Sam Frankel's Legacy

W

ith the recent passing of
direction and guidance. At one point, we
my mentor and friend, Sam
would speak every two weeks, even when
Frankel ("The Passing Of A
he and Jean, his wife, would travel to their
Pioneer," April 10,A15), I would like to write winter home in Florida.
about my relationship with him. While his
When I was elected to the United Jewish
visionary philanthro- Foundation/Jewish Federation board, Sam
py and business suc- was very pleased. I asked
cess are breathtak-
for his advice. Sam said,
ing, I will let others
"Ask questions; disagree
elaborate on these
when you believe in some-
accomplishments.
thing, and always vote with
I met Sam Frankel the majority' I have, of
about 20 years ago; I
course, followed his wise
asked him if I could
counsel.
visit his office, and
After my election to the
he agreed. I visited
board, Sam would always
Harvey
him and also began
ask me,"What's new at
Bronstein
speaking to him on
Federation?" I was always
Community
the telephone on a
honored to answer him as
View
regular basis.
I believed that while he no
Sam became a friend and mentor to me,
longer wanted to play an
Sam Frankel
and I developed an enormous amount of
active role, he hoped that
respect as well as great fondness for him. In
I would represent not only
our conversations, I would ask his advice
myself, but his views as well.
and he would answer directly, to the point
His wisdom was so great that he could
and always with a great message.
tell you something that, if you heard it from
When we spoke, Sam would always say to anyone else, you might discount that advice;
me, "Can I ask you a question?" They were
but when he said it, I would follow his
not really questions, but rather they were
thoughts and he was always correct.
meant to make me think and to give me
I once asked him after it was announced

that he was contributing $6 million toward
the refurbishing of the Max M. Fisher Music
Center in Detroit, what was the significance
of this extraordinary contribution? Was it
representative of the 6 million Jews killed
in the Holocaust? He said no, but was non-
committal otherwise. I later
found out that as a very young
man, he studied to perform
classical music and this oppor-
tunity meant a lot to him.
Sam had a unique mind
that allowed him to see where
things were going and what
needed to be done. He shared
his incredible philanthropy, and
with those privileged to know
him, his viewpoints.
When I returned from my
first trip to Israel with the
Jewish Federation, after drop-
ping my suitcase I immediately
called Sam and told him of my
private tour of the Frankel Tali School in
Jerusalem. I had visited the school on the
rare free time that the mission allowed. He
was very happy to hear of it and asked me
for an update on the school.
Sam was thrilled to learn that we shared a
special common friendship with a very spe-

cial person, Jeffrey Barry. Dr. Barry was pres-
ident of Walsh College in Troy until illness
forced his retirement. Sam was a supporter
of Walsh College and an admirer of Dr.
Barry, and Dr. Barry found Sam to not only
be a great philanthropic supporter of Walsh
College but a wonderful adviser as well.
After my father died in 1990 and my
father-in-law died in 1993, Sam filled a void
in my life. Although I had to share Sam with
his family, business, philanthropy and many
others that he mentored, he became like a
second father-in-law to me.
We had wonderful conversations about
Israel, America and the Detroit Jewish com-
munity.
Visiting Sam and Jean in Florida was
thrilling to me. When Sam and I talked,
I would always make note of the exact
amount of minutes that we communicated.
I cherished and always will cherish those
meetings and phone calls.
I, the Jewish community, the general
community, the education community and
the community in Israel will miss him; but
we are left a lot better off having him for
so long as well as the legacy that he has left
with us. 0

Egypt." In other words, having had the
actual hunger — the suffering experienced
experience of being "other," we cannot help
on a daily basis by so many in this country
but champion the others among us.
and beyond. And it thrusts upon us an acute
Seen in this context, my seder friend's
awareness of the many ways in which our
joke is actually quite profound.
physical and social environment desperately
Quite apart from my annual
crave our attention.
Pesach get-together, it is
It is appropriate that Passover
Judaism's particular insight
comes during springtime, a
that all of us only truly see each
season of growth and new begin-
other when we're wandering.
nings. Its arrival augurs a fresh
Indeed, when we're comfort-
awakening of our self-identifica-
able and settled, content and
tion as exiles, people alienated
secure in our place in the world,
from the best life has to offer.
it becomes easy to ignore the
The holiday alerts us to our real
people around us, to overlook
potential and life's infinite pos-
society's ills and turn a blind
sibilities, but reveals a path that
H. Eric
eye to the things that need to
takes us through challenging
Schockman
change.
terrain.
Special
Exile — a sense that all is
Through the course of my own
Commentary
not as it should be, that we are
wanderings, I have occasionally
strangers in our own lives and
lost my way. As the head of an
communities — forces us to see through a
agency working to end hunger in this coun-
different lens.
try and beyond, maintaining a commitment
It fills us with a metaphorical hunger
to communal justice in the face of discour-
(for freedom, compassion and meaning)
aging odds is, simply put, a difficult task.
that enables us, with new eyes, to recognize
And sustaining an outsider's perspective

looking at society as imperfect and in need
of repair can be unsettling and even painful.
Yet, my experience has also given me
cause for optimism.
The people I encounter routinely over-
whelm me with the strength of their caring
and the fervor of their desire to foster a
culture in which success is defined both as
doing well and doing good. They reassure
me that what we seek is within our reach
— a global community that defines itself
by the principles of inclusion. This is exile s
ultimate lesson: transforming us from out-
siders to insiders by uniting us in common
purpose.
This Passover, we once again embark on
a journey that makes each of us a desert
wanderer. As in years past, the trip will not
be without struggle.
But at the end of the road, we are sure to
find a promised land, one that speaks to the
exile in all of us.

Harvey Bronstein is a Southfield resident.

The Power Of Exile

Los Angeles

E

very Passover, an acquaintance
whom I see once a year at seder
makes the same joke. "Nu" he
says, "Why is it I only see you when we're
wandering? Next time, come over and stay
awhile'
Our ritual is always the same: He shakes
my hand and throws out the line; we both
laugh, partially out of a mutual awareness
that ours is just a once-a-year relationship,
but also out of a shared understanding that,
in a larger sense, we will always be wander-
ing. After all, this is a central point of the
holiday and a key aspect of our cultural and
religious heritage: We are wanderers, strang-
ers looking for a home.
This suggests another theme repeated
during Passover and throughout the Jewish
holiday calendar: It is in exile that we lead
the search for justice.
Judaism does not soft-pedal this link.
Exodus clearly instructs us, "You shall not
mistreat a stranger, nor shall you oppress
him, for you were strangers in the land of

❑

H. Eric Schockman, Ph.D., is president of

MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger. The Web
site is www.mazon.org.

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April 17 • 2008

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