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Anniversary Mitzvah
insp.)! Aq soa oqd jjels
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Monday - Safurday: 10-6
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older adults in our community.
a service of Jewish Home & Aging Services
27050 Evergreen, Laihrup Village
located in Lathrop Landing
(11 Mile & Ever men)
V.Wr""'”
Children honor
Molly and Ben
G 0 R bA C k
sTudio of phoTo4Aphy
32731 Fv'civclin
Kresch with
Sefer Torah
Rd.
248-626-3666
for Meer
Apartments
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with $20 donation
to Special Olympics
chapel.
and a 2-year service agreement.
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Clockwise from top left:
Ben Katz of Oak Park
marches with the Torah out-
side the Meer Apartments.
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Crosswinds Plaza • Next to Kroger
Orchard Lake and Lone Pine
West Bloomfield
248-538-2100
Molly and Ben Kresch of
Southfield sit in the center of
a circle of dancing friends
and family.
629880
Ari Kresch of Farmington
Hills carries the Torah for
guests, including Hechtman
resident Roz Bassin, to kiss.
SHELL' LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
rowing up in a home instilled
'th a love for Judaism, Molly
and Ben Kresch's children knew
precisely how to honor their par-
ents on the occasion of their 50th wedding
anniversary.
The June 20 dedication of a Sefer Torah
-for use at the Norma Jean and Edward
Meer Jewish Apartments in West
Bloomfield was not only a tribute to their
parents. It also allowed the family to
observe the Torah-required mitzvah that
"every Jew should write a Torah"
(Deuteronomy 17:18).
"Since most of us lack the capability to
do so, we fulfill the mitzvah by owning a
Sefer Torah," says the Kresches' son, Simon
of Southfield. Rather than being a dona-
tion or gift, Kresch says the Torah is "on
permanent loan to the Meer Apartments."
Surviving the famine, disease and perse-
cution of pre-war Poland, Molly and Ben
Kresch came with their families of origin to
Windsor (Molly) and Detroit (Ben), and
met and married here. With Ben's brother
David, they owned a family food market
on 12th Street that was destroyed during
the 1967 Detroit riots. The market was
rebuilt in northwest Detroit.
"Despite the hard times, their Jewishness
had been the focal point of both their fami-
ly's lives," Ari Kresch says of the homes
each of his parents grew up in. "They
reflect and express gratitude daily for being
alive during the brightest times in Jewish
history — the establishment of the State of
Israel and Jewish occupation in Israel — as
they are able to contrast it with the darkest
times in Jewish history, the Holocaust."
Growing up, the Kresch children under-
stood and shared their parents' feelings.
"We lived our Judaism. It defined us,"
says Simon Kresch, speaking for himself
and siblings Ari Kresch of Farmington
Hills, Eddie Kresch of Oak Park and Judy
Schur of Cleveland Heights, Ohio.
Jewish tradition, prayer and kashrut
[kosher observance] was the focal point of
his parents' lives, Ari Kresch says. "Growing
up, public school was never an option, nor
was missing Shacharit, Minchah or Maariv
services."
Dedicated members of Young Israel of
Oak Park for 41 years, Molly and Ben
Kresch celebrated their anniversary with fel-
low congregrants at a March 23 Shabbat
kiddush in the synagogue. Simon Kresch
says his father attends services there "every
morning and every evening — and he's
always early."
The family also sponsored a Memorial
Day weekend learning program with
Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Nathaniel
Helfgot, dean of students of Yeshivat
Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School in New
York.
The Torah dedication, attended by
members of the community and local rab-
bis, was highlighted by the presence of resi-
dents of the Meer Apartments as well as
those living in the Anna and Meyer Prentis
and the Harriett and Ben Teitel Jewish
Apartments.
"Many residents commented on how
fortunate and grateful and thrilled they are
to have received this beautiful Torah in
honor of the 50th anniversary of Ben and
Molly Kresch," says Esther Winer, Jewish
Apartments and Services community out-
reach coordinator.
She says residents felt honored to
walk in the Torah procession, referring
to the outdoor march that led the Torah
to its new home in the Meer Apartments
chapel. ❑