Detroit Jewry and Bellefaire: Recalling Historic Data on Home's Centennial
By IRVING I. KATZ
Executive Secretary,
Temple Beth El
This year marks the centennial
of. the establishment of a Jewish
orphanage in America's Midwest
by the Independent Order of Bnai
Brith —the Or phan Asylum in
Cleveland for Jewish boys and
girls orphaned by the Civil War.
When the idea of an orphan
asylum in Cleveland was conceived
by Bnai Brith all the existing
lodges in the country, including
Detroit's Pisgah Lodge, were asked
to raise funds for the institution.
Detroit's Jewish community of
125 families was divided into two
camps on the subject of fund-
raising for an out-of-town orphan-
age. A committee from Pisgah
Lodge called on Mrs. Louis J.
Hirschman, president of the Ladies'
Society for the Support of Hebrew
Widows and Orphans in the State
of Michigan (a long name from the
LATE ADOLPH FREUND -
leisurely past), founded in 1863
and popularly known as "The
Frauen Verein," for a contribu-
tion. Mrs. Hirschman refused to
make a contribution in the name
of her society on the grounds that
it was contrary to the provisions
of the society's constitution and
by-laws.
She claimed that the Frauen
Verein was organized to take care
of widows and orphans only with-
in Michigan. The members of the
Pisgah committee did not agree
with Mrs. Hirschman and demand-
ed that the matter be voted on by
Jewish Agency VIP
Avrahani Schenker Is
Feted on Emigration
NEW YORK (JTA) — Avra-
ham Schenker, a member of the
Jewish Agency Executive in Jeru-
salem, was feted Sunday along
with his wife on the eve of their
emigration to Israel.
More than 500 persons promi-
nent in Jewish life honored Schen-
ker . on his 50th birthday and on
the occasion of the imminent de-
parture. , Schenker, head of the
Agency executive organization and
information department, said that
Zionism—"the struggle for Jewish
national liberation" — is part of
the global struggle of small peoples
and nations for political survival
and cultural continuity. This strug-
gle, he said, was set against a
background of efforts by Great
Powers to not only dothinate but
to swallow up minorities.
In the presence of Ossie Davis,
movie celebrity and civil rights
leader, Schenker praised the
world's black peoples, in Africa
and the United States, for their
"struggle for liberation." He spoke
with "sadnes and a sense of tra-
gedy"! that it was necessary to
"concleM anti-Semitism which has
spread -among black people in
America.
'Anti-Semitism from any source
means strengthening reaction, and
strengthing reaction means play-
ing into the hands of the anti-
black elements in America." he
said. Davis voiced concern as a
black leader about attempts to in-
cite hostility between black and
Jewish communities.
the general membership. A special
meeting was called, and when the
vote was taken, the majority of the
members voted in favor of the con-
tribution. Whereupon, Mrs. Hirsch-
man resigned from the presidency
of the society and her husband re-
signed from the governing board.
Subsequently a group of members
secured an injunction from the
courts against the withdrawal of
funds from the Frauen Verein for
the Cleveland Orphan Asylum.
There was much bitterness and
friction in the Jewish community
and the very existence of the
Frauen Verein was threatened.
The newly elected president, Mrs.
Seligman Schloss (after whom the
Hannah Schloss Memorial Build-
ing, Detroit's first Jewish commu-
nity building, was named) was
able to bring peace into the society,
however, and its work continued.
In the meantime, a Detrot so-
ciety for the support of the Cleve-
land Orphan Asylum was organ-
ized, with Mrs. Emil S. Heineman
as president, for the purpose of
raising funds for the asylum.
Among those who supported Mrs.
Heineman was Adolph Freund and
Rabbi Elias Eppstein of Temple
Beth El (Rabbi Eppstein was the
great-grandfather of Morris Abrah,
president of Brandeis University).
Rabbi Eppstein was especially
forceful in his advocacy of the
Cleveland Orphan Asylum. He
wrote a series of articles, spoke
from the pulpit, and personally
campaigned for funds. He was able
to sway a large portion of the Jew-
ish community in support of the
Cleveland Orphan Home.
The following interesting letter
appeared in the May 22, 1868 issue
of the Israelite, the influential
Cincinnati English-Jewish weekly,
published by Rabbi Isaac M. Wise,
founder and master builder of Re-
form Judaism in America:
TO THE EDITOR OF THE ISRAELITE:
"We, the Sabbath School Scholars
of Rev. E. Eppstein's Sabbath School,
have united on the following subject:
With the greatest of interest have
we read your articles in behalf of the
Orphan Asylum to be located in
Cleveland, Ohio, for the benefit of the
Orphans of the West and South-West,
and with interest have we followed
the actions of our fathers and moth-
ers in the aid of the asylum.
Listening to the lecture of our be-
loved teacher, the Rev. E. Eppstein,
on this subject last Sabbath, we, the
scholars, concluded that it seems to
us to be our duty to do something for
this noble enterprise, and, therefore,
we have formed a Society of Scholars
in aid of this Orphan Asylum.
We cannot offer much more than
our spending money, but this will
amount to some 60 or 70 dollars per
year, which we hope will be as ac-
ceptable as the thousands given by
others.
We commenced last Sabbath and
you will see that Israel's youth will
not recede.
In sending this to you, we expect to
reach through your valuable paper
the officers of the Orphan Asylum."
Sara Van Baalen, President
Mina Rindskopf, Vice President
Mary Polasky, Secretary
Celia Weiss, Treasurer
Alfred Kern, Emanuel Van
Baalen, Sophia Van Baalen,
Collectors.
The Cleveland Orphan Asylum
initially limited admission to Jew-
ish boys and girls orphaned by, the
Civil War, but soon broadened its
policy to accept children from any
part of the country. Through the
years, in keeping with the changes
in child care philosophy, its pro-
gram of institutional care for de-
pendent children was further ex-
panded. This readiness to re-orient
its guiding philosophy is reflected
in its changes of names: From
Cleveland Orphan Asylum to Belle-
faire Orphan Home and recently to
Bellefaire Residential Treatment
Center for Children.
In 1943 Beliefaire changed its
function entirely to that of provid-
ing service for emotionally dis-
turbed children, and Bellefaire be-
came an independent agency, sup-
ported by the American Jewish
community as a whole. In 1954 it
was decided that Bellefaire would
provide help to Protestant and
Catholic children as well as to
Jewish children.
In the days when the Cleveland
Orphan Home was a project of Bnai
Brith, a prominent Detroiter gave
distinguished leadership to this in-
stitution. His name was Adolph
Freund, affectionately known in
the later years of his life as "Dad-
dy Freund."
Adolph Freund was born March territorial demarcations of the
13, 1847 in Mitwitz, Bavaria. He various districts, Freund intro-
received his elementary education duced a resolution at the 1930
in his home town, followed by a Convention of the Grand Lodge pro-
two-year course at WOHL Com- viding for the re-districting of the
mercial Institute in Markbreit, territory of the United States and
Bavaria, from which he graduated Canada. The resolution was adopt-
at the age of 14. He then went to ed at the 1935 Constitution Grand
Heidelberg where he remained for Lodge Convention.
three years. In 1864, at the age of
Freund was responsible for the
17, he came to the United States plan which resulted in the creation
and settled in Detroit.
and successful functioning of Coun-
In 1868, Freund became a mem- cils of Lodges.
He was one of the founders, in
ber of Pisgah Lodge, Bnai Brith,
and immediately became active in 1900, of Bnai Brith's National Jew-
ish
Hospital for Consumptives in
raising funds for the Cleveland Or-
phan Asylum, established that year Denver, and served as a trus-
tee
of
this institution for the re-
by Bnai Brith, through balls, pic-
nics and other fund-raising events mainder of his life.
When the Cleveland Orphan
of those days. In 1876 he was elect-
ed president of Pisgah Lodge and Home was in financial distress in
1899,
Freund volunteered to can-
in the same year he was elected
Pisgah's delegate to the conven- vass Michigan for funds. He visited
302
cities
in 14 states and succeed-
tion of District Grand Lodge No. 6,
an honor which he fulfilled for the I ed in raising large sums of money
for the home and eliminating its
next 57 years.
deficit. He later served as presi-
In 1883, Freund was elected pres- , dent of the Cleveland Orphan
ident of District Grand Lodge No. Home.
6 and for the next six years his
Freund took an active interest
administration witnessed many tur- in the Hillel Foundation at the
bulent meetings. There was great University of Michigan, the AZA
dissatisfaction at that time on the (Chapter No. 3, AZA, was named
part of the membership of the Adolph Freund Chapter) and he
lodges with the existing en- served as vice-president of the
dowment provisions of the order. Ed u cational League.
An annual vacationer in Florida,
At the 1884 Grand Lodge No. 6
Convention, Freund fought for the Freund organized in 1930 in Miami,
the Sholem Lodge.
abrogation of the existing endow-
In 1933 Freund was presented by
ment provisions by stating that a
Pisgah Lodge with a life member-
fraternal society like Bnai Brith
ship in appreciation of 65 years of
should not provide material bene-
affiliation with the lodge.
fits for its members. He advocated
optional endowment instead.
Another cause championed by
Freund, beginning 1885, was the
abolition of secrecy in the order.
It took some 35 years, however,
before this was abolished.
In 1885 Freund was elected a
delegate to the Constitution Grand
Lodge Assembly at Tammany Hall
in New York. This marked the be-
ginning of Freund's participation
in: the supreme councils of the or-
der, and he never missed attending
these conventions.
Attributing the decline in mem-
bership in Bnai Brith to improper
Freund became affiliated with
Temple Beth El in 1868. He served
for many years as a member of
the board of trustees, and was sec-
retary of the Temple from 1908 to
1917.
Freund was married in 1881 to
Henrietta Newman, daughter of
Joseph and Marianna Newman,
early pioneers of Detroit's Jewish
community. Their son, Dr. Hugo
Freund, became a prominent De-
troit diagnostician and heart spe-
cialist. Adolph Freund died in 1936
and his wife in 1911.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, December 13, 1968-19
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