obituaries

He Catered Kindness

Bill Carroll

Contributing Writer

H

e catered Passover seders for
presidents at the White House
and dinners for hundreds of
celebrities at Los Angeles hotels. He
catered Rosh Hashanah dinners for a
local group staying at Mackinac Island's
Grand Hotel.
But it was his catering of many
smaller simchahs (joyous events) for
the "common folks," and the kind way
he carried out his business that will
forever endear him to the hearts of
many people in the Detroit Jewish com-
munity.
Phillip Tewel, 60, of Southfield,
owner of Jewel Kosher Caterers in Oak
Park, who was regarded as one of the
premier Jewish caterers in the nation,
died Saturday, Sept. 22, 2012, in Royal
Oak's Beaumont Hospital.
An outpouring of love and grief,
especially by many in the Orthodox
community, was expressed by the more
than 800 people who attended his
funeral Sunday at Hebrew Memorial
Chapel in Oak Park. The word chesed
(kindness) permeated every eulogy
delivered by his relatives, friends and
rabbis.
"If customers couldn't pay him right
away, he gave them more time, then
another month and another month,"
said Mr. Tewel's brother, Jack Tewel of
Southfield. "He never pressed anyone
for payment. Some may have never paid
him at all."
Jack Tewel accompanied his brother's
body to Israel where he was buried
Monday.
"Doctors told him six months ago
there was nothing more they could

do for him, but he refused to believe
he was really sick: said his brother.
"Passover was coming, and he had to
be on the job; then there were events
in May, then June, and another month.
He would maintain a cheery composure
and give orders to his staff from his
hospital bed. Then his time ran out,"
said Jack.
"He assessed his customers' abil-
ity to pay; and if he determined they
were hurting, he kept the cost down:
recalled Rabbi Alon Tolwin of Aish
HaTorah, an Oak Park
education organization,
and a longtime friend of
Mr. Tewel. "He probably
wrote off hundreds of
thousands of dollars in
debts during his cater-
ing career?'
The speakers at the
funeral agreed there
was hardly a family in
the Jewish community,
especially the Orthodox
part of it, that wasn't
touched in some way by
Tewel.
"What will the
Phillip Tewel
Jewish community do
without him; he was
such an integral part of it," said Rabbi
Yisrael Menachem Levin of Beth Tefilo
Emanuel Tikvah in Oak Park. "People
relied on him for their needs, their sim-
chahs." Also speaking at the funeral was
Rabbi Shaiall Zachariach of Shomrey
Emunah in Southfield.
Gary Torgow of Oak Park, a business-
man and a lay leader in the Orthodox
community, said, "In the midst of this
awesome period of Rosh Hashanah and
Yom Kippur, this is just a tragic leviah

(funeral).
"Phil could never say 'no' to anyone;
that word wasn't in his lexicon. No
matter the magnitude of the occasion,
2,000 people or 50 people, he would say
`no problem; we'll -get it done.'
"He would scribble out the order on
his famous pad and go from there. Of
course, sometimes the customers didn't
know what they were getting until the
time of the simchah," added Torgow,
eliciting a gale of laughter from the
audience.
"He was a great
caterer, but, by
design, a truly lousy
biller — and he
always delivered
more than expected:
said Torgow.
"Phil was a very
charitable and giv-
ing man: said
Mr. Tewel's sister
Dorothy Stoll of Los
Angeles. "He lived
up to the name of his
business — he was a
jewel of a person."
Mr. Tewel's death
continued a tragic -
period in his fam-
ily. His mother, Zlata Tewel, 84, died in
Los Angeles on Sept. 11. "She worked
side-by-side with Phil in his catering
business for almost 40 years: said sister
Dorothy.
Mr. Tewel grew up in northwest
Detroit and attended the Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah schools. He earned two
master's degrees from Wayne State
University, in psychology and guidance
counseling.
"But he got interested in the food

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business by befriending an old-time
caterer and becoming a mashgiach
(a koshering official): recalls his sis-
ter Faye Vincent of West Bloomfield.
"Then, he started his own business."
Through word-of-mouth publicity,
White House officials learned of his
catering prowess and invited him to
cater a first-night seder there during
the presidencies of Bill Clinton and
George W. Bush. "Not many people
knew about it because he hated to blow
his own horn," said Rabbi Tolwin.
"The saying goes that that you
shouldn't mix business with pleasure:
said Mr. Tewel's brother-in-law David
Stoll of Los Angeles. "But doing busi-
ness with Phil was always a pleasure?'
Nephew Gerald Phillip Stoll of Los
Angeles said, "I think Uncle Phil's
catering business was just a front for
chesed. That was his life.
"They say that if you can't stand the
heat, get out of the kitchen. But he was
always in the kitchen taking the heat
for his customers, and he loved it?'
Phillip Tewel is survived by his broth-
er, Jack Tewell; sisters and brothers-in-
law, Dorothy and David Stoll, and Faye
and Richard Vincent; and 16 nieces and
nephews.
Burial was at Har HaZeitim (Mount
of Olives) Cemetery in Jerusalem.
Donations may be made to Yeshivah
Beth Yehudah, P.O. Box 2044,
Southfield, MI 48037, (248) 557-9380;
Congregation Beth Tefilo Emanuel
Tikvah, 24225 Greenfield, Southfield,
MI 48075, (248) 559-5022; or a char-
ity of one's choice. Arrangements by
Hebrew memorial Chapel.

Obituaries on page 82

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We cannot believe 8 years have passed.
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