Mazel Toy!

Happy 95th, Counselor!

David Sachs
Senior Copy Editor

A

I Silber's wife, Merry, had to
schedule a party for his 95th
birthday March 15 on a day
he isn't at work in his law office.
Silber of Southfield, an attorney for
74 years, stakes claim to being the
youngest law school graduate in the
history of the University of Michigan.
In 1932, the 20-year-old honor student
had to wait a year until he was old
enough to be admitted to the bar.
But the tall, athletic Silber had a dif-
ferent court to excel at – playing bas-
ketball as a 6'-3" center on Detroiter
Cincy Sachs' semi-pro team against the
likes of Abe Saperstein's Renaissance
Ballroom squad out of Harlem (later
known as the Globetrotters).
It was mostly his long-jump and
high-jump prowess, though, that got
him inducted into the Michigan Jewish

Jan. 24
Ronnen and Dr. Andrea
(Raszkowski) Golombek
of Mount Clemens
joyfully welcome the
birth of their son,
Maxwell Benjamin.
Golombek
Proud grandparents
are Elinor Haller, Keith
Raszkowski, Zvi Golombek and Lynne
Farber. Also enjoying Maxwell's arrival
are great-grandparents Dolores and
Leonard Farber and Esther Williams.
Maxwell is named in honor of his mater-
nal grandfather Marc Haller and paternal
great-grandparents Malka and Matitiyahu
Golombek.

Jan. 5
Lauren (Feldman)
and Steven Reich are
delighted to announce
the arrival of their
beautiful daughter
Lonni Eryn (Ahava
Reich
Dena). Thrilled are
first-time grandparents
Joni and Alan Feldman of Highland and
Judy and John Reich of Clinton Township.
Lonni is named in loving memory of her
beloved Uncle Lonnie VanRiette. Her mid- .
dle name is a tribute to special friend Julie
Erin Rice (Doda). Lonni's Hebrew name
meaning "love of Dena" is in honor of her
bubbie Joni (Dena).

Staff photos by Angie Baan

Sports Hall of Fame,
housed at the Jewish
Community Center in
West Bloomfield, in 1993.
Silber, at age 14, was
the youngest athlete
anywhere to win a var-
sity letter (while at City
College in Detroit, now
Albert Silber's plague
Wayne State University).
at the Michigan Jewish
He went on to win nine
Sports Hall of Fame
state AAU champion-
ships and just missed
Merry and Albert Silber in their
qualifying for the 1932
has done it all. He's
Southfield apartment alongside
Olympics in Los Angeles.
tried murder cases,
a photo of his long-jump form
Silber, in addition, is
represented both
a bridge player extraor-
patients and doctors
dinaire – a gold life master – and his
in malpractice suits and defended cor-
strategic plays have been recounted in
porations against takeovers.
countless newspaper articles around
With offices for many years in the
the country. One unorthodox move he
Buhl Building in downtown Detroit,
made against a bridge-playing comput-
Silber has represented local legends
er confounded the technological marvel
from racecar driver Roger Penske to
and won him national acclaim.
Motown singer Mary Wells. Now, he lim-
During his long legal career, Silber
its his Southfield-based practice to real

estate, probate and corporate work,
"anything that doesn't require a lot
of court appearances," he said.
"I've had a client I've represented
since 1938 – 69 years."
Another talent Silber has is song-
writing. A lyric special to him is an
ode to the onetime friend who fixed
him up with Merry, his wife of 71
years. Silber recites it passionately,
from memory:
Thank you, thank you Albert Pearl,
You helped me find my special girl.
Who'd have thought that on a blind date
I would find a perfect mate?
I fell in love with Merry the moment I
met her
And decided I would just have to get
her
To be my wife and share a wonderful
life.
And she did, and we have.
So once again, Albert Pearl,
Thanks for finding me this wonderful,
wonderful girl.

Jacob Eugene Bice
will be called to the
Torah as he celebrates
his bar mitzvah on
Saturday, March 10,
at Temple Beth El.
His proud parents
are Wendy and Gary
Bice
Bice. He is the brother
of Abigail and Emily.
Jacob's simchah is shared by his loving
grandparents Rhoda Jonas, Kathy Rose
and Edward and Marianne Bice. He is also
the grandson of the late David Rose and
the late Jeanne Bice. He is the great-grand-
son of Gladys Roberts.
Jacob is a Birmingham Covington
School student, a member of the swim
team and a Tae Kwon Do black belt. For
his mitzvah project, Jacob has spent the
past year teaching Tae Kwon Do with Kids
Kicking Cancer.

Kaitlin Elyse
Fisher will celebrate
her bat mitzvah on
Saturday, March 10
at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek West
Bloomfield B'nai
Israel Center. She is
Fisher
the daughter of Laurie
and Bruce Fisher of Franklin and brother
of Adam. Proud grandparents are Lenore
and Don Klein and Lorraine and Arnie
Fisher of West Bloomfield.
She is a student at Berkshire Middle
School. She has enjoyed being an active
volunteer with the Friendship Circle, and
has contributed to the American Heart
Association and the Crohn's and Colitis
Foundation.

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Joshua Jerome
Brooks will celebrate
his bar mitzvah on
March 9, 2007, at
Birmingham Temple.
Joshua is the son of
Bernadette Dore and
Scott Brooks of Detroit,
and the grandson of
Joann Brooks and the
late Jerome Brooks and the late Evelyn and
Frances Smith. He is the brother of Brett

and Sean Athey and Sarah Brooks.
Joshua is a student at the Friends School
in Detroit. Among his many mitzvah proj-
ects, Joshua volunteers at the Moses Field
School in Detroit where he works with
students with special needs.

Danielle Fink

David Fink

Danielle Meagan Fink and David Ian
Fink will share the bimah at Temple
Israel Saturday, March 10, as they become
b'nai mitzvah. They are the daughter and
son of Tami and Gary Fink. Excited grand-
parents are Mickey and Arthur Lieb, Sam
Rosens and Phyllis Eisenberg, and Helen
Fink. They are also the grandchildren of
the late David Fink.
Danielle and David attend Warner
Middle School in Farmington Hills. As
her most meaningful mitzvah project,
Danielle volunteers at Friendship Circle
in West Bloomfield twice a week. David
felt his most meaningful project was
raising funds for the Weinstein Theatre
Enrichment Fund.

More B'nai Mitzvah
• Temple Emanu-El — Caroline
Baron, daughter of Gretchen and
Anthony Baron
• Temple Shir Shalom — Sydney
Schaefer, family Joshua Schaefer, Janice
and Adam Morse, and Elana and Michael
Sherman

B'nai Mitzvah on page 57

March 8 2007

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