Roof from page B2

coming school year. They anticipate
using all 21 of the building's classrooms.
CSZ high school classes previously
held in the building on Monday eve-
nings will be moved. "This coming
year, we are participating in the ATID
Conservative High School, bringing
the largest number of students to the
program:' said CSZ's executive director,
Janet Pont.
ATID will meet at Hillel Day School
of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington
Hills.
"We will, with prior request, be able
to use The Corners building for special
programs:' she said.
With both Shir Shalom and CSZ using
the new facility, Pont said, "we are not
planning any joint programming but
we do not rule it out in the future, as
we have done joint programming with
Temple Shir Shalom in the past."
Rabbis from both congregations are
reviewing options for possible combined
adult education and religious school
programming.
The Laker complex was owned by
CSZ for 10 years before the member-
ship voted last August to sell because its
usage had declined. This was primar-
ily because educational requirements
for religious school were reduced by
one day and some classes moved to the

A rendering of a typical classroom

synagogue's Southfield location.

Who's Moving In?
Some tenants of The Corners will move
their complete agencies into the facil-
ity, while others will use the building
as an annex for specific programs. "For
example, Brighton Hospital will be
housing an outpatient addiction recov-
ery program in the building:' Schwartz
said. "This is exactly what makes this
building unique — it is a multi-tenant
non-profit center."
The Corners will be available as a
conference center for groups to rent in
small blocks of time.
Confirmed services and organizations
that will house programs in The Corners

building include West Bloomfield Parks
and Recreation, Brighton Hospital's
outpatient program for addiction
recovery, Madonna University career
retraining and continuing educa-
tion, MINDS: Mental Illness Needs
Discussion Sessions, Asthma and
Allergy Foundation of America, the
Learning Center Preschool and Kids
Corner Childcare.
Additional planned services include
job training and grief and illness sup-
port groups as well as a performance
and arts center providing fully equipped
art, music, dance and recording studios
and rehearsal and performance space.
"It is a win-win for all involved:'
Schwartz said.

"Rent dollars that would normally
flow out are reinvested into The Corners
and Temple Shir Shalom, providing a
long-term benefit:' he said.
"The multi-tenant non-profit arrange-
ment lowers overhead costs and pro-
vides joint-purchasing economies of
scale. This, in turn, makes it more
cost-efficient and feasible for other
organizations to bring their programs
here to help the community. Temple Shir
Shalom is helping to bring agencies and
organizations here to help our own and
the larger community. This is what faith
is all about. We are helping ourselves,
helping others, helping the larger com-
munity. It's tikkun olam (repairing the
world)." ❑

answers, allowed him to enter the country.
Fortunately, Jack had enough money
to buy a train ticket to Providence to find
Uncle Henry. The conductor on the train
was also a recent immigrant and lived
in Providence. He was from
Germany and could converse
with Jack. This must have come
as some comfort to a 16-year-
old in a foreign land.
When the train reached
Providence, Jack set out in
search of his uncle. The only
problem was that he didn't
know Henry's address. Not
able to speak English, he wan-
dered the streets of Providence
searching in vain.
The local authorities frowned
upon people who didn't have a
place to go, so they arrested Jack for loiter-
ing and put him in jail. His language bar-
rier prevented him from explaining what
he was trying to do.
Somehow, he was able to get word to the
conductor, who sent his wife over to the
jail. There, she translated to the police, and
he was released. The conductor's wife was

then able to help him find Uncle Henry.
Jack went to work for his uncle making
pencil cases. Another uncle soon part-
nered with Henry, creating a company
called Hassenfeld Brothers. Today, we
know it as Hasbro. Yes, Mr. Potato Head
and G.I. Joe are a part of our family tree.
Cut to 2008. I stood there in the restored
immigration building on Ellis Island,
listening intently to my wife's father talk
about his father — Jack Hassenfeld. Jack's
story is amazing, yet it is like so many
other Jewish families'. It is about coming
to America. It is about building a better
life. It is about building a better country.
I'm glad my daughters were there to
hear the tale of their great-grandfather.
They will always know they have a heri-
tage that they can be proud of. ❑

Island Jack

Ann Arbor

I

n the movie Club Paradise, Robin
Williams plays a Chicago firefighter
who retires to the Caribbean. He calls
himself "Island Jack." When asked which
island is he from exactly, he replies, "Ellis,
originally."
I've always loved that line, but never
really thought much about it until I visited
that famous immigration station in New
York Harbor. In one day, I got an education
in U.S. history that is a part of so many
American family stories — even a part of
mine.
Most of my Anglo-Saxon family tree
entered this country through New England
— long before the existence of Ellis Island.
While I have spent significant time tracing
my roots, I am equally fascinated by how
my Jewish wife's family came to the United
States. Here is the story of another Island
Jack:
Jack (or Jakob as he was called in his
boyhood) was born in Ulanov, Poland,
in 1904. At that time, life in Europe was
extremely difficult for many Jews. Jack's
Uncle Henry had recently emigrated to

the United States to seek his fortune mak-
ing pencil cases in Providence, R.I. One
day, Henry sent money to bring Jack to
America to work for him.
Jack was only able to speak Polish,
German, and Yiddish — no
English. Despite that, he left
home for the opportunity of
a better life. He made his way
from Poland to the Netherlands.
In Rotterdam, he bought a ticket
in steerage for passage to New
York. He was 16 years old and all
by himself.
After two weeks at sea,
the ship reached Ellis Island.
Carrying all of his worldly
possessions in one trunk, Jack
stepped onto American soil for
the first time.
He followed the seemingly endless lines
to various checkpoints in the immigration
building. At one station, a doctor gave him
a "six-second physical," including using a
buttonhook to lift up his eyelids to check
for trachoma. Free of health problems, Jack
was permitted to move on to the next sta-
tions where inspectors, satisfied with his

.

Jim Keen is a freelance writer and columnist
for lnterfaithFamily.com . He is the author of

Inside Intermarriage: A Christian Partner's
Perspective on Raising a Jewish Family (URJ

Press).

July 10 2008

B3