Leaving Home

Above
Faye Goldstein, who is active in the Family Forum,
awaits a ride to the hair salon.

Right
Ira Boykansky relishes Shabbat services at the Home.
•

Below
Anne and Herbert Isner do not discuss the future of
Borman Hall with Anne's mother, Etta Morris.

kitchen and holiday celebra-
tions are important, even to the
disoriented elderly. Several
family members have said their
loved ones barely recognize
their own flesh and blood, but
they still respond to Jewish mu-
sic.
Living out the final chapter
of one's life should be done in
a Jewish environment, family
members say.
Borman Hall resident Ira
Boykansky wears a chain
around his neck with the gild-
ed Hebrew letters for Shalom.
Talking to a young woman vis-
iting Borman, he was sure to
clarify some vital bits of infor-
mation:
"Are you Jewish? Yes?
Thank God," he said. "Are you
married?"
The flirtatious man also
thrives on prayer sessions with
Rabbi Abraham Gardin at the
Home. His eyes light up when
preparations for Shabbat get
under way.
Etta Morris, an 89-year-old
resident of the Home, demon-
strated similar high spirits.
When asked if lunch tasted
good, she responded: "Oh, yes,"
she said. "I like anything I don't
cook."
Ms. Morris' roots at Borman
are deep. She worked for 32
years as the director of nursing
for the Jewish Home for Aged,
which currently includes Bor-
man Hall as well as Prentis
Manor and Fleischman Resi-
dence.

When the old Home for Aged
moved from Petoskey Street
downtown to its Seven Mile lo-
cation, Ms. Morris helped the
transition. She continued serv-
ing as director of nursing at
Borman and Prentis until 1979.
But Anne Isner, her daugh-
ter, worries that this next tran-
sition — leaving Borman —
might take its toll. Ms. Isner
and her husband, Herbert, do
not discuss the Home's fate in
front of Ms. Morris.
"She gets extremely upset, as
do most residents as soon as
they change their environ-
ment," Mr. Isner said. "Leaving
Borman Hall will be very hard
on her, very traumatic. I am
sure of that."
The community's priorities,
the Isners contend, are skewed
against the very people who
helped make the community a
strong one.
"As a nurse, Etta was on
call 24 hours a day, seven days
a week, 52 weeks a year. Even
when she was on vacation she
could be reached. People like
Etta gave all of this to their
community. They're being for-
gotten, and the priorities of the
community are being forgot-
ten," Mr. Isner said.
Sitting in the Borman Hall
lobby, Harry Weinsaft said he
has grown disenchanted with
Jewish priorities.
"Jews. We'll help the whole
world, except our very own. All
of these people you see here at
Borman, dragging themselves
around half-dead, all of them
once contributed to the UJA
(United Jewish Appeal).

"Are you Jewish?
Yes?
Thank God.
Are you married?"

Ira Boykansky

"Let me tell you, Jews have
money for everything in the
world: blacks, Russians, Is-
raelis...
"Jews want to make a
good impression on the whole
world. They want to be loved
by everyone. But the Jews
here are not living up to the
commitment they made many
years ago to their old people."
Pivoting in his wheelchair,
Mr. Weinsaft motioned toward
a painting he made at the
Home. Like the flowers in Jean
Wall's garden, his oil-laden can-
vas was a display of color and
brightness.
"Never, never look back,"
said Mr. Weinsaft. "I don't want
to look back. I hope that to-
morrow will be better than to-
day."