"When all of your children are taught of the Lord, your
children will have great peace"

nection to medicine and health care
Bill Davidson's son-in-law Jonathan
Aaron said at the cornerstone dedi-
cation in Israel in 2007."In 1918,
Mr. Davidson's mother, still a single
woman, borrowed $1,000 from her
father and committed the local
Hadassah chapter to buy an ambu-
lance that was purchased and sent to
the American Zionist Medical Unit,
run by the American Jewish Joint
Distribution Committee and Hadassah
jointly [in Palestine]."
The $75 million tower gift, made on
behalf of Guardian Industries Corp.
of Auburn Hills, of which Davidson
was president and CEO, is believed to
be the second largest ever made to a
Jewish institution.

Birth Of Detroit Hadassah
Back in Sal Wetsman's day, Israel
was still a dream. An ardent Zionist,
she was moved by the promise of a
Jewish state and worked hard toward
its establishment. When Sal, her sister
Fan and her mother, Bessie, heard
about Henrietta Szold and her dream
for an American Zionist women's
group, they invited her to Detroit in
1916. She stayed in their home for
10 days, sharing her passion and her
vision with the Wetsmans and other
likeminded women. Not long after, this
core group founded Detroit Hadassah,
one of the earliest chapters in the
country.
Each sister took a turn as Detroit
president; Sal also served as Central
States president.
When Sal married Ralph Davidson,
their home became a frequent
meeting place for the group. When

Hadassah outgrew the house, they
moved their meetings to an empty
apartment in the Avalon Theatre
building owned by the family on
Linwood Avenue, in the heart of then-
Jewish Detroit.
Today, the Greater Detroit Chapter
of Hadassah, with more than 4,000
members, operates out of the Sarah
and Ralph Davidson Hadassah House
in West Bloomfield, a building donated
by Sal's daughter, Dorothy Davidson
Gerson, and her husband, Byron, of
Franklin.
"As a little kid, I remember my
grandparents were very early Zionists;'
Gerson said in 2007."I remember my
grandfather saying the Jewish people
had to have a homeland. He went to
the second Zionist Congress in Basal
[Switzerland in 1898]. They traveled
to Palestine, which was very rough
and not hospitable property. They
had such problems with malaria.
Hadassah would be the medical arm
of Israel and treat people who were
building the land.
"My mother was a strong person
who would get in the car and go around
organizing Hadassah chapters',' Gerson
remembered. "She had a wonderful
speaking voice and could get up and
speak off the cuff to a whole roomful
of people. My mother was devoted to
Hadassah all her life. She spent a lot of
time on Hadassah and was very instru-
mental with the chapter from 1917 on
for about 40 years.
"She'd love the fact that the tower is
going to be built and serve the people
of the area;' Gerson had said. "I'm very
thrilled by my brother's gift. He does
great work and I'm proud of him."

whose generosity helped build a foundation for
the expansion of Hillel Day School.

Bill Davidson (A)
at Hillel Day School's
1986 dedication of
The William, Ethan and Maria Davidson Wing

WERE PART Of THE TEAM

,t1VrapVInr

Nancy Falchuk

Shiomo Mor-Yosef

Jonathan Aaron

Hillel Day School . 32200 Middlebelt Road . Farmington Hills MI

WWW.hillelday.orq

March 19 a 2009

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