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 82 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.