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in Midtown Pistons’ Jewish execs are doing what they can to improve the team and earn a championship. See page 12
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contents COMMUN S' MIC HIG AN JEW ISH NEW
ITY
BUS INE SS
Aug. 27-Sept. 2, 2020/ 7-13 Elul 5780| VOLUME CLVIII, ISSUE 4
DIR ECTORY
EDUCATION
FAMILY FUN
BUILDERS
camps
BEAUTY
INTERIOR DESIGN
restaurants JUDAICA
photography REAL ESTATE
JEWELRY
ORTHODONTISTS
Views
Moments
5-11
30 Moments
Jews in the D
Spirit
Making Moves in Midtown
Torah portion
12 Pistons’ Jewish execs are out to improve the team and earn a championship.
32
Gap Years Press On, Despite Pandemic
333 29
16 Recent high school grads from Metro Detroit are excited to spend a year in Israel, even if their programs will look different from usual.
33
Arts&Life Digital Dance Discussion
Susannah Heschel on “Racism and the Jews”
45 Former Metro Detroiters to discuss the art of dancing in JCC program.
18 The Zoom event aims to explore the connectedness of racism and antisemitism.
‘Lonesome’ Dove 46 Ethan Davidson’s new album examines solitude and introspection.
Michigan State Legislature Approves Plan for Schools
47
Community Directory
19 Plan allows for flexibility, local control.
Portraits in Glass
It Takes a Village
47 Artist Michele Sider has created a series focused on the Jews of Yemen.
20 With many schools starting online, some families are turning to pod learning.
Celebrity Jews 48
Jackie Robinson and the Jews 22 The celebrated baseball player was a vocal opponent to antisemitism.
49
This Nurse Delivers … In More Ways Than One
Health
26 Former West Bloomfielder ensures those in the hospital can still vote.
50 Israeli imaging company teams with Sheba Medical Center to develop fast-tracing COVID test.
Grocery Workers Are Essential, Too
Fast-Track Testing
28
Going Home Again
Tackling Tough Topics
52 Jewish surgical oncologist fulfills his dream of aliyah, securing new job.
22 Podcast FedRadioDetroit aims to share standout stories in the Jewish community.
Etc.
Eretz The Abraham Accord Between Israel and the UAE 24 Curb your enthusiasm.
50
Online Events
The Exchange Soul Danny Raskin Looking Back
Shabbat Lights
On the cover:
Shabbat starts: Friday, Aug. 28, 7:54 p.m. Shabbat ends: Saturday, Aug. 29, 8:55 p.m.
Cover photo: Josh Bartelstein and David Mincberg /Photo by Jerry Zolynsky Cover design: Michelle Sheridan
* Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar.
53 55 61 62
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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. AUGUST 27 • 2020
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Views for openers
Men at Work ROCHEL BURSTYN
A
few years ago, when my friend Shayna was going on a cruise, she asked me what kind of souvenir she should get for me. I jokingly told her to just take lots of pictures of all those dashing men in uniform. So, Shayna spent her entire trip texting me pics of construction workers in their orange jackets. Not exactly what I had in mind! Rochel Although I’ve got to Burstyn admit, there’s nothing like construction. If you’ve got little ones, you know construction can be thrilling. A site to behold. Loud noises! Big wheels! Best excitement ever! For the last few months, we’ve had construction on our street. I wouldn’t have a clue what they’re doing, but the neighborhood kids love it. All those big trucks and that bone-rattling drilling right outside your bedroom window at 7 a.m. Those piles of rocks and sand that the kids happily scale when the workers are gone for the day. Pulling out of the driveway has become a whole drama. Then you reach the end of the street and you’ve got to wait while the big trucks move the rocks from one side of the street to the next (or whatever they’re doing) while the drivers studiously ignore you for a full 10 minutes.
By now we know to park on a different street … which is totally fine until we go grocery shopping. Then there you are carrying bulging grocery bags in each hand and praying you won’t drop the eggs as you walk carefully, carefully home on the sandy sidewalk. Because yes, every outdoor item is covered with a thick layer of sand and dust from the construction. The bikes. Stroller. Even the mailbox. I hope this is not what’s happening to our lungs. We always talk about taking the car for a car wash, but what a waste of time and money! It will just take one drive home to look like we’re returning from racing across sand dunes. Its’s kind of like shoveling while it’s still snowing. Why bother? But there are some perks to the construction. One is the huge cloud of dust that goes swirling with every single car that drives by. It makes such a statement. A few weeks ago, it was my daughter’s 17th birthday, so I decided to make her a surprise drive-by socially distanced birthday party. The surprise part didn’t work at all —
apparently 6-year-olds aren’t the greatest secret keepers. My little one told her sister, “Whatever you do, don’t look in Mommy’s bedroom!” which of course made the birthday girl have a peek and that’s when she saw her secret birthday balloons. My 6-year-old tried to look on the bright side and said, “At least you don’t know about the surprise party!” Oh well! We gave the birthday girl Italian ices to hand out and pretty soon, cars came honking up our street in this massive cloud of dust, which I must say really added to the drama and suspense of who was coming next. And every single person who came asked: “What on earth are they doing to your street?” So it turns out construction is also a great conversation starter. It’s also a fantastic photo op. It’s not like we’re going to be driving through the desert or climbing Mt. Everest any time soon, so we might as well make do with what we have in our own backyard. And if some dashing men in uniform get in the pics, all the better.
only sporadically as children, have a minimal understanding of Hebrew and view the synagogue service as a largely meaningless alien experience. Their families never gave them positive, feel-good synagogue experiences, so it is not surprising they have no interest in going. On top of that, young Jewish adults today have less of a need to affiliate Jewishly than their parents and grandparents. Some young adults affiliate to join the synagogue their parents belong to. That is not the case with my synagogue,
B’nai Israel, because the vast majority of our second generation have moved to Chicago or Washington, D.C. I believe the best way to attract anyone to a synagogue initially is through social contact. They will attend because their friends attend or because their children will have the opportunity to play together. That is why a good synagogue-affiliated preschool can be an excellent feeder to synagogue membership. Of course, the social activities must be something of interest to the 20-40-year-olds.
letters
The Future of Shul On Aug. 13, the Jewish News ran a cover story on the future of shul, discussing declining synagogue membership among younger Jews. We asked the community for feedback. Here to kick us off is Rabbi Mitch Parker of the Conservative B’nai Israel Synagogue of West Bloomfield. Appreciating attendance at a traditional synagogue service is an acquired taste. The vast majority of young adults whose parents belonged to Conservative or Reform Synagogues attended synagogues
continued on page 6 AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Views Editor’s Note
LETTERS continued from page 5
The JN And the Post Office
T
his month the Jewish News reached a digital milestone, as the publication passed 1 million pageviews in a single calendar year for the first time (with four months to go). This is a great accomplishment for our team, as it signals we have found a tremendous local and worldwide Andrew Lapin audience for Editor our Metro Detroit Jewish community. But the heart and soul of our work as a community publication remains, as it has for the last 78 years, in our weekly print magazine. And now the timely delivery of that magazine is in jeopardy. You may have heard by now about drastic cutbacks under way at the U.S. Postal Service. Under a new Postmaster General, the USPS has recently begun heavy restructuring and consolidation, cutting back or ending many of its practices that had previously ensured on-time deliveries and efficient mail sorting. On Aug. 12, President Trump confirmed in a TV interview that he was deliberately seeking to underfund the agency in order to sabotage mail-in voting this November. One side effect of this attack on the USPS is that every other kind of mail is impacted, too. This has already led to severe mail delays in some parts of the country. Left unchecked, it
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
will find its way to our neck of the woods. To some degree, it already has. After decades of your JN delivery arriving, (mostly) like clockwork, in your mailboxes every Thursday or Friday, COVID-19-related cutbacks and service interruptions at Detroit-area postal hubs have resulted in many delivery delays to our loyal readers over the last few months. Many of you, especially those in the Oak Park region, have already been feeling these effects. Readers often assume these delays are solely the fault of the JN; they are not. Our fate is solely in the post office’s hands. A poorly funded and ill-prepared mail system will not be able to ensure prompt delivery of our print product. In order to safeguard the JN’s identity as a print publication, we need a well-funded and properly functioning Post Office. It is essential to
our mission. Although the new postmaster general announced last week that he would “delay operational changes until after the election,” that promise is not enough. The USPS is currently being attacked for partisan reasons, and that, in turn, jeopardizes our democratic process. Its misfortune is ours, too — and that of the many other businesses, large and small, which rely on prompt, timely mail delivery to reach their customer base. No matter your politics, if you wish to continue receiving the JN in your mailbox every week without having to pay an exorbitant delivery fee, you should demand the survival of the USPS, too. It is a key link in our production and distribution system that helps assure the JN’s print subscribers will continue to receive us for many years to come.
Maybe initially the activities could be offsite. As Rabbi Dan Horwitz told me a number of times, trying to attract young members to a synagogue in West Bloomfield when most of them live in the city or the first ring of suburbs will not work. They do not want to travel. Someone should think of opening a synagogue in Ferndale. We are looking for a new rabbi. Our hope is to hire someone who is the age of the target population, who has contact with potential members through Federation activities or preschools who could say “Why don’t you come to my place one Shabbat/Saturday morning? We could schmooze over lunch and our kids could play with your kids. Services start at 9, but feel free to come whenever you want.” B’nai Israel is a bit of a boutique synagogue. At this point, we run very traditional services. Our target population is even more limited than some of the other Conservative synagogues in town. We would love to have people who were interested in living close to the shul, possible within walking distance, who are comfortable with and appreciate a full service, mostly in Hebrew that lasts from 9-12 and has a solid study component each week. There are lots of people like that in Chicago, DC, NYC and LA. — Rabbi Mitch Parker B’nai Israel Synagogue of West Bloomfield continued on page 10
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Views guest column
Protecting Postal Services Is a Mitzvah
A
merican Jewish communities must act now to protect democracy and voting rights. Protect the United States Postal Services (USPS). It is a mitzvah. It is the single-most important thing we need to Rabbi do during the Matthew countdown to Kaufman, Nov. 3. Ph.D. It is currently being gutted, and if it cannot function properly, then the democratic process that undergirds the American way of life fails. Jewish ethics and Talmudic teachings call out to us to take action. The famous maxim of Hillel, “Do not separate yourself from the community,” reminds us of the importance of supporting the health of society (Pirkei Avot 2:4). The Talmudic sages make this point explicit. This maxim, they explain, teaches that when the community is suffering, you have an obligation to support it (Ta’anit 11a). The deliberate
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
sabotage of the USPS is causing a unique suffering. At the same time, we are mindful of the consequences of living during this modern plague of COVID-19. We understand that we have an obligation to save ourselves and protect others through social distancing. This, too, is recognized by the Talmudic sages, who proclaim the importance of isolation from the community during a time of plague (Bava Kamma 60b). The option to vote by mail was supposed to relieve the tension in these contradictory claims made upon us — to both separate and not separate ourselves from the community. Through the USPS, we can do both. We can fulfill our obligation to maintain our society’s health by voting while simultaneously preserving the health and safety of ourselves and our fellow human beings. The one pathway open to us that would allow us to fulfill our ethical obligations to ourselves, our neighbor, and our democratic republic is severely constricted. 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 Contributing Writers: Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne Chessler, Irwin Cohen, Adam Finkel, Louis Finkelman, Maya Goldman, Judy Greenwald, Elizabeth Katz, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, 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.
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Without the postal service, people will be forced to choose between safeguarding their health or safeguarding democracy. This is an untenable and unnecessary burden. The ongoing dismantling of the U.S. Postal Services must be vigorously opposed. It is a Jewish ethical obligation. Time is running short. We must support advocacy groups like the League of Women Voters. Demand that
your representatives and senators take action now to protect the USPS. Press your representative to hold Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and the USPS board of governors accountable. Find out what you can do locally to help people get their absentee ballots to their clerk’s offices. And get started now. Matthew Kaufman, Ph.D. is the rabbi of Congregation Kehillat Israel in Lansing.
Greenberg’s View
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Views guest column
Teaching Resiliency
I
’ve been (mainly) sitting on the sidelines watching the rhetoric about plans for school this fall unfold and have decided it’s time to speak up and put my own personal stake in the ground. I urge parents to consider an Karen Gold attitude change Stillman on this topic and seize the opportunity to be a role model for our children in this incredible teaching moment— rather than spinning in constant negativity, frustration and opposition. I believe the leaders of our schools and districts are doing their best to consider the safety of all in their decisions amidst ever-changing guidance from the Board of Education, Centers for Disease Control and other expert sources. There is no great option right now — not for families, students, teachers or adminis-
trators. Personally, I’m relieved my district (in Illinois, where I live) has made the decision to start the year with fully remote learning out of an abundance of caution for everyone’s well-being. I am frankly disturbed and disappointed by the outcry of parents — who live in affluent areas, not low-income communities — who claim their kids are going to be so heavily disadvantaged by not attending school in person this fall and who are ranting and lobbying to get their kids back in the classroom full time. Of course, that is what we all want — when it can be done safely. I ask you to consider these points: • In other generations, parents sent their teenage students off to war. Many were killed; many came home wounded or traumatized. In comparison, being asked to attend school via virtual instruction hardly seems like a hardship. • What if, instead of worry-
ing about the lack of social and peer interaction and missed school activities (or even a weaker academic experience), you took this moment to teach your children the important life lessons of resilience, positivity and development of new skills that include self-initiative, self-organization, adaptability and the emotional growth that comes from controlling one’s own ability to see a “disappointing reality” through a different lens? • It may not be the exact education you were hoping for this fall, but it’s one that will certainly build any child’s skills to be successful in college and in life — and something that simply can’t be taught in a classroom. Yes, that takes some hands-on time and dedication from us as parents; but that’s what parenting is — it’s modeling positive behaviors for our kids and teaching them how to face and navigate life’s challenges. It’s exactly what we should always be teaching
them “outside the classroom.” • I would like to see parents not only focus on this teaching moment for their kids but to further model this resilient behavior themselves by redirecting their own energies to helping to make the e-learning/remote school reality the best it can be for our students and communities. There is so much power in what these parents can do if they use their influence, creativity and commitment to developing innovative ways to make this experience the best it can be for all involved instead of fighting against it. Their kids will all learn a thing or two watching them turn lemons into lemonades by being a part of the solution vs. the opposition. I speak from personal experience and as a single mom who has to juggle a demanding career with providing full-time childcare and housekeeping during this pandemic. I also have a kid on a 504 plan,
people who say Kaddish for their loved ones are able to continue doing so. On the Friday night service, there is always a guest who delivers the customary dvar Torah just like before the coronavirus, among them the editor of the Detroit Jewish News who was warmly welcomed by the congregation. Aside from the regular daily services, there is a wide array of most interesting
classes in Judaism in which many congregants partake. Also, being a Conservative congregation where a considerable number keep Shabbat, including the rabbi, special arrangements are made so people are able to access the link before the onset of Shabbat on Friday. At this point, nothing is clear, and it is hard to predict as far as the future of our shuls. Yet, it seems to me that
the interest of things Jewish increased significantly since the scourge of the virus. Let us hope that it will continue. I tend to believe that it will. Which reminds me of a Hebrew adage rooted in the Bible: Me’az yatzah matok, meaning: from a bad thing came a good one.
LETTERS continued from page 6
Kudos to Area Synagogues Kol hakavod to the leaders of our Metro Detroit synagogues for their incredible efforts on behalf of their congregations. In our relatively small West Bloomfield Bnai Israel synagogue, our rabbi, Mitch Parker, makes sure that there are daily morning and early evening zoom minyanim so
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
— Rachel Kapen West Bloomfield
Contact Us so I’m sensitive to the needs of students who especially struggle with the challenges of e-learning. My kids are weathering this pandemic beautifully and making lemonade out of lemons at every turn. They missed having a bat mitzvah, going to Israel, seeing their family and friends, participating in theater and a summer full of camp fun — just like so many others have missed out on many experiences these past few months. But they haven’t whined about it for one moment. Not one. Instead, they’ve acquired new skills and hobbies — tie-dying at home, learning to help with household chores, visiting faraway places virtually, learning how to play card games and coming up with creative crafts projects, even launching a new “business” selling things on Instagram. I hope this can be a lesson
for all of us, parents and children, to use this time to deepen our character and fortitude by accepting what the year ahead will bring and finding ways to see the silver lining. Our kids have all had it relatively easy, growing up in loving homes with many wonderful privileges and trimmings. If missing a year of in-person instruction is the worst thing they have to deal with, I consider them pretty damn lucky. If we don’t teach our kids how to deal with this level of adversity, how will they ever face the inevitable challenges they are bound to confront in their lifetime journey? We cannot make everything perfect for them, but we can teach them how to make the best of every situation. Metro Detroit native Karen Gold Stillman is a single mom living in Skokie, Illinois, with her two children.
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CORRECTION The cutline for this photo of the late John Lewis (Aug. 13, page 8) was incorrect: It should have read: Don Cohen, Richard Gershenson (z”l), Rep. John Lewis (z”l), Dan Krichbaum (z”l) and Detroit Urban League President N. Charles Anderson.
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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.
AUGUST 27 • 2020
| 11
PHOTOS BY JERRY ZOLYNSKY
Jews in the D on the cover
in Midtown
O
n a regular basis this summer, David Mincberg has been commuting 372.5 miles from Milwaukee to Midtown. If he’s lucky, it’s a commute that can be done in five hours, 15 minutes and a few seconds. Though, depending largely on unpredictable and undeniable traffic through Chicago, it can easily be closer to seven hours. By the time this article is published, Mincberg plans to be at-home in Detroit — more specifically Birmingham — with his wife, Allyson, and young sons Charlie and Isaac. The DC native, and son of a noted legal professional who served as the U.S. House Judiciary Committee’s chief counsel for oversight and investigations under Michigan Congressman John Conyers, is one of a rare breed this year: Jewish community members moving to town during an unprecedented pandemic who you’d like to invite over for Shabbat dinner, if only you could. The Mincbergs, already an enrolled family at Hillel Day School, ADAM FINKEL CONTRIBUTING WRITER didn’t envision being here just a few months ago. But it’s just one more surprise in a year filled with curveballs. This past June, the Detroit Pistons hired former Oklahoma City Thunder executive Troy Weaver as the new general manager. Weaver reached out and asked Mincberg to be his assistant general manager, which just happened to be his dream job. “I have known and admired Troy Weaver for a very long time,” Mincberg said. “He is one of the smartest, highest integrity people in the NBA. He is an unbelievable leader and I could not pass up this opportunity.” Mincberg, 39, was recruited from the Milwaukee Bucks, a top team in the Eastern Conference, where he served as director of basketball strategy. Mincberg said he and his wife are very excited to give back to the community. “It’s an incredible city and has much to offer as we work to build
Pistons’ Jewish execs are doing what they can to improve the team and earn a championship.
continued on page 14
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
David and Josh with the Piston’s championship trophies.
AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Jews in the D continued from page 12
It’s an incredible city and has much to offer as we work to build another championship team.
another championship team.” He has met and worked with many former Pistons players and was drawn to the vision of creating the best organization possible, with a focus on making the entire city and entire community better. His focus is to help the team get better and more strategic every day. Mincberg gravitated to the quality of leadership he witnessed here, including Coach Dwayne Casey; Pistons Senior Adviser Ed Stefanski, both of whom he deeply Arn Tellem respects; and Arn Tellem, vice chairman of Palace Sports & Entertainment. “The people, the opportunity to be a part of a great community like Detroit, was one of the only situations I’d take to leave a great role in Milwaukee,” he said. “Meeting Arn, for me, was like interviewing with a hero from afar. Arn’s reputation is impeccable and that’s for a reason. He is someone I have always admired … The opportunity to work with him and the entire team is remarkable.” For Mincberg, the grandson of Holocaust survivors, tikkun olam, repairing the world, is of deep importance to him and his wife. “We want to be a part of helping because we have to work together to get us out of this. Some of the social justice issues are even more important than
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
ever to do your part to make the community and the world a better place. “We are really excited to join the community,” he added. “COVID has been very difficult as we have not been able to see members of our family for a long time. My wife is tremendous; she has done a great job with the kids and we realize there are a lot of people struggling. I am fortunate to have a job, and we have been mindful that many are without a job.” David and his wife are passionate about PeacePlayers International, an organization which “uses basketball to unite, educate and inspire young people to create a more peaceful world.” MOVING ON UP Another member of the Pistons organization that Mincberg now works alongside is Josh Bartelstein, who was promoted in July to become the executive vice president of operations, chief of staff of the Pistons. Bartelstein, Mincberg said, is tremendous — “one of the brightest people I have ever been around. He is very young, but you almost don’t realize that because he is so mature, so smart, so polished and so passionate. He is really an exceptional leader. Someone I have really enjoyed working with and am excited to work with him more.” Bartelstein, a resident of Royal
JERRY ZOLYNSKY
— DAVID MINCBERG
David and Josh play some oneon-one.
Oak, has made a serious impact on the Pistons organization since joining the team nearly five years ago. The Chicago native was recruited by Tellem to be his assistant when he joined the organization. “I was nervous at first of moving away from Chicago. I loved my job and being around my sisters, parents and grandparents,” Bartelstein said. “But I saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in Detroit.” Five years in, he now considers himself a Detroiter and a Michigander. Tellem immediately saw a special personality in Bartelstein. “He has a sincere way with people and is able to develop immediate respect,” he said. “He has been like my fourth son. If he is not in Chicago for the holidays, he is with me and my family.”
The qualities that Tellem noticed early have been most helpful as the Pistons have moved their operation to the city of Detroit and opened a premier practice facility. Bartelstein is now instrumental in helping to oversee the NBA G League undertaking to play at Wayne State University. “When there were problems, he was able to manage them and bring people together, which is his great strength,” Tellem said. “He has been absolutely instrumental to me and the team.” Before COVID, Tellem and Bartelstein could be seen strategizing at Phoenicia or Commonwealth in Birmingham. Now, they speak five or six times a day. “Usually my first call in the morning and my last call in the evening,” Tellem said. Bartelstein noted the remark-
able chemistry he has with Tellem. “I spend more time with Arn than anyone else. Has been an incredible mentor to me. I am so incredibly grateful. He gave me a chance, allowed me to make mistakes and grow. A big part of my journey has been through Arn. He is truly an even better person than all his success embodies.” Jeffrey Schostak, president of Schostak Development, worked closely with Bartelstein on the former Palace of Auburn Hills acquisition, which took about two years. “Josh was very hands on, diligent and thoughtful throughout the entire process,” Jeffrey Schostak said. Schostak “We became great friends while negotiating a complex transaction … Our entire organization views Josh as a person with the utmost integrity, and we are thrilled to have Josh and his team as partners with us as we embark on the redevelopment of the former Palace property to a first-class research and technology park.” Bartelstein, 31, has lived and breathed the game for years. He is the son of respected sports agent Mark Bartelstein and was a senior captain of the Wolverines’ 2013 Final Four team. He was deeply focused on being the best basketball player he could be for his first 21 years. Coach John Beilein, the former basketball coach at U-M, told the Detroit Jewish News that Josh was one of the reasons for the renaissance of Michigan basketball. “He came in the second year or so, and we were not the program we became at that time,” Beilein said. “His leadership, sacrifice, dedication to the
greater good of the team was everything to us. If he hadn’t been injured, he would have played in a lot more games. “Despite that he did not play a lot, his voice and direction made a lot of difference,” Beilein continued. “I am sure he has made a similar impact at the Pistons. He is a winner, and he sees the big picture … He helped to put us in the Final Four. He really helped expedite our growth at Michigan because of his attitude. He had a huge effect on many of our players, many who are in the NBA as players today.” In Bartelstein’s book, We On, he writes about the journey of the Michigan team’s Final Four run. On one Saturday, he shared the story of his team staying in a hotel and being surprised to see a bar mitzvah taking place in the room nearby. The rocking seventh graders allowed him to explain exactly what a bar mitzvah is to his team. “A kippah and a tallis aren’t exactly things most of our team has seen before, but they are much more knowledgeable now on the Jewish religion,” he wrote. Up and down the Woodward corridor, Mincberg, Bartelstein and Tellem showcase leaders in the local sports economy focused on advancing partnerships that help the city and strategies that get the team closer to a championship. They also broaden the narrative about who moves into the Detroit community at a time — with the next season’s schedule uncertain and a world facing many challenges — when having a large welcoming mat to outsiders is one of the clearest ways possible to put points on the local scoreboard.
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Jews in the D
PIXABAY
Gap Years Press On, Despite Pandemic Recent high school grads from Metro Detroit are excited to spend a year in Israel, even if their programs will look different from usual. MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
J
acob Ellenbogen has been planning to take a gap year after high school since his sophomore year, and when he found the Kivunim International Gap Year Program, he knew he wanted to do it. In a normal year, students in the program learn about the Jewish diaspora from a home base in Israel, with trips to different countries every few weeks. But then the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Jacob “There was about a twoEllenbogen week period where Europe was doing worse than the United States” in terms of controlling a coronavirus outbreak, said Ellenbogen, who recently graduated from Groves High School. “I was a little, ‘I’m not so sure about this.’ And then once the U.S. started doing significantly worse than everyone else in the world during this pandemic, if I can get out of this country … then get me out of this country,” he told the Jewish News. Ellenbogen is not the only recent high school graduate from Metro Detroit who decided to go forward with a gap year in Israel as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. And while programs will look different this year — Kivunim has postponed all its travel outside of Israel until the spring, with the
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
hopes that a vaccine will then be available — they’re still welcoming American students with open arms. Those differences will start as soon as students walk off the plane — anyone coming to Israel from another country currently has to quarantine for 14 days upon arrival. Olivia Feldman, a recent graduate of Frankel Jewish Academy, will participate in a gap year program called Hevruta this year. The program is bringing all American participants to Israel Olivia two weeks earlier than normal Feldman so quarantine doesn’t cut into their regular programing time, Feldman said. “When we get off the plane, they separate us into six-people pods,” Feldman said. “Right from there, the people who run the program pick you up, you go to your apartment and you just don’t leave for 14 days.” Micah Eizen, who just finished his senior year at Farber Hebrew Day School, is also headed to Israel this fall for a year of learning at a yeshiva. His program will quarantine for two weeks at a hotel in Jerusalem. He said there will be four to six students per hotel room, and he isn’t sure if he’ll be paired with the Micah Eizen roommate he’ll live with for the
rest of the year. The possibility of having to quarantine with strangers is “a little nerve-wracking,” Eizen said. But “we all chose this yeshiva out of all the other yeshivas that are going, [so] we all have similar personality traits. It can be a good thing.” While Feldman is excited to move to Israel after being in Metro Detroit all summer, she said she’s starting to feel nervous about traveling across the ocean during a pandemic. She’ll have to wear a mask for the entirety of her 10-hour flight to Israel. Feldman is also bringing her own kitchenware to the apartments in which she’ll quarantine and then live for the rest of the school year. “It’s scary,” she said. “I don’t want to get sick.” Leaving the country during a pandemic also has gap-year participants worried about what might happen to their relatives back home. But Ellenbogen sees the positive side of moving far away right now. “I’m worried something will happen to my family, but even if I was going to school [in America], there’s still the chance that that could happen. And that risk doesn’t really change. In fact, it’s probably minimized a little bit from the fact that I won’t be interacting with my family at all,” he said. While Ellenbogen also said he feels safer being in a group of exclusively young people, who are less likely to experience severe symptoms from coronavirus, gap-year programs have to plan for the chance that participants will get sick. Feldman said Hevruta has set aside apartments for isolation units in case anyone catches the virus after the initial 14-day quarantine. “It’s the only thing you can really do,” she said. And “if it was a real health concern, unfortunately, they would have to be sent home. But hopefully it doesn’t come to that.” Despite the stressors of moving halfway across the globe right now, Feldman said she’s confident she’ll have a great year in Israel. “It’s such a unique experience because I’m not going to college right away, and sure, I’m nervous, but I’m just really excited to get a little change of scenery and just a really wonderful year ahead,” she said. As Eizen put it, “It feels crazy. And it would have been crazy even without a pandemic.”
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Jews in the D
‘Racism and Jews’ Zoom event aims to explore the connectedness of racism and antisemitism. CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
I
JCRC/AJC
s the rise in whether Jews can antisemitism its fight antisemitism own phenomwhile ignoring racenon or does it ism toward African stem from racism? Americans, the Thursday, Sept. 3, impact of antisemat 7 p.m., Professor itism and racism is Susannah Heschel on Black Jews and will speak at a how Jews should be Susannah Heschel community Zoom discussing racism. event that will “I am commandexplore that question. ed to love my neighbor, but The event, “Racism and how can I love my neighbor if I the Jews: History, Conscience don’t know them?” Heschel said. and the Future,” is hosted “That to me means that as a by the Jewish Federation of Jew and as a human being, I am Metropolitan Detroit, the obligated to understand people Coalition for Black and Jewish that are all around me, which Unity and Jewish Community include African Americans. I Relations Council/AJC. want to understand their conHeschel is the Eli M. Black cerns, their history and trouDistinguished Professor and bles.” Chair of the Jewish Studies The event will also feature a program at Dartmouth College. clip from the recently released She teaches courses on modfilm Shared Legacies, which feaern Judaism, modern Jewish tures lessons of Black-Jewish thought and history. Heschel cooperation and a discussion is also the author of numerous with a new generation of Black books and articles. leaders. As the daughter of Rabbi “I am well aware that we live Abraham Joshua Heschel, she in a terribly polarized envigrew up surrounded by the ronment, in America, in the members of the Civil Rights world and also in the Jewish Movement. Her father is known community. There is a lot of for his active role in the civil anger and resentment and even rights and peace movements of hatred,” Heschel said. “We need the 1960s, so from an early age, to understand the reasons for civil rights were an important the anger, but we also need to be aspect of her life. inspired so we don’t get trapped “I discovered the Hebrew in the anger. I believe Judaism Bible could change America. has something to contribute to I saw it could soften hardened lift ourselves out of that conflict. hearts,” Heschel said. “I was In my opinion, the teachings of inspired by my father and by Dr. compassion need to be comMartin Luther King Jr.” bined with the teachings of During the event, Heschel will justice we find in the Hebrew discuss whether rising antisemprophets.” itism is a species of racism or “hate,” or a separate phenomenon. She will also explore Register at jewishdetroit.org/events.
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Michigan State Legislature Approves Plan for Schools Plan allows for flexibility, local control. CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
O
n Aug. 15, the Michigan state Senate approved a bipartisan plan that provides flexibility for school districts and for families as many students prepare for the upcoming school year. The Michigan House of Representatives then approved the plan on Aug. 17. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed the bill. The plan does not mandate in-person classes, leaving the decision to be made by the individual school districts. However, schools that decide to engage in in-person learning must coordinate with local health officials. There is no mention of a mask mandate in any of the bills. Schools must reconfirm their plans on whether to use in-person learning, virtual learning or a combination every 30 days. The legislation defines attendance as students who are physically in class and those who participate virtually. It waives the requirement to have 180 days or 1,098 hours of school this year. Districts are also tasked with establishing “education goals” for students by Sept. 15 and providing an “extended COVID-19 learning plan” by Oct. 1. The requirements for the extended learning plan are to include “educational goals expected to be achieved for the 2020-21 school year, a description of how instruction would
be delivered for the 2020-21 school year, and a requirement that a district ensure two twoway interactions occur between a pupil and his or her teacher during each week for at least 75% of pupils enrolled.” Benchmark assessments of students are required within nine weeks of the start of school, with a second assessment delivered by the end of the year, in order for districts to receive funding. Teachers are also required to check in with their students regularly or the state may withhold funding. Funding for public schools would be set at similar levels as last year under the plan. According to the bills, 75% of funding would be based on a district’s student count for last school year, with the remaining 25% based on the count this year. An additional $583 million would be allocated to help schools and educators during the school year. The funding is intended to help districts provide online learning and adequate student assessments. More than $50 million of that funding is intended to be used as hazard pay for teachers.
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Jews in the D
It Takes a
Village With many schools starting online, some families are turning to pod learning. JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A
round the time the Walled Lake Consolidated School District announced it would begin the school year with remote learning, Hillary Glaser and her husband, Craig, sat down to devise a game plan. As working parents of two boys, ages 7 and 8, they wanted to make sure their kids would receive a meaningful education while engaged in online learning. The Glasers decided to join three other families in creating a small group of kids who will learn together outside the traditional classroom. Called a pod, or pod learning, this style of education is a common practice among families using a homeschool curriculum. Now, with so many schools providing online education, an increasing number of parents find pods an appealing way to educate their children during a pandemic. Pods allow families to share the burden of having someone oversee the learning process, enable parents to maintain a work schedule, allow children to enjoy social interactions and provide academic support. The Glasers overhauled their attic playroom by turning it into a space that will accommodate five elementary-age kids. There are tables, beanbags and couches so that each child can find a comfortable workspace. A college student will facilitate the learning process as they follow the virtual learning program offered by Walled Lake schools. “Her role will be to make sure the
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kids are doing their lessons and not goofing off. She will also help the kids with their learning if they need it, but in no way is she acting as a teacher. We have full faith that our school district is doing the best it can to make this work,” said Glasser. Plans for the upcoming school year vary by district, but many are holding off on bringing students back in the buildings. Some schools are offering a hybrid of in-person and online learning. Among the Jewish day schools, Hillel and Frankel plan on opening their doors but giving families the option of choosing online. Farber is opening doors for pre-K through first grade, but announced it is going virtual for all other grades through mid-October after a teacher contracted COVID-19. Regardless of what a school is offering, there are no easy decisions for parents. For some, the safety of in-person learning is a concern, while others worry about the quality of an online education. Factor in worries about the social and emotional wellbeing of children engaged in online learning and the 2020-2021 school year is shaping up to be one of dread and anxiety for students and parents. By mid-summer, it was hard to ignore the barrage of posts on social media about pod learning. Parents began looking for other families to create a pod and looking for teachers or tutors to help facilitate. Educators were also posting about their services. The pod craze also inspired a few local moms to create businesses
TOP: The Glaser family: Hillary, Craig, Ori and Yoav. ABOVE: Ori and Yoav Glaser will start the school year off as part of a learning pod.
aimed at helping families through the process of starting one and educators looking to offer their services. Lindsay Sikora, an attorney and mother from West Bloomfield, recently launched findmylocalteacher.com, a website that helps connect parents and educators. Sikora, who is working on the site with her sister-in-law Natalie Mazza, called it “a Lindsay white-glove style Sikora service,” providing parents with access to prescreened local teachers. “I’ve heard from a lot of parents looking for teachers to do either one-on-one or pod-style teaching or to follow their school’s curriculum. This is especially true of working parents who want a teacher to guide their children through virtual learning,” said Sikora, who plans to hire a teacher for her 4-year-old daughter because she isn’t comfortable sending her to preschool. Similarly, after seeing all the pod discussions on social media, attorneys Julie Trepeck Harris Julie Trepeck and Amanda Harris Rosenberg decided to offer their legal services to educators and families when forming a learning arrangement. Harris said that often, parents don’t think about the financial liability if a child drops out, agreeing on a curriculum, thinking safety precautions inside and outside of the pod, or what to do if someone gets COVID. “People are so flustered right now because families are
feeling the pressure to have something in place before school starts,” Harris said. One mom, who asked not to be named, said she felt parents were in a frenzy to hire teachers without much thought about their children’s needs but felt pressure to get on board out of fear that their children would be missing out. Others have criticized pods for benefiting students from affluent families who can afford to hire the extra support. Fees can range anywhere from $250 to $400 per student per week for a teacher. Nonteachers charge $75-200 per student per week. Nanny/ sitters charge $15-20 an hour. Susie Aisner is a mother of three and an associate principal in the West Bloomfield School District. She recently commented on a Facebook moms’ group page that what schools had in place last year, when COVID forced schools to quickly switch to an online format, was more “crisis schooling than best practices remote learning.” She went on to say, “I believe all schools will have more robust remote learning this fall with significantly more live instruction. Schools have had the opportunity to improve technology, train teachers, and plan, all of which was impossible last year. “I’d suggest giving schools and your child a chance. If, after the year starts, you still feel extra support would benefit you or your student, you may find you do not need a certified teacher but more of an encourager/supervisor. Many college students are staying home and might be a good, less expensive option if you’re staying with your local school.”
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Jackie Robinson and the Jews
The celebrated baseball player was a vocal opponent to antisemitism.
WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Jews in the D
Brooklyn Dodger Jackie Robinson in 1954
F
amed baseball player Jackie Robinson was serving in the army as a second lieutenant, stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas, and Fort Hood, Texas. While he was there, prejudiced white officers wouldn’t give him a chance to try out for the baseball team. After being turned in to military police by a bus driver for refusing to sit in the rear seating area for Blacks while on the base, Robinson faced a court martial for disobedience but eloquently won his case. After receiving an honorable discharge, and with the doors closed to Blacks in many fields, including professional baseball, Robinson joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro League in 1945. At that time, all major league players were white. Fair-minded men at the time had tried to promote the integration of Black people in baseball without success. Boston’s Jewish city
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councilman Isidore Muchnick threatened to pass legislation to ban Sunday baseball in Boston unless the Red Sox granted a tryout to three Negro the Leaguers. A tryout was arranged for three players from different Negro League teams —Jackie Robinson, Sam Jethroe and Marvin Williams. Robinson was the most impressive of the trio, prompting Red Sox manager Joe Cronin to tell Muchnick that he hoped the team would sign him. But Red Sox owner Tom Yawkey never showed interest. Unknown to them, though, Brooklyn Dodgers boss Branch Rickey had been following Robinson’s activities on and off the field much earlier. Rickey wanted to break the color barrier but needed the right man, not necessarily the best player. He believed that
man was Jackie Robinson. Rickey stunned baseball and America by signing Jackie to a professional baseball contract in the off-season of 1945. Robinson would start in the minor leagues and earn his way to the big leagues. Rickey urged Robinson to marry his love, Rachel Isum, who during the war had worked as a riveter in an aircraft factory while graduating as a registered nurse. Robinson took his advice. In 1946, the Robinsons made their home in Montreal as Jackie starred for the top minor league affiliate of the Dodgers. In 1947, Robinson made it to the big league. As a Dodger, Robinson received hundreds of threatening letters in the mail warning him not to take the field in several cities. Jackie Robinson’s major league career lasted 10 seasons
AntiSemitism Project
WIKIPEDIA
IRWIN COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
and ended in 1956. His .311 career batting average, daring on the basepaths and defensive ability would guarantee him enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Robinson often said how lucky he was to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers because of the borough’s large Jewish population (more than a third of Brooklyn’s citizens in the Robinson era were Jewish). “They were very welcoming to me and I made many friends that lasted through the years,” Robinson said in a published letter. LIFE AFTER BASEBALL At age 37 and with health issues,
JTESLA16 VIA WIKIPEDIA WIKIPEDIA
WIKIPEDIA
including diabetes and heart problems, Robinson accepted the position of vice president of Chock Full o’ Nuts, a chain of coffee shops in New York, after the ’56 season. Toward the end of his career, he wanted a bigger home with more green land. The Robinsons decided on Stamford, Connecticut. Redlining made it difficult to find a home, but eventually they found what they wanted. They had to wait as the finishing touches were applied, however. Their stressful story was chronicled in a local paper and read by Andrea Simon, the wife of the co-founder of Simon & Schuster. She suggested the Robinsons move in with her family until their place was ready. Andrea’s daughter, Carly, a tomboy who wanted to play outfield for the Dodgers, was thrilled to have the Robinson family. But Carly Simon opted
CLOCKWISE: With his son at a Civil Rights march in Washington, D.C., in 1963. Jackie Robinson Memorial Jackie Robinson, sports caster, 1965
“They were very welcoming to me and I made many friends that lasted through the years.” — JACKIE ROBINSON for the entertainment field when she decided to strike out on her own. Jackie wasn’t just a figurehead in his new position. He worked hard on bettering the company and the relationship between management and employees. He also did what he could for civil rights and took part in meetings and marches. Robinson was at the forefront when it came to registering Black citizens to vote and urging them to study the candidates. Robinson also found time to appear at dinners for Jewish causes. A frequent speaker against antisemitism, Jackie was especially harsh when antisemitism infected the Black commu-
nity. In 1962, a Jewish businessman wanted to open a steakhouse in Harlem. Angry Black protesters didn’t like the idea. Robinson, who had a syndicated column in the New York Post at the time, compared the Black nationalists and their rhetoric to that of Nazi Germany. In his autobiography, he said he was “ashamed to see community leaders who were afraid to speak out when Black Americans were guilty of anti-Semitism. How could we stand against anti-Black prejudice if we are willing to practice or condone a similar intolerance?” In 1964, Robinson helped found the Freedom National
Bank in Harlem to help Black citizens. Jack Roosevelt Robinson was the bank’s first chairman of the board. (Jackie’s mother, who had been the daughter of slaves, chose his middle name to honor Theodore Roosevelt, who died 25 days before her son was born.) In the 1960s, the Robinsons held jazz concerts at their Stamford home to raise awareness and funds for the Civil Rights movement. Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie and Sarah Vaughn were just a few of the stars who performed on the spacious lawn. 1972 was the 25th anniversary of Robinson breaking baseball’s color barrier, and Jackie was invited to throw out the first pitch in the World Series at Cincinnati. Nine days later, on Oct. 24, 1972, Rachel was in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Jackie ran into the kitchen, put his arms around her, said “I love you,” and slumped to the floor dead of a heart attack. He was only 53. His life and career had a lasting impact on baseball and America, as did his stance against antisemitism. Author, columnist and public speaker Irwin Cohen, who lectures on several subjects, headed a national baseball publication and interviewed many legends of the game before working for the Detroit Tigers and earned a World Series ring. He may be reached in his dugout at irdav@sbcglobal.net.
AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a military base in Ramla, Israel, Aug. 4, 2020.
Eretz analysis
The Abraham Accord Between Israel and the UAE: Curb Your Enthusiasm YOSSI ALONI/FLASH90/JTA
T
he Abraham Accord between Israel and the UAE brought many of us a much-needed sigh of relief. The pressures for unilateral annexation of parts of the West Bank, which seemed imminent and would have been extremely costly — to moving toward a twostate solution to the IsraeliPalestinian conflict, to Israel’s Yael Aronoff own self-understanding as a democracy and to Israel’s standing internationally — have been averted for now. It should be clearly stated that Israel deserves diplomatic recognition by other states; it should not be one of the only states in the world upon whom conditions are set for normal relations. All the Arab states in the region refused to recognize Israel upon its establishment, even before its post-1967 occupation of the West Bank. Meanwhile, other states with disputed or occupied territory and who refuse independence to ethnic populations are not similarly ostracized: Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran refuse independence to Kurds; Morocco occupies Western Sahara; Turkey occupies northern Cyprus and settles Turkish citizens there. There should be no double standard when it comes to Israel.
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Having said that, the recognition of Israel by the UAE is praiseworthy on several fronts. It solidifies the growing relations between Israel and several Gulf states over the past decade, partially motivated by a common interest in balancing Iran. Security and intelligence relations began between the Mossad with their counterparts in the 1970s. Relations strengthened after the Oslo Accords and came into public view in the past few years. For instance, the Israeli anthem, “Hatikvah”, was played when an Israeli won the gold medal at Abu Dhabi’s international judo championship in 2018. The Bahrain National Orchestra played the Israeli national anthem at an interfaith gathering in 2017 at the Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. King Hamad of Bahrain also denounced the Arab boycott of Israel and said his subjects were free to visit Israel. In this way, official recognition by the UAE is the culmination of a process growing over several years in the region. While there is reason to be pleased and relieved by the Abraham Accords, it is also wise to curb one’s enthusiasm. While it is possible that other countries such as Bahrain or Sudan may follow suit, most countries in the region will not until Israel reaches a peace agreement with the
Palestinians. The Saudis and the Moroccan prime minister have reiterated that their normalization with Israel will depend on such an agreement. The main internationally recognized paradigm for normalization, ratified repeatedly by the Arab League, is the Saudi 2002 land-for-peace plan. The 2013 version was based on 1967 borders with swaps. Therefore, the Abraham Accord is not a substitute for the land for peace deal with the Palestinians. The Accord itself, while motivated by the UAE’s desire for scientific and economic cooperation with Israel and to balance Iran, was also partially intended to leave the door to a two-state solution open by averting unilateral annexation. This is not a “peace-for-peace” deal; it is conditioned on no annexation of land. The UAE views its support of a two-state solution as not only ultimately supporting Palestinian statehood, but also weakening Iran and its bloc, including Hamas, which is also supported by the UAE’s rival Qatar. The UAE has heavily supported Mohammad Dhalan of Fatah’s Democratic Reform Bloc, some of whose members were expelled from the West Bank in 2011. Dhalan is an adviser to UAE Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed and rumored by some Fatah leaders to have sanctioned the
Yousef Al Otaiba, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States, speaks at the United Against Nuclear Iran 2018 Summit in New York City.
MICHAEL BROCHSTEIN/SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES/JTA
Abraham Accord to facilitate his succeeding the 84-year-old Abbas. Dhalan, however, does not have broad support among Palestinians. In order to capitalize on the Abraham Accord, other states in the region should play a more constructive role, providing incentives for both Israel and the Palestinian Authority to
move toward a genuine, negotiated peace. These incentives can make compromises more palatable for the respective domestic audiences and can also provide cover for leaders, who can point to those external pressures to explain their compromises. In the long term, extensive real normalization will still ultimately depend on the resolution of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through negotiations. We will also see in the coming months whether the UAE will receive F-35 fighter jets from the United States as a possible dividend from this deal. The U.S. recently removed export restrictions on armed UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) and the UAE would be interested in varying its armed UAV fleet. Apparently, Netanyahu did not consult with his Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi or his Defense Minister Benny Gantz on the agreement; thus the military establishment never weighed in on what appears to be a link to the UAE receiving F-35 jets. White House Special Advisor Jared Kushner said that “this new peace agreement should increase the probability of [the UAE] getting F-35s.” The perceived danger of Iran,
shared by Israel and other states in the region, facilitates opportunities for further cooperation. But it is also makes clear the need to include the Palestinians in the process: such a peace agreement will further diminish Iran’s influence as the leader of the “reject Israel” camp, as well as recognizing the right to self-determination and peace for both peoples. Leaders in each country will make the crucial difference in deciding whether this peace deal is capitalized upon to move toward genuine acceptance of Israel in the region and, necessarily, Palestinian statehood. Yael Aronoff is the director of the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel,Serling Chair of Israel Studies, and associate professor at James Madison College and the Serling Institute at Michigan State University.
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LISA SCHAVRIEN
Jews in the D
Together with nursing colleague Erin Smith, Lisa Schavrien (left) promotes the importance of voting.
This Nurse Delivers … In More Ways Than One Former West Bloomfielder ensures those in the hospital can still vote. JUDY GREENWALD CONTRIBUTING WRITER
I
t takes a special person to be an obstetric nurse. The profession demands dedication, compassion — in short, someone whose caring commitment literally brings new life into the world. If that someone is also an advocate for social action by helping hospital patients exercise their right to vote, then she represents some-
one whose career path has brought both challenges and rewards. Lisa Schavrien, RN, BSN, 46, of Manhattan is just such a person. The former West Bloomfielder, who attended Temple Israel and graduated from University of Detroit’s McCauley School of Nursing, today works at Lenox Hill Hospital, where she’s served
as an OB nurse, advanced to assistant nurse manager of labor and delivery and, in 2014, created the obstetric nurse navigation program, which streamlines and personalizes patients’ needs. It is Schavrien’s continuing commitment to helping patients that led her to realize the importance of being able to participate in an activity that defines the American democratic system — voting. “In 2016, a patient was admitted after her water broke prematurely,” she said. “She felt very strongly about voting, and since I’m about ‘finding the yes,’ I was committed to finding a way to obtain her absentee ballot. While working to accomplish this, I was shocked to learn there’s no process in most states for a person to vote who’s unable to get to a polling station due to unexpected circumstances. “My colleague Erin Smith suggested we formalize what I did for that patient and institute a hospital initiative for the 2018 midterm election. Despite the barriers we had to overcome, we finally got the Albany board of elections to grant us the ability to make obtaining absentee ballots possible.” Schavrien personally saw how important voting was to patients, which was the impetus for her action to assist the sometimes-forgotten population of those unexpectedly hospitalized who still want to vote. A
patient was in the hospital on Election Day, Nov. 6, and wanted to vote, but didn’t think it would be possible. “He told me he had voted in every election since Carter, and he wasn’t about to stop,” she said. The following excerpts are from a letter of commendation he wrote: “I found out it was too late to get an absentee ballot … the deadline was the day before and I was having a surgical procedure that day. I thought I would miss the opportunity to vote until I met Nurse Lisa Schavrien. She offered to drive to Queens, to the Board of Elections to get the form … to obtain an absentee ballot. “I was so grateful for her willingness to do this. I signed the form and she drove back to Queens and went before a judge to lobby on my behalf in order for me to vote. The judge granted me an absentee ballot. She drove back to the hospital, and I filled out the form and she drove back to Queens and dropped off the ballot. “I was able to vote, something I very much wanted to do.” What started with Schavrien and Smith has grown into a team of hospital volunteers and friends who are passionate about voting advocacy. “Our campaign has been well received, and we won the president’s award from Northwell Health for our region. We’re now working continued on page 28
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Protesters at Ann Arbor Synagogue MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
A
judge has dismissed the lawsuit against anti-Israel protesters who stand outside Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor each week. The decision, made by U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts on Aug. 19, says the plaintiffs did not prove they suffered concrete injury as a result of the protests. “Plaintiffs fail to allege a concrete injury, and thus fail to allege an injury in fact,” the decision reads. Ann Arbor resident Henry Herskovitz, who formerly identified as Jewish, began picketing
outside of the synagogue more than 16 years ago. The protests continue to this day, with a small group of people protesting outside Beth Israel every Saturday morning, holding signs with messages like “Jewish Power Corrupts.” In December 2019, a lawsuit was filed by Marvin Gerber, a Beth Israel member. Dr. Miriam Brysk, a Holocaust survivor and member of Pardes Hannah Congregation, located in an annex next to Beth Israel, joined the suit as a co-plaintiff. The suit argued that the protesters violated the First Amendment by hampering
congregants’ right to practice their religion. It also listed several Ann Arbor city officials, including Mayor Christopher Taylor, contending that the protests violate city code but that officials have neglected to enforce their rules. Herskovitz and his fellow protesters later filed a motion to dismiss the case, which the judge has now agreed to grant. “Indeed, the First Amendment more than protects the expressions by Defendants of what Plaintiffs describe as ‘anti-Israeli, anti-Zionist, and antisemitic.’ Peaceful protest speech such as this — on sidewalks and streets — is entitled to the highest level of constitutional protection, even if it disturbs, is offensive and causes emotional distress,” the judge’s motion to grant dismissal reads. The plaintiffs’ lawyers will file a motion for reconsideration as early as next week, according
to Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at the Lawfare Project and co-counsel to the plaintiffs. If the motion for reconsideration is denied, the plaintiff ’s counsel will file an appeal with the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. “Yesterday’s ruling was a minor setback,” said Marc Susselman, the plaintiff ’s lead counsel. “The court did not rule on the merits of the case or address any of the First Amendment issues. This was a technical ruling on the matter of whether the plaintiffs have standing to sue. The plaintiffs clearly have standing based on the emotional distress caused by the presence of antisemitic signs outside their place of worship.” Herskovitz told the JN he was pleased with the ruling. “To me, it’s clear Jewish power still exists … The judge ruled that … what we do is free speech,” he said.
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Jews in the D
Grocery Workers Are Essential, Too KENNETH POWERS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
T
hough Michigan continues to grapple with COVID-19 cases this summer, essential workers in the Jewish community have been breathing a sigh of relief over the past few months. Many grocery store workers find working conditions to be more tolerable since April, when the pandemic was at its worst. Joe Montgomery, general manager of Johnny Pomodoro’s
in Farmington Hills, recalled some of the hardships the market suffered when the pandemic first hit Michigan in mid-March. “Our whole business model had to change. Sales were down, and everyone was staying at home,” Montgomery said. To adjust to the “new normal,” Montgomery said the store began to limit ordering of less popular grocery items and embrace social distancing poli-
cies as customers were required to stand at a 6-foot distance in grocery lines. As a result, he said the store is slowly getting back to operating at a normal capacity. “Supplies constantly out of stock, like cleaning wipes, alcohol and hand sanitizer, are now back on our shelves,” he added. Montgomery said workers have a cleaning schedule to routinely sanitize surfaces to minimize the chances of spreading or contracting the virus. But not every store has taken the same precautions. Jordana Wolfson, who picks her grocery shopping times carefully, said she’s gone to another market in the area that isn’t making the same effort to keep workers and customers safe. “The market in my area needs to take some of the same precautions that larger supermarkets like Kroger take. They need to put up plexiglass for the cashiers who deal with so many people on a regular basis. They also need to sanitize the shopping carts. This will save lives,”
Wolfson said. Even though coming to work daily has been a risk for Montgomery, he remains dedicated to his job despite concerns about contracting the virus. “Our job in the grocery store is essential. We must meet the needs of the people in our community,” he added. In fact, his dedication and tireless efforts have not gone unnoticed by Johnny Pomodoro’s customers. Recently, customers designed and posted a banner for Montgomery and the grocery store workers which read, “Thank You, Grocery Store Heroes.” Montgomery is also pleased that most of his customers have been complying with the governor’s order requiring all Michiganders to wear face masks or cloth coverings over their nose and mouth. “Wearing a mask is one of the ways that we can protect each other during this pandemic,” he added.
toward November with the hope this will become a statewide initiative with our hospital leading the crusade. “We thought patients might feel like their health was their priority, not casting a vote,” Schavrien said. “But after spending time with them, we saw just how important this was. Once we understood what a difference this made for our patients, we vowed to commit to doing this for every election moving forward. “As we know, voting is not only a right but a responsibility,” she continued. “With the uncertainty of what the future holds, any and every
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
opportunity to make this happen needs to be explored. “Both Erin and I feel very strongly that every person should be granted the opportunity to exercise their right to vote should they choose to. As far as public health is concerned, with the possibility of mass hospitalizations come fall, the vote-by-mail option would certainly help to support this right.” Whether it’s nursing or social action, Schavrien credits the inclusivity, forgiveness and acceptance in Judaism with keeping her centered in all she does. “What resonates with me from my Jewish teachings
is the humanistic quality I grew up with at Temple Israel,” she said. “This is something I strive to live by — understanding people as people first and patients second. “There’s so much that’s been rewarding throughout my career, I’m almost immune to the feeling of reward,” Schavrien said. “Sometimes I take a step back to observe my actions, and I do feel a sense of accomplishment. I’ve had a great run, and if I stopped working tomorrow, I’d know I’ve made a difference.”
LISA SCHAVRIEN
continued from page 26
Schavrien helps deliver a friend’s baby boy, Brody
Sam Dubin and Beverly Liss in studio
can provide an opportunity for “Jews who may feel like outsiders in the community to be insiders. “We’re taking measures every time we have conversations about FedRadioDetroit to be as inclusive in the community as possible.” Recent guests have included Scott Kaufman, former Podcast FedRadioDetroit aims to share CEO of Jewish Federation of standout stories in the Jewish community. Metropolitan Detroit; Carolyn Bellinson of the nonprofit ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER Brilliant Detroit, which focuses on childhood literacy; and Dr. e’re not afraid to Federation of Metropolitan Howard Lupovitch, director of tackle tough issues Detroit, Dubin tackles issues the Cohn-Haddow Center for in the community,” such as antisemitism. The idea said Sam Dubin, co-host of is to focus on unique pockets of Judaic Studies at Wayne State University. FedRadioDetroit, a podcast pro- local Jewish life. With a diverse cast of characduced by the Jewish Federation “I’m most interested in coverof Metropolitan Detroit. ing people and issues surround- ters, FedRadioDetroit covers all The podcast series, which ing the Jewish community from bases. But perhaps most diverse a lens that you may not see else- are its two co-hosts, who Dubin launched in December 2019, where,” said Dubin, 28, of Royal says are a perfect complement has released eight episodes to one another. “We come from Oak, who attends Temple Israel centered around Jewish life in and is a member of Federation’s different generations,” he said. Metro Detroit. “I’m a millennial, and she’s not. NEXTGen Detroit executive Alongside co-host Beverly We really clicked. Our connecboard. He hopes the podcast Liss, president of Jewish
Tackling Tough Topics
W
Thank You! L
ocal law enforcement officers were shown appreciation through a recent program run by Young Israel of Southfield. Through the YIOS Youth Department, children of the synagogue began by preparing homemade cards and pictures for the Southfield Police Department. On July 23, a contingent of nearly 50 children and adults from the synagogue visited the police department to deliver their projects and express their gratitude. Accompanying the group, all properly attired in masks, were Councilman Ari Mandelbaum and Rabbi Yechiel Morris, rabbi of Young Israel of Southfield. Mandelbaum offered greetings and was followed by Rabbi Morris, who noted how much the police department does for the synagogue and community.
tion on-air is good and it’s been a pleasure to grow the relationship I have with her.” Liss, a Bloomfield Hills resident who belongs to Adat Shalom Synagogue, agreed with Dubin. “When we have a guest come to our podcast, Sam and I approach the questions and the conversations in two different ways. That mix makes for a really electric discussion.” Dubin, a graduate of Central Michigan University, majored in broadcast journalism and has a passion for podcasting, which he considers a great medium for longer-form discussions that may not be found elsewhere. His goal is to increase reach and build an inclusive platform that aims to highlight and celebrate standout stories of Jewish individuals, organizations and beyond in Metro Detroit. Listen to episodes of the podcast at jewishdetroit.org/podcast.
Young Israel of Southfield youth thank local police. JN STAFF
Southfield Chief of Police Elvin Barren told Young Israel congregants that his job is to protect and ensure that community members feel safe. He acknowledged the beautiful gesture of the children and adults at such a challenging time. Acting Deputy Chief Jeff Jagielski provided safety strategies that families should implement during the summer. After questions from YIOS members, the children distributed their homemade cards and pictures to the police officers who also enjoyed snacks and cold drinks, which were sponsored by the Jacobs Family and Jerusalem Pizza. “Our goal today was to deliver one message — Thank you for all that you do!” said Rabbi Ari Steinig, the youth director at Young Israel of Southfield, who coordinated the event with Councilman Ari Mandelbaum.
COURTESY OF YOUNG ISRAEL OF SOUTHFIELD
COURTESY OF YOUNG ISRAEL OF SOUTHFIELD
JOHN HARDWICK
Jews in the D
ABOVE: Councilman Ari Mandelbaum, Acting Deputy Chief Jeff Jagielski, Southfield Chief of Police Elvin Barren, Rabbi Yechiel Morris, Rabbi Ari Steinig, Menucha, Mrs. Rachel Steinig. TOP: Members of the Young Israel of Southfield with the Southfield Police Department.
AUGUST 27 • 2020
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Corey Chudler will lead the congregation in prayer on the occasion of his bar mitzvah on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020 at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. He will be joined in celebration by his proud parents, Neisha and Brett Chudler, and brother Casey. Corey is the loving grandchild of Ethel and Cliff Chudler, and Myrna and the late Paul Baytarian. He is a student at Abbott Middle School in West Bloomfield. As part of his most meaningful mitzvah project, Corey volunteered at the Oakland County Animal Shelter. Kendyl Sloan Kaufman will lead the congregation in prayer as she becomes a bat mitzvah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. She will be joined in celebration by her proud parents, Sabrina and Brian Kaufman, and sisters Jadyn and Reese. She is the loving grandchild of Sheri and David Jaffa, and Karen and Jerry Kaufman. Kendyl is a student at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills. Among her many mitzvah projects, she found it most meaningful to make soup and scarves for the homeless. Ty Matthew Rosenberg, son of Angela and Dr. Daniel Rosenberg, will chant from the Torah as he celebrates his bar mitzvah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. He will be joined in celebration by his siblings Dylan and Myles and proud grandparents Ann Dings, Joanne and Jack Rubin, and Sue and Leonard Rosenberg. He is a student at Geisler Middle School in Commerce Township. For his most meaningful mitzvah project, Ty made protective gowns for area medical professionals during the pandemic.
Chase Ari Rosenzweig, son of Jackie and Neil Rosenzweig, will chant from the Torah on the occasion of his bar mitzvah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Saturday, Aug. 29, 2020. He will be joined in celebration by his sister Jolie and proud grandparents Barbara and Howard Leshman, and Kathleen and Dennis Rosenzweig. Chase is a student at West Hills Middle School in Bloomfield Hills. For his most meaningful mitzvah project, he raised funds for the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN); his grandfather Howard Leshman was diagnosed with this disease in the fall of 2019. Chase launched a Facebook fundraiser on his grandfather’s 73rd birthday to honor him and has thus far raised more than $7,500. Ari and Ryan Saperstein shared the bimah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Friday, Aug. 21, 2020, as they led the congregation in prayer on the occasion of their b’nai mitzvah. They were joined in celebration by their proud parents, Halle and Dan Saperstein, and siblings Jacob and Eliana. Ari and Ryan are the loving grandchildren of Marlene Gelfand, Jacque and the late Jerry Cohen, and Marshall and the late Bobbie Saperstein. They attend Orchard Lake Middle School in West Bloomfield. Ari and Ryan performed many mitzvah projects, but each found donating volunteer work for PJ’s for Preemies to be the most meaningful. As part of the project, they organized a drive to collect clothing and other necessary items to donate to families with NICU infants at Beaumont Hospital.
Tarnow 55th
B
ob and Kathy Tarnow of Southfield celebrated their 55th anniversary on Aug. 19, 2020. The proud parents of Jon (LuzMarina), Robyn, Jaimi (Adam), Sara (Allen) and Tami (Norman) and grandparents of Sofia, Evan, Piper, Maya and Rossi were thrilled to begin their celebration pre-pandemic. Their dream came true when they went on a family Disney cruise with all their children and grandchildren. While they could not be together in person on their anniversary, they enjoyed a family Zoom.
Liner 90th
M
yron and Charlotte Liner of Farmington Hills both celebrated their 90th birthday this year. Feeling very blessed to have them around and sending them much love are their children, Philip and Rosanne Liner, David and Lori Liner, Valerie and Arthur Rosner; their adoring grandchildren, Michael and Hallie Liner, Danny and Debbie Liner, Alan Liner, Becky (Ethan Rosenberg) Liner, Liz Rosner and Brian Rosner; and their precious great-grandchildren, Eliana and Dylan Liner. Once the pandemic has passed, a joyous event will be held in their honor.
Vineburg-Sittsamer
W
endy Strip along with Murray Sittsamer, both of Farmington Hills, are delighted to announce the marriage of their daughter Lexie Drew Sittsamer, to Isaac Simon Vineburg, son of Devorah and Rabbi Dr. Sidney Vineburg of Oak Park. The groom’s father officiated the ceremony before a small group of loving family members. Lexie is a graduate of Western Michigan University and is employed as a nanny. Isaac earned his master’s and bachelor’s degrees at Marquette University and is employed as digital media associate at the Holocaust Memorial Center. The couple reside in Farmington Hills and look forward to a post-pandemic honeymoon.
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Spirit torah portion
We Are Tied Together
D
o you know how many commandments there are in the Torah? If you answered 613, you are correct. What do those many laws entail? Rabbi Hillel answered, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.” This week’s portion, contains 72 commandments, the largest number in any portion. There are laws about the treatment of captives and rights of inheritance. There are rules regarding defiant children and returning lost items. There are commandments about clothing, adultery, loans, rights of a stranger and more. It seems so disjointed, like a long list of all the things God and Moses are rushing to impart to the Israelites before they finally enter
different decisions about the Promised Land. Yet, work and school and socially there is a common thread. distant play dates. We have As Hillel declared, we must different levels of comfort be kind and thoughtful of when it comes to seeing famour peers. Deuteronomy 22:1 ily or walking into a store. teaches us that “We are responsible for one anoth- Rabbi Arianna And yet, we are knotted Gordon together, all intertwined. If we er, tied together.” are lost, we need a friend to How appropriate Parshat lift us up. If we are struggling, that this portion, which Ki Tetze: Deuteronomy we need a neighbor to give reminds us of our obligations to our friends, family, 21:10-25:19; a smile. Isaiah Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. neighbors and God, also 54:1-10 once said, “One of the great contains the commandliabilities in life is that all too many ment instructing us to wear tzitzit, people find themselves living amid the fringes hanging from the a great period of social change and corners of our tallit (Deuteronomy 22:12). They represent our respon- yet they fail to develop the new attitudes, the new mental responssibilities to one another and to es, that the new situation demands. God, tying us all together, requiring that we not ignore one another. They end up sleeping through a revolution.” In a world turned upside down, Every time I wear my tallit, I we need these reminders now play with the fringes, wrapping more than ever. We are making
them around my fingers, remembering how I am tied to those who came before me and those will come after. I think about the way we are commanded to follow God’s laws, to teach them to our children. I think about how we are so entwined with and responsible for each other. Each knot and each string is a reminder to wave hello, to pick up the phone, to offer a smile, to donate some groceries, to be a little kinder, a little more patient. The next time you wrap yourself in a tallit and fiddle with the tzitzit, consider the lessons we have learned from the past, but perhaps more importantly, the lessons we hope to pass on to our future. Rabbi Arianna Gordon is the director of education and lifelong learning at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield.
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TAMAROFF 28585 Telegraph Road Southfield, MI 48034 (248) 353-1300 www.tamaroff.com
LE SHOPPE TOO 3325 Orchard Lake Road Keego Harbor, MI 48320 (248) 481-8884 leshopperetail@gmail.com www.leshoppetoo.com
Tamaroff Motors has been proudly serving all your automotive needs since 1969: Factory-authorized Honda and Nissan dealer for new/used car sales, service, finance/lease, parts and collision shop. No. 1 new and certified pre-owned Honda dealer in Michigan. Free oil change, car wash, loaners and up to $500 deductible reimbursements on any new or used vehicle purchased. You’re better off at Tamaroff.
VARSITY LINCOLN 49251 Grand River Ave. Novi, MI 48376 (248) 305-5300 www.varsitylincoln.com Varsity Lincoln is the No. 1 volume Lincoln dealer globally since 1997. Come find out why. Varsity has more than 800 vehicles ready to go, including 200 quality pre-owned vehicles. Varsity services all makes and models and focuses on your complete satisfaction. We have a state-of-the-art collision center that offers local concierge pickup and delivery. Get the Varsity advantage.
We are an upscale consignment shop specializing in iconic 20th-century furniture and art with estate sale, auction and appraisal services all under one roof.
EDUCATION FARBER HEBREW DAY SCHOOL 21100 W. 12 Mile Road Southfield, MI 48076 (248) 386-1625 www.farberhds.org Farber Hebrew Day School – Yeshivat Akiva is the only Modern Orthodox Zionist day school serving the Metropolitan Detroit area. From the Early Childhood Center through the High School, Farber provides students with a comprehensive college preparatory education permeated with Jewish values. Farber students are imbued with a solid Jewish identity, intense commitment to the Torah way of life, a love of learning and devotion to the State of Israel.
FRANKEL JEWISH ACADEMY 6600 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 592-5263 www.frankelja.org Frankel Jewish Academy is a rigorous college preparatory high school pursuing academic excellence and Jewish literacy. We inspire students to think critically, creatively and compassionately; to dedicate themselves to Jewish tradition, peoplehood and the State of Israel; and to become lifelong learners and leaders.
HILLEL DAY SCHOOL 32200 Middlebelt Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 851-3220 www.hillelday.org Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit delivers an outstanding general and Jewish education to Jewish children from preschool through eighth grade. We inspire a passion for learning, responsibility to self and community, and devotion to Jewish living in a warm innovative and engaging environment. At Hillel, students develop their creativity, learn to think critically in two languages, collaborate effectively and communicate successfully — the essential skills they need to succeed in high school and the world they will inherit. Our newly renovated Early Childhood Center nurtures children ages 18 mos.-5 years as they play, think, question and learn. Whether on campus or in a remote or flexible learning environment due to the coronavirus pandemic, every day our dedicated teachers inspire a passion for learning in our students and instill in them the perseverance necessary to learn deeply and to navigate challenges through a Jewish lens, ultimately guiding students toward living a meaningful and purposeful Jewish life. To learn more about joining the Hillel family, contact Amy Schlussel, Director of Advancement, at (248) 539-1484 or aschlussel@ hillelday.org.
KAUFMAN CHILDREN’S CENTER FOR SPEECH, LANGUAGE, SENSORYMOTOR & AUTISM TREATMENT 6625 Daly Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 737-3430 kidspeech.com The Kaufman Children’s Center is an awardwinning special-needs clinic that provides speech and language therapy, occupational and sensory integration therapy, social skills instruction, and both home and center-based ABA autism programs. We offer bright family-friendly facilities and a highly trained staff known for enthusiasm, expertise and outstanding clinical skills
ORT AMERICA MICHIGAN REGION 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 350 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 (248) 723-8860 www.ortmichigan.org ORT Michigan supports World ORT’s global network of schools and programs providing education and training opportunities to students in nearly 40 countries, including the David B. Hermelin ORT Resource Centers located in Southfield and Detroit.
YESHIVA BETH YEHUDAH P.O. Box 2044 Southfield, MI 48037 (248) 557-6750 info@yby.org Yeshiva Beth Yehudah is the largest Jewish school system in Michigan, providing quality Torah-based and secular educational programs. More than 1,100 students in pre-nursery though grade 12 receive an excellent foundation to become future leaders of our community.
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@] pfl Xi\ efk n\Xi`e^ `k¿ j\cc `k %%% fi 9FIIFN fe `k Pfl can’t enjoy jewelry if it’s sitting in your safe
deposit box. Sell or borrow on it for immediate cash. We deal in jewelry, watches, diamonds and coins. A Service to Private Owners, Banks & Estates
Coins & Jewelry
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248-644-8565
info@bloomassetmanagement.com www.bloomassetmanagement.com 31275 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 145 Farmington Hills, MI 48334-2531 248.932.5200 • Toll Free 855.932.2200 COMMISSION-FREE FINANCIAL PLANNING & INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT REGISTERED INVESTMENT ADVISOR
AUGUST 27 • 2020
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COMMUNITY
DIRECTORY JEWISH NEWS' MICHIGAN BUSINESS DIRECTORY
ENTERTAINMENT/PARTY PLANNING ANDREA SOLOMON 6405 Tamerlane Drive West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 535-0402 andreasolomon2554@gmail.com As far back as can be remembered, people around the world have gathered to celebrate life’s special moments. Whether you expect 20 or 2,000 guests at your next event, let me, event planner Andrea Solomon, make your planning and party run smoothly. My knowledge and experience mean your wedding, mitzvah, bridal/baby shower, birthday, anniversary or corporate party will be a huge success. Working with me will allow you to enjoy your party as much as your guests do. Packages are custom-designed to meet your needs. Call for an appointment today.
SIMONE VITALE BAND 505 S. Lafayette Royal Oak, MI 48067 (248) 765-7336 info@simonevitale.com www.simonevitale.com Simone Vitale Band is your assurance of a great evening … Personal attention … We become part of the family … The variety of music is extensive … High energy … Every song is a performance to rival the original.
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ESTATE SALES ABBOTT’S 33700 Woodward Ave. Birmingham, MI 48009 Larry Allan (248) 644-8565 www.Abbottscorp.com We at Abbott’s specialize in helping people with evaluating, purchasing and selling personal property. If an item has collectible or intrinsic value, you can bet that we make a market with it. You might ask how we could be of assistance to you. Whether you are an investment adviser who wants to diversify your client’s portfolio with numismatics and precious metals, a jeweler who needs to find out what the accurate grades of a diamond are, a judge who needs an accurate, independent, thirdparty unbiased approach to valuing assets in an estate or somebody who wants to sell something you don’t use anymore, we are here for you. States, banks, estates, attorneys, law enforcement, judges and regular people have come to use our services regularly.
FINANCIAL BERNARD WEALTH MANAGEMENT 600 S. Adams Road Birmingham, MI 48009 (248) 556-2900 www.bernard-wealth.com Bernard Wealth Management, founded by Ken Bernard, is a fiduciary, fee-based independent investment advisory firm. We strive to achieve our clients’ financial goals through personalized retirement planning, investment management and ongoing financial counseling.
BLOOM ASSET MANAGEMENT INC. 31275 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 145 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 932-5200 (855) 932-2200 www.bloomassetmanagement.com Facebook: Bloom Asset Management Since 1984, family-owned Bloom Asset Management has been providing independent, commission-free management services. We manage each portfolio as if it were our own with the care and attention individual investors have come to expect.
CAPITAL MORTGAGE FUNDING 17170 W. 12 Mile Road Southfield, MI 48076 1-800-LOW-RATE www.CapitalMortgageFunding.com Co-founded by Harry Glanz and Dan Burke, servicing the client is the golden rule at Capital Mortgage Funding. We are a full-service mortgage banker who processes, underwrites and funds all transactions. Conventional FHA/ VA Jumbo financing available. Capital Mortgage Funding is powered by Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. NMLS #2289. Equal Housing Lender.
HEBREW FREE LOAN ASSOCIATION 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 (248) 723-8184 www.hfldetroit.org HFL provides interest-free loans to Michigan’s Jewish individuals, families and businesses to support education, job training, summer camp, home improvements and so much more. Visit www.hfldetroit.org or www. jewishcollegeloansmi.org.
OXFORD HARRIMAN & CO Albert Berger CFP (248) 731-7596 Michael Finkelstein CFA (248) 385-5933 2550 S. Telegraph Road, Suite 114 Bloomfield Hills MI 48302 Albert Berger CFP® – Partner (248) 731-7596 albert@oxfordharriman.com www.oxfordharriman.com Detroit Office 1301 W. Long Lake Road, Suite 105 Troy MI 48098 Fax: (216) 245-6322
FUNERAL HOMES/ CHAPELS THE DORFMAN CHAPEL 30440 W. 12 Mile Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 406-6000 www.thedorfmanchapel.com thedorfmanchapel@aol.com Trusted professionals serving the Jewish community with dignity, sanctity and compassion. Committed to providing the complete, personal service that families deserve and expect in a stateof-the art facility, conveniently located in Farmington Hills.
HEBREW MEMORIAL CHAPEL 26640 Greenfield Road Oak Park, MI 48237 (248) 543-1622 (800) 736-5033 www.hebrewmemorial.org Entering our second century as your community-owned funeral chapel. We are here for you 24 hours a day. Anyone can acknowledge that your loved one died. We understand that your loved one lived.
IRA KAUFMAN CHAPEL 18325 W. Nine Mile Road Southfield, MI 48075 (248) 559-0020 www.irakaufman.com Bringing together family, faith and community, the Ira Kaufman Chapel blends tradition and progress. When you call us, you’ll talk to a member of our staff — not an answering service. We stream funerals online for loved ones unable to attend, even from graveside.
GROCERS JOHNNY POMODORO’S FRESH MARKET LLC 32906 Middlebelt Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 855-0007 www.johnnypomodoros.com Your neighborhood market. We provide quality produce, meats, seafood, deli, prepared foods, bakery, groceries, dairy, beer and wine, flowers and great old-fashioned customer service. Call for our full-service catering department. Check us out; we know you’ll come back. Delivery available.
HEALTH & WELLNESS ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION - GREATER MICHIGAN CHAPTER 25200 Telegraph Road, Suite 100 Southfield, MI 48033 (800) 292-3900 alz.org/gmc The Alzheimer’s Association Michigan Chapter is the premier source of information and support for Michigan residents living with dementia and their families and caregivers. Through our statewide network of offices, the Alzheimer’s Association offers a broad range of free programs and services, funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia research, and advocacy efforts on behalf of Michiganders.
BETTER LIFE HOME CARE 30665 Northwestern Highway, Suite 200 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 444-3353 betterlifehomecare.com A local home care provider offering a range of personalized home care services. Our professionals can help you or your loved ones, whether you’re looking for a live-in caregiver or shift worker and/or therapeutic massage services for stroke, MS, ALS, Parkinson’s and pain management. Our committed management team and experienced caregivers have a genuine interest in the wellbeing of each client we serve and provide personalized companionship, personal care, home management and memory care service.
DE VINNEY CZARNECKI PHYSICAL THERAPY Maple Park Office Complex 6020 W. Maple, Suite 500 West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 851-6999 www.dcptonline.com Private treatment rooms, a large, well-equipped gym and a highly experienced staff make our therapist-owned clinic the first choice for effective, compassionate physical therapy for families in this community since 1995.
EPIC SMILES CENTERS The Clear Choice for Straight Teeth Farmington Hills Orthodontist New Location 30969 Orchard Lake Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 1-866-Epic-Smiles All we do is orthodontic treatment using Invisalign® removable clear teeth aligners at the lowest price. Our treatment is two times faster than metal braces for half the price of other orthodontists. At Epic Smiles, you will receive a full dental health assessment prior to treatment. Our team of doctors perform a dental exam, take necessary X-rays and review your medical history before developing a custom treatment plan. We provide a free 3D digital scan of your teeth to show you a preview of your results with our Epic Smile Simulation in five minutes. Set up your free consultation for clear braces 1-866-Epic-Smiles; We’ll see you soon!
FEINBERG HEALTH CARE SOLUTIONS 7125 Orchard Lake Road, Suite 110 West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 538-5425 Feinberg Health Care Solutions provides innovative and customized healing and recovery solutions to individuals and families faced with challenging injuries, illnesses or complex health crises.
KAKOS DENTAL West Bloomfield 6621 W. Maple Road, Suite 200 West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 489-5950 Bloomfield Hills 6443 Inkster Road, Suite 176 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 (248) 855-4143 info@kakosdental.com Kakos Dental has a caring and conservative approach to oral healthcare. There is a patient behind every treatment and that is why they practice with the highest ethics, values and procedures available.
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COMMUNITY
DIRECTORY JEWISH NEWS' MICHIGAN BUSINESS DIRECTORY
KIDS IN MOTION PEDIATRIC THERAPY SERVICES Commerce, Highland, Clarkston, Brighton (248) 684-9610 www.KidsInMotionMI.com Specialists in infant and child development for over 27 years. Providing quality pediatric physical, occupational, speech and language therapy to children and families from birth to young adult. Nurturing team environment focusing on a functional approach, helping children of all abilities to improve fine and gross motor skills, enhance life and social skills, communicate more effectively, enhance cognition, and address sensory, feeding, swallowing and coordination issues. Specialized groups, summer day camps, free monthly workshops and webinars. Try our free Online Interactive Developmental Screener at: www.KidsInMotionMI.com.
MIDWEST CENTER FOR DERMATOLOGY & COSMETIC SURGERY 31275 Northwestern Hwy. Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 538-0109 www.mwdermatology.com/ location-farmington-hillscenter.html We are committed to providing the highest quality dermatologic care. Our physicians are all board certified and committed to academic excellence and the mastery of the latest advances in dermatologic science and therapy.
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MIDWEST SKIN CANCER SURGERY CENTER: FARMINGTON HILLS 31275 Northwestern Hwy. Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 538-0109 www.mwdermatology.com/ services-skin-cancer-mohssurgery.html Mohs Micrographic Surgery is a specialized technique developed for the removal of skin cancers. It is considered the best treatment for complicated tumors. This state-ofthe-art technique offers the highest cure rate of any treatment option.
NEMETH & KATRANJI PERIODONTICS 29829 Telegraph Road, Suite 111 Southfield, MI 48034 (248) 357-3100 www.drnemeth.com info@drnemeth.com Dr. Nemeth’s procedures include the pinhole gum rejuvenation technique for gum recession, minimally invasive laser treatment for gum disease, gum reshaping procedures for smile makeovers and dental implants for missing teeth.
SPILLANE AND REYNOLDS ORTHODONTICS 4299 Orchard Lake Road, Suite 196 West Bloomfield, MI 48323 (248) 344-8400 MyAmazingSmile.com Spillane & Reynolds Orthodontics has provided Metro Detroit families the highest-quality orthodontic care since 1991. Using state-ofthe-art technology to enhance treatment, the practice offers a unique orthodontic experience that is fun, affordable, interactive and effective, maintaining a commitment to its patients in every facet of the practice.
TEAM REHABILITATION www.team-rehab.com info@team-rehab.com A network of clinics owned and operated by people who strive to provide the best available outpatient physical therapy available. We want our patients to enjoy their therapy while getting clear improvements in their function.
3200 Northwestern Hwy., Suite 180 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 419-3388 6405 Telegraph Road, Suite F1 Bloomfield, MI 48301 (248) 633-2980 27555 Farmington Road, Suite 140 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 516-1300 33481 W. 14 Mile Road, Suite 130 Farmington Hills, MI 48331 (248) 661-6708 2300 Haggerty Road, Suite 2020 West Bloomfield, MI 48323 (248) 313-5940 18161 W. 13 Mile Road, Suite A Southfield, MI 48076 (248) 633-2640
VIEWPOINT PSYCHOLOGY AND WELLNESS 2045 E. West Maple Road, Suite D405 Commerce Township, MI 48390 7035 Orchard Lake Road, Suite 800 West Bloomfield, MI 48390 Text: (248) 274-4334 Phone: (248) 669-9500 www.viewpointpw.com help@viewpointpw.com Viewpoint is an outpatient mental health practice that provides psychological and psychiatric services. Whether you are looking for therapy and counseling, psychological assessment, diagnosis and testing, medication management, or are interested in a health and wellness-based model, we are here to address your concerns and provide effective treatment.
ZOOMCREW (248) 388-8613 thezoomcrew.com ZoomCrew is a virtual fitness and yoga studio focused on health, wellbeing, and community. With 10 instructors and 20 different class types, there is something for everyone!
HOME IMPROVEMENT RUNNING RIGHT 31529 Eight Mile Road Livonia, MI 48125 (248) 884-1704 rrhvac.biz Running Right is a full-service HVAC company that offers highquality service at an affordable price. Our certified technicians service all makes/models of commercial and residential systems. Let us help you keep your HVAC system running right!
Retirement Planning Investment Management Financial Counseling
Kenneth M. Bernard, CFA, President Your trusted partner for all financial issues.
600 South Adams • Suite 100 • Birmingham, MI 48009 Office: 248-556-2900 • www.bernard-wealth.com
JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS AMERICAN FRIENDS OF MAGEN DAVID ADOM Wendy Strip, Development Executive, Greater Detroit Area (248) 522-0420 wstrip@afmda.org afmda.org Magen David Adom is Israel’s ambulance disaster-relief and blood-services agency, serving as emergency medical first responders for 9.2 million people. It’s not a government agency so it depends on Americans like you for funding.
FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE 6892 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 788-7878 Fax: (248) 788-7854 friend@friendshipcircle.org www.friendshipcircle.org Friendship Circle provides assistance and support to the families of individuals with special needs by providing recreational, social and educational programming that aims to support community inclusion. The work of Friendship Circle also extends into the lives of people struggling with addiction, isolation and other family-related crises through the Daniel B. Sobel Friendship House — a Jewish recovery community that offers friendship, support and a variety of programs that facilitate lasting success.
JARC 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 100 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 (248) 940-2617 jarc@jarc.org www.jarc.org JARC is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization founded in 1969 by a group of parents concerned about the future of their children with developmental disabilities. Today, JARC is known as a prototype for innovative high-quality residential and support programs for people with developmental disabilities. JARC serves more than 150 people in 80 different settings in Oakland County, including group homes, independent living and in-home respite care.
JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER 6600 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 www.jccdet.org (248) 661-1000 The mission of the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit is to build a dynamic Jewish community by collaborating to create world-class education and engagement opportunities for the mind, body and soul throughout Metro Detroit. Learn more at JCCDet.org.
hELPING FAMILIES FINANCE THEIR DREAM HOME FOR OVER 30 YEARS. www.CapitalMortgageFunding.com 1-800-LOW-RATE
Capital Mortgage Funding is Powered by Fairway Independent Mortgage Corporation. NMLS#2289.
We want to help you get back to doing the things you love. A trusted name in the community for over 25 years.
Maple Park Office Complex 6020 West Maple Suite 500, West Bloomfield MI 48322
248 851-6999 www.dcptonline.com
Couzens Lansky provides legal representation regarding trusts and estates, probate and trust administration, taxation, business and corporate, real estate, employment and labor, litigation and dispute resolution, construction law and banking and finance services.
Couzens, Lansky, Fealk, Ellis, Roeder & Lazar, P.C. 39395 W. 12 MILE RD, STE 200 • FARMINGTON HILLS, MI 48331
248.489.8600 | www.couzens.com AUGUST 27 • 2020
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The Board of Directors, Volunteers and Staff of
Yad Ezra thank our Jewish community for its generous support in helping us alleviate hunger for the past 30 years. Your help makes a tremendous difference in the lives of those most vulnerable. Best wishes for a healthy, happy and peaceful new year!
Proudly Serving Metro Detroit Proud
Since 1991! Complimentary Consultations
(248) 801-0075 w www.MyAmazingSmile.com
West Bloom
World-class Orthodontists State-of-the-art technology Fun & relaxing environment
West Bloomfield - Novi - Rochester Hills - Troy
COMMUNITY
DIRECTORY JEWISH NEWS' MICHIGAN BUSINESS DIRECTORY
JEWISH FAMILY SERVICE RESOURCE CENTER (248) 592-2313 resourcecenter@jfsdetroit.org www.jfsdetroit.org The heart of a stronger community, we provide older adult services such as case management, doorthrough-door transportation, Kosher Meals on Wheels and Holocaust survivor assistance; mental health and wellness services such as counseling, suicide prevention trainings and youth/school-based services; safety net services such as basic needs assistance, public benefits enrollment and health care navigation. We also provide outreach to the Orthodox and Russian-speaking communities.
JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT 6735 Telegraph Road P.O. Box 2030 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303 (248) 642-4260 www.jewishdetroit.org The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit is the central communal organization of the Detroit Jewish community. Federation is committed to taking care of the needs of the Jewish people and building a vibrant Jewish future in Metropolitan Detroit, in Israel and around the world.
www.rrhvac.com We service all makes and models of commercial and residential HVAC systems. 3 1 52 9 W. 8 M I L E R O A D • L I VO N I A , M I 4 81 52
Call Andrew Perlin today!
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248.884.1704
JHELP c/o The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit 6735 Telegraph Road P.O. Box 2030 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303 (833) 445-4357 www.jhelp.org For those needing support, JHELP offers a simple connection point to our community’s Jewish social service agencies. With one call or visit to our site, community members will be guided to whatever assistance is necessary. JHELP serves older adults, families, teens and children, individuals with special needs, job seekers and others.
JVS HUMAN SERVICES 29699 Southfield Road Southfield, MI 48076 (248) 559-5000 www.jvshumanservices.org JVS Human Services helps people discover and unlock their personal potential through counseling, training and supportive services for individuals with disabilities, job seekers, seniors and others in need.
KADIMA 15999 W. 12 Mile Road Southfield, MI 48067 (248) 559-8235 Kadimacenter.org Kadima provides comprehensive residential, therapeutic and social services to all people with mental health needs as they move forward in their lives. Inspired by Jewish values, Kadima delivers these services while providing education and outreach to the broader community to ensure positive mental health outcomes for all.
KOSHER MEALS ON WHEELS (248) 592-2313 www.ncjwmi.org National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan (NCJW|MI), in conjunction with Jewish Family Service, can deliver meals to your home daily, Monday-Friday. Meals are for those homebound, 60 and older, who are unable to provide for themselves or who have no one to assist them with meal preparation on a temporary or ongoing basis. Meals are packaged and delivered from the kitchen at the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield by volunteers of NCJW|MI.
MICHIGAN JEWISH SPORTS FOUNDATION 6632 Telegraph Road, Suite 304 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301 (248) 592-9323 scicurel@ michiganjewishsports.org www.michiganjewishsports. org The MJSF’s mission is to honor Jewish individuals who have demonstrated achievement in sports and to foster Jewish identity through athletics, as well as to raise funds for charitable contributions to benefit health, education and the less privileged.
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF JEWISH WOMEN, MICHIGAN (NCJW|MI) 26400 Lahser Road, Suite 306 Southfield, MI 48033 (248) 355-3300, ext. 0 www.ncjwmi.org The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) is a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action. Inspired by Jewish values, NCJW strives for social justice by improving the quality of life for women, children and families, and by safeguarding individual rights and freedoms.
Community members can volunteer or participate in community service projects, advocate on issues, and attend programs and speakers.
YAD EZRA 2850 W. 11 Mile Road Berkley, MI 48072 (248) 548-3663 info@yadezra.org www.yadezra.org Yad Ezra, Michigan’s only kosher food pantry, is an independent organization that provides free groceries and household items to lowincome families in Southeast Michigan.
Jessica J Kakos, DDS :HVW %ORRPČ´ HOG
6621 W Maple Road Suite 200 :HVW %ORRPȴ HOG 0Ζ Tel
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REAL ESTATE 750 FOREST A Robertson Larson Group Development 750 Forest Birmingham, MI 48009 (248) 633-8169 kalessi@robertsonhomes.com www.750Forest.com New luxury mid-rise condominium building offering 2- and 3-bedroom condos within a short walking distance to downtown Birmingham. Enjoy carefree living with a concierge service, indoor parking and a fourth-floor rooftop terrace. Furnished model open by appointment only.
COOPER GLASS HOMES Dana Cooper & Laurie Glass Max Broock Realtors 275 S. Old Woodward Birmingham, MI 48009 (248) 658-8030 www.cooperglasshomes.com With more than $150 million in sales, Dana Cooper and Laurie Glass work passionately to protect your interests to get you the best results. “We love the long-term relationships that we develop and believe in providing superior concierge service — every client every time.�
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Helping children of all abilities achieve and live the most productive lives possible.
t Physical Therapy t Occupational Therapy t Speech & Language Therapy Do you have questions regarding your child’s development? Call for a FREE screening 248.684.9610 or visit us at KidsInMotionMI.com
WE MAKE THERAPY
FUN!
We are a medical clinic that takes all major insurances
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BE T TER THAN A S SISTED LIVING
IT’S PROVISION LIVING! 5475 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 243-8024 ProvisionLiving.com
ACCEPTING NE W RESIDENTS ASSISTED LIVING
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COMMUNITY
DIRECTORY JEWISH NEWS' MICHIGAN BUSINESS DIRECTORY
THE VILLAS AT BLOOMFIELD GROVE A Robertson Homes Community 183 Timber Trace Lane Bloomfield Hills, MI 48302 (248) 963-8913 kalessi@robertsonhomes.com www.RobertsonHomes.com Experience luxury living at the Villas at Bloomfield Grove, offering detached ranch condos in Bloomfield Hills. Furnished model home open daily. Enjoy the privacy of a single-family home without any exterior maintenance. Designer appointments included to help personalize and create your dream home.
RESALE COUNCIL RE|SALE 3297 W. 12 Mile Road Berkley, MI 48072 (248) 548-6664 Councilresale.net Fashion resale at its best. Women’s, men’s and children’s clothing: casual, career attire, eveningwear, vintage and designer; accessories, jewelry and home accessories. All the best you can find at your neighborhood resale shop. Donors and shoppers always welcome. Proceeds benefit National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan (NCJW|MI) community service projects.
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RESTAURANTS ANTONIO’S CUCINA ITALIANA Canton: (734) 981-9800 Dearborn Heights: (313) 278-6000 Farmington Hills: (248) 994-4000 Dearborn: (313) 842-2100 Livonia: (734) 513-8000 (No Banquets) www.antoniosrestaurants.com Antonio’s Cucina Italiana, the Rugiero family and its staff have impressed their guests since 1964 with their traditional and authentic Italian cuisine. Signature dishes like Gnocchi Rita, Chicken Antonio, mouthwatering veal dishes, our famous bread and awesome pizzas. A banquet facility, full bar and extensive wine list are available at Dearborn Heights, Canton, Farmington Hills and Roman Village in Dearborn.
SENIOR LIVING ANTHOLOGY OF NOVI 42400 W. 12 Mile Road Novi, MI 48377 (248) 308-5110 www.anthologyseniorliving.com At Anthology Senior Living, we believe each person has a unique life story. Explore our independent living, assisted living and memory care options and you will find that our boutique-inspired communities are purposely and beautifully built with you in mind. From sophisticated accommodations to programs involving high-tech, high-touch care, we’ve set the new standard in senior living. Combining the best in accommodations, care, culinary experiences and community, our residences include top-of-the-line amenities and floor plans to suit your lifestyle.
JEWISH SENIOR LIFE OF METRO DETROIT Residences-Programs-Services Administrative Offices: A. Alfred Taubman Jewish Community Campus 15000 W. 10 Mile Road Oak Park, MI 48237 Foundation Office Eugene & Marcia Applebaum Jewish Community Campus 6710 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 661-1836 TTY #711 www.jslmi.org We nurture a sense of community and enrich the lives of older adults while embracing Jewish values and celebrating life. People of all faiths and beliefs are welcome.
PROVISION LIVING OF WEST BLOOMFIELD 5475 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 781-2380 info@provisionliving.com provisionliving.com/ location/west-bloomfield Vibrant and innovative licensed assisted-living community in the heart of West Bloomfield, offering enhanced assisted living and memory care. Our state-of-the-art continuous predictive fall and health monitoring technology monitors changes to help prevent falls and decline. Our vision is to create a radiant community where people are loved, inspired and thriving.
SYNAGOGUES/TEMPLES DOROTHY AND PETER BROWN JEWISH COMMUNITY ADULT DAY PROGRAM A joint operation between JVS Human Services and Jewish Senior Life 29699 Southfield Road Southfield, MI 48076 (248) 233-4000 6720 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 661-6390 www.jvshumanservices.org/brown www.jslmi.org/the-dorothy-peterbrown-jewish-community-dayprogram The Brown Adult Day Program, operated in partnership between Jewish Senior Life and JVS Human Services, supports people living with dementia and their family care partners. Our day program is designed to actively engage participants through stimulating programming and socialization while providing much needed respite for care partners. During the pandemic, we have moved to a virtual program while maintaining the goal and integrity of the Brown Program.
ADAT SHALOM SYNAGOGUE 29901 Middlebelt Road Farmington Hills, MI 48334 (248) 851-5100 www.adatshalom.org Rabbis: Aaron Bergman, Rachel Shere, Herbert Yoskowitz, Emeritus; Hazzan Daniel Gross. Adat Shalom is a vibrant Conservative congregation with an outstanding religious school and diverse innovative programs for families and children of all ages. Creative, caring and energetic clergy, staff and lay leaders work together to design educational, spiritual, social and social action programs that engage and serve the needs of a diverse membership. AdatShalom@ home virtual services: Sunday through Friday 8 a.m.; Shabbat 9 a.m.; evening services daily — times vary throughout the year. Consult our schedule at adatshalom.org/calendar for service times and the most upto-date changes.
B’NAI ISRAEL SYNAGOGUE 5085 Walnut Lake Road West Bloomfield, MI 48323 (248) 432-2729 Fax: (248) 479-2572 info@bnaiisraelwb.org www.bnaiisraelwb.org Rabbi Mitch Parker. B’nai Israel Synagogue is an egalitarian, lay-led Conservative congregation operating within the Temple Kol Ami building. We provide religious, educational and social opportunities that reflect our commitment to Judaism, our members of all ages and our community.
CONGREGATION BETH AHM 5075 W. Maple Road West Bloomfield, MI 48322 (248) 851-6880 www.cbahm.org Congregation Beth Ahm was established to provide opportunities to explore and practice Judaism in a warm and approachable environment. We believe in the value of promoting an inviting, caring and welcoming environment where we demonstrate compassion toward others through derech eretz, tzedakah and tikkun olam.
CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK 27375 Bell Road Southfield, MI 48034-2079 (248) 357-5544 csz.info@shaareyzedek.org www.shaareyzedek.org Congregation Shaarey Zedek is a warm, welcoming, inclusive and egalitarian Conservative Jewish community. We provide innovative, stimulating and diverse spiritual and educational leadership and social opportunities that nurture our love and commitment to Jewish life.
CONGREGATION SHIR TIKVAH 3900 Northfield Parkway Troy, MI 48084 (248) 649-4418 www.shirtikvah.org info@shirtikvah.org Congregation Shir Tikvah is an innovative yet traditional, friendly and inclusive congregation valuing diversity, where all can seek God and strengthen spiritual, social, educational and cultural aspects of Jewish life. We are affiliated with both the Reform and Renewal movements. As a bridge between our membership community and the State of Israel, Shir Tikvah embraces our heritage, provides continuity and encourages the evolution of Judaism into the future. We offer Fridayevening Shabbat services (times vary) and some Saturdays at 10 a.m. Our outstanding Sam and Jean Frankel Family Education Program provides a pre-K-12th-grade religious school as well as a variety of enrichment opportunities for adults. Rabbi Alicia Harris.
Warm. Spiritual. Totally Welcoming.
TEMPLE ISRAEL 5725 Walnut Lake Road West Bloomfield, MI 48323 Temple Israel Offices: (248) 661-5700 Fax: (248) 661-1302 Tyner Religious School: (248) 661-5725 Early Childhood Center: (248) 661-5750 info@temple-israel.org Temple Israel is an inclusive Reform congregation achieving its religious and ethical mission through spiritual fulfillment, dynamic programming, lifelong learning, cultural enrichment and social responsibility. A remarkable clergy team leads our congregation with a meaningful face-to-faith approach, welcoming people of all ages and stages. The Audrey & William Farber Endowment Fund supports the Susan & Rabbi Harold Loss Early Childhood Center, our Jewish preschool with a four-star “Great Start to Quality” rating. Highly qualified teachers, a nurturing environment and the latest technology result in an incredible educational foundation. Wherever you’re at spiritually or financially, come experience what makes Temple Israel so special.
TEMPLE KOL AMI 5085 Walnut Lake Road West Bloomfield, MI 48323 (248) 661-0040 Fax: (248) 661-5901 www.tkolami.org Temple Kol Ami is a Reform congregation located in West Bloomfield, committed to Jewish values, education and spiritual growth. The temple is committed to creating a warm, friendly, family-oriented environment that is dedicated to providing a sense of support and community for all its members while it seeks to strengthen the bonds of loyalty with Jews everywhere.
ZoomCrew ALLISON KAPLAN
Our Rabbis, Board of Trustees and synagogue community invite you to join us for Shabbat services. Friday evenings: 6:15 p.m. or 7:15 p.m. Occasional Saturday mornings Please check shirtikvah.org for exact service dates/times & to view our live-stream. 3900 Northfield Parkway • Troy, MI 48084 | shirtikvah.org | (248) 649-4418 @CongregationShirTikvah
ZoomCrew is a virtual fitness and yoga studio focused on health, wellbeing, and community. With 10 instructors and 20 different class types, there is something for everyone!
248.388.8613 | thezoomcrew.com AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Digital Dance Discussion
Arts&Life dance
Former Metro Detroiters to discuss the art of dancing in JCC program. SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
details To access information about “Conversations” programming — and learn more about the dance discussion beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27 — go to culturalarts.jcc.org.
Carolyn Dorfman
WHITNEY BROWNE
T JCC
wo Southfield-raised representatives of the professional dance world — one who formed a dance company and the other who transitioned into neurosurgery — will discuss the art of dance during a digital program arranged by the Jewish Community Center (JCC). The event is part of the series “Conversations: Bringing the World Into Your Living Room” and will feature Dr. Allen Dr. Allen Maniker interviewing Carolyn Maniker Dorfman, choreographer and founding artistic director of Carolyn Dorfman Dance, based in New Jersey. The presentation begins at 7 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, and recalls some of the doctor’s earlier stage credits. “I want to talk about how one develops a career as a professional choreographer,” said Maniker, now a New Yorker. He previously danced with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in the city and the Israeli Bat-Dor Dance Company, closed after almost 40 years. “I will ask about the problems and difficulties of maintaining a professional dance company and what she has seen as problematic in returning to creative work in this time of pandemic,” he told the JN. Maniker and Dorfman, who attended Southfield High School at the same time, recall sharing stage experiences as they worked on the musical Camelot — she as cho-
reographer and he as a cast member. While her early dance lessons were with Julie Adler, his were with Harriet Berg at the JCC. Both went on to the University of Michigan, where Maniker double majored in dance and pre-med. After one year, he transferred to Juilliard, earning a degree in dance and continuing in the field until deciding, in the 1980s, to work toward a medical degree. Dorfman earned a bachelor’s degree in dance from U-M and a master’s from New York University Tisch School of the Arts. In discussing the focus of her company, which is now in its 37th year, she points to the connectivity of the art form — physical connection, connection between artists and connection between the artist and the audience. “I am interested in communicating,” said Dorfman, currently giving attention to social justice issues with a troupe of 10 that has toured internationally. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, “I had to learn how to attempt to break barriers on the screen.” The choreographer has used the digital medium for both performances and instruction and hopes to show excerpts during the upcoming broadcast. “I have been into technology for a very long time,” said Dorfman, the daughter of Holocaust survivors who motivated her development of pieces that reflect Jewish heritage. “We learned how to create on Zoom and
make an artistic entity. “We have created curriculum that we’re licensing to a school district and produced lectures. Some things are synchronous with students in the audience, and some things are asynchronous where I produce content sent somewhere and watched at leisure.” Dorfman said she feels a lot of pride for the dancers in her company, especially during the pandemic when one has been coping with COVID-19 — and all show resilience. Maniker, retired as chairman of neurosurgery at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan, credits Dorfman with motivating him toward a dance career, which he pursued through age 26. Maniker continues active interest in dance as board chairman of the Steps Beyond Foundation, associated with Steps on Broadway, a dance studio in New York City. To foster continuing education, he moderates panel discussions and planned a lecture-demonstration about ballet for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he is a docent. Knowledge of his New York programming led to establishing “Conversations,” which has featured Met curator Kathryn Calley Galitz and will introduce Alicia Graf Mack, Juilliard Dance Division director, on Sept. 10. “Plus, I’m a performer,” Maniker said. “And these ‘Conversations’ are performances.”
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Arts&Life music
‘Lonesome’ Dove Ethan Davidson’s new album examines solitude and introspection. SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Ethan Davidson
S
ome 25 years ago, when h Ethan h Daniell Davidson was a touring singer-songwriter-instrumentalist, he spent time in a remote area of Alaska to think through the direction of his life. From his cabin, Davidson hiked and chopped wood in-between reading the Jewish philosophy of Martin Buber and the verses of Yukon poet Robert Service. The long-term impact of those experiences come together in the title song of his new album, Come Down Lonesome, now available on LP, CD and digital download. The album features other original and cover songs. “I got the title from a line in Martin Buber’s book I and Thou,� Davidson explained about mulling over connections to God. “Buber says, ‘Come down Lonesome One to the lonesome,’ and I was really moved by that. “I didn’t use that song for years, but as I thought about it and the kind of songs we selected for this recording — old folk songs about loneliness, introspection or longing for some kind of connection — that seemed to be expressed by the idea ‘Come Down Lonesome One’ and be with us lonesome folk down here.� After working on the album for two years, Davidson thinks of the title song as especially appropriate with people isolating because of COVID-19.
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
“I think about all the people who llive alone,� he said. “How difficult m must that be for them. I hope eeverybody [else] out there is keepiing them in mind.� Davidson also is director and G Grants Committee chair of the W William Davidson Foundation and cchairman of the Michigan Opera T Theatre (MOT) Board of Directors aand Trustees. He moved away from touring before the pandemic and has been isolating with his wife, album producer and instrumentalist Gretchen Gonzales Davidson, and their children. “We were focusing on putting the album out in March or April, and then the pandemic hit,� said Davidson, 50. “We thought we’d wait another six months and see what happens. Either life would get back to normal, or we’d try to think of some different way of releasing this without doing anything public.� Davidson’s track selections include songs considered for previous albums, essentially at the discretion of his wife along with fellow producer Warren Defever. Among the nine tracks are personalized versions of Bob Dylan’s “I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine� and Charlie Rich’s “I Washed My Hands in Muddy Water.� One Davidson original that brings a different sound among the folk arrangements is “Someday I’ll Be Caught.� It’s about looking for an enduring romantic relationship, and the melody is reminiscent of torch songs. Davidson, who enjoys all kinds of musical styles, can be heard playing various instruments as one track moves into another — guitar, banjo, organ, hurdy-gurdy, didgeridoo and cello banjo. And he still has that cabin in Alaska. Just in case solitude beckons.
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Arts&Life MICHELLE SIDER
art
Portraits in
Glass Artist Michele Sider has created a series focused on the Jews of Yemen. BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
M
ichelle Sider has combined her love of artisanal glass and her interest in the Jews of Yemen to create a stunning collection of glass mosaic portraits. She calls it “painting with glass.” Sider has completed four portraits in a collection, “I Am Yemenite,” that will eventually number 12. Each piece is 14 x 18 inches, and each takes about 100 hours to complete. Sider was inspired by glass mosaics at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Originally a painter, she studied glass art locally and with artists in Boston, Costa Rica, Belgium and Israel. Her first glass mosaic effort was a triptych, nearly 4-feet-by-5-feet, of a modernized Queen Esther. Sider became interested in the Jews of Yemen when her oldest son Joshua, 26, who lives in Israel, got engaged to a woman of Yemenite heritage. “I started learning about their history and I was hooked!” she said. She listened to her future daughter-in-law’s family stories and examined their old photos. She used some pieces of her daughter-in-law’s mother’s jewelry as models for jewelry in her portraits. Sider has read numerous books about Yemenite Jews, from scholarly tomes to reports from explorers, including one published in 1792. She turned to a translator to help her read a replica of a book of essays in German, Von Den Juden Des Yemen, published in 1913. Sider, 60, grew up in Detroit and graduated from Birmingham Groves High School. At the University of Michigan, she majored in fine arts, joking that she did her “junior year abroad” at Detroit’s College for Creative Studies. With a master’s and doctorate in clinical psychology from the University of Detroit, she worked for many years as a counselor. She taught art for 41 years, offercontinued on page 48 AUGUST 27 • 2020
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ing private tuition and classes at Farber Hebrew Day School, Frankel Jewish Academy, the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center and various community centers. She gave up teaching four years ago to concentrate on her own art. In 2017, Sider and Rabbi Joseph Krakoff published a book, Never Enough Time, to help people grieving the loss of a loved one, and a companion coloring book for children. Sider spends many hours working in her first-floor home studio. “I must create,” she said. “It is the essence of my being. I am continually thinking about how I can translate my experience into art.” An entire closet at the entrance to her studio is filled with large sheets of glass in dozens of colors. Some are thick and opaque, resembling marble; others are extremely thin and nearly transparent. Sider gets her glass, all of it hand-made, from vendors all over the world. She particularly likes Italian smalti, a type of glass produced in just two places in Italy. “Italian smalti is created with a focus on brilliance, purity of color, quality and consistency,” she said. “The recipes for over 3,000 colors have been handed down for centuries, often kept within family groups. The production of the glass itself is conMichelle Sider at work in her studio.
sidered an art form.” She starts the process with drawings, which she uses as a guide to create an acrylic painting. Sometimes she uses her own hands as models, taking numerous selfies with her cellphone to get the right angle. She creates the mosaic by placing glass pieces atop the painting. Sider uses no grout in her portraits, so each piece of glass has to be cut precisely to match the pieces next to it. Scrupulous about detail, Sider points to the embroidered edge of a shirt in one of her portraits where there is a break in the “stitching.” Yemenite Jews often intentionally included a tiny flaw in their work, whether a building or a garment, to show that nothing man-made could be perfect. The mosaics have a fluid look, as the glass pieces reflect light differently at different times of the day. Sider hopes a museum will be interested in exhibiting the “I Am Yemenite” collection when it is complete. Sider and her husband, Bill, an attorney, are members of Kehillat Etz Chaim in Oak Park. In addition to Joshua, they have 22-year-old twins, Ben and Eli, who live at home, and a Bernese-poodle mix named Juneau. When she’s not in her studio, Sider spends time in her garden, which has been certified as a butterfly habitat.
Arts&Life
CASA ROSADA VIA WIKIPEDIA
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celebrity jews NATE BLOOM COLUMNIST
SPACE STUFF; MAYA AS KAMALA; AND PENN’S PHILANTHROPY Away is an original Netflix series that premieres Sept. 4. Hilary Swank stars as an American astronaut who must leave her husband and teen daughter behind to command an international space crew embarking upon a treacherous, three-year mission. There are six more characters in the credits, and I presume they are crew members. Two are Jewish: Josh Charles, 48, and Mark Ivanir, 51. Charles, the co-star of the hit TV drama The Good Wife, is the son of a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother. He’s described himself as Jewish. In 2013, he wed Sophie Flack, now 38. Flack, whose mother is Jewish, is a retired New York City ballet dancer and a novelist. The couple have two children. Avenir’s family left Ukraine and settled in Israel when he was 4. He’s worked steadily in mostly smallish film parts since 1988. It looks like Maya Rudolph, 48, will appear at least a couple of times on SNL when the series resumes sometime this fall (no date set yet). Rudolph played Sen. Kamala Harris in three SNL debate skits last season. (She was recently nominated for a guest appearance Emmy for these skits). Last week, she told the Hollywood Reporter that SNL creator/producer Lorne Michaels, 75, all but said she’d be back: “He sent me a GIF of myself, as Kamala, in sunglasses, sipping a cocktail and saying, ‘Oh no.’” Maya added that she doesn’t think of herself as an impressionist, but she has long noticed that when she quotes anyone, it
Sean Penn
somehow just comes out in their voice. She attributes this to being a good listener. After the first skit, Harris sent out this tweet: “That girl being played by Maya Rudolph on SNL? That girl was me.” Rudolph told the Reporter: “It [the tweet] was really clever and great, so I wrote her back. But I haven’t had the chance to meet her. I would love to.” I have no doubt that Sean Penn, 60, will win the humanitarian award at a future Oscars ceremony. Almost quietly, he’s emerged as a master organizer of disaster relief. It began in 2005, with help for Hurricane Katrina victims. Some then said it was a publicity stunt. But then, in 2010, he founded and oversaw an organization (CORE) that did tremendous work to help Haitian earthquake victims. In 2012, CORE and Penn did the same for Pakistanis, following an earthquake there. Last March, CORE began free COVID-19 testing in California. Testing sites have expanded exponentially across the country (including Native American reservations). CORE works with local organizations, and its reputation is so high that major foundations are now funding it. (I have to add that in 2013 Penn used connections to facilitate the escape of a Jewish businessman who was being held in a Bolivian jail on dubious charges. Penn then took him to his LA home and helped nurse him to health.) AUGUST 27 • 2020
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On The Go virtual events | learnings
Nearly 200 performers across nearly 15 genres will perform virtual concerts spread across a full week to raise money for the music community. All events have been constructed in collaboration with the Oakland County Health Department and meet current state of Michigan event guidelines.” A schedule and links to online performances can be found by visiting artsbeatseats.com/ virtual-showcase-supporting-localmusicians.
MOVIES IN THE PARK 9-11 PM, AUG. 28 Godzilla will be shown in City Hall Park in Downtown Dearborn. Free movies begin after dusk. Social distancing guidelines followed. Bring a lawn chair or blanket and settle in for a fun night.
OUTDOOR CONCERT 6 PM, AUG. 29 Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings blends unconventional stage design and a precise orchestral score to create an outdoor, socially distant concert presented in collaboration with the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival. John Luther Adams’ Sila: The Breath of the World will be presented with 32 professional musicians filling the Quad at Cranbrook Upper School, performing to an audience of no more than 68 people. Audience members will have the opportunity to enjoy the performance from 34 sectionedoff 12-foot squares, able to hold one to four individuals. Tickets will be reservation-based, costing $100 and are available at detroitchamberwinds.org or greatlakeschambermusic.org.
SOUNDS OF SUMMER 7 PM, AUG. 29 (4 PM, AUG. 30) Theatre NOVA presents an openair summer concert fundraiser in Ann Arbor. The socially distanced open-air performance will be on the porch of the Yellow Barn. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy a concert featuring some of Ann Arbor’s most beloved bands and singers. Tickets: $20 per person or $50 for a family of four (adults and children) per performance. Advance tickets are required. Purchase online at TheatreNova. org. Information: email a2theatrenova@gmail.com.
WALK4FRIENDSHIP 8 AM-3 PM, AUG. 30 Friendship Circle will host the virtual walk. Info: jamie@ friendshipcircle.org or check the website friendshipcircle.org/soul. ALISON SCHWARTZ
THE BEATS GO ON AUG. 27-SEPT. 3
storage pod, staff practicing social distancing and wearing gloves while handling donations, hand sanitizing stations and only 10 shoppers allowed in the store at a time. All shoppers and staff wear masks. Shoppers can purchase a $25 VIP early entry fee by appointment; call 248-214-1205. On Aug. 28, there is a fill-a-bag sale for just $12.
VOTING PANEL 7-8:30 PM, AUG. 31 Because of the pandemic and Michigan’s expansion of absentee voting, a record number of Michigan voters are expected to cast their ballot in the November election. It is more important now than ever to ensure that citizens are fully informed of their rights as voters. Join the JCRC/ AJC for an informative Zoom program featuring voting rights advocate Wendy Wagenheim, who will address these rights, recent changes to voting law, tips on how to help others during the election and more. She will be joined by Rev. Kenneth Flowers, pastor, Greater New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, and Ariana Mentzel, managing director, Detroit Center for Civil Discourse. Email young@jfmd.org for information.
LECTURE SET 7 PM, SEPT. 2
FASHION EVENT NOON-4 PM, AUG. 30 Council Re|sale, 3297 W. 12 Mile Road, Berkley, will host its fall fashion event Aug. 30 and Monday, Aug. 31, 10 am- 6 pm. All proceeds from the store benefit programs aimed at improving the lives of Detroit-area women, children and families. There are safety measures in place, including newly donated items being quarantined in a
Case Western Reserve University Siegal Lifelong Learning presents a remote lecture on “Isaac, Ishmael and Jesus: Jews, Christians and Muslims on the Binding of Isaac.” Lecturer is Aaron Koller, professor of Near Eastern Studies; Chair, Robert M. Beren Department of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University. Free and open to the community. Registration required at case.edu/ lifelonglearning/koller.
RACISM DISCUSSED 7 PM, SEPT. 3 The Coalition for Black and Jewish Unity, Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC and Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit will present “Racism and the Jews: History, Conscience and the Future.” Presenter: Professor Susannah Heschel, chair, Jewish Studies Program, Dartmouth College. The program will feature a clip from Shared Legacies, which features lessons of Black-Jewish cooperation, and a discussion with a new generation of Black leaders. Info: Sam Englender, (248) 8914837, englender@jfmd.org.
DRIVE-IN CONCERTS SEPT. 4-7 Downtown Royal Oak will deliver a series of live drive-in concerts from local musicians to support local musicians. These concerts will take place at the parking lot at 6th and Main streets. Each performance will deliver a pair of 30-minute high-energy sets from Michigan bands offering an array of themed genres. Each ticket admits two people per vehicle and may be purchased for $30. Find the The performance schedule, along with links to ticket registration, at artsbeatseats.com/ drivein-concert-series.
WELLNESS FORUM NOON-3 PM, OCT. 3 Presented by Yoga Moves MS. Event is free; $25 donation appreciated. Info: yogamovesms. org/holistichealthand wellnessforum. Registration begins Sept. 3. Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant. Send items 14 days in advance to calendar@ thejewishnews.com.
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LEFT: A member of Sheba Medical Center in Israel holds a re-engineered ventilator used for coronavirus patients. Staff at Sheba have partnered with various start-up companies created by the Israeli Defense Force to re-engineer the ventilators. BOTTOM: Professor Eli Schwartz, director of the Center for Geographic Medicine, is working with Israeli startup Newsight Imaging to develop a COVID-19 test that will provide almost instantaneous results. Schwartz is shown here treating a child in Mozambique. He is the first doctor to introduce travel medicine to Israel, according to Sheba Medical Center’s website.
Health
Israeli imaging company teams with Sheba Medical Center to develop fast-tracing COVID test. BY ELIZABETH KATZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
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ore than six months after the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern, nearly 22 million people worlwide have been diagnosed with the virus and more than 777,000 people have died from it (as of Aug. 19). The National Institutes of Health recently announced what it called an “unprecedented effort” to accelerate testing technology, pouring more than $1 billion into rapid tests and distributing them more widely so that people do not have to wait multiple days to find out if they have the virus. Israeli start-up company Newsight Imaging, based in Ness Ziona, is part of that effort, collaborating with Sheba Medical Center at Tel-Hashomer to develop a test that detects the virus in what officials are describing as “less than a second.” Their test is now in its pilot phase and company officials expect to have a test approved and available for distribution by the fall. Newsight, a 3D sensor technology developer, is using a spectral sensor chip for virus detection in human saliva. “The spectral sensor chip is actually a very sensitive camera that can detect, in very high accuracy, different wavelengths,” said Eli Assoolin, CEO of Newsight. “The basic idea is we use a light source with many wavelengths to light a liquid sam-
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF SHEBA MEDICAL CENTER
Fast-Track Testing
ple. The sample absorbs part of the light in specific wavelengths, and then we can capture with our sensor the returned light, which is a spectral signature. “We have found that each virus we test creates a unique bodily response in human blood or saliva, and this is what we are detecting with our device.” Members of Newsight are collaborating with Professor Eli Schwartz, director of the Center for Geographic Medicine at Sheba, and members of his staff. The two organizations plan to establish a joint company to produce and distribute instant COVID-19 detection tests. That company will be located in Sheba’s ARC Innovation Center and is expected to launch soon. “Once the company is established … we will start immediate, large-scale pilots around the globe and, in parallel, seek for a fast FDA approval for this important, life-saving device,” Assoolin said. The device would also have to be approved by the European Union before it could be used. He expects the testing devices will be in healthcare organizations by the end of the year. The device would be a one-time purchase and each individual test would cost a health care organization less than $1 (in American funds) to process. Assoolin mentioned that using spectrometer technology is a well-known scientific method in detecting viruses. His company took the concept of costly,
non-portable lab tests and implemented them on a spectral sensor chip. The company has used the technology in partnership with Israel’s national water company Mekorot and for beverage testing. Steve Walz, international spokesman for Sheba Medical Center, said the health organization has partnered with Intel to develop technology that can predict the deteriorating effects of COVID-19 on patients. The medical center is also collaborating with start-up organizations created by the Israeli Defense Force’s 8200 Unit, on research and development for re-engineered ventilators and protective gear. Additionally, Sheba is working with hospital organizations in the United States, including Mount Sinai Hospital in
New York, on COVID-19-related technology and research. “Sheba’s renowned expertise has allowed the hospital to work closely with the National Institutes of Health in Maryland on COVID-19 research, which is playing a role in the development of a vaccine to thwart this horrible disease,” Walz said.
JSL Thanks our Generous Sponsors & Community Members…
…For Another Successful Eight Over Eighty Event! Missed the livestream? Catch it at jslmi.org/online
MOVIES IN THE PARKS. JOIN US THIS SUMMER. 8/22 at Stony Creek Metropark Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker 8/28 at Kensington Metropark Frozen II
8/29 at Willow Metropark Toy Story 4 9/5 at Stony Creek Metropark Aladdin (2019)
METROPARKS.COM/MOVIES
AUGUST 27 • 2020
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Health
Going Home Again Jewish surgical oncologist fulfills his dream of aliyah, securing new job.
J
ake Shachar Laks, 41, has spent his life moving between his birthplace in Israel, growing up in Farmington Hills, receiving his medical degree at the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, working at U.S. hospitals and now, finally, going back home to Israel. For Laks, an oncology surgeon who specializes in treating pancreatic cancer, his aliyah is a dream come true. “It’s always been a dream for me to go back home,” he said. “The medical community there was so difficult to enter. There were only a few positions I could move into.” Laks, who was an associate professor at East Carolina State University before his move, has joined the surgical staff of Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel, a hospital ranked ninthbest in the world by Newsweek magazine. He is now using his highly specialized robotic surgical training for the benefit of pancreatic cancer patients in Israel and is a faculty member of Tel Aviv University. “It’s been really exciting,” Laks said about his move to Israel in the fall of 2019. “(Sheba Medical Center) has a really incredible innovation center I have never seen anywhere else. All you have to do is talk to people around the water cooler and you get ideas for cutting-edge research.” Laks said he has also been impressed with Sheba’s response to the COVID-19 global pandemic and its ability to secure PPE devices and ventilators in
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the face of a worldwide shortage. “The initial response of the hospital was perhaps the most impressive mobilization of resources I’ve ever seen,” he said. “The entire hospital switched to working in three separate pods around the clock to minimize the possibility of health care workers becoming infected and causing a shortage of health care staff while still being able to deliver quality and efficient health care. “That type of mobilization of resources would have taken months of negotiations and board meetings to get approved in a hospital in the United states. (The mobilization) occurred essentially overnight in an Israeli hospital whose structural operation runs more like an army division than a hospital at times of emergency. This proved to be a great asset in the initial response.” Laks obtained his bachelor’s of science degree in biology from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. After receiving his medical education in Israel, he did his surgery residency at St. Louis University in Missouri and his surgical oncology fellowship at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He also spent six years at Columbia Surgical Associates and at the University of Missouri. He practiced for an additional three years at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C. Laks’ family joined him on the move, including his wife, Meital, who is a veterinarian, and his
SHACHAR LAKS
ELIZABETH KATZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Dr. Jake
two daughters, Noam Renee, 11, and Einav Elle, 10. Laks met Meital when he was going through medical school in Israel. His daughters are becoming accustomed to Israel, which he said is very different from America in terms of schooling. “My oldest daughter was struggling with Hebrew, but she is getting used to it,” he said, recalling with a laugh a Jewish phrase that goes something like, “learn to use your elbows.” “She came from a very coddled Hebrew school in the states, where it was a very controlled environment,” he said. “She is learning to use her elbows.” Laks said he is thrilled to have the opportunity to use his robotic surgical skills for his pancreatic cancer patients and that taking the “cancer journey” with them is humbling. It is one that he has personally taken, given that his eldest daughter was diagnosed with and survived rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare cancer that develops in the soft tissue around the skeleton. Laks has noticed the differences in the levels of communication that Israeli patients prefer, compared to American patients. “In the states, we see a very solid line between the patients and the doctors, and it’s a line
that is literally never crossed,” he said. “In Israel, that does not apply. It’s very informal. Patients have no qualms about giving you advice. It’s quite amusing. At the same time, that brings you closer to the patient and the family and it can make it difficult.” Laks said it’s normal that all his patients have his cell phone number. And those patients take advantage of that fact. Laks said he doesn’t mind. “If I don’t give them my number, they wouldn’t get the kind of answers or care they need,” he said. “Patients don’t really have the kind of resources they have in the states.” Laks and his family, who are Reform, now live in Tel Mond. He says that realizing his dream of returning “home” brings him in greater connection with all aspects of Judaism, both the religion and the culture. “One of the things I do feel is a special bond with the Jewish people and being able to take care of people who are my own,” he said. “It’s really quite rewarding to give back to a country that is a homeland to our people. It’s important we live in that home and it’s important to be part of that home. I wanted my children to grow up in Israel and feel like they belong.”
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Soul
of blessed memory
ROBERT BECKER, 86, of Bloomfield Hills, died Aug. 14, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Harriet Becker; sons and daughters-in-law, Gary and Elaine Becker, and Steven and Akemi Becker. Mr. Becker was the devoted son of the late Jacob and the late Sarra Becker; the loving brother of the late Isabelle and the late Erwin Ziegelman. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105, stjude.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. SHARON BLATT, 84, of Bloomfield Hills, died Aug. 14, 2020. She is survived by her sons, Neal Blatt and Jonathan Blatt; daughter and son-in-law, Susie and Adam Rosenberg; grandchildren, Reese, Sydney and Eden Rosenberg; brother and sister-in-law, Jerome and Katie Rosenthal. Mrs. Blatt was the beloved wife of the late Dr. Ronald W. Blatt. Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Adat Shalom Synagogue, 29901 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills, MI 48334. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.
NANCY A. BRAUN, 75, of Farmington Hills, died Aug. 19, 2020. A member of Temple Israel and its sisterhood, Nancy was also president of her B’nai B’rith chapter, Mrs. Braun is survived by her children, Robin Braun, Lauren and Barb Braun, Rachel and Raed Jawad; grandchildren, Anisa, Andy, Aya; other family members and many dear friends. She was the beloved wife for 54 years of the late Bill Braun. Contributions may be made to B’nai B’rith Foundation, P.O. Box 250696, West Bloomfield, MI 48325-0696; Temple Israel, 5725 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48323; or American Cancer Society, 20450 Civic Center Drive, Southfield, MI 48076. A graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. ROSE FINEMAN, 94, of West Bloomfield, died Aug. 7, 2020. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Judith and Ron Ossipove; son and daughter-in-law, Sheldon and Nancy Fineman; grandchildren, Adam (Brittany) Ossipove, Amanda (Daniel) Levine, Ashley Fineman, Kelly (Nick Ross) Fineman; great-grandchildren, Talia, Lainie, Jacques, Colette and Mason; many loving nieces, nephews, other family members and friends. Rose was the beloved wife of the late Albert Fineman; the
sister of the late Alice Moss, the late Paul Weinger and the late Ben Weinger. Interment took place at Machpelah Cemetery in Ferndale. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. TED M. GANS, 85, of Waterford, died Aug. 13, 2020. He is survived by his beloved wife, Dottie; his dearest sister, Gail Horwitz; his dear sisterin-law, Susan Gans; nieces and nephews, Lisa Gans Goldberg, David (Janet) Gans, Barbara (Eli Greenbaum) Bloom, Julie (Ian) Allen; great-nieces and great-nephews, Perry, Ian, Jolie, Jamie, Chad (Randell) and Amy. Mr. Gans was the dear brother of the late Dr. Robert Gans; brother-in-law of the late Marvin Horwitz; beloved son of the late Ellis and the late Olga Gans. A private graveside service was held at the Beth El cemetery Aug. 14, 2020. KENNETH W. GITLIN, 80, of Orchard Lake, died Aug. 16, 2020. He was a devoted husband, a caring father and grandfather, and a talented orthopedic surgeon — highly respected for his intelligence and insight, honesty and courage, humor and generosity. An intrepid runner, skier, boater, art collector, gardener and traveler, Ken and his wife, Roslyne “Roz,” visited more
than 80 countries and seven continents around the world, most recently celebrating his 80th birthday in January of 2020 on a safari trip to South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe. At Boyne Highlands this past winter, he enjoyed a few runs on the slopes with Roz and his grandkids. He found the greatest joy in family, and everything he achieved in his successful life was to ensure their health and happiness. A past president of the Oakland County Medical Society, Ken spent more than 30 years in private practice as an orthopedic surgeon. Notably, he was an early practitioner of arthroscopic surgery and was highly regarded by his peers and his patients for his dedication to excellence as a physician. Ken and Roz supported many cultural institutions in Detroit, and their favorite evenings included events at the Detroit Institute of Arts and performances by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. If you had been to the Jewish Community Center on Drake before the shutdown, you were likely to have seen him on the elliptical machines or sipping coffee in the men’s executive locker room. You’d never know that back in the 80s he gave up a kidney to cancer; he ran a marathon not soon after. He was a runner, always active, always looking for something to do, to fix, to make better. Ken was resolute in his drive to do everything the right way, and it worked. Funny until the end, with a twitch of his eyebrows and a twinkle in his eye, Ken could continued on page 56 AUGUST 27 • 2020
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make you laugh. He will be loved and missed by everyone who knew him. Mr. Gitlin was the beloved husband of Roslyne Gitlin; loving father of Julie (Michael) Flashner, Jason (Jen Furman) Gitlin, Joshua (Melissa Liverman) Gitlin, Tarin (Robert Wine) Gitlin; adoring grandfather of Evan Flashner, Leah Wine, Ben Wine, Noah Gitlin, Julian Gitlin; devoted brother-in-law of Ellen Gitlin, Sharon Banks, Larry (Amy) Corey. He is also survived by many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Kenneth was the dear son of the late Julius Gitlin and Gloria Baer; the brother of the late Bernard Gitlin. Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to the DIA, DSO or the Holocaust Memorial Center. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. NICOLE GITTLEMAN, 44, of Oak Park, died Aug. 17, 2020. She was known for her heart of gold and generosity. She always reached out to others in need and was a lifelong activist and advocate for individuals with special needs. She will be missed beyond words. Nicole is survived by her parents, Leonard and Caren Gittleman, Ellen Gittleman and Daniel Kohlenberg; sister and brother-in-law, Marla and Jon Weingarten of Southfield; nieces, Harper Weingarten, Skylee Weingarten. She loved being a cousin and is also survived by other loving family members, friends and her close friends at the
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Community Network Services “The Clubhouse.” Nicole was the loving granddaughter of the late Adell and the late Edwin Gittleman, the late Millie and the late Sandy Bell. Contributions may be made to Spina Bifida Association, 4590 MacArthur Blvd. NW, Suite 250, Washington, DC 20007; or Community Network Services, cnshealthcare.org. A graveside service was held at Adat Shalom Memorial Park in Livonia. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. DR. DANIEL ARTHUR GREENBERG, 88, of Farmington Hills, died Aug. 15, 2020. Known to friends and family as Dan or Danny, he led a full and active life, characterized by intellectual curiosity and humor. A lifelong Michigan resident and Navy veteran, Dan received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and his master’s degree and doctorate from Wayne State University. He taught film and broadcasting at Oakland Community College for more than three decades, from the opening of the Orchard Ridge campus in 1967 until his retirement. He was also an avid movie buff, serving many years as film critic for the Observer and Eccentric newspapers. He was also an active member of Adat Shalom Synagogue as well as a dedicated volunteer for both the University of Michigan Alumni Association and the Holocaust Memorial Center.
In his retirement, Dan took a keen interest in genealogy delighting in research, connecting with distant relations and editing a book based on an uncle’s handwritten work, titled The Forgotten Son, an Autobiography of Hyman Adelstein. He also became the founder and sole proprietor of the Teeny Tiny Card Company, producing original and humorous designs to amuse family and friends. Dr. Greenberg is survived by his loving children, Julie Greenberg and Ronald Chaney, Jonathan and Elana Greenberg, Elizabeth Greenberg and Eric Hall; adoring grandchildren, Benjamin Chaney, Isabel Chaney, Noah Greenberg, Zachary Greenberg, Lily Greenberg, Ethan Hall, Rebecca Hall; beloved companion, Esther Liwazer. He was the beloved husband of more than 48 years of the late Roslynne Fay Greenberg (née Mayer); loving father of the late Kenneth Michael Greenberg. Contributions may be made to Holocaust Memorial Center, 28123 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48334; University of Michigan Wallenberg Medal and Lecture Fund (728903), Rackham Development and Alumni Relations, 915 E. Washington St., Suite 1530, Ann Arbor, MI 48109; Camp Michigania Mott Family Program (924539), University of Michigan Alumni Association, Attn: Development, 200 Fletcher St., Ann Arbor, MI 48109. A graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.
JANICE KLEIN, 77, of Flint, died July 30, 2020. Ms. Klein is survived by her sister-in-law, Linda WalshKlein; nephews and niece, Jason A. Klein, Jacquelyn R. and Scott Wyatt, and Jeffrey B. Klein. She was the devoted daughter of the late George and the late Helen Klein; the loving sister of the late Barry Klein. The family would like to offer their gratitude to all the wonderful caregivers at JJFSC, adult foster care home. Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park. Contributions may be directed to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. STEVEN JAY KOSS, 74, of Oak Park, died Aug. 16, 2020. He was born in Detroit in the summer of 1946 to Sylvia and Bernie Koss. Steve, with his little sister Lysie tagging close behind, embodied the spirit of his parents to work hard, play hard. While attending Schulze School, he became a school safety guard, held a coveted yardstick position on the Annual Paper Drive and honed his napkin holder and lamp-building skills in shop class. He played Little League Baseball, studied clarinet and had an enviable collection of toy pistols and yo-yos. Steve set his sights on a Philco TV with a cool remote-control pump and supplemented his allowance with a Detroit News paper route and by working Saturdays with his dad and grandpa at the family-owned
OUR FUNERAL HOME MEETS THE NEEDS OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY. Koss Market on Hastings Street. Nearing bar mitzvah year, Steve sharpened his dancing abilities at Joe Cornell’s, where he was Mrs. Cornell’s favorite partner for box-step and jitterbug. He was a proud Mumford Mustang (Class of ’64) and a member of the Esquires, a club that met at the JCC on Meyers. He liked playing in pick-up games of basketball and late-night hockey with friends and took up photography, assembling a darkroom in the basement cellar. He graduated from Michigan State University, where he was a member of Sigma Alpha Mu fraternity, and he became a lifelong Spartan fan. Steve made a career in the carpet and flooring business, working at BeckwithEvans, Reimer Floors and as co-owner of Creative Floor. Where others may admire design or furnishings, he never went anywhere without appraising the quality of an installation job, the finish and match of the seam, the spring in the pad, the loop or the dreaded ripple. In 1984, Steve married his true love, Mary, and together they raised a family. A happy foursome with their children, Cathy and Josh, they laughed and played. They shared a beautifully satisfying life with their extended families, adding in their children’s partners, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, neighbors and friends. Upon retirement, Steve could be most readily be
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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) 3515147 or email him at smanello@renmedia.us.
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found sporting shorts, shades and a pair of his favorite kicks. He was either golfing with his buddies, schmoozing with the Wednesday breakfast guys, volunteering at Yad Ezra or gallivanting through stores with Lysie still close behind. But Steve always saved the best for last; strolling with his girl, Mary, as they wrapped up each day, watching the sunset. Mr. Koss’ family includes his beloved wife of 35 years, Mary Munoz Koss; cherished children, Josh (Holly) Koss and Cathy (Vincent) Nicoletti; adored grandchildren, Avery and Ryleigh Koss, Joe Nicoletti, Cara Nicoletti and Jacob (Sarah) Nicoletti; prized great-grandchildren, Zoey Guilstorf and Theo Nicoletti. He was the loving brother of Elyse (Richard) Jacobs; dear brother-in-law of Becky (Gary) Ferguson, Lisa (Jim) Watts, Alan and the late Barbara Nim, and the late Linda (the late Wayne) Harris; devoted son of the late Bernard and the late Dr. Sylvia Koss; dear son-in-law of the late Joe and the late Virginia Noffsinger. He was also survived by many loving nieces, nephews, cousins and a world of friends. Contributions may be made to Yad Ezra, 2850 W. 11 Mile Road, Berkley, MI 48072, yadezra.org; Congregation Shaarey Zedek, Sonia and I. Murray Jacobs Birthright Scholarship Fund, 27375 Bell Road, Southfield, MI 48034, shaareyzedek. org; or to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.
PAUL BRUCE ORDIN, 66, of Gun Barrel City, Texas, formerly of Detroit, passed away on Aug. 4, 2020, from complications of COVID-19. He was proud to be a pharmacist and had a rapport and easy way with the people he served. He was proud of his children, Elizabeth (Travis) Young and Jeremy (Megan) Ordin; and his grandchildren, Liam, Abby, Sarah and Estelle. Mr. Ordin was the beloved husband of Gwen; brother of Rita (Bob) England and the late David (Laurie) Ordin. He was preceded in death by his parents, Florine, Marlene and Harold Ordin. Contributions may be made to the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. DONALD RITTEN, 87, of West Bloomfield, died Aug. 20, 2020. Don will be missed by all. He will be remembered for his generosity and love of his family. Mr. Ritten is survived by his wife, Elayne Salomon Ritten; children, Edee (Ritten) and Dr. Larry Sands, Julie (Ritten) and Irwin Futernick, Dr. Gary and Lauren Ritten; grandchildren, Michael Ritten, Jenna (Ritten) and Roland Frohman, Mitchell Ritten, Talyah Sands, Margot Sands, Michaela Sands and Sam Dykstra, Peter Nagle and fiancÊe, Emily Sherbin, Sarah Futernick and Matthew Pevan, Max Futernick; great-grandchildren, Nevaeh
and Carter Ritten; many loving nieces and nephews, cousins and friends. Interment was held at Beth El Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia. Contributions may be made Wayne State University School of Medicine, American Cancer Society or Jewish War Veterans. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. SHELDON ROSE, 93, of Bloomfield Hills, died Aug. 15, 2020. He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Laurie and Dan Dubin; sons and daughter-in-law, Jonathan Rose, and Warren and Carol Ann Rose;
grandchildren, Aaron Dubin, Andrea Dubin, Robin Dubin and Frances Rose; brother, Leslie Rose; sister-in-law, Audrey Rose. Mr. Rose was the beloved husband of the late Joan Rose; the cherished brother of the late Irving Rose and the late Jack Rose; the devoted son of the late Edward and the late Lillian Rose. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to William Beaumont Hospital, Attn: Rose Cancer Center, 3601 W. 13 Mile Road, Royal Oak, MI 48073, beaumont.org/giving. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.
SHIRLEY SILBER, 84, of White Lake Township, died Aug. 20, 2020. She is survived by her sons and daughters-in-law, Darrell R. and Elyse Silber of White Lake Township, Bradley and Michelle Silber of Commerce Township, Steven Silber of White Lake Township; daughter and son-in-law, Lezlie and Robert Mostyn of Wixom; brother and sisters-in-law, Jerry and Beverly Viedrah, Enid Viedrah; grandchildren, Lindsay and Brandon Achtman, Jessica Silber and fiancĂŠ, Christopher Harb, Jaimee Silber, Alexis Silber, Brandon Mostyn, Ethan
Mostyn, Shayla Mostyn; great-grandchildren, Ellianna Achtman, Flynn Achtman; many loving nieces and nephews. Mrs. Silber was the beloved wife of the late Joel Silber; dear sister of the late Milton Viedrah. Contributions may be made to Alzheimer’s Association, 25200 Telegraph Road, Suite 100, Southfield, MI 48033; or American Cancer Association, 20450 Civic Center Drive, Southfield, MI 48076. A graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.
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ERIC SILVERMAN, 55, of Bloomfield Hills, died Aug. 15, 2020. He is survived by his mother, Shayna Silverman; brother, Jeffrey Silverman; brother-in-law, Edmund Sachse; nieces and nephew, Mikel Silverman, Jake Sachse and Erin Sachse. Mr. Silverman was the devoted son of the late Morris “Morry” Silverman; the loving brother of the late Julie Sachse. Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to I Heart Dogs Rescue, 22415 Groesbeck Hwy., Warren, MI 48089, iheartdogs.org; or Humane Society of Michigan, 30300
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025, michiganhumane.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. PHILLIP FAIVEL VAINIK, 84, of West Bloomfield, died Aug. 15, 2020. He is survived by his son and daughter-inlaw, Lance and Susan Vainik of Franklin; daughter, Melissa Vainik of West Bloomfield; sister, Rivka Wanda of South Africa; grandchildren, Trevor, Hunter, Grace; many loving nieces and nephews. Mr. Vainik was the beloved husband of the late Sallee Vainik; dear brother of the late
Chaim Vainik, the late Julius Vainik. Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. A graveside service was held at Clover Hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel. ANNA WEINER, 99, of West Bloomfield, died Aug. 14, 2020. She is survived by her daughters, Lenore Jasman of Sterling Heights, Frances Weiner of Ferndale; sister, Sophia Rivkin; grandchildren, James Jasman Jr., Josephine and Greg Anderson, Rebecca Orzaewski, Deanne Veerkamp; great-grandchildren, Kyle Anderson, Rachel Azeritt, Thomas Orzewski III; loving
nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. Mrs. Weiner was the loving grandmother of the late Alexander Jasman; dear sister and sister-in-law of the late Harry Shapiro, the late Joseph Rivkin; dear mother-in-law of the late James Jasman. Contributions may be made to National Multiple Sclerosis Society, 29777 Telegraph Road, Suite. 1651, Southfield, MI 48034; American Heart Association, Memorial & Tribute Lockbox, 3816 Paysphere Circle, Chicago, IL 60674; or to a Jewish charity of one’s choice. A graveside service was held at Adat Shalom Memorial Park in Livonia. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.
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Enjoy healthy selections on site or to make at home.
M
aking huge strides in the ever-continuing good health world is a group of operations that you may or may not have heard about … but is creating a most appealing welcome. Originally founded in 2005 Danny Raskin by Mijo and Senior Columnist Pam Alanis, Beyond Juicery & Eatery, which made its start in Birmingham (now Southfield),
Elliott Disner
BEYOND JUICERY & EATERY FACEBOOK
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is a fast-growing casual restaurant concept that has numerous nearby locations of which localite Elliott Disner, nephew of cateress supreme and Jewish News contributing writer Annabel Cohen, is a vice president … He started with Beyond Juicery and Eatery in 2008 when only 16 and worked with Mijo and Pam through high school and college … His first true job. Included in its bevy of juices are two “Kits for Kids” … to make at home, strawberry banana, orange smoothie with coloring pages … smoothies for up to four youngsters … Also, a No Cook Apple Sauce kit where the young folks can make it and a paper airplane activity. Beyond Juicery & Eatery is very active in its Hero 4 Heroes undertaking to help frontline workers, which is so vital to the company, along with the importance of the healthy ingredients and building the immune system … like apple, turmeric, ginger, lemon, zinc, black pepper, etc. In a year-round regular activity of folks being also what
they drink … like the fantastic Wonder Melon and Beetology juices that quench the thirst and boost immunity… Smoothies, salads, soups, wraps, etc. etc. among its amazing offerings. It isn’t sleeping, that’s for sure … coming up with various bowls, too, that do so much to further the goodness of a person’s health … the concepts and various go-getting activity that mean so much in the promotion of good health from people who care is so meaningful … Its constant lookout is so very important! ON THE SAME PAGE, years ago, Joan Wittenberg had a formula that in today’s health scheme of things would have been a knocker down of doors. “Patience … your food is prepared with love” and “Thank you for not smoking” were two signs that told a lot about Healthy Jones, an immaculate gourmet natural foods paradise … The menu was only a guide … beverages, various dishes, juices, etc., changed daily with the specials chalked on a blackboard.
Wishful thinking, I know, but wouldn’t it be great if Healthy Jones opened again? … Thankfully, those even somewhat like the fine Beyond Juicery & Eatery locales are around to make life so much easier. DURING RECENT no-table serving, Siegel’s Deli, E. West Maple Road, Commerce, took advantage… New flooring, new wall coverings, new light fixtures and new ceiling fans … At the same time, even with some allowed seating, it has continued curbside, take-out and Door Dash delivery. OLDIE BUT FAVORITE GOODIES … The doctor called Mrs. Cohen and said, “Your check came back.” … Mrs. Cohen answered, “So did my arthritis!” … Doctor: “You’ll live to be 70!” … “I am 70!” … Doctor, “See! What did I tell you!” CONGRATS … To Alvin Rador on his birthday. Danny’s email address is dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.
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Looking Back From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Great Lakes Yacht Club
I
went clubbing this week. No, I did not abandon my mask and hit the dance floors in Mike Smith local night clubs. Alene and I’m not much of Graham Landau Archivist Chair a dancer anyway — ask my wife, Pam. Instead, I went “clubbing” in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. Recently, I wrote about the Jewish Phoenix Club that created the Redford Golf Club (today’s Franklin Hills Golf Club) because most golf clubs of the era discriminated against Jews. In this respect, Audrey Saperstein wrote to me suggesting that the Great Lakes Yacht Club had a good story. The Great Lakes Yacht Club — commonly known as the “Jewish Yacht Club” — is cited 203 times in the Davidson
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AUGUST 27 • 2020
Archive and was the topic of several feature stories. It began much like the Redford Golf Club: Jewish Detroiters decided to form their own boat club after facing discrimination when attempting to join other boating clubs in Detroit. They formed the Island Boat Club on May 7, 1952. A year later, it was renamed the Great Lakes Yacht Club. Although formed by Jews, and still a largely Jewish organization, the Yacht Club never discriminated against anyone who wished to become a member. The Yacht Club quickly became a success. Less than two years after its founding, a story in the Jan. 19, 1954, issue of the JN, “Community Sailors Organize Yacht Club on Lake St. Clair,” showed its plans for a new clubhouse. The article also discussed its three “club cats;” that is, the boats the club owned for member use. One of them, the yawl Aventura, was entered in the famous Port
Huron to Mackinaw race that year. The list of early members was illustrious, with prominent figures such as Judge Avern Cohn and Irvin Yackness on the roster. The first female commodore (president in nautical terms) was Eve Kommel in 1983. There are excellent stories about the club in the historic pages of the JN. For example, “Smooth Sailing” was written on the 50th anniversary of the Yacht Club in the Aug. 6, 2002, issue. “Anchors Aweigh” in the July 3, 2008 issue speaks to the Yacht Club’s efforts to raise $35,000 to battle leukemia, a good example of the club’s many charitable efforts. The club’s youth summer program is featured in the Aug. 21, 1992, issue, and “Chai Flying” in the Oct. 10, 1987, issue is about the Yacht Club inspiring an aeronautical club, the “Chai Flyers.” Sidebar — while “clubbing”
in the Archive, I also found 370 citations for another “Great Lakes Club,” which appears to have existed, c. 1930-1980. This social club was much like the Phoenix Club, and many Detroit Jews were members. The Great Lakes Club featured speakers, some famous like Shimon Peres, hosted many dinners and parties, and was especially active during WWII when it hosted USO events at the Belcrest Hotel in Detroit for American military members. The story of the Great Lakes Yacht Club is indeed interesting. Even if you do not sail, it is good to know the important role that the “Jewish” Yacht Club and other social clubs played in Jewish Detroit history. Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
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