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was started by secular Jews who wanted
their children to know about Judaism. It
was the first place many experienced the
theater and other cultural activities."
That community feeling is a hallmark
of the Oak Park JCC. "That JCC has its
own charm, especially with the immi-
grants who go there and the sounds of
Russian and Yiddish in the Center,"
Bernstein said.
-Attending the JCC was a way a per-
son could identify, himself with the
Jewish community," said Shaw, who
started the Jewish Book Fair in 1951, and
he encouraged the formation of a profes-
sional theater group and the JCC
Symphony
"Irwin Shaw was a programming
genius," said Winer, who asked Shaw,
who had been her Sunday school teacher,
to start a theater group in 1953. As an
incentive to start the group, Shaw told
her he might get money donated to build
a theater. He did; the result was the
Helen DeRoy Theatre at Meyers-Curtis.
"It was a very fun time," said Winer.
"Evelyn and Harold Orbach had just
arrived from New York City. [Evelyn
became director of the Jewish Ensemble
Theatre at the JCC in West Bloomfield
and Harold has been cantor at Temple
Israel for 40 years]. We were very success-
ful and put on very innovative pro-
grams.
In 1972, Shaw tapped Winer again.
Concerned over the influx of Russian
Jews to the area, he asked Winer to teach
them English. "They were Jewish, and he
wanted a program at the Center where
they could learn English," she said.
"We had wonderful successes," Winer
said. "I worked with Irwin for 18 years."

A Jewish Anchor

Bernstein remembered the political
events at the Center, including hearing
speakers like Detroiter Dora Ehrlich and
Chicago community organizer Saul
Alinsky,. Ehrlich's "words had a lifelong
effect upon me." Ehrlich encouraged
neighbors to work together to raise funds
for the fledging state of Israel, Bernstein
said.
For many years, Israeli Independence
Day was celebrated at the JCC, said for-
mer executive director Plotnick, who also
remembered coming to the JCC at 4
a.m. during the Yom Kippur War to
process gas masks and trucks to aid Israel.
"One of the earliest accounts of the
Holocaust shown in Detroit," Bernstein
added, "was a documentary about the
Nuremberg trials presented at the Center
and sponsored by the Jewish War
Veterans."
She also remembered the dedication of

the Golden Book in the JCC auditorium
commemorating 300 Jewish men from
Michigan who were killed in World War
II and Korea.
Bernstein became an active participant
and leader at the Center. She visited
nursing homes as the accompanist for the
JCC Golden Age Choir under the direc-
tion of Adat Shalom Synagogue's former
Cantor Nicholas Fenakel. Her father
played the violin and her mother sang in
the choir.
In 1967, Bernstein became director of
the Junior Division, now the Young
Adult Division, for the Jewish Welfare
Federation, precursor to the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.
Several of her members, she's proud to
say, went on to become JCC presidents,
including Robert Slatkin and Richard
Madden.
After retiring from the
Federation in 1981,
Bernstein attended yoga
and meditation classes,
and eventually became
involved in the JCC's
Institute for Retired
Professionals (IRP).
Morton
Paralleling her history,
Plotnick
the JCC also became
more involved in pro-
grams for seniors as the needs for seniors
changed dramatically, said Linda Lee of
West Bloomfield, a past JCC president.
"Irvin [Shaw] masterminded the IRP
by copying a program of the New School
of Social Research in New York," Lee
said.
He started with an article in the Jewish.
Areu,,s in 1985, to which five people
responded. The IRP now has 325 mem-
bers.
Bernstein first heard about the West
Bloomfield JCC in 1950, when a report
projected the Jewish Community Center
at the Maple-Drake location. She said, "It
was unbelievable, we were so centered in
the city then. And that was swampland,
the outer lands.
"The Maple-Drake Center serves a dif
ferent population, but continues to be
the home for a myriad of Jewish interests.
"My, generation has experienced many
changes and much trauma. However, it is
heart-warming to know that, in spite of
the many challenges in the last century;
there is a Jewish Center in our lives to
serve the ever-changing... needs of the
Jewish people."
Plotnick added, "The Center is capable
of all the aspirations, wishes and dreams
that our community — individually and
collectively — wish to have it be. It's an
evolutionary agency that continues to
shift to meet the needs of the communi-
ty: And we listen." E

Jcc

Through The Ages

1903 Staff hired at United Jewish

Charities' Hannah Schloss Memorial
Building, on High Street near
Hastings, to help new immigrants
become "Americanized" and provide
economic assistance to the underprivi-
leged. Building named Detroit Jewish
Institute in 1906.

•3 state-of th
in line skati

-

rink

•3o' foot rock
climbing wall

• Bungee hum

• 5o's style diner

• Video arcade

in a safe, supervised environment

1926 The new Jewish Welfare

Federation establishes the Jewish
Centers Association. It provides clubs
at various centers, synagogues and
schools. Later, a branch includes a
music and art school.

1939 The Jewish Community Center

is enlarged and dedicated as the Aaron
DeRoy Memorial Building, at
Woodward and Holbrook. It includes
a pool, gymnasium, home economics
unit, library and cafeteria, as well as
an assembly hall and 40 club rooms.
Center Symphony started.

194 The JCC becomes the largest

USO center in the U.S. during World
War II, led by Henry Meyers, JCC
president, 1937-1941.

1944 JCC opens a branch at the

12th Street Council Center (Dexter
and Davison streets).

1951 The first Jewish Book Fair is

held.

1956 The 10 Mile Branch (now
Jimmy Prentis Morris Building) opens
in Oak Park.

1959 The JCC at Meyers and Curtis

opens with 10,000 members.

1967 The center for Russian accul-

turation in Detroit, the JCC holds a
midnight vigil on behalf of Soviet
Jewry.

Call for directions,
hours & open skating
hours

(248) 661-4200
57 00 Drake Rd.

Just South of Walnut Lake Rd.

1976 The JCC building at Maple

and Drake in West Bloomfield opens.
It is dedicated as the D. Dan and
Betty Kahn Building in 1998.

1991 Manny and Natalie Charach

establish the Janice Charach Epstein
Gallery in memory of their daughter
Janice, an artist.

1995-2000 The Bloom Report pro-

poses a strategic plan for the future of the
JCC, and the Capital and Endowment
Campaign, held in conjunction with
the Jewish Federation/United Jewish
Foundation Millennium Campaign,
raises $32 million.

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2002

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