Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies - Wayne State University John M. Haddow Memorial Program in Jewish Culture THE high NOTE, metro In Conversation Taubman recalls Detroit history and receives JHSM's Simons Award. A. Alfred Taubman, Judith Levin Cantor and JHSM President Gerald Cook A Jewish musical revue of the greatest hits including selections from Yiddish musical theater, Irving Berlin, Gershwin, Broadway, Leonard Bernstein, Simon & Garfunkel, and Debbie Friedman. Featuring Temple Israel's Cantor Michael Smolash and Cantorial Soloist Neil Michaels with an ensemble of musicians from the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, Teddy Abrams conducting. Cantor Michael Smolash Cantorial Soloist Neil Michaels Conductor Teddy Abrams Monday, June 23, 2014 at 7 p.m. The Berman Center for the Performing Arts 6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield Tickets: $25 per person For tickets, call The Berman at (248) 661-1900 Or buy them online at: www.theberman.org g-‘ Jewish Federation Cohn Haddow OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT Alliance for Jewish Education Center for Judaic Studies 'gm* Israel" OMEN DETROITFS I SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA WeDeliverAdultlemithEd 'ucatio w n A COMMUNITY-SUPPORTED ORCHESTRA 20 June 12 • 2014 JN THE CENTER Harry Kirsbaum Contributing Writer p hilanthropist A. Alfred Taubman looked back in time while cel- ebrating his 90th birthday as he received the Leonard N. Simons History Award from the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan (JHSM) at its 55th annual meeting May 20 at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. Some 125 people saw Scott Kaufman, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit CEO, play talk show host as Taubman spoke of his past, his friend- ships and Detroit. Quoting the late actor George Burns, Taubman said, "If I knew I'd live this long, I would have taken better care of mysel' Besides family and friends, he cited the Taubman Medical Research Institute at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, which uses stem cells research to help cure diseases, as one of his greatest achievements. "It wasn't easy," he said. Because Michigan is one of five states that would not allow embryonic stem cell research, Taubman led a group that fought for a constitutional amendment to change the law. "We went up like politicians to Lansing and won 53-47," he said. He cited architect Albert Kahn, indus- trialist Ed Levy Sr. and his good friend Max Fisher as three Jews who stand out as Jewish contributors to the history of Detroit "There isn't any way you can speak about impact without talking about Albert Kahn:' he said. "He was an out- standing architect, an outstanding mind and he was the inventor of the horizontal manufacturing system. He built factories all over the world:' Ed Levy Sr. started with a mule, clean- ing basements and made enough to buy a truck and then a second truck, and put a bid in to Henry Ford to get paid for removing slag from the Rouge plant, Taubman said. He got the contract, then figured out how to use the slag to make cinderblock and road-building material. He then offered to pay Ford to remove the slag so he could use it, and he built the business into an international com- pany. "These two Jews, Ed Levy Sr. and Albert Kahn, became two people that Henry Ford couldn't do without:' Taubman said. "Of course, I have to mention Max Fisher, my close friend and a devoted Jew," Taubman said of Fisher, who gave away millions to Jewish causes. Growing up in Salem, Ohio, "he never had the chance to have a formal Jewish educa- tion:' Taubman called the JHSM "a fabulous organization. You can't think about today or tomorrow without knowing the past:' he said. Detroit Recollections Looking at the present, he commended Dan Gilbert, who has purchased more than 40 buildings in downtown Detroit. "I think he owns the whole down- town:' Taubman said. "And he fixed them up and moved 12,000 jobs into downtown Detroit:' Taubman cited the London Chop Conversation on page 22