'Max'-imum Effect

Robert A. Sklar

"A strong Israel gives
strength to the Jewish
people, it really does."

Editor

S

omehow, when Max Fisher
talked about Israel, our beloved
ancestral homeland, you felt that
things ultimately would be fine, no matter
how glum they seemed.
Detroit Jewry's patriarch didn't possess
magical or clairvoyant powers.
He was only a man.
But what a man he was.
Fisher was the son of poor eastern
European immigrants. He grew up in the
small, gentile town of Salem, Ohio. Later,
he made a fortune in oil refining en route
to becoming a staunch Zionist, business
titan, philanthropist, communal leader
and political force.
I remember sitting with him in the den
of his sprawling Franklin home in 2004,
the year before this man for the ages died
at age 96. I was awestruck to be in the
presence of this remarkable global leader.

Max Fisher

Israel was the topic at hand and he made
me feel like an old friend over for a chat.
A master consensus builder, Fisher
advised U.S. presidents and Israeli prime
ministers on Middle East affairs and led
American Jewry's top agencies. Founding

chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel,
he understood the necessity to inspire
aliyah and teach Jews who stayed in the
diaspora what it meant to be Jewish.
Within weeks of the last shot in the Yom
Kippur War of 1973, he raised nearly $200
million in private gifts for Israel.
A power broker yet humble, Fisher came
to consult with many of Israel's major
political and military figures; in him they
saw the diaspora's unofficial envoy. It was
Fisher's influence that kept the state on the
diaspora's front burner.

Flashing back to our visit, I wondered
if Fisher thought Israel, at war since its
founding in 1948, could ever enjoy a
lasting peace. "Oh, sure," he said with a
certainty that took me by surprise. In the
course of history, he said, 50 some years is
not long, especially for a tough nation like
Israel with a strong ally like the U.S.
He described peace as akin to travers-
ing a long, dark tunnel: And finally you
see a dim light. And at the end of that dim
light, you start seeing some hope — then
a period of hope and peace."
He urged American Jews to support
Israelis more liberally, even if we dis-
agreed with aspects of their pluralistic,
democratic government.
"A strong Israel gives strength to the
Jewish people, it really does:' Fisher said.
"The future for all of us is helped by the
alliance that we have and the mutual sup-
port that we give'
Very wise words, still. ❑

Brotherly Love For Israel

Asher Tilchin
recounts his
brother Seymour's
Zionist pursuit.

Bill Carroll

Special to the Jewish News

I

srael's 60th birthday recalls the
efforts of a Detroiter who worked
hard in the 1940s to bring indepen-
dence for that nation, but who, ironically,
never set foot in the new Jewish state.
Seymour Tilchin was a teacher, lawyer,
newspaper publisher and, above all, an
ardent Zionist, who joined national Jewish
leaders in the quest for a new Israel.
"Seymour was a tireless Zionist who
developed a passion for Zionism in
Belarus, where he was born, and car-
ried out that love after he came to
America;' said his brother, Asher Tilchin
of Farmington Hills, a retired lawyer. "He
would have been proud of Israel's 60th
birthday celebration."
Because of World War II and his health,
Seymour Tilchin never was able to visit
Israel. He suffered a debilitating stroke in
the early 1960s, moved to Florida and died
at 56 in 1964.
"But he helped organize the Detroit

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May 15 • 2008

Master of Ceremonies Seymour Tilchin at the microphone at Central High in 1948.

"Seymour was a tireless Zionist who developed a passion for
Zionism in Belarus, where he was born, and carried out that
love after he came to America. He would have been proud of
Israel's 60th birthday celebration." Asher Tilchin

celebration of the Yom HaAtzmaut, Israel
Independence Day, at Detroit Central High
School on May 14, 1948, and served as
master of ceremonies;' said Asher Tilchin.
Thousands attended, including B'nai
David Cantor Hyman Adler, who blew the

shofar, Rabbi Isaac Stollman of Mishkan
Israel Synagogue, Rabbi Leon Fram of
Temple Israel, Detroit Jewish leader Morris
Schaver, U.S. Sen. Patrick McNamara, D-
Mich., and other dignitaries.
Seymour Tilchin was born in 1908 in

Belarus, the wellspring of many great
Zionists of the early 20th century such
as Chaim Weitzman, Menachem Begin,
Shimon Peres and others. His family came
to the U.S. in 1920 and he graduated from
Detroit Northern High School and the
University of Michigan, later teaching
English and history at Northern.
He then went to the Detroit College of
Law, practicing law at the local firm of
Dann, Atlas and Tilchin. He also taught at
the United Hebrew Schools and Temple
Beth El in Detroit and operated Camp
Walloon and Camp Karefree in northern
Michigan.
In 1942, Tilchin and local journalist
George Weisswasser started the Detroit
Jewish Chronicle weekly newspaper, with
the former becoming publisher and the
latter serving as editor.
"My brother wanted the paper to have a
continuing voice for Zionism in the com-
munity," said Asher Tilchin. "He wrote long
columns every week about the National
Zionist Movement and Zionism in gen-
eral."
The newspaper was sold to Philip
Slomovitz in the early 1950s as it merged
into Slomovitz's Detroit Jewish News,
begun in 1942 after Slomovitz had left the
Chronicle.
Whereas Seymour Tilchin never made
to Israel, Asher, who also calls himself
a passionate Zionist, has been there 30
times. ❑