28857 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD
FARMINGTON HILLS, MI 48334
HANGING page 3
competition, but that can be good
for business also. The bottom line
is we did not refuse," she said.
Weiss would not comment for
this story.
The partnership between Weiss
and Mertz began 35 years ago,
when Mertz worked as a foreman
at Weiss Bakery on Greenfield
and 10 Mile. He had emigrated to
the United States from Israel in
1956, 11 years after his liberation
from a Polish concentration camp.
In 1969, Mertz and Weiss
created the Country Corner
Bakeshop on Southfield and 13
Mile roads, the site of Zeman's.
In 1973, the partners bought out
Zeman's on Seven Mile Road
near Outer Drive, and named all
three bakeries Zeman's.
In 1974, the Seven Mile Road
store was destroyed in an explo-
sion. Since then, Mertz has run
the Southfield location.
"In all the years we were part-
ners, no one could believe that we
got along so well," Mertz said of
Weiss. "He had the money at the
start of things. Without him, I
couldn't have done anything."
But the closure has hurt Ze-
man's customers, many of whom
have loyally bought their challah
and kichel from the bakery for
years.
"I'm truly sad that this bakery
is closing," said customer Gail
Berkove. "I live within walking
distance from the other store, but
I'd still drive to this one. I was
shocked when my husband told
me."
Another customer, who wished
to remain anonymous, has bought
baked goods for every special fam-
ily occasion from the Southfield
Zeman's. "I prefer to come here,"
he said. "I like the people better."
Said Mertz, "Customers come
in here and are crying about this.
I don't want to leave my office be-
cause I feel so guilty.
"The biggest pleasure is when
a customer comes in and tells me
that this stuff is so good, and
when you see the same faces
coming in year after year."
Added Sheila Mertz, "We feel
very bad for closing up the store,
but we feel good we are out of the
business and we can enjoy our
life, too. We enjoyed our cus-
tomers. We would like to thank
them for the business and the
good time we had with them —
Jews and gentiles both."
The four employees who work
at the counter helping customers
won't be left out in the cold, Mertz
said.
One works at a Hebrew school,
another has a job at Bagels Plus
in Oak Park and another wants
to retire. The fourth is his wife.
The actual bakers are union-
ized, and the union will help
them to find jobs.
"I knew this had been in the
works for some time," said Lin-
da Rosenberg, a 10-year counter
worker at the bakery. "It's sad
but good for him."
According to Mr. Mertz, Mr.
Weiss has already said he would
like occasional assistance at the
Greenfield store. "A friend told
me once that when you leave a
job, always leave the door open,"
Mr. Mertz said. "And that's what
I've done."
p,S0 C)MPP'14‘i
C
❑
Intermarriage
Study Is Rapped
STEWART MN
SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
A new intermarriage study finds
that 20 percent of intermarried
Jews Want to maintain a Jewish
connection and suggests that the
rate of intermarriage has leveled
off in the last few years.
But a prominent sociologist,
Egon Mayer, is questioning
whether the author could right-
ly conclude that the rate of in-
termarriage had reached a
plateau. He said the report did
not make clear how many people
were interviewed.
The study, by sociologist Bruce
Phillips for the Wilstein Institute
of Jewish Policy Studies and the
American Jewish Committee,
found also that Jews are most
likely to marry within the faith
if they planned to do so when
they were teen-agers. It found
that specific Jewish experiences
during the teen years helped to
enforce that desire.
Phillips could not be reached
for comment.
"This report indicates that in-
termarriage is not inevitable and
that all efforts of the Jewish com-
munity should be geared to pre-
venting it," said Steven Bayme,
the AJCommittee's director of
Jewish communal affairs, who
wrote the study's introduction.
Bayme said the study belies
the view that it is futile to resist
mixed marriage and that atten-
tion should be devoted instead to
outreach rather than prevention.
"It is always better to prevent
than treat, and based on this re-
port we should be investing more
heavily in Jewish high school,"
he said. "Everyone has said the
cost of day schools is astronomi-
cal and that the Jewish commu-
nity doesn't have the resources
to fund them.
"But if we focus on the high
school years, offering reduced tu-
ition to encourage more adoles-
cents to attend day schools
during their high school years,
that will make a dent in inter-
marriage."
Thus, rather than trying to
raise $230 million to provide a
$2,000 subsidy to 115,000 Jew-
ish day school students in New
York City, limit the subsidy to
those in high school, Bayme said.
Such a move would be a "more
productive and manageable in-
vestment." ❑
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