THE DETROIT JEW ISH NEWS — Fri day, September 8, 19 6 1
Story About Saintly Detroit Jew Who Cast His lrashlich' Sins Into the Detroit River
"And thou wilt cast all their
sins into the depths of the
sea."— Micah; 7:19.
(Editor's Note: This is a true story
relating to the Orthodox Jewish cus-
tom of walking to a river bank on the
first clay of Rosh Hashanah to cast
the sins into the water. It is
known as "Tashlich." The author
of this article, Morris Lachover, is
a pioneer Detroit Hebrew teacher).
By MORRIS LACHOVER
This is a story about my
uncle. He was different from
all other uncles who had names
such as Milton, Norman, Izzie,
Arthur, Milford. This uncle's
name was Yankel, by which he
was known not only among
close members of his family
and in the synagogue, but also
among customers, Christians
and Jews, young and old.
Our mailman, a tall Irishman,
greeted him: "Good mor
Yankel, we will have s
today, Reb Yank, .."
modest
Yankel was h
and deeply rel . ou is motto
in life was:
h ver pleases
the Almic, y t ' offer me as
my shay in this world, it i
not for ne to question."
was n er gloomy, nor w
ever
en over ex
had
ith and tru i lie AL
mig
U 'le was irri
cler in any offi
him
1
Jak or Jack, u gg
is name
wa finally chan
Officiall
ankel. In his last n
to
no
ange was ever mad
me
rs of his family
pres-
ent, are all engaged in Detroit
communal activities. All sec-
ond and third generation Ameri-
cans, they still carry the same
surname. Uncle Yankel never
celebrated a birthday. I doubt
if he ever knew his birthdate.
Uncle Yankel was distin-
tinguished by his thick black
beard. He kept himself neat
and clean.
His methods of salesmanship
were unlike the methods of
other peddlars. He did not re-
sort to gossip. While waiting
for a customer to come down
from an upper story to look at
his wares, he was often found
standing erect, facing 'east. He
known as the
soon b
peddlai The number
"s
stomers 1 creased from
ay to •ay. His bookkeeping
was primitive. II is mind he
kept a list of his stomers and
hatever he
the - amount: due
r, the Irish
did not remei
customer rem • ered for him.
child were born to
cle Y ,el and his wise
ne—f sons, and four
daughters nd he provided for
ately in accordance
them ad
standards of that
with -
pert
his synagogue he would
Ise special recognition, or
iyath of distinction.
He never served as president
or trustee.
His fellow Jews began to
HASHANAH
Time For Reflection and Resolutions
"Whosoever Honors The Torah
Shall Himself Be Honored."
consider him as a Lamed-Vov-
nik—as one of the Zadikim of
his generation, but no one dared
to say it within his hearing.
The center of business in the
city was then downtown near
the Detroit River, the southern-
most part of the city. Uncle
lived at that time in the Jewish
area directly north, a distance
of four miles from the river.
It was on the first cloy of
Rosh Hashanah in the year I
am writing about. My uncle,
who had long passed his 65th
birthday; started his long stroll
on R street that led directly to
the river. It was the usual
Rosh Hashanah afternoon, an
my uncle walked southwa
from his home.
The eyes of a policeman 't
on him, with curiosity, and
picion. He followed hi
several blocks, observing
every step, wondering what
intentions were in the min
this "black-bearded devil."
The curiosity of the officer
reached its zenith, as he con-
tinued to follow him, but my
uncle did not falter.
An hour passed, my uncle
stopped for but a second, raised
his hand to press his derby
more firmly to his head. The
officer stopped to catch his
wind. Sweat poured from his
body, the heat becoming un-
bearable.
Downtown became visible,
but uncle continued, he did not
even stop, as anyone would, to
survey the new scene, to ob-
serve the skyscrapers with their
might and awe. The distance
between uncle and officer was
getting smaller, the suspicion
larger.
The river became visible.
Uncle came to a halt as he
reached a spot at the shore
prayed more ardently. T
of-
ficer stood perplexed,
uncle
emptied his pocket
nto the
river. Suddenly
le felt a
cool touch on
shoulder, a
Pave Wa
Rights
Rosh Hashanah is a religious milestone when we pause
to reflect upon past deeds and make resolutions for
the future.
At the dawn of this New Year 5722 the
MN()
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leaders in the manufacture of fine delicatessen
meat products for nearly 70 years, reaffirm the
principles that have made WILNO KOSHER
PRODUCTS the favorite of Jewish families from
coast to coast, namely:
TO—safeguard resolutely the religious heri-
tage of KASHRUTH;
TO—maintain rigidly the WILNO standards of
highest QUALITY;
TO—preserve faithfully the inimitable FLA-
VOR of Wilno products and;
TO—continue steadfastly to justify the confi-
dence placed in our INTEGRITY.
KASHRUTH supervision under 2 prominent Ortho-
dox Rabbis: Rabbi Boruch Rabinowitz and Rabbi
Ben Zion Rosenthal and 2 steady Mashgichim,
(guardians).
With a sincere prayer for WORLD PEACE, we wish
our Rabbis, all Rabbis everywhere, our dealers,
customers and Jewish people the world over,
A HAPPY, HEALTHFUL, PROPEROUS,
PEACEFUL NEW YEAR!
WILNO KOSHER
SAUSAGE CO.
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS
LOCAL DISTRIBUTOR:
JULIUS POLLAK
7522 FENKELL, DETROIT
Tel. UN 2-5822
powerful pull backward. With- and carry with them the sins
out uttering a word the officer of my uncle, the sins he never
whistled toward one on a motor- committed, and two goyim, be-
cycle to help save this satan wildered at what they see, pro-
who walked for miles only to nounce loudly: "Holy. Holy,
drown here.
saintly Jew." And my uncle,
"Everything he did was so again his lips moving, complet-
peculiar", the officer said all ing the balance of Tehilim, si-
excited and exhausted.
lently, with even stride, walked
Only then did uncle open his the same way back home.
mouth and with sup
here is a legend about that
called -out: "Tashli
two years after uncle's
Tashlich, I di
mis .
.
. his customers streamed
my pocke
a
two officer
home to pay to the widow
both t
nd rong like Cedar
that he nor she ever
tree
tood on the shore, one
bout. Her heritage was
0
em full of excitement, the
r, but the customers in-
er polite and bewildered and mea
her' d the respect for a holy
etween them, a short, fat, and Je who served them faithful-
dark Je‘ fini
ash- 1`, nd supplied them with all
lich pra r
poc-
it needs for an entire gen-
kets int
ration, but so far neither
Quiet
grandson nor great-grandson in-
the riA
m herited his name: YANKEL!
e Center Culture Club
thank the following for the time they devoted
to lecturing the club this past season and wish the entire
community a happy and prosperous New Year.
I aln 2111 mz11.1 mrkwg/
Rabbi M. Arm
M. Bernstein
M. Backer
H. Bendoor
A. Berneker
M. Bakst
Cantor Fenakel
I. Finkelstein
Mrs. S. Freedman
M. Goidoftas
B. Goode
A. Gornbein
M. Haar
W. Hordes
H. Kaminer
Mrs. Mondry
Mrs. H. Oberstein
Rabbi Panet
Mrs. H. Schumer
Mrs. M. Show
H. Silver
D. Sislin
Mrs. 1. Sonnenblick
Rabbi R. Syme
Mrs. G. Zelman
1111111111111t.
TH
ICER
ND DIRECTORS
of
He s rew B nevolent
Soc ty
'
sed
el Emes)
299
oy Road
eir Best Wishes for
WASHIN
ON, (JT
ate leader
on a pr
test that c red the way
two-year e
nsion of t
d-
eral Civil R
ts Comm
The Senat
oted by
1, in
excess of the
o-thirds major-
ity required,
uspend rule
on an extension r
could be attached to a pending
state, justice, judiciary appro-
priation bill. The test indicated
the necessary strength to ex-
tend the controversial commis-
sion for two years.
y and Prosperous
New Year
to
1 Their Members, Their Ladies Auxiliary,
Synagogues, Organizations and
Detroit Jewry
ISRAEL I. ROCKOVE NATHAN P. ROSEN
President
Executive Director
Blessed Be The Builders of Israel
Strengthen Their Hands
And Blessed Be A
the
The
MPAIGN
ISRAE
Extend Since est Go
hes
r of Health and Happiness
to All Thei Friends an to the
ichigan Community at Large
and Call fo the Continued S
ort of Histadrut in Its Program
edical Aid to the People of Israel.
of Cultural,
DETROIT COMMITTEE
Morris L. Schaver, Hon. Chair.; Harry Schumer, Hon. Chair.; Morris Lieberman, Chair.;
Irving Pokempner, 1st Vice-Chair.; Philip D. Goldstein, Choir. Exec. Bd.; Norman Cottler,
Treas.; Isadore L. Shrodeck, Sec'y.; Harold S. Berke, Administrator; M. Toich,
Assoc. Dir.