The Move To Menorah
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hildren in winter coats Jewish nursing home on Seven Mile Road
shiver among bobbing in Detroit.
So far, more than 40 Borman residents
black hats outside Me-
norah House, the new have relocated to Menorah House. To ease
Jewish nursing home their transition, employees and volunteers
on Greenfield Road in have welcomed the newcomers with
flowers and special activities.
Southfield.
But back at Borman Hall, now called
Under a white-and-gold chuppah, held
high in the snowy air, Jack Schon carries Heartland Community Care Center,
a Torah. Hebrew song floats up from the nearly 58 Jewish elderly remain. The Jew-
crowd of young Yeshiva Beth Yehudah ish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
has promised to continue religious and
boys.
The doors to Menorah House open. The cultural programming there through the
procession pours in. The lobby pulsates end of this month.
But residents wonder: What comes
with music and dancing children. Faces
of the Jewish elderly show bewildered after that?
enjoyment. They sit in their wheelchairs
A Funny Bird Is The Pelican
and clap along.
On Sunday, Dec. 11, in a gala Torah
Harold Finkelstein comes from New
procession, Detroit's Jewish community
Orleans.
formally dedicated Menorah House as its
Don't say New Or-leens. Say it
replacement for Borman Hall, the former
slurred, like a true Southerner.
Mr. Finkelstein, 68, lived at Borman
Hall from 1991 until last week, when he
made the move to Menorah House.
Borman staff packed his belongings: two
boxes of clothing, a tall drinking glass, old
copies of Louisiana's Jewish News and a
radio.
Whenever possible, Mr. Finkelstein
tunes into sports. But forget the Tigers.
"They stink," he says. His favorite team,
long defunct, remains the Pittsburgh
Pelicans, an old farm team.
EMS company workers arrive at Bor-
man in uniform with a stretcher to wheel
Mr. Finkelstein toward their ambulance.
It's 10 a.m. sharp. Dec. 13. Moving day.
Mr. Finkelstein isn't nervous. He's
moved before. Multiple sclerosis forced
him into nursing homes 20 years ago and
he's lived in many since.
In his healthier years, Mr. Finkelstein
cut short studies at Tulane University to
serve in the U.S. Navy during World War
II. In 1953, the Finkelstein family moved
to Detroit and Harold began working as
an assistant manager for Hughes &
Hatcher men's clothing shop in Northland
Mall.
"He was the most fabulous dresser
you've ever seen in your life," says his sis-
ter, Yetta Wolf "He was an athlete. A very
good one. He played basketball, bowled.
Golfed constantly. He was in a barbershop
quartet. He loved to sing."
Mr. Finkelstein never married, but he
dated a lot.
How does he cope with moving? He taps
his fingers to his head. By thinking, he
says. By always thinking.
The EMS workers lift Mr. Finkelstein.'s
stretcher into the ambulance outside of
Borman Hall. His breath turns white in
the cold morning air. Still thinking, Mr.