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on

ections
u r Remarkable
Jewish Family

By Edie Broida

s a lifelong member of the Detroit
Jewish community, I have quite an
amazing extended family . . . and
so do you. Like me, you may not know
some of the more prominent members
personally, but the pride in their
accomplishments is no less real.
For example, I don't know Max Fisher,
but I think of him as our most eminent
elder statesman and the Jewish community's
most outstanding philanthropist. I don't
know David Hermelin either, but I rejoiced
when he was named United States
ambassador to Norway.
Certainly I didn't know the late Albert
Kahn, but I silently pay tribute to him
each time I visit the Fisher Building,
feeling overpowered by its majesty.
Fisher, Hermelin, Kahn — their names
are so familiar they seem like distant relatives.
Everywhere I go I encounter more names.
Before the doors closed at Sinai
Hospital, I reflected on the bequests of
other "family" members: Lowenstein,
Zuckerman, Shapero, Osnos, Berry,
Blumberg, Maisel and more.
The hospital corridors may be silent,
but these names are no less hallowed.
Visit the Detroit Institute of Arts or
Orchestra Hall and note the names of
these generous Jewish patrons: Schwartz,
Robinson, Jospey, Frankel, Taubman,
Green, Schlafer and others. I don't know
them personally either, yet they also seem
like mishpacha.
Last summer, my husband and I signed
up for Bubbie and Zayde Camp at the
Henry M. Butzel Center at Tamarack

JNSourceBook

Illustration by Cathy Gendren

A

Camps, where we encountered more
reminders of Jewish philanthropy. The
Butzel name I knew from Leo and Albert
Butzel, my Temple Beth El Sunday school
classmates. 'I hey were family of Henry and
Fred Butzel, both revered for their devotion
to the community.
Touring Tamarack was like stepping
into a who's who of the Detroit Jewish
community. At every turn were names of
relatives I have never met: Maas, DeRoy,
Fishman, Smokier, Berman, Robinson,
Silverman, Allen, Agree, Shiffman,
Applebaum and on and on.
It became clear to me that as members
of this dynamic Jewish community, we
have been blessed by an amazing number
of benefactors. During the first half of
this century, as these unknown "aunts
and uncles" prospered, they laid
foundations for institutions and agencies
that enrich our lives. They endowed
hospital wings, community centers,
housing for the elderly, the poor, the
mentally and physically challenged as well

Detroit's
Jewish Community
Volunteers
Fuel Community .. 24
Outstate Jews . . . 28

Editor's Note:

This personal essay is by
no means an exhaustive
accounting of our
diverse, remarkable
"family." Rather, it offers
an overview of the
generous, visionary
people who have made
our Jewish community
so dynamic.

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