Jewry's Role in
Human Affairs
THE FAMILY FRANKS: A COLONIAL DYNASTY
CONGREGATION BETH EL
311 S. Park, Traverse City 49684; (231) 946-1913.
Rabbi: Jonathan V. Plaut. Cantorial soloist: Hannah
Dietz. Shabbat services 8 p.m. bi-weekly.
TEMPLE SHIR SHALOM
3999 Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield, 48323, (248) 737-
8700. Rabbis: Dannel Schwartz, Michael L. Moskowitz.
Cantorial soloist: Penny Steyer. Services: Friday 8 p.m.;
Saturday 11 a.m.
CONGREGATION BETH EL
2525 Mark Ave., Windsor; (519) 969-2422. Rabbi:
Jeffrey Ableser. Cantor: Sidney Resnick. Services: 5:45
p.m. the first and last Friday of the month; 8 p.m. inter-
mediate Fridays.
TEMPLE BETH EL
7400 Telegraph, Bloomfield Township, 48301, (248)
851-1100. Rabbis: Daniel B. Syme, David Scott
Castiglione. Cantor: David Montefiore. Services: Friday
7:30 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m. Saturday bat mitzvah
of Lesley Elyse Jacobowitz, daughter of Sandra and
Chuck Jacobowitz.
TEMPLE BETH EL (FLINT)
5150 Calkins, Flint, 48532, (810) 720-9494. Rabbi:
Karen Companez. Cantorial soloist: Aleksander
Chemyak. Services: First Friday of the month 6:15
p.m.; second Friday 8 p.m.; all other Fridays 8 p.m.
TEMPLE BETH EL (MIDLAND)
2505 Bay City Road, Midland, 48642, (517) 835-4822.
Guest teacher: Hal Greenwald. President: Stuart J.
Bergstein. Services: Friday 8 p.m. once a month.
Regularly scheduled social events and High Holiday
services for the tri-city area.
TEMPLE BETH EMETH
2309 Packard, Ann Arbor, 48104, (734) 665-4744.
Rabbi: Robert D. Levy. Chazzan: Ann Zibelman Rose.
Services: Friday 8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. Family serv-
ice once a month at 7:30 p.m. replaces 8 p.m. Friday
service; call for specific dates.
BETH ISAAC SYNAGOGUE
2730 Edsel Dr., Trenton, 48183, (734) 675-0355.
Services: Friday 7:30 p.m. Congregational leaders con-
duct services throughout the year.
TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL
801 W. Michigan Ave., Jackson 49202; (517) 784-
3862. Rabbi: Jonathan V. Plaut. Rabbi emeritus: Alan
Ponn. Chazzan: Evette Lutman. President: David
Eizelman. Services: Friday 8 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m. the
first Saturday of the month.
CONGREGATION CHAYE OLAM
P.O. Box 250356, Franklin Village, 48025-9998, (248)
752-6669. Cantor: Stephen L. Dubov. Services: Friday
7:30 p.m. at the International School, 25888 Middlebelt
Road, Farmington Hills.
REIPORM/RENEWAL
CONGREGATION SHIR TIKVAH
3900 Northfield Parkway, Troy, 48084, (248) 649-4418.
Rabbi: Arnie Sleutelberg. Services: Friday 7:45 p.m.
SECULAR HUMANISTIC
THE BIRMINGHAM TEMPLE
28611 W. 12 Mile, Farmington Hills, 48334, (248) 477-
1410. Rabbis: Sherwin T. Wine, Tamara Kolton, Adam
Chalom, Miriam Jerris. Services: Friday 8 p.m.
JEWISH CULTURAL SOCIETY
2935 Birch Hollow Drive, Ann Arbor, 48108-2301, (734)
975-9872. Board president: Karla Rice. School princi-
pal: Ramona Brand. Shabbat services first Friday of
every month 7:30 p.m.; cultural Jewish celebrations,
secular bar/bat mitzvah programming, cultural Sunday
school.
JEWISH PARENTS INSTITUTE
JCC, 6600 W. Maple, West Bloomfield, 48322, (248)
661-1000. Director: Marilyn Wolfe. Alternative cultural
Jewish celebrations; secular bar/bat mitzvah cere-
monies; adult programming; cultural Sunday school
from nursery through teen.
SHOLEM ALEICHEM INSTITUTE
28690 Southfield, Suite 293, Lathrup Village, 48076,
(248) 423-4406. Co-presidents: Alva Dworkin, May
Moskowitz. Holiday observances; Friday night oneg
Shabbat; cultural events.
WORKMEN'S CIRCLE
ARBETER RING
26341 Coolidge, Oak Park, 48237, (248) 545-0985.
Chair: Arlene Frank. Michigan district director: Ellen R.
Bates-Brackett. Year round holiday observances, Nokh
Shabbes Havdalah once a month; secular bar/bat mitz-
vah; Sunday school.
SEPHARDIC
KETER TORAH SYNAGOGUE
5480 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield, (248) 681-
3665. Rabbi: Michael Cohen. Services: Friday at can-
dlelighting time; Saturday 9 a.m., Minchah 1 1/4 hours
before the end of Shabbat; Sunday 9 a.m.; Monday 7
a.m.; Wednesday 9 p.m., Thursday 7 a.m., 9 p.m.
TEMPLE EMANU EL
-
14450 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park, 48237, (248) 967-4020.
Rabbi: Joseph P. Klein. Cantor: Norman Rose. Services:
Friday 7:30 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m.
TEMPLE ISRAEL
5725 Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield, 48323, (248) 661-
5700. Rabbis: Harold S. Loss, Paul M. Yedwab, Joshua
L. Bennett, Marla Hornsten. Rabbi emeritus: M. Robert
Syme, Cantor: Lod Corrsin. Services: Friday 7:30 p.m.;
Saturday 10:30 a.m.
TEMPLE KOL AMI
5085 Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield, 48323, (248) 661-
0040. Rabbi: Norman T. Roman. Rabbi emeritus: Ernst
J. Conrad. Cantorial soloist: Susan Greener. Services:
Friday 7:30 p.m.; Saturday 10:30 a.m.
CONGREGATION SHAAREY ZEDEK
1924 Coolidge, East Lansing 48823, (517) 351-3570.
Rabbi Emeritus: Morton Hoffman. Cantor: Pamela
Jordan Schiffer. Student rabbi: Roger Lerner. Services:
Friday 8 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m.
TRADITIONAL
B'NAI DAVID
6346 Orchard Lake Road, Suite 100, West Bloomfield,
48322, (248) 855-5007. Cantor: Ben-Zion Lanxner.
Services: Saturday 9 a.m.; Sunday 8:30 a.m.
P/MTPANS
FLEISCHMAN RESIDENCE
6710 W. Maple, West Bloomfield, 48322, (248) 661-
2999. Rabbi: Avie Shapiro. Minchah Monday-Shabbat
1:30 p.m.; Maariv 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Shabbat
Schacharit 9:15 a.m.
YESH1VAT AKIVA
21100 W. 12 Mile, Southfield, 48076 (248) 386-1625.
Services: During the school year, morning services at
7:30 a.m.; afternoon services at 2:40 p.m. The com-
munity is invited.
Members of the distinguished Franks family were deeply engaged with the
commercial, political and military issues of the period before and during
the founding of the republic. Like other colonists, they were divided in
allegiance, but were mostly aligned with our patriots. The Franks rose to
prominence at a time (1750s) when fewer than 2,500 Jews lived within a
population of some 2,500,000. Yiddish-speaking Ashkenazic newcomers
from Holland, Poland and England formed the majority. The balance was
made up by Sephardim who preceded them and were better educated, more
affluent and culturally advanced.
Among the Franks loyal to Britain were Moses (1719-89), the
family's business representative in London, and David (1720-93) who was
imprisoned by the Americans for the duration of the war. His daughter,
Rebecca (1760-1823), had been a popular charmer in English social circles.
On the other hand, Isaac (1759-1822) fought bravely for the rebellion and
retired as a lieutenant colonel. And later, during the yellow fever epidemic
ravaging Philadelphia, President George Washington took refuge in David
Salisbury Franks' Germantown home. The family saga continues:
JACOB FRANKS
(1688-1769) b. London, England Born of German
parents, the mercantile family's founder emigrated
to New York in 1708 and succeeded in creating a
trading empire linking his homeland to the
provinces. He was appointed by the British
Crown as its sole fiscal agent for the Northern
Colonies and became one of the city's wealthiest
Jews. In ecumenical spirit, Franks helped build
New York's first synagogue as well finance the steeple of Trinity Church
which still stands in downtown Manhattan.
There is evidence that he had served earlier with the militia in the
French and Indian Wars as a civilian commissary and supplier. A noted
historian has concluded that the "real Jewish contributions to the war
effort" lay in the Jews' ability to keep commodities flowing to Washington's
armies and loyal citizens--as did Jacob Franks throughout the conflict.
A lasting memory of his role in our nation's birth appears in the
city's Battery Park district. Said to be New York's most elegant mansion of
the day, the home he built was converted into a landmark: Fraunces Tavern
in which Washington famously bade farewell to his Continental Army
officers.
DAVID SALISBURY FRANKS
(1743-93) b. Philadelphia, PA His story is that of
an English sympathizer whose shifting
convictions brought him to adopt the American
cause. David Franks was educated in his city's
leading university before relocating to Montreal as
a merchant. But he soon irritated local authorities
with his outspoken pro-liberty views and joined
the Continental Army at age seventeen. Sent off
on a military expedition into Canada, he rose rapidly in rank as an officer
and is thought to have been among General George Washington's aides-
de-camp.
Surviving fierce engagements in which he bravely fought, Franks
almost ended his career, if not his life, while a private secretary to General
Benedict Arnold. At first accused of complicity to commit treason with
Arnold, he was cleared by the general's persuasive denial and was promoted
to lieutenant colonel. At war's end, Franks was posted off on important
diplomatic missions as a foreign courier of vital U.S. government
dispatches to Benjamin Franklin in Paris and John Jay in Madrid.
Respected as a trusted consular official, he also served our nation
at the highest executive levels as an occasional advisor and confidant of
Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. His last office before retirement was
that of assistant cashier of the Bank of the United States.
- Saul Stadimauer
Visit many more notable Jews at our website: www.dorledor.org
COMMISSION FOR THE DISSEMINATION OF JEWISH HISTORY
Walter & Lea Field, Founders/Sponsors
Irwin S. Field, Chairperson
Harriet F. Siden, Chairperson
680880
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2003
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