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DETROIT

Detroit Air laid iAl'ardens g
Given Yiddish Lessons

Grandmother Graduates,
Earns High School Diploma

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

This column will be a
weekly feature during The
Jewish News' anniversary
year, looking at The Jew-
ish News of today's date
50 years ago.

PHIL JACOBS

Managing Editor

I

f records were kept for
the number of head-
lines appearing on The
jewish News front page,
this would be the standard
bearer. No fewer than
eight headlines touched
the news both locally and
internationally.
The news of the world
was printed in two lines of
bold, red ink. The
headline read, "20,0. 00
Jews Trapped In Japan
Doomed Without Prompt
Help." Another headline
told about Bibles being
distributed to Jews in the
military. Yet another was
about David Ben-Gurion's
address to the Pioneer
Women in Detroit, and
another talked about the
Jewish Vocational Bu-
reau's Placement Pro-
gram expansion.
International news was
much on the mind of The
Jewish News in this issue.
The lead headline was
followed by a story on how
Jews were suffering at the
hands of the Japanese in ,
occupied China. The story
reported that efforts were
being made to help Jews
stranded in. Shanghai
leave the country for
Palestine.
A shorter story talked
about how Sgt. Irving
Strobing, a Jewish soldier
in the Signal Corps on
Corregidor Island in Ma-
nila Bay, described via
radio the final, desperate
hours before the U.S.
forces surrendered to the
Japanese. Sgt. Strobing,
from Brooklyn, N.Y., the
story reported, was the
son of a New York tailor,
Samuel Strobing.
Also in the news, Rabbi
Bernard Bergman became
the first Orthodox rabbi
in U.S. history to deliver
the invocation before a
session of Congress.
"Wearing his skull cap,
Rabbi Bergman, assoc-
iated with the Home of
the Sons and Daughters of

14

FRIDAY, JUNE 5, 1992

Israel of New York, said a
prayer in English," re-
ported the story. "He ask-
ed for an early victory for
the Allies."
James I. Ellman was
elected president of the
Detroit Jewish Commun-
ity Council. Maurice
Aronsson, treasurer of the
Federation, was named a
member of the Michigan
Crippled Children's
Commission. Rudolph
Meyersohn was elected
president of the Pisgah
Lodge of B'nai B'rith.
David Ben-Gurion,
chairman of the World
Zionist Executive, was to
address the Pioneer Wo-
men's Organization of
America at the Book-
Cadillac Hotel on June
10. Also scheduled to
speak was Yehudith Sim-
chonit, a delegate of the
Palestine Working Wo-
men's Council to the
United States. Detroit
_Mayor Edward J. Jeffries
was expected, to de _ liver
opening remarks.
Classes in air raid in-
struction were to be given
for the first time in
Yiddish at the Beth T'filoh
Emanuel Synagogue.
This was a 12-hour course
taught by Rabbi. M.J.
Wohlgelernter.
On the back page of this
edition, the Jewish Voca ,
tional Service had a full
page ad challenging
young Jews about their
future. The ad showed a
photo of a desperate man
hunched over, head in his
hands, while sitting on a
park bench. The headline
read, "After years of
study. Did he graduate for
this? There are some
excellent substitutes for a
park bench."
The ad went on to offer
career counseling to high
school graduates in areas
ranging from aero con-
struction to foundry core
making.
This week's marriages
included: Ethel Keywell
to Philip Levant, Eve
Natinsky to Jack Leeds,
and Mildred Shapero to
Morris Levin. Richard
Barnett, Arnold Rosen-
thal, Harold Shapiro,
Seymour Subar, Louis
Watnick and Arthur
Weston all announced
their bar mitzvahs, ❑

H

.

elen Plonskier, 72,
didn't have the same
educational oppor-
tunities as her American-
raised children.
When she was a girl in
Poland, her parents were
taken to a concentration
camp and were never heard
from again. When she was
17, German officers shot and
killed her husband.
After the war, Mrs. Plon-
skier remarried, rebuilt her
family and worked hard,
studying bookkeeping for
many years. She did not
have the choice of thinking
about completing high
school.
Until Monday.
On June 1, Mrs. Plonskier,
a Southfield resident,
graduated from the Fern-
dale-Oak Park adult edu-
cation department in a pri-
vate ceremony at the Jimmy
Prentis Morris Jewish
Community Center.
Mrs. Plonskier had a
separate ceremony since
regular high school gradua-
tion, which takes place in
Ferndale and in Oak Park
this Sunday, coincides with
the holiday of Shavuot.
"Family, studying and
volunteering at the JCC
keeps me going," Mrs. Plon-
skier said.
About 120 people, in-
cluding Betty and Jack
Kroker, former Ferndale-
Oak Park adult education
graduates, attended Mrs.
Plonskier's ceremony. The
Krokers, who are in their
80s, completed the adult ed-
ucation program two years
ago.
Ninety of the 600 adult
education program par-
ticipants are Jewish, said
Joann Anderson, coor-
dinator of the Ferndale-Oak
Park program.
Mrs. Anderson said adults
wishing to complete high
school can enroll for free
with Ferndale and Oak Park
schools. In Oak Park,
students attend classes at
JPM or the Oak Park Com-
munity Center.
Mrs. Anderson coordinates
a staff of 12 teachers. She
said adults need up to 20
credits of English, math, his-
tory, economics, health and
science to earn a high school
diploma. However, adults
with volunteer or work ex-
perience can also earn
credit.

Joann Anderson gives Mrs. Plonskier her diploma.

Mrs. Plonskier earned
several credits through her
volunteer work with the
Allied Jewish Campaign and
at JPM and the Jewish
Community Center in West
Bloomfield.
"Adults have already liv-
ed," Mrs. Anderson said.
"Most remember the Great
Depression or other major
events in history. And if
their skills are good, they
talk about their lives and
share their experiences."
Mrs. Plonskier often br-
ings books and slides to

class.
"In our house, we never
knew school wasn't an o
tion," said Mrs. Plonskier's
daughter, Rosalie Cohen,
who has a master's degree in
education. "It was high
school, college and graduate
school — all in one breath."
Mrs. Cohen and hej
brother, Mark, a lawyer, at-
tended their mother's.
graduation.
"I never stopped wanting
to finish school," Mrs. Plon-
skier said. "I just never had
the time to do it." ❑

School District Elections
To Be Settled Monday

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

F

or the first time in 25
years, no Jews are
competing for seats on
the Southfield school board.
Paul Cooper, Sharlita
Deerbacz, Joyce McClenney,
Karen Miller and Brenda
Lawrence are running for
the seats left vacant by the
retirement of Zelda Robin-
son and Donald Fracassi.
"I'm surprised there aren't
any Jews running," said
Steven Kaplan, Southfield
school board president. "It's
unprecedented. The Jewish
population in Southfield is
about 35 percent and Jewish
folks tend to be active in
schools."

Southfield, Oak Park,
Birmingham, Bloomfielt
Hills, West Bloomfield,.
Berkley and Farmington
Hills all hold school district
elections June 8. Polls open at
7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
Mr. Kaplan, assistant
prosecuting attorney
Macomb County, believes
Zelda Robinson's retirement
announcement in March
may have contributed to the
lack of Jewish candidates.
"Had she told people earlier,
others might have felt they
had time to launch a cam-
Paigm"
Mr. Kaplan said he ap-
proached Andrea Gordon,
active at Leonhard Elemen-
tary School and at Beth
Achim's Hebrew school,