounter near

continued on page 24 JUNE 11 • 2020

| 23

Jews in the D ANDREW LAPIN/JEWISH NEWS

jews and racial justice

Holocaust Memorial Center Speaks Out In a statement, the center called to “extinguish flames” of hatred.

T

24 |

every protester wore a mask.

- Andrew Lapin

HMC

he Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills released a statement urging the community to speak up when faced with injustice.

The center released the unsigned statement June 3 in response to protests across the country after a Minneapolis police officer killed resident George Floyd on May 25.

“Every day at HMC we teach the lessons of the Holocaust — that hate has terrible and long-lasting consequences. That it is not enough to stand by and do nothing. That every individual, family and community can make a difference in our world. As Elie Wiesel famously said, ‘I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation,’” the statement reads.

The HMC called on people to “extinguish [the] flames” of hatred.

“How many photographs have we seen of bystanders watching passively as books were destroyed and synagogues burned during Kristallnacht?” it reads. “If only people had stood up for their Jewish neighbors, protested the Nuremberg laws, refused to buy newspapers filled with hate-spewing propaganda!

Why didn’t more people do something?”

HMC wrote that they hope people will stand up themselves,

JUNE 11 • 2020

continued from page 23

and not wait for others to do it for them.

“We cannot rewrite history.

But have we learned the lessons of history? What will each of us do now, today, to ensure the safety of others? The safety of the Other?” it says. “It is not someone else’s job to make it better. What will I do today?

What will you?”

In response to the Jewish News’ request for an interview, HMC provided another unsigned statement, sent through public relations firm Marx Layne and Company.

“At the Holocaust Memorial Center, we engage, educate and empower people of all backgrounds by teaching about the senseless murder of millions during the Holocaust,” the second statement reads.

“Our message is that each of us must respect and stand up for the rights of others if we are to prevent future genocides and hate crimes. We empower individuals to react to contemporary issues like the killing of George Floyd and the events of the past weeks by taking action.

We all can be upstanders, not bystanders, when we see hatred and prejudice in our own communities.”

A WOODWARD CARAVAN Folks along Woodward Avenue saw a different kind of cruise on Sunday, June 7. No muscle cars or roadsters revving their engines — just Subarus, Toyotas and Nissans driven by mostly white suburbanites, sporting signs like “Black Lives Matter” and “We Will Not be Silent.”

The vehicles were part of the 250-car “Suburban Silence is Racist Violence Caravan” that drove down Woodward from 8 Mile to Lone Pine on Sunday afternoon. Several Jewish groups, including the Social Justice Committee of Birmingham Temple, Repair the World Detroit and Detroit Jews for Justice, were among the many social action groups supporting the event, which had more than 900 Facebook users interested, according to organizer Emma Green of Madison Heights.

One organizer of the family-friendly event, Rich Feldman of Huntington Woods, has been working for racial equality since the 1960s. “I made a commitment for life to transform our

culture and society,” he said. “It’s not a moment, but a journey.”

Robb Lippitt of Repair the World Detroit brought his wife, Debbie, and daughters Eryn, 20, and Molly, 22. “It’s important for Jews to speak out, recognizing that we know what oppression is like and we need to do something about it,” he said.

The cars slowly made their way down Woodward with hazard lights on, sticking to the two left lanes and honking in solidarity with spectators along the road who held their own “Black Lives Matter” signs. The procession ended in the parking lot of the Birmingham Unitarian Church on Woodward, where speakers addressed the crowd and led them in chants.

Noah Krasman, 25, of Farmington Hills, was at the protest with his father, Gary.

“This speaks to our human values, along with our Jewish values,” Noah said. “One informs the other.”

Gary added, “We are all God’s creatures, and it’s well beyond time people have started to speak out and inform the rest of the world.”

- Jackie Headapohl ANDREW LAPIN/JEWISH NEWS

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Attacked in Detroit Downtown Synagogue VP was among the protesters who have suffered injuries at the hands of the police.

O

ren Goldenberg, local Jewish filmmaker and vice president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit, was beaten and arrested for loitering by Detroit police officers on Tuesday, June 2, during a peaceful protest against the police killing of George Floyd and racial injustice.

Goldenberg said he was one of several protesters injured and arrested by police in the streets that night. Detroit protests since the death of George Floyd have been largely led by black activists in the city. Goldenberg described his role in the protests as that of an “ally” and said there were “definitely other Jews there.”

At the beginning, Goldenberg told the Jewish News, there were roughly 1,000 protesters walking northeast on Gratiot.

Eventually, the group was split. Shortly before Goldenberg was arrested, his group had only 200 people left.

The group that Goldenberg was marching in was out past the 8 p.m. curfew that was set by the city of Detroit. Though he and his friend feared being arrested, they ultimately decided that they couldn’t leave the people who were continuing to march.

The organizers of the march continued to walk shoulder to shoulder until they were surrounded by police with tanks, shields and weapons.

“I was the first one to get attacked by the police on our side of the march,” Goldenberg said. “When the line of police was two feet away from us, one officer reached out, grabbed me and struck me, threw me to the ground, ripped off my mask, kicked my back, forced my face and neck into the pavement, prodded my ribs with a billy club and then, while on the ground, I was pepper sprayed directly into my eyes, and I was cuffed while on the ground, the police damaging my hand with their plastic restraints. For the record, I had verbally and physically cooperated with the police the entire time.”

Due to the pepper spray, Goldenberg says he couldn’t see for almost two hours.

The protesters were then put on a bus for over an hour, until they were booked at Little Caesars Arena. They were eventually transferred to Mound Road Facility, a detention center in Detroit, and released, needing to find their own way home, as the police had confiscated their bicycles.

Goldenberg says they have yet to return his.

Protests in Detroit, the largest such demonstrations in southeast Michigan,

PHOTOS COURTESY OF OREN GOLDENBERG

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

have continued on a nightly basis despite the city’s curfew. After the violence of the initial showdowns between protesters and police, local reports indicate that subsequent marches have largely been peaceful, with reduced numbers of arrests; local and state officials have attended some of them, pledging to institute reforms.

“My voice is important now because I can help amplify the voices leading this movement,” Goldenberg said. “More importantly, I can put my body to use to fight for justice and my fellow Americans, by showing up to the protests every day, letting everyone know there is support for justice in America and Detroit and, if it is needed, I will put my body in front of those who are at greater risk of being hurt or killed by police enforcement or others.”

JUNE 11 • 2020

| 25

Community Collaboration Federation raises $7.5 million through COVID-19 emergency campaign.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

I

n late March, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit announced the development of its COVID-19 Emergency Campaign. The campaign has now hit its goal of $7.5 million.

The campaign was instituted to secure funds to ensure JFMD’s agencies and other organizations could continue to provide services to the community during the coronavirus pandemic.

At the same time, JFMD also started the COVID-19 Task Force, chaired by Matt Lester, incoming Federation president, and Dennis Bernard, incoming United Jewish Foundation president. The task force overMatt Lester sees the campaign, manages the allocation of the money received, and works with the agencies and organizations to determine best practices.

“The campaign has been an amazing success. We have Dennis raised approximately $7.5 Bernard million and the vast majority of that is from about 21 donors and was received in the first three to four weeks of the announcement,” Lester told the JN. “We are not actively soliciting and haven’t been for a few weeks now but there are some donations that continue to come in.”

One of the donors was the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation, which announced on April 15 that it was donating $1.6 million to leaders throughout Metro Detroit who were helping with immediate needs presented by COVID-19, including JFMD.

26 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

Before the campaign kicked off, Federation was helping its own agencies and non-Federation agencies to receive PPP (Paycheck Protection Program) loans from the federal government totaling $17.5 million so they could sustain themselves during the beginning of the pandemic.

Federation agencies include the Jewish Community Center, Tamarack Camps, Hillel Day School, Frankel Jewish Academy, Jewish Senior Life, JVS and more. NonFederation agencies include organizations like JARC and Kadima.

Once the money started coming in, JFMD said it immediately went to personal protective equipment (PPE) for senior housing and human service agencies. It then went to technology so some of the Jewish day schools could begin the transition to virtual learning.

“It also went to food organizations, including Yad Ezra, Meals on Wheels and more. A lot of money also went to support community mental health funding, such as Jewish Senior Life (JSL),” Bernard said. “It went for medical issues for the community; it went to support, for instance, hero pay at JARC homes and Kadima homes, or JVS clients in the community who had people with developmental disabilities so they could keep them employed.”

JFMD says it has spent less than $1 million of the money raised so far. It wants to ensure the funding can be extended for the long haul and is available for the foreseeable future.

“One of the subcommittees under the Emergency Task Force was agency assistance. The first priority for agency assistance

JFMD

Federation Building

Jews in the D

was to make sure all of our agencies, not just Federation agencies, but all of our Jewish agencies in town were able to receive the help they needed,” Bernard said. “We don’t know how long this is going to last, so we have to make sure to stretch out our community resources.”

To determine how much money the agencies received, the allocation committee on the task force, made up of some of the people from foundations who provided funding, federation officers and led by Steven Ingber, chief operating officer at JFMD, put together a questionnaire for organizations requesting money to fill out.

The questionnaire included a dollar amount request, the reason it was needed, what it was going toward as well as what other sources of funding had been requested and how the organization was cutting costs.

“Just about everyone who has been through this vetting process has been funded,” Bernard said.

The agency assistance committee and Federation also began instituting daily phone calls with 24 agencies throughout the community to begin to work together on sharing best practices, making sure everyone had enough PPE and was acting as one community.

“This community came together in its entirety, not just the 16 agencies or organizations under the Jewish Federation,” Lester said. “The entire Jewish community mobilized under the lead of our Federation.”

While there is no hard stop date for the campaign, the task force is making sure that the 2021 Annual Campaign, which kicks off in the fall, will not be undermined. Once the campaign reached $7.5 million, Federation stopped the formal asks for donations.

“We do not believe that this will have any effect on our annual campaign simply because many of the donors for the emergency campaign are our largest donors, some of whom are our foundations, who are positioned well to respond to this type of crisis,” Lester said.

The annual campaign, according to Ted Cohen, chief marketing officer at JFMD, “is and will always be the backbone of community welfare, and it will be even more so the case going forward. Giving to the annual campaign will achieve the same purpose, if not more.”

Lester foresees challenges ahead because of the pandemic and its aftermath.

“It remains to be seen how successful we are in meeting the challenges that come over the next coming weeks, months and maybe even years,” Lester said. “We need to continue to be incredibly collaborative, and that may be the signature word that defines this effort.”

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Thank you

KAREN BERGER

KAREN GOLDBERG DRIGGS

JERI FISHMAN

DAVID GACH

ALLAN GALE

VERNE ROYAL

to the board members who will be rolling off this year. We appreciate your time, talents and dedication in supporting the mission of Jewish Family Service.

MICHAEL EIZELMAN MICKI GROSSMAN TODD SCHAFER NANCY SOLWAY

JUNE 11 â&#x20AC;˘ 2020

| 27

COVID Conspiracy Theorists Blame Jews ADL

Extremists seize on coronavirus for anti-Semitic attacks.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

O

ver the centuries Jews have been blamed for plagues, economic depressions and wars. Now the coronavirus is being connected to Jews by some conspiracy theorists and white supremacists on social media, including encrypted online platforms as well as in traditional media.

In fact, the Leelenau Enterprise in Northern Michigan ran a letter to the editor a few weeks back accusing COVID-19 of being a Jewish conspiracy.

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports that extremists are scapegoating Asian, Jewish, African American and other minority Carolyn groups, as well as Normandin

28 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

immigrants, claiming they are responsible for the virus.

According to Carolyn Normandin, regional director of ADL’s Michigan office, extremists have accused Jews of using the coronavirus as “a tool to gain control and power so we could have a remedy and charge for it.”

Normandin points out the use of a blue rat with a Jewish star on some extremist websites — an image she says has been promulgated digitally on mainstream platforms as well.

Amy Spitalnick, executive director of the nonprofit Integrity First for America, was a presenter for a recent National Council of Jewish Amy Women (NCJW) Spitalnick

webinar about white supremacy and COVID-19. She views the current extremist response to the COVID-19 pandemic as part of a larger cycle of anti-Semitism, which includes a significant increase in anti-Semitic incidents.

“During crises, people look for someone to blame,” she says, adding that in January, people were asking on social media, “Was this a Jewish conspiracy?

Was Israel withholding a vaccine?” Spitalnick says that such questions and online anti-Asian attacks alike can be traced back to white supremacist websites.

According to Gary Sikorski, director of community-wide security for Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit, the FBI as well as the Department of Homeland Security and the Secure Community Network (the national security Gary Sikorski initiative of the Jewish Federations of North America) have noted online statements by neo-Nazis and white supremacists urging readers to infect the Jewish community with the coronavirus.

The Anti-Defamation League has tracked and reported numerous anti-Semitic cartoons, as well as other images and posts, all relating to COVID-19. While many are posted on 4Chan (which posts images anonymously), Gab or Telegram (which is encrypted),

some have been disseminated on Facebook or Twitter.

ADL cites this Twitter post

by David A. Clarke, former Milwaukee County sheriff and right-wing media favorite, as typical of messages tying the virus to Jews, including Soros and the Rothschilds.

Clarke wrote March 15: “Not ONE media outlet has asked about George Soros’s involvement in this FLU panic. He is SOMEWHERE involved in this.” This message received 739 likes and was retweeted 227 times, according to ADL. David Duke, a white supremacist and former Ku Klux Klan leader, asked on Twitter on March 12 whether President Trump had the virus and whether “Israel and the global Zionist elite” were responsible.

ADL also noted a meme on Telegram and 4Chan in January showing a “happy merchant,” suggesting the coronavirus is a manufactured hoax encouraging people to get vaccinated so Jews can profit.

ADL’s monitoring indicates that “Many anti-Semites on 4chan and Telegram are sharing the news of coronavirus cases in Israel, while others are encouraging people to spread the virus among Jewish communities.” A similar sentiment was reached in an April report from the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based Jewish human rights group tracking hate group activity, which found

ADL

Jews in the D

COURTESY OF CAMP TANUGA ADL

NCJW Webinar Discusses Weaponizing White Supremacy during COVID-19 NCJW’s May 5 webinar provided an update on white supremacy and national efforts to combat racism and anti-Semitism. Cathy Cantor, NCJW state policy advocate, spoke about Women Cathy Cantor Confronting Racism, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping white women examine their biases and privilege.

The organization brought 5,000 women to Detroit in 2017 for a conference and holds ongoing lectures. “We want to educate ourselves and others,” Cantor says.

Amy Spitalnick, executive director of Integrity First for America, discussed the orga-

nization’s lawsuit against the leaders of Unite the Right, the white supremacist group that planned and carried out the racist and anti-Semitic protests and violence in Charlottesville, Virginia in 2018.

“The case takes on the leadership of these organizations, which could have an impact on their financial and legal operations.

Many plaintiffs (Charlottesville community members) suffered serious injuries. Charlottesville has become a rallying cry and marker for many white Supremacists,” she explained.

The ADL has invested $100,000 in the lawsuit, which is expected to come to trial in Charlottesville in October 2020.

that anti-Semitic conspiracy theories related to the virus were already spreading in the pandemic’s earliest weeks.

Sikorski says that a “rise in the rhetoric can lead to action and we are keeping our eye on conspiracy theories.” However, Sikorski points out that most synagogues and other Jewishaffiliated facilities are closed due to COVID-19.

“We’re always thinking of security — it’s an ongoing process. We advocate awareness and prevention with an all-hazards approach to crisis and emergency planning — not focusing on any one thing,” explains Sikorski.

Spitalnick supports the Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act, which she says is stalled in Congress. Passage of the

Act would counteract gaps in reporting of discriminatory acts and improve cooperation between levels of government, she says.

While the FBI is supporting the fight against white supremacists, the federal government as a whole is not, Spitalnick claims, as evidenced by a sharp decline in federal civil rights investigations. She also criticizes social media companies for providing platforms for “hotbeds of extremism” without any liability.

“Conspiracy theories get a lot of oxygen when people are afraid. It’s a difficult problem and I don’t see it going away.

People have to call it out and challenge it. They need to assess where information comes from,” Normandin says.

Camp Tanuga Presses C amp T Tanuga P Presses On On The Kalkaska-based sleepaway camp will go forward, pending new state guidelines.s.

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

C

amp Tanuga, an overnight secular camp in Kalkaska, Michigan, that draws many Jewish campers from Metro Detroit, intends to move forward with camp this summer, provided state guidelines for doing so are released, according to an email sent to camper families.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order permitting day camps to open.

Residential summer camps should still remain closed under her current order.

The plan Camp Tanuga lays out includes some key changes in the camp’s operations. This year, the camp will run only one five-week session from July 11-Aug. 14. Campers have the option to only attend the first three weeks of the session.

There will be no trips of any kind out of camp, and no outside deliveries of personal items or packages will be permitted.

Mail will also be restricted.

Campers will have to be symptom-free for 14 days prior to arrival, and Tanuga asks that campers stay socially distant from those outside their household for the two weeks leading up to camp. Families will be asked to keep a log of their camper’s health during this time.

“That’s not going to be so easy because we know that kids are out not distancing

right now as we speak probably,” Tanuga director Sid Friedman told the Jewish News.

“There is, through all this, an element of trust… that they’re going to do the right thing and adhere to these requirements before they come to camp.”

One COVID test will be required of each camper two to three days before camp begins, and more tests will be performed on campers within the first two weeks at camp.

Friedman emphasized that Tanuga leadership has made it clear to parents and staff that camp will look different this summer if it’s able to run.

Most camper families still want to send their children to camp this summer if possible, Friedman said, but some families have decided not to have their kids attend this year.

When asked what will happen if Michigan’s residential summer camps are still prohibited from opening in July, Friedman said he wasn’t sure.

“There is a time element.

Camp isn’t ‘turn on a switch and we’re open,’” he said. “We need a few weeks to get the place ready, we have to train our staff with all the new protocol. And getting staff to buy in is a huge variable.

“Are we nervous about it?

Certainly. We’re nervous but we’re optimistic,” he said.

JUNE 11 • 2020

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Jews in the D

New grad appreciates how far she’s come battling depression and anxiety.

JENNA ANDERSON CONTRIBUTING WRITER

D

alia Michaelson, 18, and her family felt especially proud of her graduation from Berkley High School.

“It’s a big deal that I graduated,” she said. “There was a time last year where we thought that I was going to need to be sent away. We didn’t think I would be able to finish junior year.”

Michaelson refused to go to school during her junior year.

Most mornings she wouldn’t get up. If she did make the drive to school, she’d circle the block in tears. Some days she drove the loop for an hour. Other days she’d drive home after just a few minutes.

“I felt really overwhelmed by the expectations that I put on myself,” Michaelson said. “It felt easier to not go than to go and fail. We thought it was just me not wanting to get a bad grade, but it was a lot deeper than that.”

Michaelson said she has always been a perfectionist, and she began to fear failure when she started high school. She often felt scared and anxious during her freshman and sophomore years, but Michaelson

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JUNE 11 • 2020

had her first panic attack as a junior. She also had a difficult time opening up to family and friends.

“No one knew what was going on except for me, and even I didn’t completely understand it,” she added.

One morning, Michaelson hit her lowest point. While her mother dropped her brother off at school, Michaelson sat on the toilet trying to make

know what would have happened. That was my turning point.”

Michaelson revealed her thoughts and feelings to her parents. They acted immediately. Michaelson saw a therapist the same day and a psychiatrist shortly after. She was diagnosed with anxiety and depression.

With medication and therapy, Michaelson quickly started improving.

As soon as I started talking it out with someone, that really helped.

It made me feel like myself.

— DALIA MICHAELSON

herself throw up to avoid going to school. She was bawling in the bathroom when her mother came back.

“I didn’t want to keep going anymore,” Michaelson said.

“If she didn’t walk in the door when she did, I don’t really

“As soon as I started talking it out with someone, that really helped,” she added. “It made me feel like myself.”

Michaelson found more support at school. She reconnected with her friends and set up a meeting with her counselor. She

COURTESY OF DALIA MICHAELSON

Overcoming Fear of Failure

told Michaelson to come directly to her office whenever she felt anxious so she would stay in school.

“I don’t think people realize what an ally a school counselor can be,” Michaelson said. “Whatever you are going through they have seen before and know how to help. I would not have made it through the year without mine.”

Michaelson further improved when she got involved with UMatter, a program focused on empowering teens to shatter the stigmas surrounding mental health challenges and suicide.

Michaelson was inspired by her friend Lauren Schostak when she shared her experience with mental illness at the 2019 One Thing I Wish You Knew event.

“I couldn’t stop thinking about how many people in that room she helped by doing that,” Michaelson said. “I realized how big of an impact it can have.”

She was inspired to join the UMatter Teen Board, which plans events and social media campaigns.

“The way I felt helping people through UMatter made me realize that this is what I want to do in my future career,” she added.

Michaelson will be attending the University of Virginia in the fall to study nursing and become a psychiatric nurse practitioner. After refusing to attend school, Michaelson has come to appreciate it.

“It was crazy to think about how bad things were based on how good things are now,” she said. “It helped me reflect and realize how much I appreciate school. I will miss it.”

This is the third in a four-part series profiling teens who have triumphed over mental illness challenges.

Jews in the D Jews in the Digital Age

JewishLIVE, 24/7 Festival of Digital Judaism New website fills void during the quarantine.

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has made us feel physically distant to each other.

We cannot congregate at our synagogues, community centers or summer Rabbi Jason camps. However, Miller the Jewish comContributing Writer munity has not shifted away from community during the quarantine. Rather, we have been brought together virtually thanks to the Internet and streaming video conferencing.

Three cutting-edge Jewish visionaries saw this 21st-century phenomenon as a prime opportunity to launch a website that’s a “one-stop shop” for those interested in plugging in and learning or praying with a community of Jews anywhere

Dan Libenson

Lex Rofeberg

in the country. Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg of the “Judaism Unbound” podcast linked up with Apryl Stern of the Institute of the Next Jewish Future to create jewishLIVE.org, which is a project of INJF with funding from the Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah.

The three out-of-the-box thinkers saw in early March that Jewish events were suddenly being canceled due to

Apryl Stern

the coronavirus pandemic.

They wondered how they could help fill the void of in-person Jewish events taking place, like conferences, synagogue services, Jewish musical concerts and lectures. These in-person events would have to migrate to the digital landscape, they realized.

In an effort to curb the sense of loneliness and social isolation they sensed the quarantine would create for

many, they wanted to create a website that would serve as a portal to all sorts of learning, prayer and entertainment. The website, jewishLIVE.org, has a schedule of live streaming experiences broken out into categories like Soul Stage, Earth Stage, Mind Stage, Sensory Stage, Kids Stage and Music Stage. Imagine a fullscale Jewish culture festival taking place seven days a week and being able to choose your engagement point each hour of every day.

Libenson, Rofeberg and Stern also recognized that everyone staying home and becoming more accustomed to Zoom conferences created a natural opportunity for many Jews, and non-Jews, to connect to Jewish experiences they might have been intimidated to join in person. continued on page 32 JUNE 11 • 2020

| 31

Jews in the D

very quickly, combines a calendar of events with beaming from Star Trek because if you discover that something is happening right now, you can just go there in a single click.”

The group produces its own live events as well, working together with individuals and large organizations.

“Thousands of people have participated in our programs,” Rofeberg said, “and we’ve heard a great deal of feedback that we’re helping people to learn and grow and connect during a time when so many of us are struggling to find meaning.”

While COVID-19 was the impetus for launching the website in March, Libenson and Rofeberg had envisioned the creation of a digital hub for Jewish programming for some time. “It had been more of a

long-term vision, but a couple months ago, when COVID-19 really ramped up and altered all of our lives, it became clear that it was imminent for something like that long-term vision to come to be much sooner than we had expected,” said Rofeberg.

The team has been pleased with the response to jewishLIVE so far and so have national leaders in the Jewish community.

Rabbi Irwin Kula, president of Clal, an organization dedicated to bringIrwin Kula ing Jewish wisdom to the public, said he applauds the jewishLIVE initiative because it is “aggregating, curating and enabling access to high-quality live content on one trusted platform,

Big Buddies Bonding in Bloomfield Noah Roslin and Noah Yaker, founders of Big Buddies of Bloomfield

16, devised a solution to help

Older teens and younger children pair up to provide students with social and educational tools.

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

W

ith schools closed, students of all ages have had to shift how they learn. Elementary students, especially, are struggling with productive engagement and the lack of the social connections.

However, Bloomfield Hills High School students Noah Yaker, 15, and Noah Roslin,

COURTESY OF NOAH YAKER

younger students and engage their peers in developing relationships. They call it Big Buddies of Bloomfield.

“The high school students were feeling lonely, so we couldn’t imagine what it was like for the elementary school students,” Roslin said. “This is a way to solve both problems and

create a relationship between generations.”

Big Buddies of Bloomfield pairs high school students with elementary school students to engage them in virtual educational activities, such as eductional games, reading, homework, arts and crafts and more.

A majority of the “little buddies” come from elementary schools through the Bloomfield school district, but their services are open to any student in Michigan. Parents can register their children for a session by heading to Big Buddies of Bloomfield’s website and filling out a registration form.

The form asks for basic information about the parent, student, the elementary school they attend, the student’s learning targets and a space for information about the student’s interests.

Roslin and Yaker pair up the students with a “big buddy” whom they feel would best connect with the child.

They currently serve 40-45 little buddies and have roughly 20-25 big buddies, who all attend Bloomfield Hills High.

All sessions are conducted through Google Hangouts, via the parent’s email. Parents can request a specific big buddy, if they either know the big buddy personally or feel a certain big buddy would be a good fit.

Big Buddies of Bloomfield sessions are free. Participants are encouraged to donate money to the United Way of Southeastern Michigan COVID19 Community Fund through the Big Buddies of Bloomfield website.

“We want everyone to be able to create a good dynamic and a lasting friendship, so that it continues long after the big buddy period ends,” Yaker said.

“Additionally, we want students to continue to stay motivated during this time and make connections.”

JEWISH LIVE continued from page 31

They describe jewishLIVE as “the Grand Central Station serving the new land of online Judaism.”

The portal, a digital Jewish Community Center of sorts, may remind some of the Jewish community’s first portal on the internet when America Online (AOL) first launched with a Jewish community in cyberspace. jewishLIVE curates Zoom programming presented by organizations, summer camps, synagogues, JCCs, and youth groups, but it also offers Zoom rooms to individuals and organizations who want to produce live events but may not have enough Zoom capacity or the technical ability to do this on their own.

“The website,” explained Libenson, “which we created

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JUNE 11 • 2020

which has long been necessary.”

As jewishLive continues to get funding to grow the website and add content, there’s no doubt that it will live on once the Jewish community is able to return to a sense of normalcy.

“What’s clear to us is that the changes we have experienced are not going to be simply erased when social distancing wraps up,” Rofeberg said. “We are still going to need digital Jewish programming, and we are confident that many people who just found their way into the digital Jewish ecosystem for the first time will be excited to participate. Hopefully, many of them will create their own programming.”

Rabbi Jason Miller is a local educator and entrepreneur. He is president of Access Technology in West Bloomfield.

Follow him on Twitter at @rabbijason.

Moments

Dr. Craig Singer

JAN. 30, 2020.

Natalie and Andrew Baum of New York City announce the birth of their son, Charles Arthur Baum. Delighted grandparents are Paulette and John Baum of Novi and Shelley and James Boschan of Bloomfield Hills. Charlie is named in loving memory of great-grandfathers Arthur Boschan, Louis Heyman and Jules Radin.

Parker Reid Mingus, son of Stacy and Brian Mingus, will become a bar mitzvah on Saturday, June 13, 2020, through Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield. He will be joined in celebration by his sister Bailey, brothers Chase and Holden, grandparents Sheila and Merv Aronoff, Regina and Jon Young, and great-grandparents Ruth and Richard Barber. Parker is also the grandson of the late Gary Mingus.

Parker is a student at Berkshire Middle School in Beverly Hills.

For his mitzvah project, he volunteered as a machonik at Temple Shir Shalom, working with second-grade Sunday school students.

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ancy and Stuart Wilhelm of Farmington Hills celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on May 29, 2020. Their children, Heidi and Michael Kurtz, Marcia and Arthur Wilhelm; grandchildren, Marisa and Jake, Rebecca and Sam; and great-granddaughters, Orly and Adina, wish them good health and much happiness.

Margolin 90th

A

rlene Margolin celebrated her 90th birthday on May 29, 2020. She is the wife of the late David Margolin, the mother of Steve and Beth Margolin, Richard and Diane Margolin, and Nancy and Alan Simons. She is the doting grandma to 15 grandchildren and GiGi to one great-granddaughter. A second great-grandchild is expected in August. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a celebration with family and friends will take place later.

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Congratulations!

Ilan Farabi You continually make us proud, graduating summa cum laude, three sport varsity athlete, All American Academic, and so much more. We look forward to what University of Michigan will bring!

We love you!

Nanni & Papa Mom, Dad, & Jonah

Congratulations!

Spenser Keys

Congratulations Spenser! We could not be prouder of you and your accomplishments! We know you will reach your goal of becoming a Mechanical Engineer and will be very successful!

We look forward to sharing your journey ahead!

Much love, Mom & Dad, Baba Ray & Pops, & Salty

Congratulations!

Justin Satawa

You’re off to great places! Today is your day.

The world is waiting.... So get on your way!

Congratulations Jus! We are so proud of you.

Love Always, Nannie, Poppy, Auntie Wendy and Nana

LIKE US ON FACEBOOK @detroitjewishnews

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JUNE 11 • 2020

Moments

cap&gown 2020 HENRY FREEMAN

RACHEL NODLER

Bloomfield Hills High School National Honor Society, Student Team Manager Varsity Hockey, Owner of Hank’s Detailing.

Michigan State University

Berkley High School Summa cum laude, National Honor Society, Science National Honor Society, Kulanu BBG RC Coordinator and Treasurer, Tamarack Teen Council, Caleb White Project volunteer.

Michigan State University

SPENSER KEYS Berkley High School Magna cum laude, National Honor Society, National Technical Honor Society, Dean’s list, Early college/dual enrollment at Oakland Community College beginning junior year, First Robotics, Certifications in Solidworks Mechatronics program, OSTC, Volunteering in Huntington Woods-BerkleyTemple Emanuel-Yad Ezra, Berkley High School Art classroom, Norup International School tutor.

Kettering University

JORDYN SHAPIRO Bloomfield Hills High School Magna cum laude, National Honor Society, NHS Small Group Leader, Varsity Poms, Scholar-Athlete Award, Yearbook Ads Section Editor, Camp Tanuga counselor.

Indiana UniversityBloomington

HUNTER OLIVER VAINIK Groves High School High Honors, Summa cum laude, AP Scholar, National Honor Society, Varsity Golf, Tennis, Scholar-Athlete.

Michigan State University

Spirit torah portion

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very year I am surprised are times when we cannot celeand amazed when some- brate as we are expected to is an thing from our tradition important lesson for all of us. that we often overlook suddenly The explanation of Pesach becomes incredibly important.

Sheni concludes with the folThis year, it was the role lowing: “... there shall be one of Pesach Sheni (“second law for you, whether stranger Passover”) from this or citizen of the country.” week’s portion described (Numbers 9:14) Though in Numbers 9:1-14. directly related to who is Pesach Sheni was created responsible for participatbecause of the distress ing in the Pesach offering of the Israelite populaand celebration, we read tion who were unable to Rabbi Simone these lines today with a Schicker perform and, therefore, different understanding. celebrate the sacrifices “One law” means that Parshat associated with the hol- Bachaalotekha: we must acknowledge iday of Passover. Their that we live in a country Numbers distress arose from the with laws, laws which 8:1-12:16; a 2:14-4:7. desire to participate in we are obligated to fola required community low. By participating in act, a celebration of their delivsociety, by following laws, we erance by God from Egypt. acknowledge that we care about While our distress arises for those around us and not ourdifferent reasons, we, too, wish selves alone. “Stay home, Stay to gather and celebrate occaSafe” was a difficult thing for sions as expected. many — impossible for those Robert Alter writes, “The who are critical workers — and partaking in the Passover sacri- caused pain, too. It also saved fice is the primary act of affirm- the lives of more people than ing membership in the commu- we know. nity of Israel, and so the people As our country tries to get in question are distressed that started again, we recognize that a mere accident, contact with a we must continue to work hard corpse ... should exclude them at keeping the vulnerable in from the community.” our midst safe — that we have Understandable that the a responsibility to follow the people are upset and thoughtdirections of our government ful that our tradition found and the directions of our tradia way to include everyone in tion, which includes requiring this important celebration. It us to disregard a law that would became important this year, cause harm to a person’s life or with the “stay home, stay safe” health. orders across the country.

May we all be safe; may we People were unable to celeall be flexible; may we all give brate Passover as they normally thanks for the ability to particiwould. Though some then pate in community in whatever thought that by Pesach Sheni, a form that needs to take. month later, they would be able Rabbi Simone Schicker is rabbi at to celebrate, this was also not Temple B’nai Israel in Kalamazoo. the case; but the fact that our tradition recognizes that there

35 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

We are here for you and any of your legal needs during the COVID-19 outbreak.

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business SPOTlight BIRMIN GH A M

essay

Gary Torgow

We Accept This Challenge

W

hen corporate and business leaders gather in their c-suites these days, we remind ourselves of an adage as old as business: “A company is only as healthy as the community it serves.”

This ethic has never been truer than it is today — when the African American community has been inflicted with what my friend the Rev. Wendell Anthony

calls “a pandemic within a pandemic.” The first assault came in a silent storm — the coronavirus that disproportionately killed African Americans and exposed the racial disparity in U.S. health care. The second attack came with an achingly familiar cry for help — “I can’t breathe!” — as a white policeman plunged his knee into George Floyd’s neck while bystanders videotaped the

agonizing final nine minutes of his life.

We condemn Mr. Floyd’s vile and violent murder and share the grief, fear and anger of our community and team members at TCF Bank. We demand the prosecution of every police officer complicit in this racist slaying. While we commend the vast majority of police who bring justice to the job without undue violence, there are still some in law enforcement who terrorize communities of color with impunity.

Many of us do not experience the fear and humiliation of getting stopped by law enforcement simply because of the color of our skin. We do not experience the invisible hand of bias and different treatment when we go shopping or wait to be seated at a restaurant.

But we hear you. Our hearts go out to the men and women of our community

Detroit’s Tech Elevator Looks for Jewish Students

TECH ELEVATOR

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Hebrew Free Loan may be able to help with tuition.

DANNY SCHWARTZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

M

ore than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but one industry not hit nearly as hard is the tech industry. A shining example of that in Michigan is Tech Elevator.

Tech Elevator, on the campus of Wayne State University, is a 14-week, full-time and in-person coding bootcamp, teaching students to become software developers.

Tech Elevator students are seeing job offers come their way as companies look to onboard new technologies. Patricia Idema, the admissions coordinator for Tech Elevator’s Detroit campus, is witnessing this firsthand.

“There was already a large demand for software developers in southeastern Michigan because there are a lot of finance and auto industry companies that need that talent,” Idema said. “But now it’s booming from all kinds of different organizations that are suddenly encountering the challenge of reaching customers when they can’t ‘reach’

36 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

customers.”

One of Tech Elevator’s goals is to increasdiversity in its ranks.

“We want to break that stereotype that it’s a white, male-dominated industry,” Idema said. “At the Detroit campus, we have many female and POC (people of color) graduates in our program.”

Tech Elevator is looking to make inroads into the Jewish community. Campus Director Jeff Jeung believes an underutilized resource to connect the two is Hebrew Free Loan, which provides interest-free, loans of up to $10,000 to local Jewish college students in the Metro Detroit community.

Tuition for the 14-week Tech Elevator program is $15,500.

“In our mission to re-skill people in Metro Detroit, we’re aware there can be a financial barrier to doing something like Tech Elevator,” Jeung said. “We see Hebrew Free Loan as an opportunity to really help those who maybe don’t have the means to pay out of pocket, especially with every-

Students at Detroit Tech Elevator

thing going on right now.”

As life returns to a new normal, Idema has an elevator pitch (no pun intended) to recent college graduates and those looking to switch professions who may be looking to dip their toes into the tech industry.

“In the midst of every crisis lies great opportunity,” Idema said, quoting Albert Einstein. “You may not be able to control what’s happening in the world right now, but out of all of this uncertainty and chaos, you do have a choice to control what you do with it, and this may be a great opportunity to pursue something new.”

Students who qualify should reach out to Hebrew Free Loan. “We’re happy to help,” said executive director David Contorer.

For more information, visit TechElevator.com.

who have endured the pain and suffering of bigotry. As a company, and as citizens of our community, we unite together in rejecting all forms of bias, racism and violence in our workplace and in our communities. We will meet this challenge with more than words. We will accelerate our unconscious bias training throughout our company to ensure we all have the tools to identify and respond to injustice. TCF Bank is blessed with outstanding African American teammates up and down our ranks. We will provide spaces to talk openly about racial equality and give a voice to team members who feel marginalized.

In the cities and towns where we serve, especially in our beloved hometown of Detroit, our bank will continue to cham-

pion causes supporting social justice in partnership with the community and ecumenical leaders. We will double down on our personal and purposeful engagement with our cities and neighborhoods, especially where peaceful protests were interrupted by agitators seeking unrest and destruction.

Corporations can and must play a leading role in eradicating bias and discrimination, along with racial and economic inequality. We proudly heeded the call of Mayor Mike Duggan to not only invest $5 million in Detroit’s neighborhoods but to partner with six other great corporations to do the same. Fifth Third Bank, Flagstar Bank, Huntington Bank, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Penske Corporation, and American Axle together donated more than $35 million to a fund that

supports the improvement of infrastructure, parks, business corridors and affordable housing initiatives with direct input from residents who live in the neighborhoods.

But it’s not enough. Our bank must and will do more. For all its exceptionalism, America is a nation founded on the Bill of Rights but is still plagued by what W.E.B. DuBois called “the color line.” As Rev. Anthony likes to remind me, “Every citizen has a stake in this reality.”

We accept this challenge in the name of George Floyd.

We accept this challenge in the name of Michael Brown.

We accept this challenge in the name of Amaud Arbery.

We accept this challenge in the name of Breonna Taylor.

We accept this challenge in the name of every victim of institutionalized racism. We

stand with you in the pursuit of justice.

Together, we will endeavor to consign the color line to the ash heap of history. For all its faults, America is a community of great people ever striving to be better — and to form a more perfect union. We will rise to the challenge together.

This letter, originally sent to TCF employees, led to a news conference last week with Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and nine leaders of the region’s biggest companies, focusing on how the business community can combat racism.

Gary Torgow is executive chairman of TCF Financial Corp. He is senior vice president of the Orthodox Union and the board president of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. Reprinted with permission from the Michigan Chronicle.

Now, more than ever, we’re here to help.

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business SPOTlight

Ready to Reopen Consultant provides advice to small business owners excited to get back to business.

JACKIE HEADAPOHL ASSOCIATE EDITOR

A

fter Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s June 1 announcement allowing most businesses to reopen, small business owners need to ensure that they are compliant with the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act that safeLindsay guards the health Sikora of employees and customers.

Many Jewish business owners are turning to Lindsay Sikora, owner and founder of Sikora Business Solutions, a consulting company aimed at providing business owners with the tools they need to succeed, including helping them create and implement a plan to reopen their businesses during this unprecedented time.

Sikora, a Hillel Day School alumna who attends services at Temple Shir Shalom, is also the owner and founder of Sikora Law Firm, where she specializes in insurance liability law, commercial litigation and business transactions.

She’s also co-owner, with her husband, of True Martial Arts in West Bloomfield.

“Business owners need to put a plan in place that provides for sick leave for employees who test positive for COVID-19 and a designated space where those who are exhibiting symptoms can isolate,” she said. “They also need to ensure they’re following CDC social distancing guide-

lines.” Guidelines include use of PPE and face coverings.

Sikora recommends business owners check out the OSHA website. “OSHA has a great set of guidelines that outline a 10-step process,” she said. “Business owners also need to familiarize themselves with the CARES Act to tailor their illness protocols and sick leave policies.

“Companies also need to have the new labor law poster visible where employees can see it,” she added.

She’s also counseling businesses to designate a “COVID director,” one person responsible for ensuring guidelines are being followed and people are kept safe.

Business owners could face liability if employees or customers fall ill with COVID-19, but those who follow all the guidelines and show due diligence in protecting the people on their premises are likely to be able to defend themselves effectively, Sikora said.

“Most business owners have been in survival mode, but now is the time to adapt,” she said. “There is so much more employers can do now to make lasting changes to improve their businesses.”

Sikora said that many of the business owners she’s been working with feel nervous and overwhelmed, “but most are excited to reopen, and as they educate their employees about changes that will help their businesses adapt and grow, that excitement is shining through.”

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Arts&Life

COURTESY OF DAN YESSIAN

documentary

Music Evokes Emotions from Armenian Genocide Album and documentary go digital.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

P Ohan Wilner

details The documentary An Armenian Trilogy is available on Amazon.

The three-movement classical composition, An Armenian Trilogy – Live in Yerevan, performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra, is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon. Further music availability details and background information can be found at armeniantrilogy.com.

Stewart Shevin

Dan Yessian

40 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

roducer-musician Ohad Wilner and film editor Stewart Shevin grew up in Jewish families never forgetting the Holocaust, but they had no knowledge of the Armenian Genocide perpetrated years earlier by the Turkish Ottoman Empire.

Their knowledge came as they worked on musical projects with first-generation Armenian-American Dan Yessian, and the two enthusiastically helped communicate long-denied atrocities with an award-winning film.

Milford resident Yessian generally immerses his business team in developing music for television shows, commercials, theme parks and game platforms through Yessian Music Inc., his music production company based in Farmington Hills with offices in New York, Los Angeles and Hamburg, Germany.

Among Yessian’s many clients are the Ford Motor Company, Disney and Intel. But he entered into personally meaningful projects following a request from a religious leader at the Southfield church he attends.

Yessian was asked to create music expressing emo-

tions associated with the 100th anniversary of the start of the atrocities in 1915, and the resulting symphony, “An Armenian Trilogy” as performed by the Armenian National Philharmonic Orchestra in 2017, became the center of a new documentary with the same title. The film chronicles Yessian’s journey from composing music for advertisements to writing his first classical composition in honor of the victims of the Armenian Genocide.

PRELUDE TO THE HOLOCAUST Wilner and Shevin readily associate the horrifying experiences of Armenians with the horrifying experiences of Jews, and Yessian agrees.

“The Armenians and the Jews went through a lot of the same things,” said the composer, who has also produced music for a fundraising project initiated by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

“And it’s not only Jews and Armenians through time. The story just goes on and on.”

The film, mostly via unscripted narration by Yessian, points out that in 1939, before invading Poland, Hitler expressed incentive for his horrific actions by suggesting no one remembered the Armenian Genocide so no one would likely remember their actions either. And indeed, it wasn’t until 2019 that the U.S. Senate and House voted to recognize the mass Armenian killings that lasted until 1922 as a genocide.

The film invites viewers into the Yessian home to see where the music was created and to listen to comments from Yessian’s wife, Kathy, as she recalls her husband’s work. Historic film footage from Armenia dramatizes the symphonic sounds.

CREATING THE TONE “This is the most serious [musical project] that I’ve done,” said Yessian, who works at a Steinway baby grand once owned by composer-performer Burt Bacharach. “It’s a complete, three-movement, classical piece.”

“The Freedom” presents the mood of the happier times before the atrocities began. “The Fear” delves into the dangers with galloping rhythms to represent soldiers on horseback leaning down to spear their victims. “The Faith” explores a

sense of religious doubts before moving into a sense of hope for the future.

“I’m an ear musician, and I don’t really read music,” Yessian said. “The music [results from] whatever I’m imagining, and I get help with the notation. What I couldn’t play on the piano [for this piece], I would sing for the notation.”

Wilner, whose mother, Niva Wilner, teaches Hebrew at Hillel Day School, described his work on An Armenian Trilogy as doing whatever it took to come up with the finished film, and that involved being on set to help with camera responsibilities or directing, working on the audio mix and writing copy.

“I did have some parts in the film as we overdubbed,” said Wilner, an essentially self-taught, multi-instrumentalist musician who had piano lessons as a youngster. “I do some layers of electric guitar during the second movement, which is supposed to be very angry and emotional.”

He said the inspirational nature of the film resonated with him: “It’s about a man who is a first-generation American finding his way with a passion for music and making a living doing what he loves.

“I’m a kindred spirit as a musician and first-generation American. My parents are Israeli. I think this movie can serve as an inspiration for those who are seeking success through their passion.”

Both Yessian and Wilner give credit for the film’s smoothness to Shevin, who has worked on projects for the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills.

“In working on this film, I was especially intrigued with the idea of someone looking for roots,” Shevin said. “It’s about what we all share and coming together.”

The film, shown at seven festivals, has received the Audience Choice Award at the Soo Film Festival in Sault St. Marie, the Best Score designation at the Northwest Ohio Historic Film Festival and the Exceptional Merit Award at the Docs Without Borders Film Festival.

“When this pandemic is over, I would like to have the musical piece flourish for live performance,” Yessian said. “Music gets to the heart.”

A still shot from the documentary

JUNE 11 • 2020

| 41

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NEW OR NEWISH OFFERINGS AND MORE The High Note is a big-budget film about the music industry that was supposed to open in theaters but was diverted to rental streaming due to COVID-19. High Note centers on an aging superstar diva (Tracee Ellis Ross, 47) and her ambitious assistant (Dakota Johnson). The NY Times review said that the plot was implausible, and Johnson was bland.

The Times did praise Ross, the music and many supporting actors.

Trailers have revealed how well Ross (Black-Ish), the daughter of Motown legend Diana Ross, can sing.

Tracee’s Jewish father is retired music manager Robert Ellis Silberstein, 73. In a 2015 interview, Tracee said that she grewup celebrating some Jewish and Christian holidays, but wasn’t raised in any faith. However, a highlight of her childhood, she said, was a trip to Israel with her parents. By the way, Tracee has never married and has no children.

The King of Staten Island also was diverted from theaters to video-on-demand (premieres June 12). Directed and co-written by Judd Apatow, 52, it stars Pete Davidson (SNL) in a semi-autobiographical role. He plays Scott, a mid-20s weed-smoking slacker who was traumatized by the death of his firefighter father on 9/11.

(In real life, Davidson was traumatized by the death of his firefighter father on 9/11. Pete’s

real father was of mostly Jewish ancestry. But he, and Pete, were raised Catholic.)

Scott is jolted out of his “slackdom” when his mom (Marisa Tomei) begins dating Ray, a firefighter whom Pete doesn’t like. The supporting cast includes Maude Apatow, 22, Judd’s daughter, as Claire, Scott’s sister; British actress Bel Powley, 28, as Kelsey, a childhood friend of Scott who secretly hooks up with him (Powley starred in the film Diary of a Teenage Girl); Pamela Adlon, 53, as Gina, Ray’s ex-wife; and Pauline Chalamet, 28, as Joanne (a small role). She is the sister of actor Timothée Chalamet, 24.

Pauline has starred in several American and French short films. Like her brother, she’s the daughter of a French Protestant father and American Jewish mother.

Both High Note and King cost $20 to stream for 48 hours. This seems to be the standard price for “biggie” brand-new films diverted to video-on-demand.

Also on June 12, the Hulu original anthology horror series Into the Dark premieres a new episode starring Judy Greer as a woman who gets an emotional support dog. Unknown to her, it kills anyone who causes her stress. Co-stars include Steven Guttenberg, 61. He had a great run of hits in the ’80s, including Police Academy and Cocoon.

Then he took five years off, and never got his “hit mojo” back again. But you can catch him in guest TV roles, including five episodes of The Goldbergs this past season.

On The Go virtual events | learnings

THE ARK

NEW LUXURY RANCH HOMES IN BLOOMFIELD HILLS

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.

FAMILY CONCERT 7:30 PM, JUNE 14 The Ark in Ann Artbor presents a family concert on its Facebook page; a Facebook account is not necessary to view.

This night it is Drew Nelson, storyteller, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist.

YIDDISH LITERATURE 7 PM, JUNE 16 Dr. Anita Norich of the English and Judaic Studies Dept. at University of Michigan will present, in a ZOOM webinar, “Holocaust in Yiddish Literature.” Register at events@holocaustcentrer.org.

ON-SITE TOURS AVAILABLE DAILY FURNISHED MODEL OPEN

SINGING OUT 8:30 PM, JUNE 16 A Virtual Pride Tour presented by the Ark in Ann Arbor. Featured: Mae and Crys Matthews (pictured above). $15. access bit.ly/tasot2020. Info: barb@theark.org.

ACCUSED OF TREASON 7 PM, JUNE 18 “The Story of David Tenenbaum” sponsored by the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan. A virtual gathering on Zoom. Dr. David Tenenbaum was a mechanical engineer at the TACOM base in Warren, Michigan, when, in 1997, he was falsely accused of being an Israeli spy. Cost: $10 for members and $18 for non-members. Register by 9 pm on Wednesday, June 17; instructions for joining the Zoom call will be sent the day before. info@ michjewishhistory.org.

Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant. Send items to calendar@ thejewishnews.com.

(248) 963-8913 Lahser Rd, South of Square Lake

ROBERTSONHOMES.COM JUNE 11 • 2020

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eats | drinks | sweets

Eating Out Will Feel Different Local restaurants prepare to reopen with new health guidelines.

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

T

he state’s dining and drinking scene has been in crisis since March 16. On that date, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s executive order ended indoor service at restaurants and bars throughout Michigan. She hoped reducing indoor crowding would slow the alarming spread of infections and death from COVID-19.

With the situation much improved in Michigan, the governor lifted her order as of Monday, June 8. Restaurants can reopen, but with new standards for cleanliness and sanitation. Look for facial masks, more paper menus, hand sanitizer and tables spaced 6 feet apart.

After implementing health precautions, one question still remains: Will customers return?

A sampling of restaurants was contacted.

Most recommend reservations.

BAR VERONA IN COMMERCE (248) 387-5400; barverona.com The new protocol permits only six or fewer to dine together. Multiple parties may not wait in the vestibule. Before starting their shift, team members have their temperatures taken outside the building. They must certify to not experiencing flu-like symptoms within the past 24 hours.

Staff involved with meal preparation go through extensive food handlers’ training for current certifications.

Guest contact areas are sanitized regularly. The newest UV light technology is used nightly for sanitation.

Contactless check payment is available.

BEVERLY HILLS GRILL IN BEVERLY HILLS (248) 642-2355; beverlyhillsgrill.com Proprietor Bill Roberts said Roberts Restaurant Group is slowly rolling out the reopening of its five restaurants

in the Birmingham/Bloomfield area, including Beverly Hills Grill. His Town Tavern in Royal Oak closed.

The Roberts team is finalizing plans based on the required health guidelines.

BUDDY’S PIZZA IN FARMINGTON HILLS (248) 855-4600; buddyspizza.com CEO Burton Heiss implemented the dine-in service changes. With dining rooms operating at 50 percent capacity, a text message confirms when a guest’s table becomes available. The hostess stand was relocated outside the main doors to eliminate crowded indoor waiting areas. Surfaces are sanitized every 20 minutes. Customers may accept a single-use paper menu or scan the bar code located on the table tent to access the menu electronically on their phone. Guests may request single-use plastic cutlery. Each location is professionally sanitized several times weekly. continued on page 46

44 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

IF IT’S AN EMERGENCY, DON’T WAIT. Beaumont continues to lead Michigan through the COVID-19 crisis, and we have taken extra steps to protect the safety of all our patients and caregivers.

When you have life-threatening symptoms, it’s important to seek care immediately. Call 911 or go to the emergency room if you experience: • wheezing, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing • chest pain • fainting or dizziness • sudden numbness or weakness • confusion or changes in mental status • sudden inability to speak, see, walk or move All patients who may have COVID-19 are treated in separate areas, so whatever your medical concern, you can feel confident coming to us for care.

beaumont.org/safe

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THE FLY TRAP IN FERNDALE (248) 399-5150; theflytrapferndale.com Reopened on June 9, social distancing is practiced between 8 a.m.-3 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.

DEAR WEST BLOOMFIELD COMMUNITY,

This is not how we thought we would be

Celebrating Our 25 th Anniversary of providing quality physical therapy for you and your loved ones, but we are grateful that we are still here to be of service to you.

We are open for in-person treatment (limited hours by appointment), and for Telehealth visits and consultations.

Come to the PT clinic physicians choose for their own care!

For questions or to schedule an appointment call Tammy (office manager) at 248.234.3768

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“For 40 years, Gallery Restaurant has served up masterpieces” ~ Danny Raskin

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Weekly Headlines Delivered to Your

FRESH

Weekly Headlines Delivered to Your Inbox. thejewishnews.com/newsletter 46 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

KRUSE & MUER ON WOODWARD IN ROYAL OAK (248) 965-2101; krusemuerrestaurants.com “It’s a challenging time, but we’re adapting as needed,” said Steve Nichols, director of K&M Operations. Every other table is available and bar stools are spaced 6 feet apart.

Plexiglas shields were installed at hostess stands and carryout counters.

NARA HIBACHI GRILLE IN WEST BLOOMFIELD (248) 325-9420; naragrille.com and PRIME29 STEAKHOUSE IN WEST BLOOMFIELD (248) 737-7463; prime29steakhouse.com Stoli Liti is operations manager and a partner at both restaurants on Maple Road.

Open since June 9, the team continuously sanitizes surfaces, including menus, to provide a safe environment. Before starting their shift, employees’ temperatures are taken, and they’re asked about their health. If someone had a sore throat or headache the day before, management decides about letting the person work.

Patios at both restaurants extend seating capacity.

PITA CAFÉ IN OAK PARK (248) 968-2225; thepitacafe.com Manager Ali Chahine offers only carry-out service.

Reopening is stressful, he said,

“because of the social distancing required. We don’t know how to wait on people from 6 feet away and wearing masks.”

SIEGEL’S DELI IN COMMERCE (248) 926-9555; siegelsdeli.com Co-owners Edison Vushaj and Elvis Vushaj have returned to operating 8 a.m.-9 p.m. daily.

The health guidelines are followed to make customers feel safer.

STEVEN LELLI INN ON THE GREEN IN FARMINGTON HILLS (248) 994-1111; lellisinn.com June 8 was opening day for owner Mark Zarkin. The spacious restaurant can “keep people a good distance from each other,” he said. Others sit on the open-air terrace.

Kitchen staff change gloves between orders.

THREE CATS IN CLAWSON (248) 900-CATS; threecatscafe Co-owner Chef Matt Prentice reopened for lunch on June 8.

With proper distancing, two dining spaces accommodate 36. Additional seating is on the patio. Customers must wear masks upon entry unless there’s a good reason. Once seated, masks can be removed.

UPTOWN GRILLE IN COMMERCE TOWNSHIP (248) 960-3344; uptowngrille.com Without details, reopening day was scheduled for June 8.

VAL’S DELICATESSEN IN WEST BLOOMFIELD (248) 973-8037; valsdeli.com The deli seats guests at booths and every other table. The health guidelines are followed.

the exchange community bulletin board | professional services

NCJW Essay Contest Winners National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan Jewish Youth Awards is an annual scholarship program for high school seniors. Applicants are judged on a written essay, their leadership, and community service in the secular and/or Jewish communities. This year’s essay topic was “What experience or person has had the greatest impact on your Jewish identity?”

Eight finalists were awarded scholarships this year: Elisha Cooper, firstplace award $2,500; Jessica Goldberg, second-place award $1,200; David Honig and Benny Shaevsky, third- and fourth-place winners, $500; Emma Dwoskin, Ellie Friedman, Darby Krugel and Hannah Stryk, honorable mentions, $200.

This year’s judges were Ron Elkus, Lisa Cutler and Barbara Hillman.

The Jewish Youth Awards are made possible by the generosity of the Dina and Herman (z’l) Brodsky NCJW | MI Jewish Youth Awards Fund, and Nathan (z’l) and Esther (z’l) Katz NCJW | MI Jewish Youth Awards Fund.

Support Men’s Health Michael Lutz, M.D., president of the MIU Men’s Health Foundation is urging people to participate in fundraisers for the annual Men’s Health Event this fall in Detroit, which provides free health screenings for up to 2,000 men.

Community members are encouraged to wear blue on Monday, June 15, in support of the MIU Men’s Health Foundation’s “Blue Monday” initiative, which helps kick off International Men’s Health Week June 15-21.

Fundraisers to be held that week include the Cogs & Kegs Virtual Cycling Challenge, which runs throughout the month of June, and the foundation’s major fundraiser Run for the Ribbon 5K. Both events have gone virtual due to the pandemic.

To find out more, visit cogsandkegs. org and miurunfortheribbon.org.

For information regarding advertising please call 248-351-5116 Deadline for ad insertion is 10am on Friday prior to publication.

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the exchange community bulletin board | professional services

For information regarding advertising please call 248-351-5116 Deadline for ad insertion is 10am on Friday prior to publication.

**COVID-19 Exempt — Services Still Available**

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HEALTHCARE A1A CAREGIVER/COMPANION. Experienced, excellent references. 248-991-4944 Exp West Bloomfield Resident Caregiver. FT/PT with excellent reference. Mildred (248) 212-6173 Care Giver Mon-Fri. References available, 20+ yrs exp. Call 248-752-1782 Always Show’ guarantee.

Experienced, mature and caring individual available for hourly or live-in position.

Contact Amy 248-444-3353.

TRANSPORTATION Luxury Airport Transportation friendly-reliable Howard 248-345-8709

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Renee (248) 991-4944 SERVICES AAA Cleaning Service.

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Located on 12 mile in Novi$3000 for both. Perpetual care included 248.723.2667 STUDENTS Exp. math teacher available for tutoring. All levels, elementarycollege.248-219-3180 AUTOS- DOMESTIC/ IMPORTS CASH FOR VEHICLES any make or model CDC COMPLIANT Call Barry 248-865-2886

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Soul

of blessed memory

BILL 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 and sister-in-law, Henry and Janice 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.

BEATRICE “BEA” TILLIE FREUD, 94, of Southfield, died May 7, 2020.

Bea was a loving and affectionate mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. She was good-natured and always caring, sociable and chatty.

Deeply devoted to her family and a large circle of friends and neighbors, Bea liked nothing better than spending cherished times with them. She enjoyed entertaining and hosting dinners and gatherings at her home, celebrating holidays and special occasions with family and friends, and cruising the Caribbean with her granddaughter Dawn. She adored her children, daughter-in-law, grandchildren and

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continued on page 50 JUNE 11 • 2020

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Soul

of blessed memory continued from page 49

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22 Sivan June 14, 2020 Jacob Surowitz 27 Sivan June 19, 2020 Charles Usher Blanche Engel Mollie Alpert Asher Wainer Sophie Gook Ruth Alter Jacob Horowitz 25 Sivan June 17, 2020 Sadie Aronowitz Mollie Hubert Max Blotner Morris H Berris Golda Klayn Charles Cohen Isadore Diamond Celia Miedzwinski Jacob Faigenbaum Sarah Feigelman Albert Pritz Dora Halpert Dora Greenstein Edith Cohen Schwartz Jacob W. Henock Jonas Hakimi Jacob B. Shlain Joachim Koenigsberg Margaret Mandel Israel Stillerman Leon Kohn Edith Poss Theodore Weiss Clara Levy Marilyn Schane Harold J Sansky 6LYDQ -XQH Harry Wishnia Joseph Scheiner Ida M Wrotslavsky Bertha Cossman Shirley Shoenig Isadore Glattstein 26 Sivan June 18, 2020 Benjamin Steele Max Kozlowski Morrey Bittke Shellie Stoffer Sidney Lorfel Soura Doubinskaia Harry Maltz 28 Sivan June 20, 2020 Benjamin Glick Shmuel Rutzimring Feige Ackerman Leo Gruenebaum Morris Stoller Esther Anna Moskowitz Zelda Blackman Eric Weiss Morris Goldman Chana Nusbaum Elizabeth Welkovicz Pearl Goldman George Shore Yeshayah Kerzner 24 Sivan June 16, 2020 Ella Silber Sarah Portnoy Bella Unrot Dora Kraus Sally Shorr Deborah Vernick Moritz Miedzwinski Shirley Skolnick School for Boys â&#x20AC;˘ Beth Jacob School for Girls â&#x20AC;˘ Bais Yehudah Preschool Weiss Family Partners Detroit â&#x20AC;˘ Kollel Bais Yehudah â&#x20AC;˘ Maalot Detroit P.O. Box 2044 â&#x20AC;˘ 6RXWKoHOG 0, â&#x20AC;˘ 248-557-6750 â&#x20AC;˘ www.YBY.org

50 |

JUNE 11 â&#x20AC;˘ 2020

great-grandchildren, brothers, sisters-in-law, nieces and nephews; she delighted in visits and outings with them.

Bea was a true devotee of the mah jong game and gin rummy.

At 94, she was still mastering the games and getting together with her friends to play and socialize several days a week.

Always loving and caring, Bea will be missed by her beloved family and many dear friends.

Mrs. Freud is survived by her beloved sons, Jay, Michael (Gloria) and Albert Freud; grandchildren, Erica (Freud) Michaels, and Dawn, Paul and Leslie Freud; great-grandchildren, Reilly, Kaden and Zethen Michaels, and Sarah and Austin Freud; brothers and sisters-inlaw, William â&#x20AC;&#x153;Billyâ&#x20AC;? and Audrey Fine, and Eugene â&#x20AC;&#x153;Geneâ&#x20AC;? and Reinart Gelzayd; many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Raymond and Esther (Pittler) Fine of Detroit; her brothers and sisters-inlaw, Jerome and Eleanor Fine, Norton and Roslyn Fine; her sister, Anna Fine.

Contributions may be made to Jewish Vocational Services, 29699 Southfield, Southfield, MI 48076. A graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

EVELYN LILLY GERSH, 99, of Florida and Mt. Clemens, died May 29, 2020.

She was a lifelong member of Congregation Beth Tephilath Moses.

Mrs. Gersh is survived by her husband of 77 years, Sidney Gersh; son and daughter-in-

law, Joe Gersh and Sue Drook of Chico, Calif.; daughter and son-in-law, Eileen and Aaron Stein of Potomac, Md.; sister, Gladys Stark; grandchildren, Liz and Gal Feinstein, Rebecca and Ian Hantman, Zachary Gersh, Dylan Gersh and Monica Love; great-grandchildren, Aviva Feinstein, Ruby Feinstein, David Feinstein, Tyler Hantman.

She was the dear sister of the late Fred Fink and the late Bernard Fink.

Contributions may be made to a charity of oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s choice.

Graveside service was held at Beth Tephilath Moses Cemetery in Mt. Clemens. Arrangements

by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

MARTIN SCOT KOSINS, 73, died May 18, 2020.

Martin was born Jan. 9, 1947, in Detroit to Ben and Anne Kosins. Ben operated a popular menâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s clothing store for many years.

Martin graduated from Mumford High School in 1964 and he formed his first professional group, the Martin-David Orchestra, playing mostly weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Martin went on to study music at Wayne State University, earning a B.A. in education and a masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s degree in secondary music education and composing a piece that was performed by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.

He was briefly married to and divorced from Linda Katz.

Martin lived mostly alone and acquired a group of devoted friends. At some point, on the advice of a numerologist, he added the middle name of Scot.

In the early â&#x20AC;&#x2122;90s, Martin lost a true friend, his beloved dog,

Maya. He was moved to write Mayaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s First Rose, a memoir. He and illustrator Howard Fridson published it to local kudos. The book hit No. 1 on the Free Press best seller list. Random House purchased the rights and released it under their Villard imprint.

Martin appeared on many TV and radio shows, including Sally Jessy Raphael, a national talk show, and was featured in a People Magazine article.

Mr. Kosins is survived by his sister and brother-in-law, Laurie and Sheldon Weintrob; their children, Sari (Steven) Rosenberg, Eric Weintrob; great-niece, Anna Isabelle; lifelong friends, Morry and Susan Greener, Mr. Fridson and his wife, Cathy, Danny Dallas, Mike and Diana Pintar, Christine Piereson, Jan Goldstein Wanetick, Jim and Sue Klunk, Bob Beskangy and Rebecca Meisner; Ester Glover and the amazing staff at Addington Place in Northville.

Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Humane Society of Michigan, 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025, michiganhumane.org.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

IRVING WILLIAM â&#x20AC;&#x153;BILLYâ&#x20AC;?

OBERFELDER, 95, of Birmingham, died May 29, 2020.

He is survived by his wife of 70 years, Margie Oberfelder; daughters and sonsin-law, Beth Aviv and David Angerman, Jody Oberfelder and Juergen Riehm, and Lori and Dr. Mark Siegel; grandchildren, Sari Aviv and Chris Strathman, Rachel Aviv and Alex Proven, Zachary and Diana Stuart, Alexandra and Ryan Mollen, Yana and Melik Riehm, Jasper and Misha Riehm, Carli and Sasha Gribov, Alisha Siegel and

Dana Siegel; great-grandchildren, Rafael and Sonia Proven, Colby Strathman, Arista and Avi Stuart, Brody and Liv Mollen, and Asher and Noa Gribov.

Mr. Oberfelder was the devoted son of the late Irving T. and the late Susie Oberfelder.

Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Hospice of Michigan, 43097 Woodward Ave., Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302, hom.org/donations; or Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, 24359 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 125, Southfield, MI 48075, jdrf.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

DR. HARRY SHECTER, 92, of Farmington Hills, died June 2, 2020.

He is survived by his children, Mark (Concepcion) Shecter, Jacqueline Shecter-Leitson (Marc Leitson) and Pamela Shecter; grandchildren, Jessica Trotter

(Justin), Erica Staege (Aron), Jordan Leitson, Harper Shecter (Maddie) and Nikki Bowen; great-grandchidren, Jace, Jet, Juliet and Finn; many other loving family members and friends.

Dr. Shecter was the beloved husband of the late Felice Shecter; brother of the late Rosalind Wayne.

Interment was held at Adat Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia. Contributions may be made to the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy Network.

Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

ELAINE R. SOLLER, Psy.D., 86, of West Bloomfield, died May 30, 2020.

She was born in Philadelphia in 1934; at a young age, she and her family moved to Detroit and built a home on Cherrylawn. As a teen, she was thrilled to attend continued on page 52

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Soul

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Cass Tech (not minding the multiple buses to get there). She took classes in art history, fashion illustration, etc. She played the violin, the piano and cello, always having a joy of classical music.

After getting married and having three children, moving to Southfield and getting the kids in school, she returned to school for clinical psychology at Wayne.

Before completing her doctorate, she moved to Boca Raton, Fla., and finished her degree. Coming back home to Southfield, she built a thriving practice.

Elaine then decided to build a home in Ann Arbor, where she continued her practice for the next 20 years. Wanting to be closer to her children, she later moved to West Bloomfield. In every home, she had an art studio, where she continued her oil

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JUNE 11 • 2020

painting, mostly abstract oil on canvas.

Dr. Soller was known for her warm bright smile, appreciation of the beauty in the world, acceptance of people for who they are, being someone who was easy to talk to and, of course, her red sports car. She will be missed.

She is survived by her children, Marc and Cathy Soller, Daniel Soller and Jay Ostahowski, and Cheryl and Terry Petz; grandchildren, Kaylin and Brady Slage, Eric Soller, Kyle Johnson, Ben Johnson, and Shawna and Shawn Ansley; great-grandchildren, Griffin and Azaleah Ansley.

Dr. Soller was the devoted daughter of the late Anne R. and the late Samuel Klein; the loving sister of the late Robert Klein.

There will be a memorial service scheduled at a later date.

Contributions may be made to American Cancer Society, 20450 Civic Center Drive, Southfield, MI 48076, cancer.org; or American Heart Association, 2777 Franklin Road, Suite 1150, Southfield, MI 48034, heart.org.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

SHELDON ZAGER, 80, of Northville, died June 3, 2020.

He is lovingly remembered by his daughter and son-in-law, Lisa and Brad McDougall; granddaughters, Hannah and Linsie McDougall; son, Steve Zager; granddaughters, Hillary and Sari Zager.

Interment was at Beth Ahm Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the Parkinson’s Research Foundation, 5969 Cattleridge Blvd., Suite 100, Sarasota, FL

34232, parkinsonhope.org/ contact. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

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

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

Raskin PHOTOS VIA GIOVANNI’S FACEBOOK

the best of everything

Detroit’s Italian Gem Giovanni’s Ristorante celebrates its 52nd year.

M

uch has been written about an Italian restaurant that has weathered many years in becoming an institution of such culinary goodness as Giovanni’s Ristorante, now honoring its 52nd year anniversary.

That it is many times considered as one of the finest Italian dining Danny Raskin eateries of all Senior Columnist such ethnic institutions is a credit to its goodness in numerous references as a hidden gem.

Located on South Oakwood, between Fort and Schaefer in Detroit, it continues to receive wonderful accolades in true authentic Italian dining ... So much so that persons of show business and other worldFrances Truant wide repute

have made it a must-stop when opened again in this area.

Signature dishes like the 17 layer lasagna, Veal Saltimbocca, Scampi Giovanni, etc., are true delights in the mingle of dishes seldom, if ever, seen at other Italian eateries ... Braciole di Manzo, Veal ala Giovanni, Pollo ala Trentina, etc., etc., in their own goodness delights.

Giovanni’s makes its own cream puffs, tiramisu, chocolate tortes, lemon cake, cannolis, cheesecake, bread pudding and even seasonal desserts ... as the walls seem to speak with old pictures of family members and numerous celebrities of show business among others ... Including the room named after the late Frank Sinatra who made Giovanni’s a must-go-to place whenever in this region ... The main dining room is probably the best place to people watch ... There is also the Godfather Room with its fireplace, the Wine Room of handcrafted wrought iron from

Italy and the private Speak Easy Room in back of the restaurant for celebrities and executive and others wanting to hide away.

Giovanni’s seats 125 with four stools at the bar ... Its hours (once reopened) are Tuesdays through Thursdays 11 a.m.- 9 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.-10 p.m. and Saturday 4-10 p.m. …

Carry-out is currently available.

Truly authentic Italian dining is a distinct dining dream ... and in the gracious and excellent hands of owners Frances and Randy Truant, it is the magnificent Italian restaurant that culinary lovers look for ... and are so delighted to visit.

MAIL DEPT. … From Evelyn Menser ... “I am thrilled about Joe Vicari opening a new restaurant in Detroit where my husband now works, but certainly am pretty sure that they must come and go. How many of the 21 places he has are still in business?”

(All of them, Evelyn, 20 in

Michigan and one in Las Vegas.

No. 22 will be the Statler Bistro next year in the former Statler Hotel in Detroit.)

OLDIE BUT GOODIE … Two religious Chasidic young men wearing yarmulkes are riding a motorcycle and stopped by a bigoted cop after a long ride.

Frustrated, the cop says, “I’ve been following you for a long time and watching to see if you do anything to break the law, but you seem to be perfect.

How do you do it?”

One of them replies, “HaShem is with us.”

“That’s it!” exclaims the policeman. Three people on a motorcycle!”

CONGRATS … To Michael Layne on his birthday ... To Dr. Joel Kahn on his birthday ... To Linda Nudell on her birthday ...

To Sharon Green on her birthday.

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

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JUNE 11 • 2020

| 53

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

The Jewish Automaker You Never Heard Of

C

ar dealerships have reopened in Michigan as we recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Although it will be a different experience now, we can resume a 120-year-old, great American pastime — shopping for new cars.

Speaking of car shopping, on a cruise through the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History, I ran across an interesting article in the Nov. 4, 1921, issue of the Detroit Mike Smith Jewish Chronicle: “F. L. Alene and Graham Landau Klingensmith Starts Making of Archivist Chair Low-Priced Cars.”

Klingensmith was the president of the newly formed Gray Motor Corporation. The company and the cars they made were named after the first president of Ford Motor Company, John S. Gray, who had died in 1906. His name was first attached to a firm that made boat engines, the Gray Motor Company, which was the Gray Motor Corporation’s ancestor.

Don’t feel badly if you never heard of a Gray. They were only manufactured for five years, 1921-1926, and never in large numbers.

By the time the Gray Motor Corporation was launched in 1920, the automobile manufacturing market was crowded and highly competitive. Hundreds of companies in Michigan and thousands in America attempted to mass-produce automobiles during the first two decades of the 20th century; only a few were successful.

In southeast Michigan alone, Ford Motor Company, General Motors — the umbrella corporation for Buick, Oakland (later renamed Pontiac), Oldsmobile, Cadillac, Chevrolet and GMC Trucks — and the Dodge Brothers, all produced thousands of cars. Along with these carmakers, there were smaller companies such as Packard, Hudson, Huppmobile, Maxwell, among others. Chrysler Corporation began its operations in 1924.

54 |

JUNE 11 • 2020

Klingensmith was the former vice president, treasurer and member of the board of directors of Ford. A highly regarded executive, he has been given credit for handling Ford’s rd’s strategy of placing a network of facactories around the country to make ke parts and assemble cars. His chieff partner at Gray was former Packard ard Motor Car Company vice president ent Frank F. Beall.

It is also interesting to note that, t, during this era when anti-Semitism was widespread, both Ford Motor Company and General Motors (GM) had Jewish treasurers. Meyer Prentis held that officee at GM from 1919-1951.

Gray automobiles were built at a factory on Mack Avenue in Detroit, near the railroad terminal. The first Grays were priced below $500, in the same price eatured range as Ford’s Model T’s. They featured h steel bodies and self-starters. A Gray with an enclosed body, a sedan, cost a bit more.

The Gray was also a very economical car. r.

In 1922, a Gray set a new transcontinental p record when it averaged 33.8 mpg on a trip from California to New York.

Although the owners projected the Grayy n Motor Corporation to ramp-up production to 250,000 vehicles a year, the car was never made in large enough numbers to achieve financial success. Klingensmith resigned as president in 1925, just before the Gray Motor Corporation’s collapse in the summer of 1926.

By the way, another automobile company from this early era was founded by a Jewish inventor/entrepreneur, Max Grabowsky.

Unlike Klingensmith, however, his company was a great success. Established in 1902 as the Rapid Motor Vehicle Company, we know it today as GMC Trucks.

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

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