Insight

Remember
When •

Power Of The Press

From the Jewish News pages this week
10, 20: 30, 40 and 50 years ago.

Media spotlight helps restaurateur rebound from Sept. 11 e-mail rumor.

e'"'":r"'.;;;5; CNN Chicago
Bureau Chief
Jeff Flock
interviews
owner Dean
Hachem at the
Sheik in
Orchard Lake.

HARRY KIRSBAUM

StaffWriter

0

3/22

2002•

28

n any given night six
months ago, the wait for a
table at the Sheik restaurant
in Orchard Lake could run
up to an hour or more.
Then came the terrorist attacks on
the World Trade Center in New York
City, the Pentagon in Arlington _and on
an airplane over Pennsylvania on Sept.
11. That day also brought an unsub-
stantiated e-mail rumor that quickly
spread to thousands, alleging restaurant
employees cheered while watching TV
news footage of the terrorists' rampage.
Then the local media ran reports of
the e-mail rumor, with comments
from Sheik owner Dean Hachem
denying the alleged incident. Still,
Hachem says, he lost most of his cus-
tomers, many of whom are Jewish.
But last week, media attention suc-
ceeded in undoing some of the
rumor's harm. The Wall Street Journal
ran a story Wednesday, March 13,
profiling Hachem's plight as part of
the paper's Sept. 11 six-month follow-
up coverage. This piece started a wave
of similar local and national stories.
By Friday morning, March 15,.the
Detroit Free Press and the Oakland
Press had written about the restaurant,
and the cable Fox News Channel had
called Hachem to arrange an inter-
view. At 11:30 a.m. Friday, Cable
News Network (CNN) Chicago
Bureau Chief Jeff Flock was interview-
ing Hachem at a table in the back
room.
The reports focused on Hachem's
loss of business since the story first
broke. He said he'd lost 50 percent of
his business and had to let more than
half of his staff go. Feeling the name
the Sheik had become tainted,
Hachem split his Livonia restaurant in
two and changed one name to
Andrea's Ristorante Italia. He also
named his wife's new venue at Detroit
Metropolitan Airport's midfield termi-
nal in Romulus the Mediterranean
Grill rather than the Sheik.
But the fresh news accounts showed

1992

Detroit Cantor Hyman Adler, who
had served B'nai David for more
than 40 years, died at the Jewish
Home for the Aged.
At least five people were killed and
76 injured when a bomb exploded at
the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires.
Former Michiganian Susan
Cantor finished 37th in the
Iditarod dog sled race in Alaska.

1982

the power of the press. The weekend
after the latest media reports ran, most
customers returned, after the six-
month absence.
"In general, 90 percent of the people
came back," said a much-relieved
Hachem. "People came from all over
the place and it put tears in my eyes.
It showed that people have seen that
it's not true."
Bruce Levine of Franklin was the
first customer to have lunch at the
restaurant last Friday. "It's a tragedy
about 9-11, but I feel like these people
are kind of victims, too," said Levine.
He isn't a regular customer but was
running errands in the neighborhood
and decided to stop by. "I don't know
if the [e-mail] story is accurate, but
I've kind of given these people the
benefit of the doubt."
Flock said he was amazed the back-
lash would still be going on after six
months. He did some on-the-street
interviews before showing up at the
restaurant.
"Some people said, 'Yeah, I heard
about it and it's a bunch of baloney. I
eat there all the time,"' he said. 'And
someone else said, 'They say it isn't
true, but who knows?'
"This is also, it seems to me, a rela-
tively well-educated community and
you wouldn't expect it. It's not a place
where you think people aren't plugged
in," Flock said.
The CNN segment hadn't run, and
the Fox News Channel hadn't called

back as of Wednesday, said Hachem,
but local news coverage has made a
huge impact.
"I built my business seven years ago
in the middle of the Jewish communi-
ty, and I was confident that I would
do well because I'm not a person to
get involved in religion, politics or
breaking the law. I'm a businessman,"
he said. "I hope that people will have
the faith and come back to enjoy eat-
ing here."
Sharona Shapiro, American Jewish
Committee Michigan area director,
said the residual effect is a lesson on
supporting a business in the face of
false rumors.
"It will make more people aware
that if they think they like a particular
restaurant, they need to support it,"
said Shapiro. "This is a man who is
desperately seeking to save his busi-
ness, and he is fortunate in that he has
these skills in understanding how one
has to do it in today's world."
On March 19, Cheryl Feldman of
West Bloomfield picked up her carry-
out lunch order from a much-busier
Sheik Restaurant.
"When I first heard about the e-mail,
I did back away from it because the
whole situation devastated rne. It was
just a natural reaction," she said, talking
over the din of 25 lunchtime diners.
She orders from the Sheik about
three times a month. "I've always felt
the people here were nice and the food
is good."

❑

Moril Berman, shames and Torah
reader at Congregation Beth
Shalom for 10 years, retires.
The Jewish Community Center
inaugurates a sailing program for
this summer.
"German-speaking Jewry:
Synagogues and Public Buildings,"
an exhibit of paintings, prints and
photos from the Leo Baeck
Institute collections opens in
Manhattan.

1972

Detroiter Charles Milan, vice chair-
man of the Detroit Israel Bond
Committee, is named by the Harry
B. Keiden Lodge of Bnai Brith as
man of the year.

Detroiter Stanley Winkelman is
nominated for a third term as presi-
dent of the Jewish Community
Council.
The "Secret Book" written by
Hider, emitting the same kind of ven-
omous rhetoric as "Mein Kampf," is
discovered among documents sent to
the National Archives in Washington,
D.C., by University of Michigan pro-
fessor Gerhard L. Weinberg.

The Sholem Aleichem Institute
dedicates its new home in the
northwest section of Detroit at
18495 Wyoming.
The Ministry of Immigration is
disbanded in Israel, its functions
being taken over by four existing
ministries.

— Compiled by Holly Teasdle,
Archivist, The Rabbi Leo M.
Franklin Archives Temple Beth El

