THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
18 December 19, 1975
MORRIS
BUICK
Temple Israel's Rabbi Leon Fram an Energetic 80
By FRANK SIMONS
IS THE GUY
Administrator, Temple Israel
On Dec. 12, Rabbi Leon
Fram of Temple Israel
marked his 80th birthday,
and to observe the occasion,
the Youth Group of Temple
Israel wrote and,dedicated a
creative service in his honor.
For many octogenarians,
the moment would have
been reserved for nostalgia
and for reminiscenses, but
in his response to the trib-
ute given him ; Rabbi Fram
looked to the future.
He called for an outpour-
ing of efforts on behalf of Is-
rael and for the security of
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the Jews throughout the
world.
He urged a deeper com-
mitment to Judaism and to
Jewish education.
He sought the strengthen-
ing of Reform Judaism.
He asked the support of
members of his congrega:-
tion as it prepares to move,
in the next few years, to a
new area of Jewish popu-
lation growth.
Born Dec. 12, 1895 in Ras-
eines, Lithuania, Rabbi
Fram throughout his life-
time has been a visionary, a
battler for what he feels to
be the just cause. It has
sometimes cost him friend-
ships, but it has consist-
ently gained him the respect
and even the grudging admi-
ration of his detractors.
On the last Sabbath of
this calendar year and the
first Sabbath of 1976, Rabbi
Fram will deliver two ser-
mons. They have been tradi-
tions of long standing at
Temple Israel.
that Rabbi Fram will bring
to a year that most people
regard as a calamity and to
the optimism he will ex-
press toward the challenge
of a new year.
Today, Leon Fram is the
dean of the local rabbinate,
marking his 50th anniver-
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sary in the Detroit area and
55 years as a rabbi.
It was in 1925 when Rabbi
Fram answered the call of
Temple Beth El, at that
time the only Reform syn-
agogue in Detroit, and came
here as an assistant to the
late Rabbi Leo M. Franklin.
Shortly after his arrival,
an article appeared in The
On Dec. 26, he, will Detroit News, commend-
speak on "1975 — the Year ing him for a sermon he
of the Triumph of Zion- had delivered. Under the
ism," while his Jan. 2 ser- headline "Keep an Eye on
mon topic will be "1976 — Rabbi Fram," the article
the Bicentennial Year of read. in part: "Rabbi Leon
American Greatness."
Fram is yet a young man
Nocynicism here, it will and theprediction is made
be reinvigorating to hear that he will go far in his
the spring-like approach chosen career."
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Actually, Leon Fram al-
most became a chemist. He
had come to Baltimore in
1900, having been brought
here by an older sister, who
had worked hard to bring
the family to America.
He was steeped in Ortho-
dox tradition, went to the
Yeshiva in Baltimore and
graduated from high school
there. He was an excellent
student, a top debater in his
class.
He had won a scholarship
to study chemistry at Johns
Hopkins University. How-
ever, a chance meeting with
Rabbi William Rosenau of
Baltimore's Eutaw Place
Temple, turned him to the
rabbinate, and he entered
Hebrew Union College in
1916.
Four years later, he was
ordained from HUC and,
at the same time, received
a master's degree from the
University of Cincinnati.
He accepted his first pul-
pit in Chicago — a pioneer-
ing congregation in that it
was the lone Reform syn-
agogue in an area of 100,000
predominantly Orthodox
Jews.
During his 15 years at
Temple Beth El here, Rabbi
Fram made a major impact
on the community. He re-
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ceived national acclaim for
the formation of the College
of Jewish Studies, now un-
der sponsorship of the Met-
ropolitan Detroit Feferation
of Reform Synagogues with
a listing of 20 courses and
an enrollment of nearly 400
pupils.
He was one of the first lo-
cal Jewish leaders to warn
of the dangers that were
emerging from Nazi Ger-
many under the dictatorial
regime of a former paper-
hanger named Adolf Hitler.
He visited Europe in those
tumultuous years of the
mid-30's and cried out
against the abuses and the
injustices and the tyranny
he saw — from the pulpit, in
a series of newspaper arti-
cles and in a pamphlet,
"Inside Germany," which
was an expose of the Nazi
manace.
And he took on a young
priest, Fr. William Coughlin
of Royal Oak's Shrine of the
Little Flower.
Yet, in the late 1950's, in
fairness to a land he felt
had repented and had de-
stroyed the roots of Naz-
ism, Rabbi. Fram risked
the wrath of the Jewish
community by returning to
Germany and reporting
what he then saw,"a new
land growing up as a dem-
ocratic stronghold."
In 1941, Rabbi Franklin
was retiring at Temple Beth
El after a distinguished ca-
reer. Many members of the
congregation supported
Rabbi Fram as his succes-
sor.
It was not. to be. Accord-
ing to Irving I. Katz, then as
now Executive Secretary of
Temple Beth El, Rabbi
Franklin was opposed to
Rabbi Fram's succession,
primarily on the grounds
that Rabbi Fram was a
Zionist.
In those days, prior to the
full impact of the holocaust
and before there was a hint
that a Jewish state would be
formed just seven years
later, only a handful of Re-
form rabbis were Zionists.
Rabbi Fram was one of the
leading figures in the fore-
front of the movement.
Also, there was a need for
another Reform Congrega-
tion in a city with a Jewish
population of 100,000 souls.
Rabbi Fram resigned
from Temple Beth El, and
with the backing of 30
families, they formed
Temple Israel, which this
year marks its 35th anni-
versary.
Many of the congrega-
tion's charter families still
recall those early days un-
der Rabbi Fran's leadership
when the synagogue offices
were inrented offices down-
town and services were con-
ducted at the Detroit Insit-
tute of Arts.
In only nine years, how-
ever, membership reached
1,000 families, and Temple
Israel moved to its building
in Palmer Park.
As Rabbi Fram continued
to become more and more
immersed in the affairs of
the community and the city,
the congregation continued
to grow, and today it is the
largest of the area's Reform
temples with a membership
of 1,550 families.
When Temple Israel
built and dedicated its so-
cial hall in 1955, it was
named the Leon Fram Hall
in his honor, and a like-
ness of Rabbi Fram in
bronze adorns that room
— not as an idol, but in
love and appreciation.
And while he has relin-
quished the spiritual leader-
ship of the congregation to
his successor, Rabbi M. Rob-
ert Syme, Rabbi Fram is
still active and a vital for
as Founding Rabbi.
He took major stands in
issues regarding trade
unionism and served as
mediator in many labor-
management disputes; he
headed the campaign to save
the Diego Rivera murals for
the Detroit Institute of
Arts; he crusaded for better
school programs and in-
struction; he was and.re-
mains in the forefront in the
field of Jewish education.
Of all the awards he has
received, he treasures the
Amity Award given him by
the American Jewish Con-
gress, which cites \him for
being a strong, clear voice
when other voices were si-
lent.
•
Another of his cherished
possessions is the Prime
Minister's Medal of the
State of Israel, which was
presented to him in 1970 by
the Hon. Abba Eban, then
the Foreign Minister of
Israel.
On that occasion more
than 2,000 members of the
community came to pay him
tribute, and at the same
time, subscribed to nearly
$2 million in Israel Bond
purchases.
At a time when most indi-
viduals would be pleased to
rest on their past achieve-
thents, Rabbi Fram, at .80,
remains uniquely involved
in any form of endeavor that
promotes the well-being of
humanity and fosters good
will among all segments of
society.
Yordini Rate May/
Soon Equal Aliya
.
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
About 70,000 Israelis emi-
grated during the past four
years and the yordim rate is
coming perilously close to
matching the rate of aliya,
according to figures pre-
pared by Ephraim Dovrat,
adviser to the Finance Min-
ister, which were release
.
The figures were a
pended to the Treasury's
proposed IL 84.2 billion aus-
terity budget for fiscal
1976-77 which was pre-
sented to the Cabinet.
The figures showed that
in 1972, 12,000 Israelis left
the country for good and in
1973, the year of the Yom
Kippur War, 15,000 de-
parted. Emigration reached
a peak of 24,000 last year
when most reserve soldiers
were demobilized. This year
it was down somewhat to
19,000.
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