Photo by Daniel Lippitt

Rosh Hashanah 5758

to wrap up another year.
This is the great, living, organic
neighborhood we call Detroit's Jewish
community.
It's a year when the Jewish hospit
is sold, and a massive Jewish fund is
created. Our teens visited the ravages
of Poland only to find anti-Semitism
still hadn't learned its lesson. The
Jewish News lost its beloved preside
and Detroit lost a friend.
The Jewish community remem-
bered the 1967 riots of 30 years ago.
And a philosophical "riot" almost
breaks out as our denominations
angrily debate pluralism. Classic
Coney Island is closed, and the kosher
facilities in town are inspected. The
year 5757 left us a different commu
nity. And as a year went by, well it
should.

September

Congregation Shir Tikvah prepares
see a dream come true, the building o
its first synagogue. Oak Park, the sub-
urb once thought a breath away from
dying, makes a huge Jewish resur-
gence.

Teen Unity Mission members have difficulty saying "goodbye.

L

udmillia wondered what she
was going to do with her 85-
year-old grandmother. She
was a proud World War II
veteran. She still had medals. She had
survived so much: Hitler,
Communism, Chernobyl.
She came to Detroit, to the U.S.
because she wanted to light the can-
dles on Shabbat.
But now she has to worry about
taking a test on American _ history. She
needs to know the names of presidents
and details from the Bill of Rights.
She doesn't even speak English, so
how will she be able to read it? Yet, if

she doesn't, she could lose her food
stamps and any federal supplemental
money she received.
It's called Welfare Reform.
A mile or two from her sparse
apartment, Yad Ezra, the kosher food
bank of Detroit, strategized with
Federation for the worst possible sce-
nario, feeding hundreds of refugees
who would now use them for most of
their food, not just some of it.
Over on 10 Mile Road, a group of
boys in roller hockey equipment
turned the Temple Emanu-El parking
lot into their version of the "Joe."
They were oblivious to the busses of

Bais Yaakov girls returning home from
a Kensington Park outing.
Over in West Bloomfield, a group
of mothers play with their toddlers in
the JCC pool. Some BBYOers gather
in the lobby before dividing into
chapters. A couple of weeks before,
the David Horodoker generations
meet to remember the anniversary of a
Holocaust tragedy.
The events take up the days. The
days become weeks. We work so hard
to have fun in the summer. We drift
up north. We return to get ready for
the holidays. The weeks become
months. Turn around, and it's time

October
ADL gets a new leader as Don Cohen
comes here from Dayton after long-
time director Richard Lobenthal
retires. Speaking of establishments
leaving, Federation's long-time No. 2
exec, Michael Berke, leaves to work as
a marketing consultant.
Michigan State University gets a
new Hillel rabbi when Philip Cohen
comes to East Lansing.

November

Like a shockwave moving through t e
world of Jewish journalism, we
learned of the death of Waterspout
Communications, Inc. President
Charles "Chuck" Buerger.
_Chuck, who died following compli-
cations from open heart surgery, was
58. For everyone who knew him, and

Year In Re view

PHIL JACOBS

EDITOR

10/3
1997

42

Looking back at the Jewish