DETROIT)
THE JEWISH NEWS
RONT
T h is Week's Top Stories
A recluse leaves a fortune, but few clues.
DAVID ZEMAN STAFF WRITER
ven to those who saw him
And yet Mr. Abramson, who
regularly, Irvin Abramson once bragged he would burn his
seemed a lost soul; a assets rather than leave them to
hunched, bow-legged man others, left millions to orphans
in soiled clothing who hoarded and schoolchildren he never met.
rubbish, shunned relatives and
The contradictions in his life
offered only a cursory grunt to may never be explained.
neighbors.
"He dressed in tattered
He was the kind of man who clothes, most of the time he was
drove his rickety car to the mar- not very clean, and his shoes
ket to recoup a soda bottle de- would be torn," recalled Jerry
posit. Who finagled free meals Raymond, the Livonia attorney
at local synagogues. Who would who helped. Mr. Abramson draft
make calls at a friend's office to his will.
save 25 cents on a pay phone. In
"He may have looked like a
all the years one man knew him, bum, but he was not a bum. He
Mr. Abramson never purchased was able to do something you
shoelaces.
and I are not able to do; he was
And so when he died April 3, able to live his life the way he
alone and anonymous in a wanted to live it. And nobody else
Southfield emergency ward, only was able to control it."
a few people knew his startling
Yet even to those who knew
secret: Mr. Abramson,
pathologically thrifty in life,
had left at least $10 million
in investments to three
Jewish chatities.
As probate lawyers con-
tinue to sort through his be-
longings, those who crossed
Irvin Abranison's path are
at a loss to explain why a
man who had amassed so
much wealth had. chosen to
live a pauper's life.
While many in Detroit's
Orthodox community knew
of Mr. Abramson, nobody
knew him well At 82, he
had no surviving siblings.
He never married. And his
nieces and nephews
snubbed in his will have
declined to talk about his
life.
(Ann Gordon, a niece, did
confirm that some family
members recently hired an
attorney. She declined com
ment, however, on whether
Senior
they intend to challenge
him best, Mr, Abramson
picture:
their uncle's will.)
"A cheerful remains a grand, eccen-
In an examination of pub-
tric puzzle.
spirit."
lie records and interviews
He was born in Wind-
with more than a dozen ac-
sor, Ontario, in 1914, the
quaintances, a portrait emerges youngest of nine children. His
of a fiercely religious man who Russian-bom father, JoSeph, had
nevertheless allowed resentment been a rabbi in Hungary before
and paranoia to dominate his immigrating to Canada.
thoughts and isolate him even
In 1921, the family arrived in
from those who offered friend- Detroit where his father opened
ship. His only companion, his the first of two Abramson Fur-
only passion, was the money he niture stores. The family soon
had invested in the stock mar- moved to a gabled, three-story,
ket.
ABRAMSON page 8
.
Best Of Enemies?
A rabbi, a professor and a politician discuss the merits
of sitting down with the adversaries.
ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSOCIATE EDITOR
W
ith Palestinian leader
Yassir Arafat and Syri-
an President Hafez el-
Assad it often has been
a case of what you see is not nec-
essarily what you get.
One day, they call for Israel's
destruction. They support terror-
ists who murder Israeli men,
women and children — and Jews
everywhere. They vow never to
make peace.
The next day, they sign treaties
and alter longtime covenants (in .±.
Arafat's case), and agree to con- lc.
tain Hezbollah and seemingly
make overtures toward peace (in F,
Assad's case).
In the past week, two dramat-
ic events occurred. The first was the first step toward a last-
Sen. Levin has been
Warren
Mr. Arafat's decision to change a ing peace? Are Assad and Christopher with one of the most outspo-
clause in the Palestine Liberation Arafat trustworthy, and if Hafez el-Assad. ken advocates of Israel
Organization's covenant that calls so, is Israel obligated to act
negotiating with the
for Israel's destruction.
upon it?
Arabs. Today, he is confident the
Last Thursday, April 24,
Three observers debate the re- Palestinians' decision to renounce
the main assembly of the alities of dealing with enemies, the infamous clause is a step that
PLO approved the decision past and present.
brings Israel closer to certain
504-54. Observers say the de-
ight years ago Israel's Prime peace.
cision was rendered only af-
Minister Yitzhak Shamir
"The recent overwhelming vote
ter extensive pressure from
held a private meeting with by the Palestine National Coun-
Mr. Arafat, and only in the
three prominent U.S. sen- cil in favor of removing the denial
wake of numerous suicide ators: Carl Levin of Michigan, of Israel's right to exist from the
bombings by Palestinians, Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey PLO charter helps set the stage
which had even the most ar- and Howard Metzenbaum of for moving the Middle East peace
dent peace supporters re- Ohio. The topic of discussion was process toward the permanent
thinking the negotiations.
Middle East peace.
peace that we all have hoped and
Days later, it was Hafez el-
The gathering followed a letter prayed for," he said. "The removal
Assad's turn to take the spot- Sen. Levin had drafted one week of those hateful provisions is a wel-
light. Mr. Assad was at first earlier. It voiced support for an in- come step on the path to peace."
"too busy" to meet with U.S.
But can Yassir Arafat be trust-
Secretary of State Warren
ed? Rabbi Steven Weil of Young
Christopher; then suddenly
Israel of Oak Park doesn't have
there he was, agreeing to
the answer, but he knows it must
work with Lebanon to contain
be carefully considered.
Hezbollah, which has in re- aIi.:MMEMACOWNEMNOMEIMMU::::
In Halachah, Jewish law, peace
cent weeks relentlessly at-
is always the objective.
tacked Israel in what some ternational peace conference on
On two occasions, God Himself
feared was the start of an- the Middle East and expressed directed Moses to wage war —
other war.
dismay with Mr. Shamir for his
against Og, the King of Bashan,
Skeptics might point out insistence that he would not re- and Sichon, the King of the
that Lebanon already is under linquish Israeli-held territory, Amarites. Both times, Moses tried
Syria's thumb and that Mr. As- even if it meant peace with the first for a truce.
sad never actually assumed re- Arabs. The letter, was signed by
But what might Halachah di-
sponsibility for the Hezbollah 30 senators, including Lautenberg rect Jews to do today, in modern
terrorists. Yet both American and and Metzenbaum.
Israel, with men like Mr. Arafat
Israeli leaders hailed the move.
When Mr. Shamir met with the and Mr. Assad?
Mr. Christopher even labeled it "a three senators, he told them
"Peace is the priority," Rabbi
very big step forward."
"everything can be discussed" in Weil said. "But before any ha-
Most pundits agree Mr. Assad's negotiations. Since then, not only lachic decision can be made, it
motive is clear: he wants to stay has everything been discussed, must be predicated on reality —
in the limelight, where he will con- but there is a treaty with the which can be determined only by
tinue to be regarded by many as Palestinians (and an agreement those doing the negotiating."
vital to Middle East peace nego- in which Israel gave up land),
The first step would be to turn
tiations. But was his commitment peace with Jordan, and perhaps to Israel's chief military analysts.
to work with Lebanon that sig- the makings of a settlement with A major concern should be the
nificant? Does it truly constitute
Syria.
ENEMIES page 22
E
PHOTO COURTESY OF NORTHERN HIGH SCHOOL
What Happened To
Irvin Abramson?