Jewry's Role in
Human Affairs

news.
"It makes you look at things a little
differently when you get home," said
Rich, who has two children. "I'd defi-
nitely go again. I just wish we [res-
cuers] would have found more peo-
ple."

Social Worker Helps

Kav Tulupman of Bloomfield Hills

went to New York City on a different

kind of rescue mission — to help sur-
vivors cope with the emotional devas-
tation caused by the terrorist attacks.
A social worker with Catholic Social
Services in Grosse Pointe who also
runs a private practice in Royal Oak,
Tulupman volunteered to be part of a
trauma team sent to New York City
under the sponsorship of the United
Auto Workers.
It was her training in the treatment
of post-traumatic stress syndrome that
made her an especially valuable mem-
ber of the team.
For a week following the attacks on
the World Trade Center, Tulupman
and her colleagues ran three group
counseling sessions daily, with partici-
pation ranging from three to as many
as 45 survivors.
"There were people who were with-
in a block of the Trade Center; people
who had been stuck on the subway:
people who should have been in the
building but had stepped out for cof-
fee; people who worked there but were
on vacation that day," said Tulupman.
"There was a lot of survivors' guilt."
The Jewish group participants made
many references to the Holocaust and
to Israel, she said.
"A young man who had lived in
Israel for many years said that he
would never take off the gym shoes he
was wearing, because they were cov-
ered with the ashes of the victims,"
Tulupman said.
One Jewish woman, a self-pro-
claimed atheist, told the group that
she had automatically started to pray
when the disaster struck.
Tulupman, a member of Adat
Shalom Synagogue, ran counseling ses-
sions during both days of Rosh
Hashanah. These sessions, like all the
others, included several Jewish partici-
pants, many of whom came on their
way home from synagogue.
One goal of the sessions was to help
people understand that their feelings
were a normal reaction to an abnormal
situation, said Tulupman.
"The most common first feelings
were fear and anger," she said.
A frequent visitor to New York,

Tulupman spent the week following
the attack with her son and daughter-
in-law, Peter and Elizabeth Tulupman,
who live in Brooklyn.
This visit showed her another side of
the city.
Tulupman said her most poignant
memory came during her daily walk
through Union Square, where thou-
sands of mourners gathered to light
candles for their missing loved ones.
"There were candles burning every-
where; yahrtzeit [memorial] candles,
all kinds of candles," she said. "And in
the sky was the constant drone of
fighter jets and helicopters."
She was struck by the atmosphere of
the city after the disaster.
"The people of New York were so
kind and so quiet," she said.

Too Few Survivors

Adam Gottleib of Southfield, Richard
Levine of West Bloomfield and Alan
Jacobson of Ann Arbor joined in res-
cue efforts Sept. 15, four days after the
collapse of the World Trade Center.
Within a few hours of receiving a
call for help, these part-time emer-
gency personnel and six other emer-
gency workers formed a caravan of
two ambulances and an emergency
response vehicle. As they made their
12-hour journey to New York Cirv,
they were greeted with cheers, given
donations of food and allowed unpaid
passage along stare toll roads.
Un-fortunatelv, there were no more
survivors, so their services were not
needed. They left the city within 24
hours.
In that time, the three local volun-
teers did what they could to support
the New York City firefighters.
Although they had a difficult time
putting their feelings into words after
seeing the devastation firsthand, they
said they were glad they were able to
take even a small part in the rescue
operations.
Everywhere they went, the city had
been transformed with makeshift
memorials and people extremely eager
to help, Jacobson said.
"Residents felt they could not do
enough to assist the rescue workers,
he said. "People literally emptied their
cupboards and drawers for us. They
would bring whatever they had, from
food to their own pairs of socks. That's
not something you see very often.
Hopefully that spirit will last." E

"

Jennifer Finer Lovy, a freelance writer
from West Bloomfield, contributed to
this report.

ON THE FRONTIERS OF MEDICAL RESEARCH
The late, great humorist, Sam Levinson, once aimed these remarks at anti-Semites:
"It's a free world; you don't have to like Jews, but if you don't, I suggest you
boycott certain Jewish products like the Wassermann test for syphilis, digitalis
discovered by Dr. Nuslin, insulin discovered by Dr. Minofsky, chloral hydrate
discovered by Dr. Lifreich, the Schick test for diphtheria, vitamins discovered by
Dr. Funk, streptomycin discovered by Dr. Waksman, the polio pill by Dr. Sabin
and the polio vaccine by Dr. Salk.
"Go on, boycott! Humanitarian consistency requires that my people offer
all these gifts to all people of the world. Fanatic consistency requires that all bigots
accept syphilis, diabetes, convulsions, malnutrition, infantile paralysis and
tuberculosis as a matter of principle. You want to be mad? Be mad! But I'm
telling you, you ain't going to feel so good!" Others could be added to Levinson's
list:

TADEUS REICHSTEIN, Ph.D.
(1897-1996) b. Wloclawek, Poland He is known as
the Swiss chemist and endocrinologist who synthesized
ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) in 1933 by a process which
is still in widespread use. Even more important was his
research with steroid hormones produced by the
adrenal cortex--for which he shared a 1950 Nobel Prize
for Physiology or Medicine. As a professor of organic
chemistry at the University of Basel (1946-67), he and
his assistants isolated thirty adrenal steroids, one of which was of great value in
slowing deadly Addison's disease. Yet another steroid--cortisone--was discovered
in 1937 and became a treatment of choice for rheumatoid arthritis. Reichstein
applied his knowledge of cortical steroid chemistry to produce a family of "wonder
drugs," and also developed a method for manufacturing a sex hormone.

RACHMIEL LEVINE, M.D.
(1911-83) b. Eastern Poland Diabetes remains one of
the nation's more prevalent and persistent diseases. But
thanks in part to the studies of Levine, the largely
incurable illness has become more effectively
managed. Assisted by several colleagues at Chicago's
Michael Reese Hospital, he found that insulin lowers
blood sugar by drawing glucose into the body's cells.
The "Levine Effect," named for his discovery, opened
a new realm of research into how hormones can affect cell function. He also
helped lead the way in producing human insulin from recombinant DNA. Honored
as "the most influential and unique figure in modern diabetes research," Levine was
elected president of the American Diabetes Association and International Diabetes
Foundation. He also won national recognition while heading the City of Hope's
landmark diabetes program.

ARTHUR KORNBERG, M.D.
(1918-) b. Brooklyn, NY The biochemist's long assoc-
iation with the U.S. National Institutes of Health (1942-
53) led to his co-discovery of chemical reactions that
form coenzymes called nucleotides--key substances in
cellular function. Gripped by this area of research,
Kornberg left to further advance his studies as director
of the microbiology department at Washington
University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO (1953-
59). It was there that he began searching for an enzyme involved in constructing
DNA, basic to genes and the hereditary code. Within two years he extracted and
purified a bacterial enzyme with some DNA-building properties. Under certain test
tube conditions, the substance could be used to synthesize short DNA strands. For
this breakthrough first step in DNA replication, Kornberg shared the 1959
Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.
-Saul Stadtmauer

COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field & Harriet F. Siden, Chairpersons
Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org

9/28
2001

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