DETROIT
Lubavitch Camp Moves
To Former SZ School
Looking Back to '42:
A New Jewish Weekly
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
I
t had two front pages
with bold, banner
headlines in red. This
is the way the first edition
of The Jewish News came
home to its readers for the
very first time.
The first front page,
dated March 27, 1942,
was a marquee of sorts,
announcing in its red type,
"Detroit's New Jewish
Weekly Newspaper Will
Publish Its First Issue on
March 27, 1942." The
subheadlines were
testimonial quotations
hailing the newspaper's
publication. There was
even a photograph of
Detroit Tiger great Hank
Greenberg in his Air
Force sergeant's uniform.
The first front was follow-
ed by 15 pages of full-page
letters of support from all
over the country from
heads of national Jewish
organizations as well a _ s
politicians.
The second frOnt page
was the introduction to 24
pages of national, local
and international news. It
was a time of war and
despair in Europe, and a
time of hope for a Jewish
state that was then called
Palestine.
The Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit was
making news then as it is
now. Red-inked headlines
promoted a $1.1 million
Campaign. A photo of
Campaign chairman Fred
M. Butzel was published
under the headline,
"Michigan's First Citizen
Heads Detroit's Allied
Jewish Campaign."
Fifty years later, the
Allied Jewish Campaign
is aiming at goals in the
$24 million range.
An article reported that
the breakdown of monies
would send over $400,000
"for the saving of tens of
thousands of refugees who
can be taken to South
America, Palestine and
other ports," and about the
"need for protecting
Palestine as an outpost
for the democracies and
the necessity for pro-
viding for tens of
thousands of refugees in
many parts of the world,
14
FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 1992
emphasizing the
significance of this major
fund which calls for lib-
eral giving by American
Jews."
Another story reported
that 350 American rabbis
gave their approval of a
Palestine Jewish military
force to fight under its
own banner under British
command in the cause of
the United Nations. At
the same time, it was re-
ported that Dr. Abba
Hillel Silver, chairman of
the United Palestine Ap-
peal and national co-
chairman of the United
Jewish Appeal, was corn-
ing to Detroit to talk
about the condition of Eu--
ropean Jewry.
A tribute in that first
issue to "Our Sons In The
War" reported on several
Detroit area Jews serving
in the armed services.
Some of those names and
faces included Lt. Isaac
Wiener, Sgt. Henry
Ehrlich, Pvt. Arthur
Advertisers offered
ladies' hats from
$4.95, spring suits
and topcoats at
$25, luggage for
$10.95, and
seven-tube radios
for $39.95.
Braiker, Corp. David
Schwartz, Pvt. Bernard
Barach, Sgt. Robert S.
Biebenstein and Pvt. Irv-
ing Kaufman.
Interspersed in many of
the first edition pages
were letters of support
from celebrities such as
first lady Eleanor
Roosevelt, Governor
Murray D. Van Wagoner,
Supreme Court Justice
Frank Murphy and
others.
Advertisers offered
ladies' hats from $4.95,
spring suits and topcoats
at $25, luggage for
$10.95, and seven-tube
portable radios for $39.95
(batteries included).
In synagogue news,
Temple Israel dedicated
the first part of its future
building, a newly con-
structed pulpit which was
THE JEWISH NEWS 1,-;
DETROIT JEWS ASKED TO GIVE
'1,100,000 TO PROVIDE FOR
ALLIED COMMUNAL OBLIGATIONS
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1.1
Coughlin, "Soria, Justice -
Repudiated by Pittsburgh
Catholic Periodical
Page
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Abraham Scree to Give President,
Report at ISM Ann. Federation
Page -
Meeting Sunday
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__
INICIDGANS RRST CITIZEN HEADS
DETROIT'S ALLIED JEWISH CAMPAIGN
.. .treat Forum:ad,. Donthy
Thomism Ad.,. in Article
Written Exclusively forlesuish New
Page 2l
Local and National Leaders
Welcome The Jewish New
Pages 12.13
!Mai Brith Extend blember4i t
Drier
There were tWo ront Pages for
the newspaper.
used in the lecture hall of
the Detroit Institute of
Arts. Temple Israel Rabbi
Leon Fram also urged
members to keep their
children home from public
school on the first day of
Passover and bring them
to morning services.
In sports news, Able
Simon, described as the
"Jewish. behemoth," got
his second chance to fight
heavyweight champion
Joe Louis in a benefit bout
for the Army Relief Fund.
Cranbrook School, mean-
while, chose Alan
Schwartz of Birchcrest
Road to captain the 1942-
43 basketball team.
Molly Picon was to ap-
pear at the Wilson
Theatre on April 19 in the
Yiddish theater produc-
tion, What a Life. A photo
spread occupied the back
page, with the headline
reading, "Their Fight Is
Our Fight." The lead
photograph was an ar-
tist's rendition of refugees
walking underneath the
outstretched arm of the
Statue of Liberty. Other
photos included refugees
receiving aid in Lisbon,
and a Palestinian Jewish
soldier "fighting the Axis
in the Middle East."
This column will be a
weekly feature during The
Jewish News' anniversary
year
Next week: the Blitzkrieg
is broken by a Soviet-
Jewish General; Passover
albums sent to Jewish ser-
vicemen; U.S. to check
Pro-Nazi groups. ❑
p
Tans are under way to
convert the Shaarey
Zedek child-care
center on Long Lake and
Middlebelt into a Lubavitch
summer camp and nursery
school.
Lubavitch last month pur-
chased the five-acre property
where the facility is located.
Lubavitch officials declined
to discuss financial details of
the sale.
The Lubavitch camp, Ga-
neinu, is expected to open in
West Bloomfield after
Shaarey Zedek vacates in
mid-June.
Shaarey Zedek had been
renting the property from a
contractor. Last year, the
synagogue merged with
Congregation B'nai Israel of
West Bloomfield, where it is
constructing a new family
center that will house the
Shaarey Zedek nursery
school.
Ganeinu advisor Rabbi
Chaim Bergstein of Con-
gregation Bais Chabad of
Farmington Hills said
Lubavitch purchased the
property because of the
tremendous growth of its
summer camp.
Now located at Bais
Chabad of Farmington Hills,
Ganeinu enrollment has
jumped from 39 children in
1989 to 115 last year.
"Even if we were to main-
tain the same number —
which is unlikely —that's
just too many children on a
half-acre lot," Rabbi Bergs-
tein said.
Rabbi Bergstein said the
West Bloomfield facility was
"exactly what we want."
Ganeinu is open to boys
and girls aged 3-8 and girls
aged 9-12. The older groups'
camp will move to West
Bloomfield this summer,
while the smaller children,
aged 3-5, will remain at Bais
Chabad, Rabbi Bergstein
said.
The Lubavitch nursery,
with 11 students, will open
with expanded hours at the
new building this fall. It now
meets at Bais Chabad in
Farmington Hills.
In addition to the nursery,
Lubavitch is considering
how it will use the West
Bloomfield facility during
the school year. Rabbi
Bergstein said they may
create a Jewish Montessori
day school.
A Chabad minyan, which
meets in private homes, also
will be located at the West
Bloomfield facility. The mi-
nyan will be called Beth
HaRaSHbA, in honor of the
13th century scholar Rabbi
Shlomo ben Avraham Adret.
"There's nothing like it in
walking distance," Rabbi
Bergstein said of the mi-
nyan, which he described as
a "Sephardic-Ashkenazi
amalgamation." ❑
Speakers Cite Similarity
Of Judaism And Islam
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM
Assistant Editor
T
he name of Allah re-
sounded throughout a
local temple this
week.
In a program cosponsored
by Temple Emanu-El and
the Midrasha College of
Jewish Studies, three
speakers discussed "Muslim
Reflections on Judaism To-
day," saying Allah — Arabic
for God — never intended for
Jews and Muslims to be
enemies.
Muslims are "God fearing
and God loving," said Imam
Mohamad Mardini, spiritual
leader of the American
Moslem Bekaa Center in
Dearborn. They are
obligated to "honor, respect
and treat with kindness the
People of the Book."
"Judaism and Islam are
very close, very similar in
practice," added Imam Ab-
dullah Bey El-Amim, chair-
man of the Muslim Center in
Detroit.
Wearing a white skullcap
and a gray suit, Imam
(leader) Bey El-Amim
greeted the audience with
"shalom" and said both re-
ligions are tied to biblical
figures like Moses and Isaac.
"We came from the same
father, Father Abraham,"
he said.
Imam Muneer Fareed,
spiritual leader of the
Islamic Association of
Greater Detroit, said current
conflicts between Muslims
and Jews are not typical.
In the past, problems have
existed — often because
Muslims have oppressed
Jews, he said. And many