Business calls.
family) and the roads blanketed with
snow. And they were noisy.
\---"We're all hams in one way or
/another," says Seymour Zate. "We
don't take things too seriously."
The Levins are descendants of three
brothers and a sister from the town of
Ruzan, in Poland. In 1905, 16-year-
old Morris Yellen (the surname was
changed to Levin at Ellis Island) set
off for America, escaping draft in the
Polish army. Morris found his way to
,LJetroit, where he worked at a bakery,
saved money, then returned to Poland
to fetch his family.
Eventually, brothers Benjamin and
Jacob and sister Rachel joined Morris in
Detroit, bringing their spouses and chil-
dren. In 1948, after years of informal
Saturday night card games at Jacob's
house on Pingree Street in Detroit, the
declared itself a club.
Eventually, Jacob's son Meyer took
on responsibility for hosting, and now
Meyer's son Yale, who cousins describe
as the "family patriarch," hosts two
75-person seders each year.
Numbering more than 200, with
addresses not just in Michigan, but in
Israel, Argentina, New York and else-
where, the Levin family parties together
'tor major Jewish holidays plus picnics,
weenie roasts and club anniversaries.
Every few years, the Elmhurst Players
— 10 Levin cousins who grew up on
and around Elmhurst Street in Detroit
-- perform elaborately scripted musical
comedies poking fun at the family and
its most celebrated characters.
Like other families, the Levins
lave scattered geographically as well
as religiously. The founding mem-
bers were Orthodox, and most now
Opposite page,
counterclockwise from top right:
Jacob Levin (center), with his daughter,
Mary Zate, her husband Kalman and
\--`,heir children in Poland in 1933,
just they came to America.
The Levins at their annual picnic,
in 1970.
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The family in 1948, just after
becoming a club.
The November 1998 meeting:
Front row — Goldie Levin, Molly
revin, Gladys Zate, Seymour Zate,
Ileene Zate, Ari Levin, Esther
Mandelbaum, Shmuli Mandelbaum;
Second row — Larry Ashley, Samantha
Ashley, Adele Nodler, Yale Levin, Dolores
Fox, Linda Ashley, Erica Grushoff
Claudia Cotter, Terry Grushoffl Lauren
Grushoff; Melvyn Levin, Rita Levin.
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Photos courtesy of the Levin family
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Detroit Jewish News
El