Leah Leet Honored on 100th Birthday b

birthday in a unique way. They
published an eight-page tabloid
newspaper that gives highlights
of her life and contains humor-
ous anecdotes. "The Leet Cen-
turian" carries an announcement
of the family's intention to plant
trees in Israel as a living tribute
To mark the occasion, her eight
to Mrs. Leet.
children, 21 grandchildren. 49 great-
Percy Kaplan, executive director
grandchildren and 11 great-great- of the Jewish National Fund, was
grandchildren will hold a reception so impressed with the family's
2-4 p.m. at Young Isratl Center of. plans that he said the JNF will
Oak-Woods.
begin the tree-planting effort with
Although her birthday actually a garden of 100 trees, one for each
family
decided
to
the,
:
4,
falls Aug.
year of her life.
honor Mrs. Lect a week after her
Mrs. Leet was born in Bialostok,
great-grandson observes his Bar Russia, and immigrated to the
Mitzva here. Mrs. Leet gave up her U.S. in 1885. She married Barnet
Detroit residence two years ago to Jacob Leet five years later at a
live with a daughter in Buffalo triple wedding in which her grand-
and flies back and forth to visit.
i father gave her, a sister and a
The family announced her 100th brother away.

Admiring Family

Leah Rachel Leet. whose first
airplane flight was at age 90. ho
has seen in her lifetime the Great
Fire of Chicago. the assassination
of President McKinley and the dis-
covery of penicillin. will be honor-
ed on her 100th birthday July 12.

lluiiiunistic Judaism Explored
at Conference in Detroit Area

. not turn outside man but must
By LINDA ASHLEY
The haunting sounds of a flute rely on inner strength," he assert-
accompanied the recitation on ed. Rabbi Wine said that the his-
stage: "Spring comes, Summer torical problem with religion is
goes, Autumn passes, Winter comes that in the ethical realm one sur-
. . . To see our own striving in this renders to God and thus surren-
eternal setting is to indulge the tiers his right to make any change.
religious mood." Resignation in the esthetic realm
is beautiful, but ethically resign-
The mood for an original poetic
is not possible, he said.
service, "The Seasons," was set
An informal and active inter-
by these introductory words, but

LEAH RACHEL LEET

Until they finally settled in De-

troit, Leet, a peddler, and his bride
lived in several East Coast cities.
where all but one of their eight
children were born. In the early
1900s. they settled in Detroit, and
Mr. Leet took up the upholstery
trade. He died five years after
their 50th wedding anniversary in
1940.
Mrs. Leet remarried in 1948 to
Reuben Davidson. Because of
their age, (she was past 90 when
she gave up housekeeping), they
moved into the Jewish Home for
the Aged. When Mr. Davidson died
in 1963, Mrs. Leet moved out of the
home and went to live with her
eldest daughter Sara Raych in Buf-
falo.
The other children are Morris a
Port Huron, Dora Ploshnick of De-
troit, Cecil of New York City, Eva
Mann of Los Angeles, Gussie Ward
of Romeo, Ella Walters of Detroit
and Honey Magid of Golden Beach,

change took - place on how to
create meaningful ritual be-
havior. "Our obsession with ex-
and change has
The
The Society for Humanistic
Judaism held its first annual ' become ritual" inserted a Bir-
mingham
Temple
member.
meeting last weekend in Detroit.
Participants in the conference
There were 90 registrants, in-
eluding 20 out-of-towners of the dismissed a discussion of God be- Fla.
Mrs. Leet maintains an inter-
Humanistic Temple Beth Or of cause they did not know if there
est in Jewish organizations. She
Deerfield, Ill., and Connecticut's is a God and they felt discussion
is a life member of Sisters of
Westport Congregation, in addi- on the subject would be endless.
Zion Mizrachi, Ladies of Yeshi-
How Birmingham Temple re-
tion to members of Birmingham
Temple. They were led by Rabbi gards education and ritual is vath Beth Yehuda, Jewish Wom-
en's European Welfare Organ-
Sherwin Wine, of the Birming- I shown in its bulletin.
ization, Jericho Rebekah of the
ham Temple \and Rabbi Daniel
The publication, giving news of
Odd Fellows, Detroit Ladies'
Friedman of Beth Or.
, Hebrew school classes, explains
Auxiliary of the Dever Society,
Following the poetic service, the that "The Hebrew language and
City of Hope, and Montefiore
two rabbis discussed "What Is j culture are the home of the Jew-
Chapter of Bnai Brith Women in
Different About Humanistic Juda- ish religion. They are also the life-
Buffalo. She • also is a foster
ism?" They referred to a proposal blood of the modern state of Israel.

an introduction to the basic philo-
sophy of Humanistic Judaism is
also seen in them.

of 12 principles that state, in part: Knowledge of Hebrew is therefore,
"The human environment consists useful to the American Jew who
of two kinds of events, things wants to feel a closer cultural bond
which can be reasonably changed to Israel."
and things which cannot be rea-
Bnai Mitzva are observed regu-
sonably changed. The human re- larly on Friday evenings. An ex-
sponse to what can be changed is ample of the bar mitzva boy's
called ethical behavior. And the presentation is: "He will read and
human response to what cannot be evaluate a poem from the book of
changed is called religious be- Proverbs or he will read and eva-
havior." lute an essay by the Zionist philo-
"Religion and ethics should not sopher Aaron David Gordon."
be mixed," Rabbi Wine warned.
There are a Sunday school, con-
In a barrage of questions from ' firmation and youth group pro-
members and guests the question gram along with social projects
was asked "Why not Humanism such as the assistance to the Ken-
without Judaism? Are the celebra- nedy School in Detroit to whom the
Lion of a few holidays enough to I Temple has donated $400 to help a
make a difference?
I camping program.
"Judaism provides me with an
A poem by Saul Bass which re-
effective means of esthetic expres- fleeted the view of Humanistic
sion," Rabbi Wine answered. The. Jews opened and concluded the
statement of principles on Judaism Friday poetry service and stimu-
asserts: "Judaism is a form of : lated the discussion.
religious behavior exemplified in ' The more ice are able to see,
certain distinctive holiday and life-'
the more we look for.
cycle ceremonies. It is the way in The more we question,
the more there is to question.
which man can choose to drama-
. experience.
The more, we
tize his relationship to the un-
w atnetmtpolaetseperience.
w ue con
henoirorete
changing elements in his eiron- Th the
more
ment.
The greater is our need for
:

" It can be associated with
many different ethical systems,
authoritarian or humanistic. Hu-
manistic Judaism is the associa-
tion of Jewish ceremonial with
humanistic ethics."

"One of the complaints against
humanism is that it is cold, it is
ethical but lacks esthetic outlet.,"
added Rabbi Wine. "We could start
from scatch to provide an esthetic
means of expression, but why
shouldn't humanists have what is
already theirs?"
Another aspect of Humanistic
Judaism which was emphasized
was a person's autonomy as "mas-
ter of his own life."
"One cannot defend self auto-
nomy without respecting another's"
said Rabbi Friedman. "But, his-
torically, religion has been author-
itarian."
"In problems of crisis, one can-

contemplation.

Local TV Stations Send
Teams to Israel in
New CJF-UJA Project

NEW YORK (JTA)—The Jewish
Federations in Philadelphia, Mil-
waukee and Cleveland helped to

arrange for teams from local tele-
vision stations to go to Israel to
produce films- for local showings
with excellent results, according to
a report by the Council of Jewish
Federations and Welfare Funds.
The arrangements were made by
the CJF in cooperation with the
United Jewish Appeal and the sta-
tions. The CJF described the proj-
ect as part of a new effort to make I
much more use of television to
interpret local, national and over-
, seas responsibilities of the Federa-
' tions.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
14—Friday, July 3, 1970

mother to a Mizrachi orphanage
Aid Quake, Flood Vici:ms
in Israel.
BUENOS AIRES (JTA) — The
Relating how Mrs. Leet has re-
Jewish community of Buenos Aires .
tained her memory and enjoyment has sent S3,000 in aid to flood and
of life, the Lect Centurian notes
earthquake victims in widely sep-
that at a Bnai Brith luncheon in
arated areas of the world. Com-
Buffalo, Mrs. Leet was introduced
munity Council President Gregorio
from the podium and promptly
Fainguersch announced that $2,000
asked, "As long as I am up here,
has been sent through the Federa-
should I sing?"
tion
of Jewish Communities in
She has Gown more titan 15
Romania to flood victims in that
times since her first flight at age
country and $1,000 to help those
90, when the stewardesses present-
ed her with a Junior Stewardess made homeless by the recent earth-
Ring. Next winter, she hopes to fly quakes in Peru.
to Florida to spend the winter
with her daughter Honey.
ENROLL—EARN YOUR DEGREE
The paper notes many of Mrs. i
of Bachelors of Bible Philosophy
Leet's contributions, among them a
(I3.Ph.B.1, Master of Bible Philosophy
silver Torah pointer to the Jewish
I M.Ph.B.I. Graduate of Bible Philos-
ophy (G.Ph.B.i, Director of Metaphys-
Home for Aged, 18 (Hai) sidorim
ics iMs.D.1, or Doctor of Divinity
to Yeshivath Beth Yehuda and a
I D.D.1 Chartered by State Corre-
spondence Courses only. Please write
joint donation with her daughter
for FREE BOOKLET.
Sara to the Home for Aged in
AMERICAN BIBLE INSTITUTE
memory of her son-in-law Samuel
Dept. JL, P.O. Box 4878,
Raych. She is a member of the
Kansos City, Mo. 64114
"Mothers in Israel" because of her
many contributions through Miz-
rachi and was a founder of the
Michigan ,Home Protective Society.
In tribute to her many acts of
charity, the Leet Centurian re-
With every invitation order of
counts this incident:
Wedding, Bar-Mitzva, Shower etc.
"Subic Leet was on her way to
deliver some bread to a poor fam-
ily a long time ago. As she started
to get on the bus, she tripped and
fell backwards, spilling the bags
of bread. As she fell, her head hit
28631 SOUTHFIELD also
a loaf of bread which saved her.
NORTHLAND SHOPPING CENTER
She then got up, picked up the
back
onto
the
bus
352-6780
got
bread and
352-4114
and continued on to her destina-
For Further Information
tion. Adage: Charity pays!"

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