Top left:
The shadow of a
Jewish mentally ill
patient captures his
somber mood.

Bottom:
The grounds of
Clinton Valley State
Hospital in Pontiac
from a window.

The Rabbinical Mission Of
Rabbi Solomon Gruskin

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

S fitting with his wife, Gitel, at
a table in their Oak Park
home, Rabbi Solomon
Gruskin speaks exhaustively about
the problems of the Jewish mental-
ly ill.
He won't talk about himself, but
he will discuss a mission to help a
community in need. He has seen
families "lock up" their mentally
ill relatives and "throw away the
keys."
"I remember this one family in
which the father told the kids their
mother had died," Rabbi Gruskin
says. "But the mom was in Ypsilan-
ti. When she died, I called the chil-
dren. They were astounded.
"Sometimes I found the families,
called them, and they said they
were not related," he says. "In the

Rabbi Gruskin is
credited with being the
first person in Michigan
to reach out to the
Jewish mentally ill.
Kadima, Jewish
residential care and
support services for
the mentally ill, was an
outgrowth of Rabbi
Gruskin's efforts which
began in 1946.

next breath, they asked how he or
she was doing."
Rabbi Gruskin is credited with
being the first person in Michigan
to reach out to the Jewish mentally
ill. Kadima, Jewish residential care
and support services for the mental-
ly ill, was an outgrowth of Rabbi
Gruskin's efforts, which began in
1946 shortly after his arrival to
Detroit as rabbi of Congregation
B'nai Zion.
"It was a lonely mission," says
Janet Aronoff, Kadima's founding
president and present board mem-
ber. "I am so grateful for Rabbi
Gruskin. When nobody visited the

30

FRIDAY, MAY 11, 1990

mentally ill, Rabbi Gruskin did. He
gave people living in horrible envi-
ronments a sense of being."
Nearly a decade before the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in 1954 that
states must begin to deinstitu-
tionalize mentally ill patients,
Rabbi Gruskin became the chaplain
at the Wayne County Mental
Health Center, known as Eloise.
He had been living in Detroit for
just a few months when he took on
that role. And by 1947, his mission
expanded. Rabbi Gruskin got a
phone call at his office, then at the
B'nai Zion Synagogue at Hum-
phrey and Holmes in Detroit, ask-
ing him to visit Ypsilanti State
Hospital, now the Ypsilanti Re-
gional Psychiatric Hospital.
He found 180 Jewish people scat-
tered among 4,200 patients.
"No one would go out there," he
says. "It was a long drive and didn't
pay much — maybe $5 to $10 for
three hours.
"I feel an obligation. That's how I
became involved."
Gradually, Rabbi Gruskin
became more involved. Soon after
he started conducting weekly ser-
vices at Ypsilanti, he began holding
weekly services at Milan Federal
Correctional Institute.
Eventually, he was named
chaplain for state mental hospitals
within the area. Until 1982, Rabbi
Gruskin continued in that role.
More problems came to Rabbi
Gruskin in the 1960s, when pa-
tients started moving from
hospitals to group-care homes.
He continued searching for these
patients, and Rabbi Gruskin visited
any Jewish patient he found. Some-
thing needed to be done.
In 1972, Rabbi Gruskin helped
another population in need, the
Jewish mentally retarded. Through
his efforts came the Jewish Associ-
ation for Retarded Citizens. In
1984, the rabbi inspired Kadima.
For his role, the Kadima home was
named the Rabbi Solomon and Mrs.
Gruskin home.
"This is my problem. I am my
brother's keeper," Rabbi Gruskin
says. "I will speak again and again
until people are aware of it.
"We can use another 25
Kadimas," Rabbi Gruskin says.
"We need people who are dedicated,
dedicated, dedicated. All Jews are
an integral part of each other." ❑

Unfortunately, she says, her son is
not interested in Kadima. Had it been
around when he was 18, his outcome
may have been more positive, Perl-
mutter says.
"Things may have been different.
He would have learned to deal with
people. Foster-care homes for the most
part do not have pleasant surroun-
dings. Kadima does. There is a feel-
ing there that you can succeed and
enter society again." ❑

For information about the Jewish
mentally ill, volunteer opportunities
and/or how to care for a mentally
ill relative, call or write to:

Kadima
c/o Miriam lwrey
Executive Director
29200 Southfield Road, Suite 205
Southfield, Mich. 48076
559-8235

