I
Obituaries
NATALIE SHIFFMAN
8/12/27 - 8/4/92
'
RALPH SHIFFMAN
—
11/7/22 - 8/8/04
You can shed tears that they are gone, or you can
smile because they lived. You can close your eyes
and hope they'll come back, or you can open your
eyes and see all that they left."
1137380
MONUMENT CENTER
Monuments and Markers
Bronze Markers
Memorial Duplicating
Cemetery Lettering & Cleaning
CEMETERY INSTALLATION
ANYWHERE IN MICHIGAN
INC.
"Same Location 75 Years"
North Dakota
Cemetery Marked
New York/JTA
The five-acre plot
is overgrown and the 50 tombstones
need restoration, but it's one of the
only pieces of Jewish life left in North
Dakota.
Descendants of those who lie in the
Sons of Jacob Cemetery want to make
sure the site doesn't go unmarked for-
ever. Hailing from plaCes like Kansas
and Minnesota, these descendants are
raising money to install an honorary
marker, which is to be dedicated Sept.
17 by a rabbi from Fargo.
They're also trying to preserve their
ancestors' story, a story of the Jewish
immigrant experience beyond Ellis
Island and the crowded tenements of
New York's Lower East Side.
Many of the Jews who came to North
Dakota were lured by the promise of
free land. Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a
banker and philanthropist, believed
that Jewish immigrants entering the
United States should leave East Coast
cities for the vast interior, where they
Call 248-542-8266
661 E. 8 MILE ROAD FERNDALE
11/2 blocks East of Woodward
1061400
Making a Lasting Memory.
At The Ira Kaufman Chapel.
Nye
help your family with the final tribute of those you love
would disperse and assimilate into
American society. He set up a fund to
encourage such migration.
"Free land, wouldn't that have
sounded like the American dream?"
asked Dianne Siegel, whose great-
grandfather ventured to North
Dakota thanks to the de Hirsch fund.
Other Jews came as merchants or
peddlers, sensing opportunity in the
territory, which gained statehood in
1889.
"There was a Jewish merchant in
just about every town along the rail-
road," recalled Myer Shark, who grew
up in Devils Lake, N.D. Shark's father
came to North Dakota in 1909 and
opened a men's clothing store.
Hal Ettinger, who made two trips to
the county to trace his family history,
is fascinated by the chain of events.
"Why a German or Russian immi-
grant coming to the U.S. could possi-
bly think they could make it in North
Dakota or the Dakota territories is
unbelievable Ettinger said. "I guess
it's some indication of how bad they
had it" in the Old World.
The Jews who arrived on the plains
had little inkling of what lay ahead.
Jews had not been allowed to own
land in Russia, and had little knowl-
edge of how to farm. Crop failures,
harsh winters and prairie fires made
harvesting difficult, and life on the
frontier did not include modern con-
veniences like plumbing and heating
systems.
Ettinger hopes that preserving the
cemetery will keep the state's Jewish
history alive.
"You walk down this small,
unplowed strip to this plot of land
Inhere you know people were just
dying out in this frozen, desolate tun-
dra;' he said. "It's just humbling."
Causalities Of War
Young Israel of Oak Park
and Young Israel of Southfield
co-sponsor
Summer Blood Drive
8:30 am-2:30 pm,
Sun, August 20, 2006
Young Israel of Oak Park,
15140 W 10 Mile Rd,
Oak Park
The combined Young Israel
blood drive assists
American Red Cross in
maintaining. safe
blood supply levels,
which often become low
during summer months.
An individual donation can
help as many as three different
patients. The process is
safe and easy.
Some restrictions for
donating apply.
For more information,
and to schedule appointment,
call Rose Newman.
(248) 353-9453.
THE IRA KAU FMAN CHAPEL
Bringing Together Family, Faith & Community
ti:;.25 West Nine Nide Road, Southfield, Nil l-0,
2 tti..569.0020 • fax 2 1-S.569.2502 • W v..iraliautinan.com
1143464
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August 3 • 2006
JTA – The following are the
test Israeli military casualties
in the conflict with Hezbollah:
Col. Zvi Luft, 42, Kibbutz
Hogla; Maj. Rol Klein, 31, Di;
Lt. Amihai Merhavia, 24, Di;
Lt. Alexander Shwartzman, 24,
Acre; Sgt. Shimon Adega, 21,
of Kiryat Gat; Staff Sgt. Edan
Cohen, 21, Jaffa; Staff Sgt.
Shimon Dahan, 20, Ashdod;
Cpl. Ohad Klausner, 20, Bet
Horon; Cpl. Assaf Namer, 27,
Kiryat Yam; Lt. Yiftah Shreirer,
21, Haifa.