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Readers respond to contest with heartfelt words about their marvelous mothers.
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
la Place
Keri Guten Cohen I Story Development Editor
2114 Place
Rachel Leider
Jonah Weinbaum
Rachel's mother is
Elizabeth Leider of
Farmington Hills. A
court reporter by profes-
sion, Elizabeth likes to
read, cook and go on
walks. They are a close
family, and that extends
to Elizabeth's parents,
Cookie and Victor Koblin
of West Bloomfield, her
two sisters and their
Elizabeth Leider
families.
Additionally, Elizabeth keeps active in the
Jewish community by volunteering and attend-
ing various events and fundraisers.
"My mother is the most wonderful woman
I know. Not only is she an exceptional mother,
but she is a phenomenal female role model,
caring friend and active community member.
Everything she teaches me and my siblings,
she embodies herself. She always tells us to
be caring, honest, kind, tolerant, independent
and ambitious, and we see her exemplify these
characteristics every single day.
"Never does she criticize our decisions, grades,
interests or friends. Every conflict becomes a
conversation. There is never a need for yelling
and fighting. She just wants to understand and do
whatever she can to help us achieve happiness.
As a family, we have dealt with a lot: divorce,
depression, death and money struggles. Through
it all, my mom has been honest and real. She
shares her emotions and encourages us to talk
about ours.
"Don't get me wrong, she is a superhero of a
mom, but part of that means that she never gave
us a false understanding of the world. She let
us understand what life is really like, while also
showing us that optimism is essential in facing
this crazy world.
As she currently fights breast cancer, I am
more blown away by my mom than I have ever
been before. She has made it her mission to learn
everything she can, stay positive, live her life to
the fullest and continue to be the extraordinary
mom that she is."
Jonah is a sixth-grade student at Hillel Day School
in Farmington Hills. Along with other sixth- and
fifth-grade language arts students of Lauren
Sterling and Margery Jablin, he entered the contest.
Here's what he had to say about his mom, Lisa of
Bloomfield Hills.
"What makes a good mother? A good mother
loves you no matter what you do, listens to all
you have to say and cares about what you believe.
She can turn you from sad to happy in an instant.
So is there a best mother? Is there a mother that
does everything right? That knows what you want
and when you want it? That understands you and
listens to what you say? There's only one answer,
my mother.
She's someone who can change who you are.
My mother is a dietitian; she changes peoples'
lives every day. She has these amazing qualities
that people can't seem to get out of their head.
She's sweet; she can turn the worst day into a lesson to
learn from. I can tell her anything, and she'll respect me no
less than she did before. We listen to each other. She tells
stories of when she lived in Israel, and we sit there and try
to imagine what it was like. It's almost as if in her brain she
The Weinbaums: Anna, Jonah, Adam and Robbie
with their parents, Marc and Lisa.
has a big book labeled 'all the things my children like —
Vol. 1 out of 1,0007
3rd Place
Janis Settler Fried
A Holocaust survivor, Katherine Rosenbaum Sattler, is a mother
who always approaches life in a hopeful, upbeat manner. Here's
what her daughter, Janis Sattler Fried of West Bloomfield, says
about her:
"My mother, born in Czechoslovakia, had what would now
be considered an upscale life. That is, of course, until the
Holocaust. My mother is an insightful person with Hungarian
instincts. She is a woman who never finds salt in an experi-
ence but always frames it, verbally, in a hopeful and positively
reassuring manner.
"My mother's work in Ravensbruck [a women's concentra-
tion camp in Germany] was to take off buttons, hems and
bottoms of shoes in order to find money, coins, jewelry, etc.
for the Germans. She found all of those, but also her own
father's coat, which verified that when he had gone to the
`right' after their three days' journey to the camps in a cattle
car, he had been gassed and burned. She did not tell her sister
and mother.
"She did tell them, as they walked the death march, that
Q.;
Katherine Rosenbaum Sattler with her daughter
Janis Sattler Fried
they would be free in May, in time for their birthdays. She was
right, they were freed; it was then that she burdened them
Salute To Moms on page 10
8
May 9 • 2013