'41010011W11100 INSIDE: Community Calendar 42 Mazel Toy! 44 0 0 Generati Holocaust survivors' Einstein Lodge of B'nai B'rith enlists members' children to ensure survival. ESTHER ALLWEISS TSCHIRHART Special to the Jewish News A fter losing so much in the Holocaust, many survivors in Detroit found comfort, friend- ship and a sense of purpose by joining Albert Einstein Lodge of B'nai B'rith. "In the beginning, everyone lived within the radius of a mile or two of Dexter and Davison," said Vienna-born Charlie Growe of Oak Park, one of the charter members in 1956. The former Einstein president said the lodge had more than 250 men all through the 1970s. "We used to have a bunch of nice guys," said Sam Berman of West Bloomfield, a survivor from Poland. After business meet- ings in a hall or someone's home, "the men would have bagels and coffee and play poker until late at night." Along with their wives in the B'nai B'rith auxiliary, the Einstein Lodge members bought ambulances for Israel and held an annual Israel Bonds dinner. Their social life included a bowling league, Chanukah par- ties and festive dinner-dances — with the late Eric Roseriow and his group always on the bandstand. But 45 years later, the vibrancy was gone. Einstein Lodge faced extinction as survivors passed away, moved to Florida or became too old to participate. Berman said, "Einstein never merged with other lodges because of its unique character and our members' common background." With fewer than 10 members showing up for meetings, Einstein President David Kahan of Bloomfield Hills, a survivor from Hungary, decided to take action. He opened up membership to the next generation. Kahan started with sons Jeff and Doug, and they invited their friends. "And slowly, slowly, it's coming together," David Kahan said. Fifty-six new members were added in a year to the original 60. "I'm very excited about this," said Great Lakes Region President John Rofel, whose B'nai B'rith offices in Bloomfield Township hosted the initial planning meetings for the evolving lodge. Couples Count One difference from the old days, said Jeff Kahan of West Bloomfield, is that the group is emphasizing lodge membership as couples. Along with his wife, Tammy, he said the "core group" includes his brother and sister-in-law Doug and Ilene Kahan of Bloom-field Hills, and Neil and Marla Gorosh of West Bloomfield, Zvi and Joy Levran of Farmington Hills, and Sheldon and Elisa Freilich of Bloomfield Hills. David Kahan hosted the reconstituted lodge's kickoff meeting in November. Twenty couples, mostly in their 30s and 40s, attended the program with genealogist Betty Starkman as speaker in his home. "A lot of people know each other, a lot don't, but we have an awful lot in corn- mon," Jeff Kahan said. For him, it is "only natural that the survivors' children would be interested in continuing the lodge." Said Sheldon Freilich, whose late father Joseph- was a lodge member: "As a second- generation, I've always been very concerned about keeping alive the lessons and memo- ries of what the survivors' generation went Clockwise from left: Rochelle Adler of Farmington Hills talks to her 7-year-old son Ariel during an Einstein Lodge gathering. David Kahan, seated, presi- dent of the Einstein Lodge of B'nai Brith, is surrounded by "new blood" including, from left, Sheldon Freilich of Bloomfield Hills, sons Douglas Kahan of Bloomfield Hills and Jeffi-ey Kahan of West Bloomfield, who holds 22-month-old Seth. Three young participants at a Havdalah meeting of the Einstein Lodge are Niki Levran, 10, of Farmington Hills; Michelle Kappy , 10, of Orchard Lake; and Alyssa Adler, 9, of West Bloomfield. 314 4/5 2002 39