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MINNIE APPLEBAUM, 96, of
ffnai Moshe's Cantor Louis Klein
held tremendous meaning for the
Gunsberg family.
Associate Editor
"Dick was in the synagogue choir
and
we went out with Cantor Klein
he familiar strains of the
and
[his
late wife] Sonia. The cantor
"Victors" would suddenly
was
a
wonderful
man with a wonderful
appear in his repetition of
sense
of humor. He was
the Amia'ah
the
shul.
He drew peo-
on that Shabbat each
ple
to
him,"
said
November when Ohio
Gunsberg.
State played the
Robert Roth, a past
University of
president
of B'nai
Michigan.
Moshe,
began
learning
It was part of the
from
the
cantor
as a
character of the con-
child
in
Oak
Park
and
summate musician,
while
sitting
next
to
him
about whom one of
on
the
synagogue
bimah
his junior choir mem-
for 10 years as an officer
bers recalled: "As an 8-
of the shul. Roth, Rabbi
yea:--old, I thought
Elliot Pachter and others
about how God
Cantor Louis K1 ein
credit Cantor Klein with
would look and sound
helping the synagogue
and I always thought
through
the
transition
from Oak Park
about Cantor Klein on the High
to
West
Bloomfield.
Holidays, with his white hat, white
"Sonia had died and he was consid-
robes, and that voice."
ering retirement," Roth said. B'nai
The analogy would have tickled
Moshe had a succession of rabbis and
Cantor Louis Klein, Congregation
"he was the glue that was left."
B'nai Moshe's cantor for 40 years. The
The cantor's European training
number of young people at his funeral
"just
can't be duplicated anymore,
Tuesday at the West Bloomfield syna-
Roth
said. "He was able to facilitate a
gogue would have brought a smile to
bridge
to God — his knowledge, voice
his face.
and
the
way he prayed helped people
Cantor Klein died Sunday after suf-
to develop spiritually" When the can-
fering a stroke last week while visiting
tor sang the "El Mole Rachamim"
his family in Texas.
memorial prayer at a funeral, "his voice
Young people — his son Maurice,
embodied what the prayer meant,"
daughter-in-law Sally and their chil-
Roth said.
dren, the Venemar junior choir on the
In his eulogy Tuesday, Rabbi
High Holidays, other children in the
Pachter
compared Cantor Klein's 40
synagogue, and his bar and bat mitz-
years at B'nai Moshe to the 40 years
vah students at B'nai Moshe and Hillel
Moses led the Israelites and the 40-year
Day School — were the cantor's great
reign of King David. All three men
joy.
"brought unity and comfort to the
A close second were his adult con-
people," leading with strength, guid-
gregants. In recent years he was hob-
ance and song, Rabbi Pachter said.
bled by two broken hips that necessi-
And laughter. "He loved to tell a
tated three surgeries, and he moved to
joke," said Rabbi Pachter. "He would
Fleischman Residence, still close to his
start to smile, and begin to laugh
B'nai Moshe. Long-time friends/con-
before he got to the punch line."
gregants — Nellie Friedman, Bernard
One of the cantor's favorite punch
Klein, Marcel and Magdalene
lines,
though he wasn't joking, was,
Thirman and many others — drove
"I'll
make
you a tape!" Hundreds of
him to appointments, to shopping and
bar
and
bat
mitzvah students, from
to shul. The Thirmans hosted the shiva
B'nai Moshe and Hillel Day School of
this week.
Metropolitan Detroit, learned their
"He was so special," recalled Renee
tropes from the smiling taskmaster who
Gunsberg. "He always came to our
recorded their Haftorah so they could
house like a member of the family."
learn at home between visits to the
Her husband, Richard, died earlier this
master.
year. The fact that Cantor Klein led
In later years, he assembled a cadre
one of the shiva services at their home
ALAN HITSKY
T
"
3/5
1999
138 Detroit Jewish News
of lay cantors who wanted to learn, to
sing and to sometimes substitute for
B'nai Moshe's cantor. They included
Dr. Joe Lewis, now at Congregation
Beth Shalom, and B'nai Moshe leaders
Len Wanetik, Dr. Jerome Horwitz, Ira
Harris, Marc Sussman, Steve
Rabinovitz and Milton Resnick.
Several of them sang briefly Tuesday at
the funeral, under the direction of
Cantor Earl Berris. At their last meet-
ing, just before his trip to Texas,
Cantor Klein worked with them on
the Megillat Esther.
"We celebrate Purim by telling a
story, chanting and helping others,"
said Rabbi Pachter. "Isn't that the way
the cantor led his life?"
Other participants at Tuesday's
funeral included Rabbis David Nelson
of Beth Shalom and Stephen Weiss of
Shaarey Zedek, who read psalms, and
an honor guard of Masons. Cantor
Larry Vieder of Adat Shalom chanted a
prayer and Cantor Chaim Najman of
Shaarey Zedek spoke on behalf of the
Cantors Council of Detroit, which
honored Cantor Klein last year with its
Lifetime Achievement Award.
Cantor Klein, who was 82, was a
past president of the Cantors Council
and a past officer of the Cantors
Assembly of America. He was awarded
an honorary doctorate last year by the
Jewish Theological Seminary.
A native of Romania, the cantor
trained before World War II in
Belgium and Poland, where he met
Sonia. They fled to England with a
niece before the war.
They came to the United States in
1956, and he held a part-time position
in Brooklyn for two years before being
hired by B'nai Moshe in 1958. A year
later, the congregation moved from
Detroit to Oak Park.
Cantor Klein is survived by his son
and daughter-in-law, Maurice and
Sally Klein of Plano, Texas; sister Yudis
Klein of Israel; and grandchildren
Samuel, Marcus and Laura.
Contributions may be made to the
Cantor Louis and Sonia Klein Music
Fund at Congregation B'nai Moshe,
6800 Drake Rd., West Bloomfield, MI
48322; or the Cantor Louis and Sonia
Klein Scholarship Fund at Hillel Day
School, 32200 Middlebelt Rd.,
Farmington Hills, MI 48334.
Interment was at Hebrew
Memorial Park.
Bloomfield Hills, died Feb. 26. Mrs.
Applebaum was a member of the
David-Horodoker Women's
Organization.
She is survived by
her sons and daugh-
ters-in-law, Leonard
and Beverly
Applebaum of
Bloomfield Hills,
Eugene and Marcia
Applebaum of
Bloomfield Hills;
grandchildren Ronna
and Rick Earnest, Lorie Applebaum,
David Applebaum, Lisa Applebaum and
Pamela and Todd Wyett; great-grand-
children Rebecca Wyett, Molly Wyett
and Jordan Earnest; sister Sadie
Schwartz.
Mrs. Applebaum was the beloved
wife of the late Joseph Applebaum.
Interment at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery. Contributions may be direct-
ed to the Karmanos Cancer Institute,
18831 W. 12 Mile Rd., Lathrup Village,
MI 48076 and the Eugene and Marcia
Applebaum Parenting Center, 4200
Walnut Lake Rd., West Bloomfield, MI
48323. Arrangements by the Ira
Kaufman Chapel.
SOPHIE ARONSON, 89, of West
Bloomfield, died Feb. 21.
Mrs. Aronson was the daughter of
the late Rabbi Joseph Halevi and the
late Michlah Eisenman. She was the lov-
ing wife of the late Rabbi Benjamin
Aronson.
After residing in Detroit and
Indianapolis, Mrs. Aronson and her
husband spent 21 years of retirement in
Jerusalem. She resided at Hechrman
Apartments in West Bloomfield for the
past four years.
She is survived by her daughters and
sons-in-law, Judy (Harry) Gordon,
Beverly (Rabbi William) Lebeau; son
and daughter-in-law Michael (Vivian)
Aronson; 10 grandchildren and five
great-grandchildren.
Services and burial were at Sanhedria
Cemetery in Jerusalem.
ALFRED BERKOWITZ, 83, of
Birmingham, died Feb. 25.
Mr. Berkowitz
attended Northern
High School and
studied pharmacy at
the Detroit Institute
of Technology.
During World War
II, he served in the
Pacific and managed
a pharmacy in a mili-