FamiLy ProFile
This lovely family portrait shows Cipora Moskowitz of
Oak Park and daughters Chaya Nechama, 9; Mera, 8;
Raisa, 6; and Bracha, 2.
Their father is Reuben
Moskowit, far right. In
addition to visiting the
beach, the whole family
enjoys going to events at
the Jewish Community
Center of Metropolitan
Detroit. The girls also love
swimming, soccer and
dance. They attend the
Sally Allan Alexander
Bais Yaakov School for
Girls in Oak Park. The
photos came our way
from Reuben 's mother,
Mrs. Beret Moskowitz of
Monsey, N.Y., who also wrote the charming letter below:
.
•
_ .
"My dear children, Cipora and Reuben Moskowitz, have been giving
me the best Mother's Day gift, a subscription to the DetroitJewish News,
which my husband and I look forward to receiving each week here in
Monsey. I have read the Jewish News since I was 17 years old ...
"My husband [Rabbi Berel] taught at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah and United
Hebrew Schools for 20 years. The last 10 years that we lived in Detroit,
he was the administrator at United Hebrew Schools.
"In the past issues of your paper, I have enjoyed reading about old
Detroit times and days gone by. The article about Alfred Deutsch brought
back memories of 45 years ago, when I was an employee at American
Savings and Loan on Dexter Boulevard. I worked there for five years, and
remember the board of director meetings on Tuesday nights, which includ-
ed Adolf Deutsch and Sam Hechtman, both now deceased, and Nate
Goldin and Alfred Deutsch, all smoking cigars and sitting at a table
behind the teller cages. Ours was the only savings and loan open until 9
p.m. to serve the Jewish community.
Also, as members of Young Israel on Dexter and Cortland [in Detroit],
we performed plays at the old Jewish Community Center on Woodward
Avenue and at the Latin Quarter on [Grand] Boulevard.
"We are living in New York now, close to our other sons and daughter,
and we miss our family and friends in Detroit.
"My son, Reuben, is an employee at the DaimlerChrysler Corp. Imagine
an Orthodox Jew, wearing his yarmulke, working in an executive position
there. Reuben also gave his brother a gift of life, a kidney, which tells you
something about this special man."
Do you have an adorable child whose picture you would like to see in the
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9 /8
edge that Judaism does not con-
done belief in spooks and spirits,
the prankster is part of the home's
lore. They themselves have experi-
enced some strange occurrences
"I'm an engineer, very practi-
cal," John says. "I always have
rational explanations. But one
time [years ago], we were in bed
and we heard a knock on the
door — not a hard knock but a
soft sound, as with the palm of
your hand.
Hobbies:
"I knew something wasn't
The Seymours love to
kosher. So I said, 'Adele, you get
travel, go to the theater
i t
and the opera, and
"She opened the door — and
enjoy reading. Adele's
nobody
was there.
To
Kill
a
Mocking-
favorite book is
"She continued to walk down
bird, though she generally prefers
the hall. Seconds later, we heard
biographies. John also likes biogra-
Joe begin to cry and whimper in
phies, especially No Ordinary
bed. When he was little, he had
about
former
President
Times,
frequent ear infections, but he
Franklin Roosevelt. But he admits to
wasn't a real complainer. Later,
an occasional indulgence in pure
we decided that the soft knock
entertainment, like Intensity by
was a warning that we needed to
Dean Koontz.
get up and look after our son."
"I read it in one sitting," he says
On another occasion, Adele
Additionally, the Seymours like
remembers when young Joe and
entertaining. They live in a land-
a friend sleeping over "swore
mark home, built in 1837, the for-
they saw a shadow following
mer residence of Lucille Botsford.
them. They were shivering and
She was later the wife of Republi-
came with their sleeping bags
can Gov. Fred Warner, who was
and slept in our room."
in office from 1905-1911.
Adult guests willing to brave the
"When we moved here [in 1991]1
Seymour home despite the myste-
from Chicago," says John, "we
rious happenings likely will enjoy
asked the Realtor to look for an
John's famous rack of lamb, or his
older home for us, but in a town
mesquite-smoked salmon. Marinat-
[not just a subdivision] and with a
ed in lemon and butter, then
community with lots of children. Of
cooked on the grill over mesquite
course, we didn't know the 'older'
wood blocks, "it's light, but with
home would be this old!"
plenty of flavor — and it tastes
"We walked in the house and
good hot or cold," Adele says.
when I first saw it, I said, 'This is
it,'" Adele adds.
A Loving Memory:
There are challenges. The house
Adele says that when her son was
has required "steady improvement,"
a little boy, she often read to him
says John, whose father was a car-
from the Psalms late at night.
penter.
Eventually, Joe would tire out and
Legend also has it that a little
fall asleep. But even so, Adele
ghost (said to be the spirit of a
found the words would "calm and
10-year-old boy) haunts their
soothe him."
house. The Seymours say they
Today, Adele still enjoys reading
have yet to find any sign of such
Psalms — this time to herself — at
a resident.
the end of a challenging day. [-11
While the Seymours acknowl-
college, then turn that
into something valu-
able afterward — valu-
able to both them and
to society."
"My father always
said, 'Pick a profes-
sion you would do full
time even if you won
the lottery,'" Adele
says.