It's All
Relative

Two young adults
are finding ways
to creatively link
familial generations.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN

Scene Editor

W

hen Rachel Satz's step-
grandmother, Celia
Simon, passed away a
year ago, Satz found
strands of pearls among the woman's
possessions. The entire family had
come to Michigan from all corners
of the country for the funeral, then
stayed on to be together over
Chanukah. So Satz came up with a
way to keep the family happily con-
nected in the wake of a tragic event.
The 28-year-old Farmington
Hills native took apart the pearls
and strung up unique necklaces for
all the female relatives. Then, she
printed up cards that explained
where the jewels originated.
"It was a way for all the grand-
children and great-grandchildren to
have one piece of her, something in
common," says Satz.
Doug Cohen knows the feeling.
The 28-year-old Waterford resident
wished he had taped interviews of
his great-grandfather, or for that
matter, any of his grandparents
while they were alive. He says that's
the kind of thing people always say
they're going to do, but then forget

12/11
1998

no

Detroit Jewish News

Shown wearing the necklaces
Rachel Satz made for them in
memory of their relative Celia
Simon. are: Arlis Simon, center,
and om left, Suzanne Simon,
Rachel Satz, Stephani Simon, Amy
Ben-Ezra and Maureen Simon.

about until it's too late.
That's why Cohen opened a doc-
umentary production company this
year called Life Preservers. It's not
morbid, he says. Rather, he calls it
an ideal and easy way to capture the
lifeblood of a family on video, so the
nuances of a relative at various stages
of life will never be forgotten.
Satz and Cohen are starting a
slow revolution of twentysomethings
who want to keep alive more than
just memories of the people they
love. They want to preserve the
essence of their loved ones.
"The concept is beautiful," says
Bayla Jacobovitz, rebbetzin of
Machon L'Torah: the Jewish
Learning Network of Michigan. "For
Jews throughout the centuries, the
whole transmission process is to link
generation to generation. The word
`mitzvah,' in fact, means linking,
attach."
"I'd love for my kids to know my
grandfather," Cohen laments.
"Grandpa Louie saw himself as an
old vaudevillian, but I don't know
what he did. He used to do these
routines for me. I was 8 or 9 years
old, and he'd have me sit at the
table. He'd be the waiter, yell back
and forth to an imaginary kitchen.

Some purses created by jewelry artist Rachel Satz.

He was so funny.
"I have three minutes of footage
of my grandfather on my bar mitz-
vah tape. People don't make a point
while relatives are living to sit down
and learn their history," he says.
Now he makes it easy for others
to do better. While Cohen admits
that anyone can set up a camcorder
and tape Grandpa, chances are they
don't. That's the reason for his ser-
vice.
Starting at $500, Life Preservers
will create a moving family docu-
mentary within three weeks. And it's
not just for the elderly relatives, he
insists. He plans to make one of his
dad soon.

Nowadays, you can commission
poetry, paintings, personal histories
and family trees —really, anything
creative -- to capture the true
nature of a cherished relation. Truth
is, most people could do it them-
selves, if they had the time. Or the
dedication. That's what Cohen
offers, and Satz, too.
For Satz, the personalized jewelry
she creates is a way to combine last-
ing memories with updated fashion-
able accessories. She's made matching
jewelry with meaning for bridal party
members, attached richly beaded
straps to antique purses, taken bits of
fabric from a loved one's clothing
and made an heirloom quilt.