I DETROIT

W. Bloomfield Grandmother
Among Air Crash Injured

PHIL JACOBS

Assistant Editor

L

illy Cohn was hoping to
do what almost any
grandmother would
savor doing. She was on
board Northwest Flight
1482 bound for Pittsburgh
where she would be babysit-
ting her grandchildren while
her daughter, Andrea Cohn
Stiegel, and son-in-law were
off to a medical conference.
Mrs. Cohn, a 63-year-old
West Bloomfield resident,
has never been crazy about
flying. But seeing the grand-
children was certainly worth
the price of the flight.
What Mrs. Cohn didn't
bargain for was a nearby
window on the plane blow-
ing into her face. What she
didn't plan on, at her age,
was jumping out of a burn-
ing jet and having a man fall
on top of her. And what she

in the early reports, Mr.
Cohn headed home and
started making phone calls.
When he found out that the
incident involved his wife's
flight, he panicked. His
daughter-in-law, Brenda
Cohn, said it took hours
before the family learned of
Mrs. Cohn's status. They
had difficulty getting
through to the airport, and
even then it took a while
before anyone knew exactly
where Mrs. Cohn was
taken.
"They kept changing the
story, saying that 20 were
dead, then eight were dead,"
Brenda Cohn said. "Finally
the hospital called. We knew
then that she had survived."
Brenda Cohn said her
mother-in-law described the
scene on the plane as "major
turmoil."
"She's doing a little better
each day," Brenda Cohn

really didn't plan on was
having four broken ribs, a
punctured lung and facial
lacerations.
Instead of playing with her
grandchildren in Pittsburgh,
Mrs. Cohn is recovering at
Annapolis Hospital in
Wayne.
Outside Detroit
Metropolitan Airport on

"The more we learn
about all of this, the
more we realize
how things could
have been worse, a
lot worse."

— Laurence Cohn

Monday, Mrs. Cohn's hus-
band, Thomas, turned on the
car radio and headed home.
He heard the news of a plane
crash break into the regular
radio programming. But be-
cause there were no specifics

Thomas and Lilly Cohn.
said. "I think she's just in
shock that this really
happened. I mean, she had to
get out of the plane by jump-
ing out of a door after a
window fell into her face. I
think it made a difference
that she was seated in the
front of the plane. It made it
maybe easier for her to get
out of the plane."
Thomas Cohn, meanwhile,
was also admitted to the

hospital, because "the
trauma of all of this got to
him. You go through the
aftershock of it all where you
realize what just happened
to you really happened,"
Brenda Cohn said.
Laurence Cohn, Lilly's
son, said, "The more we
learn about all of this, the
more we realize how things
could have been worse, a lot
worse." ❑

the same budget for the last
two years.
"I only got two increases so
far, but no turn downs, so
I'm not discouraged," Mrs.
Stern said.
Federation Executive Vice
President Robert Aronson
was encouraged by the re-
sponse, and by the turnout of
350 volunteers. "We've seen
a drop in attendance at a
number of fund-raising
events and I was concerned
that we would see the same
drop here and that we
wouldn't have enough
workers. So I was pleased on

both counts. I think the at-
titude in the room was actu-
ally up a degree."
Super Sunday calls are
made from the LaMed
Auditorium at the United
Hebrew Schools building in
Southfield. Volunteers tele-
phone throughout the day in
three-hour shifts. They in-
cluded persons who make
the day an annual event,
Project Discovery teens who
have spent a semester of
high school in Israel, teens
from the B'nai B'rith Youth
Organization and recent
Soviet emigres. ❑

Campaign Sees Super Response
To Super Sunday Phone Calls

ALAN HITSKY

Associate Editor

s

them for Operation Exodus
(for Soviet Jewry reset-
tlement in Israel). But peo-
ple on Sunday seemed to
understand the problems of
the Soviet Jews and the local
agencies."
Veteran volunteers at the
morning session Sunday re-
ported mixed reactions from
persons in the community
who were asked to pledge to
the Campaign. Elma Rader
said at one point that she
had only recorded one in-
crease, "but maybe the next
batch of calls will be better."

Photo by Glenn Triest

uper Sunday lived up
to its name Dec. 2 for
the 1991 Allied Jew-
ish Campaign. More than
$860,000 was pledged by
3,000 contributors.
While the numbers are
lower than last year's Super
Sunday total, the pledges
were an average 11 percent
higher than 1990. Jewish
Welfare Federation officials
limited Super Sunday calls
this year to contributors who
had given less than $1,000

in the past.
Super Sunday chairmen
Ron Riback and Sharon Hart
were enthused by the out-
come. "In this economic en-
vironment, an 11 percent in-
crease is outstanding," Mr.
Riback said. "The overall
commitment from con-
tributors and the volunteers
was terrific."
Mrs. Hart was pleased "to
get the response that we did.
A number of people were
concerned that we would get
the gloom-and-doom re-
sponse when we called, or
that people would complain
that we had just contacted

George Duchin, Lenore and Bob Dunsky, and Sam Lipson make Super
Sunday calls.

14

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7, 1990

At a neighboring table,
Abraham Pasternak was
jubilant that one person he
contacted raised his pledge
from $650 for 1990 to $2,000
for 1991.
Nearby, Tali Arbel said of
her phone calls, "People are
more receptive, maybe be-
cause of Operation Exodus.
They seem to be more will-
ing to listen than people
were last year."
Federation board member
Jessie Stern called con-
tributors who had given the
same amount for three
straight years. The Federa-
tion board has set a goal of
$28.5 million for 1991, an
increase of $1 million that
would help Israel, and local
agencies which were held to

I FOLLOW-UP

B'nai Israel, SZ Merge

STAFF REPORT

T

he memberships of
Congregation Shaarey
Zedek and Congrega-
tion B'nai Israel of West
Bloomfield have voted over-
whelmingly to merge.
Only three members
dissented on the proposed
merger at Shaarey Zedek's
congregational meeting
Nov. 26, according to syn-
agogue president Irving
Laker. At an earlier meeting
at B'nai Israel, the merger

was approved 198-6 accor-
ding to Rabbi Sherman Kir-
shner.

Shaarey Zedek plans to
spend $2 million to remodel
and expand B'nai Israel's
building on Walnut Lake
Road for its Beth Hayeled
nursery school.
"This gives Shaarey Zedek
the presence in West Bloom-
field that we have long
sought," Mr. Laker said,
"and extends the viability of
our Southfield facilities into
the 21st century." ❑