FOREVER OURS
AMBASSADOR DAVID B. HERMELIN, 1936-2000
DAVID HELPED J.E.T. SOAR
0
ur tradition in the theater is to
show our appreciation of an artist
with applause — a curtain call.
At the Jewish Ensemble Theatre,
David Hermelin never would take
center stage, but he was definitely a
EVELYN
key player. At our very beginnings,
ORBACH
Henrietta — his sister — suggested
..5pecial to the
we go see David, a deed she and I
Jewish News
repeated multiple times, usually a 7
a.m. power breakfast at the Big Boy
restaurant, and he never failed us.
It was he who initially counseled us, questioned
us and helped us. He called his friend Sidney Lutz,
who immediately assigned his staff member,
Martha Schlesinger, an expert in the dynamics of
communal organization and fund-raising, to teach
us and guide us in finding those people who might
truly be interested in participating in those very
chancy beginnings.
He and his wife Doreen supported JET as
founders when JET was just a vision for the future.
Doreen and David never failed to support us.
They often came to performances, especially when
David's sister, Henrietta, a brilliant actress, was per-
Evelyn Orbach is artistic director of the West
Bloomfield-based Jewish Ensemble Theatre.
forming. As recently as last June, already very ill,
David was at the theater to see Henrietta perform.
He chided us for not reminding him about his
annual donation, and insisted that I send him a
statement immediately (still counseling) and to all
our other supporters, had we not done so already.
Always wanting and willing to be accessible, even
after he went to Norway as U.S. ambassador, he
encouraged us to e-mail him any time we needed to
reach him.
Perhaps the most telling was at our 10th-
anniversary celebration two years ago when
Ambassador David Hermelin arrived directly from
the airport, just in time for the ceremonies, and he
had to leave even before the dinner. Before he left,
he cornered Jim August to suggest that we start an
endowment fund at that moment for our youth
education services.
"Why not get 60 contributors giving $5,000 each
as a start?" he asked. And, of course, he and Doreen
would be the first to contribute! The response was
quick: 20 percent was raised that evening, even as
David slipped out like Elijah, going wherever in the
world he might be needed.
He dazzled us. He was inimitable. Who else can
ever play his role? He remains forever a part of this
theater. Good night, sweet prince — and may flights
of angels sing thee to thy rest! ❑
A RIGHTEOUS PERSON
HELPING MAKE
CANCER FAIL
A
s Bar-Ilan University's area director, I had
many opportunities to work with David and
Doreen Hermelin, and to watch
the organization greatly benefit from
their unending generosity and
warmth.
Like countless others, I have a great
number of anecdotes concerning this
great couple, but I'd like to relate a
few comments that David made dur-
LES
ing a visit to their home a year ago.
GOLDS 1 EIN
David stated that of all his achieve-
Special to the
ments, communal and business, the
Jewish News
one that gave him the most pleasure
was the visit to the first family's pri
vate quarters that he arranged for his father Irving
and beloved stepmother Florence in 1994, per-
sonally conducted by First Lady Hillary Clinton.
His parents were overwhelmed that they had
reached the shores of a country that took them in
as penniless immigrants, allowed them to prosper
and now enabled them to be personally hosted by
the pinnacle of the world's power and prestige.
The nachas (joy) this gave them was the sweet-
est of all memories for David after their eventual
passing.
'Make Cancer Fair
have never met anyone in my life
like David Hermelin. I believe
with all of my heart that he is/was
one of the 36 tzadikim (righteous
people) who, according to Jewish
tradition, sustain the stability of the
4.4k.
world.
PHIL
JACOBS
David Hermelin taught us how to
Special to the
love life with an energy that raised
Jewish News
one's spirits, no matter how low.
Two days after I watched in shock
as the late Charles A. Buerger, the former publish-
er of the Jewish News, was lowered into his sudden
grave, I was on a plane to Seattle to attend the
Council of Jewish Federations' General Assembly.
Somehow, I was seated next to David Hermelin.
Over the next six or seven hours (we also rook a
cab together to a Seattle hotel), David talked of how
the JN had grown so positively under the direction
of the late Mr. Buerger. He knew I was down and
hurting. He spoke of how proud Chuck was of
Associate Publisher Arthur Horwitz and the JN staff.
It was as if he knew he had to be there for me at that
12/1
2000
34
Phil Jacobs is editor of the Baltimore Jewish Times and
former editor of the Detroit Jewish News.
very moment. So many thousands of people have
had that moment with David Hermelin.
David was the man who returned every phone
call and made the recipient of the call feel as
important as the president. And this was coming
from a man who could call on the president. So
many of us had that meeting at the Gateway Deli
in Southfield in the early morning. We knew it
was already probably David's third or fourth cup
of coffee. But he gave us all the time and atten-
tion in the world.
Finally, with a smile on my soul, I remember
David telling us how he'd been on all three 1993
Michigan Miracle Mission El Al flights to Israel.
He gave all 1,300 of us our own one-pound sala-
mi for the 12-hour trip. And when we got on the
plane, the video screen came alive with David and
that amazing smile, welcoming us to Israel. Yes,
he was "on" all three planes!
Thank you, David, and thank you, Doreen, for
sharing your husband with the honest-to-God
world. The best I can figure is that God must
need something very important done, and needed
the best man for the job.
Baruch dayan ha emet
"Blessed is the true
j udge. "
-
❑
—
Even though it was clear during my visit that a
difficult enemy was pursuing David, humor was
never far from him. "You know," he said, '`there
are two opinions concerning my situation. All
the Jewish organizations are really pulling for
me. But the three or four people that I haven't
yet solicited — well, they're not too sure!"
He then said one more thing. "A few years ago,
I was president of the Michigan Cancer
Foundation, the NICE But MCF really stands
for something else --- Make Cancer Fair
Yes, this disease has temporarily won a battle,
and has taken a most-cherished individual from
our community But through one of his last great
philanthropic acts, and with the participation of
many of his equally generous friends and loved
ones, David established a research fund that, soon-
er more than later, will, indeed, make cancer fail.
His greatness then will live not only in the
memories of the thousands who will always love
him, but for the many generations to come that
will never have to see the enemy who has caused
us so much sorrow today. LI
Les Goldstein, based in Bloomfield Township, is
Midwest executive director of Bar-Ilan University •