Follow Up

A fresh look at some recent stories in the headlines.

Who Was The
Fair Beauty?

Cigarette Lighter
Started Northgate Fire

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

Now it turns out Mrs.
Lenhoff has family still
residing in the area.
Among Mrs.
Lenhoff s descen-
dants in metro De-
troit is Zelda Levitt
of Southfield, Mrs.
Lenhoffs niece.
She remembers
her late aunt as "a
warm, good-heart-
ed person." Her
husband, Sol, had
fought in the Boer
War and "was a
favorite of Queen
Victoria."
Mrs. Levitt and her
husband have lived all
their lives in the De-
troit area.
The 1883 Chicago
World's Fair — billed
as the biggest ever —
also featured the first
Ferris wheel (which
cost an extravagant
50 cents a ride), an os-
trich farm, some of the

R

Left: May Lenhoff
Above: Sol Lenhoff

first phonograph records
and an appearance by
Annie Oakley. It covered
two miles along the Lake
Michigan shore.

oyal Oak Town-
ship Fire Depart-
ment officials re-
port the Northgate
blaze last month began
with a cigarette lighter in
the kitchen area of a
ground-floor apartment.
Arson investigators
have closed the case, con-
cluding that a youngster
in the apartment proba-
bly had been playing
with the lighter while his
parent was sleeping.
Flames from the
lighter ignited the unit
and quickly spread to
others. Eleven families
— six of them Jewish —
were displaced, their
apartments totally de-
stroyed. Four of the six
Jewish families were
emigres from the former
Soviet Union.
All residents have
since been relocated to
other Northgate units.
They continue to receive

help from groups and in-
dividuals — Jewish and
secular.
"We had a very, very
strong response from the
community," said Betsy
Winkelman, chairwoman
of the Social Action Com-
mittee Council, a consor-
tium of representatives
from Reform, Conserva-
tive and Orthodox con-
gregations. SACC was
spearheaded by the Jew-
ish Community Council.
To meet the needs of
fire victims, SACC
rekindled its Helping
Hands program, which,
in the past, asked con-
gregants of temples and
synagogues for donations
of household necessities
to help Russian Jews re-
settle in Detroit.
After the Northgate
fire, rabbis again em-
phasized the needs of
new Americans from the
bimah, and congrega-

CEOs Under 17
Even Stronger

PBS Will Show
`Freedom To Hate'

RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER

D

M

ore than 250
people filled the
Riverfront Ball-
room in Detroit
to honor the third class
of graduates from CEOs
Under 17, a teen-age ed-
ucational program main-
ly spearheaded by
local Jews.
A total of 100
Detroit youth
have completed
CEOs Under 17,
which began in
late 1992. Joel Ja-
cob, president,
says the program
continues to gain
support from
businessmen who
want to equip
youngsters with
entrepreneurial
skills.
CEOs Under 17, head-
quartered at the Detroit
Center For Entrepre-
neurship on the city's
east side, aims to teach

tions sent out fliers en-
couraging people to con-
tribute furniture, appli-
ances, kitchenware, tools
and other goods.
"(The fire) renewed the
community's conscious-
ness about the needs of
refugees," Ms. Winkel-
man said.
At Jewish Family Ser-
vice, Judy Stevenson, su-
pervisor of the Child,
Adult and Family De-
partment, said she was
overwhelmed by the out-
pouring of support.
"The apartments have
been redone ...The Red
Cross donated beds. They
have new telephones.
One or two of them even
had their computers re-
placed. It is a pleasure to
know that the communi-
ty can respond in a time
of need," she said. "My
understanding is that
everything is running
smoothly."

LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER

children about the busi-
ness world by helping
them begin their own
businesses. During after-
school classes, students
learn about profits and
losses, debits and credits,
assets and liabilities.

dy company, and others
began clothing concerns,
a babysitting service,
graphic design and other
services.
Mr. Jacob says CEOs
Under 17 is gaining pop-
ularity among inner-city
youth.
"At first, it
was a little
difficult ex-
plaining to
kids what the
program in-
tended to do.
We'd explain
the American
dream, and
they didn't
know there
was an
American
dream," he
They also learn that said.
success in the business
To Mr. Jacob, it is en-
world is not out of reach. couraging that, among
Of the 30 students who the young CEOs in his
graduated earlier this program, the dream has
month, one started a can- become more apparent.

etroiters
who
didn't make the lo-
cal screening of
filmmaker Ray Er-
rol Fox's Freedom To
Hate have a second
chance.
The documentary,
made from 60 hours of
raw footage in the former
Soviet Union, explores
anti-Semitism through
interviews with resi-
dents, government offi-
cials and hate groups like
Pamyat.
About 450 people at-
tended the viewing and
discussion following with
Mr. Fox on Dec. 1 at the
Maple-Drake Jewish
Community Center.
PBSs affiliate station
WTVS, Channel 56, will
run the documentary
Feb. 20 at 3 p.m.
Freedom To Hate has
been shown around the
country on other PBS
stations.

Filmmaker Ray Errol Fox

"I'd like as many peo-
ple to see this film as pos-
sible. PBS's use of it in-
creases exposure," Mr.
Fox said. "The timing is
excellent. The political

climate in the former So-
viet Union now is no sur-
prise. I saw what was
happening and docu-
mented it." LI

FEBRUARY

ne hundred years
ago, a Detroit belle
took first place
in the Chicago
World's Fair beauty con-
test for Jewish women.
In a Page 1 story sev-
eral years later, the De-
troit Evening News re-
called her career and
labeled the former May
Stubensky (who had
since married Sol Len-
hoff) "an exceptional
beauty."

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