Metro Detroit's Jewish Assisted Living Community Tina Bassett and her the'', Morris Abrams "My dad is feeling great since coming to Elan Village! The "heimishe" atmosphere allows him to be independent, while at the same time feel safe and secure. He's made new friends and the staff are caring and kind." Tina Bassett, family member Elan Village's monthly rate includes: • 24 hour Personal Care Assistance • Three Kosher Meals Daily • Housekeeping and Personal Laundry Services • Social, Cultural and Educational Programs Daily • On-Site Licensed Nurse and Medical Services • Medication Management Dementia & Respite care also available Call today to schedule a tour JANET ANTIN (248) 386-0303 26051 Lahser Road • Southfield, Michigan 48034 Elan Village provides Care that Changes with You 12/31 1999 18 Preferred Provider of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit would be the only path to success in America. In 1920, under the auspices of the Americanization Committee of Detroit, mothers' classes were institut- ed in English and over 10,000 hand- bills were distributed in Italian, Polish, Hungarian and Yiddish. The committee sought the collaboration of the UJC to encourage all Jewish immigrants to learn and use English so they could become naturalized. Russian Jews already had begun to reject organized assistance from Jewish agencies, feeling patronized or estranged. Independent immigrant associations — landsmanshaftn — with foreign-sounding names, like the Radomer Aid Society, sprouted spon- taneously. Such groups often worried, antagonized and embarrassed the established Jews of Detroit. The "Survey of the Detroit Jewish Community" of 1923, commissioned by the UJC, indicated a lack of sym- pathy and understanding on the part of UJC social workers, especially regarding the "Orthodox Jewish com- munity." Many of the recent Jewish immigrants developed what one observer called a mixture of "gratitude and resentment" to organized Jewish charities and to the "organized Jewish community." Troubled times fre- quently produced extreme behavior and some immigrants returned to Europe, finally convinced Jews could not live as Jews in America. TO MELT OR NOT TO MELT? For many Jews, the '20s were a time of origins. They began businesses, syn- agogues, families, careers, and went about daily life in newly formed Jewish neighborhoods as Americans and as Jews. Brimming with patriotism, many Jews assumed increasingly assimilation- ist attitudes. For others, Jewish identity suddenly included a Zionist dimension — a dimension that confused and even polarized the Jewish communi- ties. In that new element, Detroit had a personal and important connection: Isadore Levin, son of the distin- guished Detroit Rabbi Judah Levin, had served in France in 1917. Felix Frankfurter, former U.S. labor admin- istrator, invited young Levin to serve with the American delegation from the Zionist Organization of America. Through Levin, in part, Detroit became identified as a seedbed of Zionist support — a characterization disapproved by the majority of Jews in Detroit at that time. And Shaarey Zedek quickly gained a reputation as Detroit's "Zionism Center.'' Despite questions about dual loyal- ty, Justice Louis Brandeis wrote that "there is no inconsistency between loyalty to America and loyalty to Jewry . . . The Jewish spirit, the prod- uct of our religion . . . is essentially American." Rabbi Franklin disagreed and lev- eled a barrage of protest to which Rabbi Abraham Hershman orShaarey Zedek responded forcefully. Declaring his American loyalty, Rabbi Franklin, and the majority of American Jews then, perceived Jewish identity as essentially religious and therefore apo- litical. His voice carried authority for many Reform Jews in Detroit and America. Nevertheless, because of a handful of dedicated pioneers, Labor Zionism steadily gained strength. To melt or not to melt loomed as the question for American Jews. All over the country, Reform Judaism tried to accommodate religion with American life — services were changed from Friday nights to Sundays, kashrut was abandoned, rit- ual took on, as one observer noted, a distinct Methodist tone. Yiddish was taboo, as were references to old coun- try practices and ceremonies. In the wake of such dramatic changes, the 20th century would sore- ly test allegiances to the broader, even global, Jewish community. To some extent, replacing a religious core, the organizational center for Jews in Detroit and America increasingly became the concept of tzedaka, trans- lated by some as "charity" and by oth- ers as philanthropy or compassionate consideration. JEWS AND THE LIFELINE Jews in Detroit could boast consid- erable success in the business world in areas like dry-goods, clothing and linen, retail, scrap metal ("Detroit's scrap metal aristocracy") and, eventu- ally, in the automobile industry's sup- port services. Significantly, however, with the exceptions of Meyer Prentis, who became General Motors Corporation treasurer; Ed Levy Sr., whose compa- ny hauled slag for Ford Motor Company; and Louis and Aaron Mendelssohn, who reached promi- nence in the Fisher Body Corporation, Jews in Detroit seemed mysteriously removed from Detroit's "life-line industry." That mystery linked to insidious forms of anti- semitism.