points of view >> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.corn Contributing Editor Editorial Communal Repository Playing A Central Role I • 1 Hadags :a Lifesaving — '11 ame•na ■ ma assamm ■ 11464411 ....assmasl•a• Ea ■■ MINE. gwasais ■ a — 1111 pr. The Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower dominates the Hadassah medical center campus. I is fitting the new 19-story, 500-bed tower at the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center at Ein Karem, a western suburb of Jerusalem, is named Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower. Sarah Wetsman Davidson was an early president of and ambassador for the Detroit chapter of Hadassah and she, her sister Fan and their mother, Bessie Wetsman, became acquainted with Henrietta Szold, who founded Hadassah: The Women's Zionist Organization of America in 1912. Szold, in fact, stayed in the family's home in 1916 to pitch her passion in Detro it. Sarah's father, Joseph, meanwhile, was among donors who gave land on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem, where Hadassah's first hospital was built. Hadassah became the medical arm of pre-state Israel and treated people who were building the Jewish homeland. Over the years, it became Israel's largest medical complex. In the midst of family members, the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower was dedicated Oct. 14 during Hadassah's 100th anniversary celebration. Sarah's son, Detroit mega-philan- thropist and industrial titan Bill Davidson, who died in 2009, made the tower possible in 2007 with a $75 million gift from he and his wife, Karen, and the business he built: Guardian Industries Corp. of Auburn Hills, the internationally renowned maker of automotive and architectural glass. The four-phase tower amid the Judean hills won't be finished until 2014, but it's well on its way to realizing its promise of becoming a high- tech facility long on acute care and biomedi- cal research. Treating the ill and injured has become a pulsating matter in the Jewish state. And Hadassah has helped keep the quality high, thanks to generous givers worldwide. Bill Davidson was proud to be the third generation in his family to embrace Hadassah, 46 October 11 * 2012 Bill Davidson was proud to be the third generation in his family to embrace Hadassah, a commitment lovingly maintained by family members and Guardian Industries. a commitment lovingly maintained by Karen Davidson, Guardian Industries and Bill's sister, Dorothy Gerson of Franklin, and her husband, Byron. Bill gave to many local charitable causes. But he certainly understood the importance of top medical care in Israel for people of all faiths. Israeli Arabs know Hadassah hospital is there for them and Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank also have sought treatment there. At the time of the $75 million gift, Bill Davidson envisioned the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower ultimately standing "as an enduring tribute to my mother's love of Hadassah, Israel and the Jewish people." In 1918, Sarah, still single, borrowed $1,000 from her father, Joseph Wetsman, to seed the Detroit Hadassah chapter's purchase of an ambulance to be sent to the American Zionist Medical Unit in Palestine; Hadassah and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee co-ran the unit. The gift of the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower initiated by her son, Bill, richly represents the Jewish ideal of l'dor v'dor — generation to generation. Related story: page 1 t's one of Jewish Detroit's most significant and least known communal agencies. It holds the Jewish community's financial and real estate assets, serving as our banking and investment arm. And it embodies the prudent work of Detroit Jewry's professional and lay leaders. As Doug Etkin turns the presidency over to Todd Sachse after an eventful three-year term during trying economic times, United Jewish Foundation of Metropolitan Detroit deserves a moment in the spotlight as the chief partner of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, our commu- nity's chief planning and fundraising agency – and best-known organization. The Foundation takes a long view of commu- nity activities and resources while teaming with Federation to provide for Jewish needs locally, in Israel and elsewhere. Over the course of Etkin's Todd Sachse presidential term, the Foundation's Jewish Community Endowment Fund grew to more than $315 million. The Fund represents more than 1,600 separate funds endowed by generous local donors. Earnings from investment sus- tain the Fund. At the Sept. 24 joint Federation/Foundation annual meeting, Etkin reported the balanced pool earned an average annual return of 8.3 percent over the past three years – a nice take. To help secure Jewish Detroit's future given our declining popula- tion and Michigan's uncertain economic fortunes, the Federation/ Foundation Centennial Campaign already has received $60 million in lifetime and testamentary gifts toward a $250 million goal by Dec. 31, 2015. The Centennial Campaign will be a key and necessary supplement for Federation's Annual Campaign, our community's No. 1 annual fundraiser. On the real estate front, the Foundation, representing the Detroit Jewish community, owns more than 2 million square feet of space valued at more than $300 million. The property houses partner agencies that provide an array of services. Under Etkin's leader- ship, the Foundation took a close look at the land ledger, sold three underperforming properties and put the proceeds in a capital needs endowment fund. Property upkeep is a never-ending battle for the Foundation. Major building projects over the past three years included the Berman Center for the Performing Arts, the rebuilt Hechtman II Apartments following a devastating 2008 fire, the renovated Max M. Fisher Federation Building following a 2009 flood, the upgraded Fresh Air Society and Camp Building, the new Frankel Jewish Academy Green Entrance, and improvements at two day schools, Darchei Torah and Bais Yaacov. In August, construction began on a Yeshiva Beth Yehudah preschool and girls high school on W.10 Mile. The Oak Park-Southfield area continues to be a focal point, as it should. We, as a community, have too much invested there not to keep the Jewish neighborhoods strong. The two cities help link our western and eastern Jewish areas and together are home to Orthodox, Conservative and Reform synagogues. In stepping down, Etkin aptly sized up his presidential years: "Even as the economic worth of individuals diminished, our leaders contin- ued to lead, our agencies continued to provide both existing and new services at greatly increased levels, and we got through it." We certainly did. We're a changing Jewish community but still a vibrant one, thanks in no small measure to the behind-the-scenes money management of United Jewish Foundation. We, as a community, owe it to the Foundation, well run as it is, to know what it does and assure it stays transparent and accountable. E