Special Report

NEW FRIENDS / ON THE COVER

Celebrating Life

Innovative program partners Holocaust survivors with young Jewish families.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer

W

hen 9-year-old Drewe Raimi
said, "The Holocaust will never
be forgotten by me because I
am learning about it from a survivor I love
she epitomized half the success of an inno-
vative program connecting survivors with
local Jewish families.
And when Holocaust survivor Eva
Wimmer said, "I know when Drewe and her
generation hear from us — not from books
or movies — we are making a difference
she voiced the rest of that success.
Through the Mishpoch-Chai program,
Drewe of Birmingham, along with her
younger sister and parents, meet regularly
with Wimmer of West Bloomfield. They
have formed relationships that are enrich-
ing all of their lives.
Mishpoch-Chai partners Holocaust
survivors with families who are young,
American and Jewish. It is part of the

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August 5 2010

Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
Jewish Senior Life (JSL) Program for
Holocaust Survivors and Families, which
was developed to meet the psychosocial
and emotional needs of aging survivors
and their families.
Of the 1,000 survivors in the Detroit area,
nearly 400 are assisted by JSL and Jewish
Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit
(JFS), both based in West Bloomfield.
"Many survivors are widows or widow-
ers; some don't have families nearby and
feel isolated;' said Dr. Charles Silow, director
of the Program for Holocaust Survivors and
Families, which he formed in 1993 at the
former Sinai Hospital of Detroit.
"So we first created ways for them to get
together with other survivors, emotionally
and socially. Then we created Mishpoch-
Chai as a way for them to get together with
young Americans."
Silow, a clinical psychologist who speaks
fluent Yiddish, specializes in working with
survivors as they age. He says aging, corn-

pounded by world events,
often triggers survivors' feel-
ings of anxiety, isolation and
stress. Survivors, he says,
typically struggle with anxiety
and depression more than the
general population.
"As the son of a survivor, I
saw the tremendous impact
the Holocaust had on my
mother's life said Silow,
who also serves as president
of Children of Holocaust-
Survivors Association in
Michigan (C.H.A.I.M.).

Above: Harriet and Ella

"On our mission, we
spent time in Poland and
Israel with a survivor,
Morse during a visit in
(Israeli) Eliezer Ayalon,"
York's apartment
said Molly Chernow of
Bloomfield Hills. "His
ON THE COVER:
incredible zest for life and
Harriet, Lexie and Jillian
desire to teach and to live
Morse, survivor Alex
inspired me to want to
Greenberger and Ella and
help the survivors in our
Michael Morse during
community." Nikki Raimi
Mishpoch-Chai's summer
of Birmingham had the
barbecue event
same feelings; together
these women with exten-
sive Jewish communal
involvement developed Mishpoch-Chai.
A New initiative
"We wanted this program to be a place
Mishpoch-Chai was created three years
to involve our children so we could spend
ago by two inspired participants of a
time with them and also for them to have
Grosfeld Leadership Mission, an annual
the benefit of getting to meet the survivors
Federation trip sponsored by Nancy and
and develop relationships;' Chernow said.
James Grosfeld of Bloomfield Hills for the
Chernow and Raimi began with Silow,
development of young adult Jewish com-
who provided names of survivors. They
munal leaders.
provided the families.

Morse, Sara York and
Lexie, Michael and Jillian