Close Up
Those
JENNIFER FINER
THE DETRO IT J EWISH NEWS
STAFF WRITER
ylvia Helfer will forever re-
member the sight and smell of
the freshly cut flowers that
filled her synagogue on Rosh
Hashanah.
It was customary for all the
children in her congregation,
'k the Holbrook Shul in Detroit,
to give their mothers flowers
on the Jewish new year.
Sylvia's mother and the oth-
er women who sat upstairs at
the synagogue, separate from
the men, would place their flowers
around the balcony ledge.
"The flowers filled the synagogue and
made everything look so beautiful,"
Ms. Helfer said. "It was such a lovely
time. Actually, it was among the best
times of our lives because we were all to-
gether."
Born in 1909, the eighth of nine chil-
dren, Ms. Helfer holds on to fond mem-
ories of the High Holidays from her
teen-age years in the 1920s.
Then, she and her siblings would go
downtown to buy new
clothes for the holi-
days. She recalls the
hours spent in the
kitchen, preparing
food with her mother,
and walking the short
distance to her syna-
gogue.
They were the
same years when the
sounds of live jazz
blared from posh
clubs and parties. It
was a time when
women celebrated
newly found independence and everyone
was doing the Charleston. The decade
was marked by a constitutional amend-
ment prohibiting the legal consumption
of alcohol.
Although drinking was illegal, Ms.
Helfer remembers always having wine
for the Jewish holidays.
"It was never an issue," she said.
While Ms. Helfer wouldn't describe the
She was only a teen during a
decade when the nation was partying,
but Sylvia Helfer remembers
the family togetherness.
1920s as roaring ("I was only
a teen-ager"), it was, she
said, a great time to be
young.
She remembers her sisters
having parties at their home
and thinks back to bus rides
downtown for an afternoon
of shopping.
During the holidays, Ms.
Helfer's family home on
Josephine, near John R. in
Detroit, was filled with fam-
ily, food and incessant chat-
ter.
"Relatives lived close by
and we were always togeth-
er for the holidays," she said.
"We would help our mother
make fish, kreplach and
fresh challah."
It was the same decade
the U.S. Senate voted
against joining the League
of Nations, the
Chrysler Corporation
was founded, comedian Will
Rogers was at the height of
his career and radio station
KDKA broadcast the first ra-
dio program.
It also was a decade that
ended with the Oct. 29, 1929,
stock-market crash.
Rosh Hashanah in 1929
came about six weeks before
the start of the Great De-
pression. It would be the last
time Sylvia and her family observed the
Above: Sylvia Helfer:
"It was such a lovely time."
new year in the lavish manner to which
they were accustomed. At least for a
Left: Sylvia Helfer and her brother,
while.
Aubrey Gordon, in 1928.
While everyone would still gather for
the holiday, putting food on the table
Still, she doesn't look back with bit-
meant making an extra effort to save
terness on the challenges.
during the rest of the year.
"What can I say? It (the '20s) was
Ms. Helfer's father, who owned prop-
erty in Detroit, lost everything in the De- a memorable time in our lives," she
pression. This forced his daughter to said. El
leave City College (now Wayne State
University), with two years remaining
until graduation.
PHOTO BY GLENN TRI EST
g
Holidays
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