& Hyman & Sonia Blumenstein
Outreach Institute of the
Sara & Morris Tug-man
Iir a h C.:ent er Bais Chabad of West Bloomfield
Metro
Federation's
sC h abad
Alliance
tor Jewish E4lucatioit
Invite you to our
SPRING SEMESTER
Celebrating 25 Years
Six-part course
ASA/RACKS IN
ISH HIST
LESSON 1
Israel versus Greece and Rome
LESSON 2
Jewish Exile and Dispersal in
the Middle East
LESSON 3
The Golden Age in
Moslem Spain
Temple Beth El's Franklin Archives
keeps history alive for all.
LESSON 4
Anti-Semitism in medieval
Christian Europe
LESSON 5
The Downfall of Spanish Jewry
Miriam Kushner at the
Rabbi Leo M. Franklin
Archives at Temple
Beth El
LESSON 6
The Revival of European Jewry
Six Tuesdays, starting April 17,
• 7 : 3 0 9:oo pm •
(•no class Tuesday, May 22nd)
2007
Location: Max M. Fisher Federation Building
6735 Telegraph Road, Bloomfield Hills
Class will be taught by
Rebetzin Chaya Sara Silberberg
Or
For more information please call the Torah Center 20.855.6170
e-mail BCTC77o©77.o@aol.com
To enroll visit us at irunv.myn-Lcom
Wendy Rose Bice
Special to the Jewish News
I
magine holding the yellowing
pages of a World War II soldier's
handwritten letter to his rabbi. He
describes his fears, his longing to be
among family back at home.
Gather a dozen of these letters and
the rabbi's responses, and suddenly you
have a broader understanding of how
the community reacted to these young
men's struggles.
This is the stuff of archives. On
March 26, the Rabbi Leo M. Franklin
Archives of Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township will celebrate its
25th anniversary.
In 1981, Aid and Miriam Kushner
ensured the safekeeping and accessibil-
ity of the temple's history by establish-
ing the archives, named in memory of
the congregation's rabbi from 1898 until
1941.
Rabbi Franklin, together with Irving
Katz, an historian and Temple Beth El
executive director from 1939 until his
death in 1974, helped collect and pre-
serve much of the temple's early history.
The Franklin holdings date back to
the mid-1800s and preserve the history
of the temple, its clergy and the greater
Detroit Jewish community.
The archives maintain many collec-
tions that pertain to family life within
the Temple Beth El community, includ-
ing comprehensive cemetery records,
conversions, baby namings and bar and
bat mitzvahs. In addition to the congre-
gational records (names of members,
Erickson residents Ronald and Gloria Smale
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16
March 22 2007
their occupations, etc.), there also are
complete collections of the papers, ser-
mons and writings of the temple's past
rabbis and scholars.
The archives also houses the records
of Temple Beth Jacob, once located in
Pontiac, and has the most complete col-
lection of the Dearborn Independent,
the anti-Semitic newspaper published
by Henry Ford.
Understanding Our Culture
While the earliest holdings are sporadic,
the records spanning 1904 to the pres-
ent are remarkably complete. The mar-
riage license collection is of particular
interest to archivist Jan Durecki.
"When you work with these records,
they start speaking to you',' said
Durecki. "You can see shifts in demo-
graphics and culture, and you start to
sense strong social patterns:'
Couples received a marriage certifi-
cate from the rabbi; copies were pre-
served at the temple. Those certificates
contain demographic information that
help researchers, genealogists and fam-
ily members draw a picture of the era.
In 1919, for example, most grooms
stated their occupation as manufactur-
ers, druggists, merchants, watchmakers,
physicians and salesmen. The occupa-
tion entry for brides is frequently filled
in with "none." However, some were
shown working "at home" or as book-
keepers and clerical personnel.
"I was also surprised to see that these
brides were older than I thought they
would be. Most were in their mid-20s,"
said Durecki.