Neal and
Susan Rott
with their
daughters,
Molly, left,
and Leslie

Magen David Adorn
Gala Speaker Will
Tell Of Blood Needs

A

Southfield man halted by floodwater
was found dead in his parked car.

Barbara Lewis
Contributing
Writer
I

M

"...to reconnect with
myself and with Israel."

The Jewish Women's Renaissance
Project is partnering with Aish
Detroit to give Detroit mothers the
opportunity to reconnect in Israel.

IT'S LIKE A BIRTHRIGHT FOR MOMS.

CONTACT LISA KNOLL

lisak@aish.com

FOR MORE INFORMATION

OR APPLY AT

www.iwrp.org

AISH Detroit welcomes
all families, regardless of
membership or affiliation
to create a revolution of Jewish life.

OUR
MISSION

By providing exciting experiences
for the Holidays, meaningful life
cycle celebrations, and Torah study
opportunities in a non-judgmental
environment we enable families to
translate Jewish learning
into Jewish living which
strengthens the Jewish
identity of the home and
builds community.

Thank you to The Farber Foundation
and the JFMD for their support.

14

August 28 • 2014

any area families lost pre-
cious belongings to the Aug.
11 flood. The Rott family of
Southfield lost much, much more.
Neal Rott, 62, husband, father, son,
was returning from work that night
when his route was blocked by flood-
waters. He notified his family that he
was parking the car and would wait
out the storm. His body was found the
next afternoon, still seat-belted into
his car, which was parked on a resi-
dential street in Hazel Park.
No autopsy was done, so the precise
cause of death is unknown.
Rott was coming home from Vince
& Joe's Market in Clinton Township,
where he was assistant manager of the
grocery department.
At 7 p.m., he called his mother, Eva,
of Oak Park, as he did every day at
that time, wherever he was. He told
her he was on a dry street and would
wait out the storm. At 7:28 p.m.,
he texted his wife, Susan, saying he
couldn't get through by phone; he was
trying to make his way home, but all
the roads were flooded.
His final communication was a
call to his boss at 8:10 p.m., saying
he planned to take the next day off
to work on the family's flooded base-
ment.
Calls to Rott's cellphone went unan-
swered. All the family knew was that
he was somewhere in the vicinity of
Nine Mile and John R roads.
When two hours had passed and
they hadn't heard from him, they
knew something was wrong.
Susan called several police depart-
ments, including Warren and Hazel
Park. All told her they couldn't inves-
tigate a missing person report until at
least 24 hours had passed.
"They didn't understand that he was
always on time; if he was even two

hours late it was so out of the ordi-
nary:' said Susan Rott. She and her
younger daughter, Molly, along with
Neal's sister, Nancy, spent hours driv-
ing up and down streets in the 9 Mile-
John R vicinity looking for him.
Rott was known for his quiet
demeanor and sweet smile.
"He was not pretentious:' said his
wife. "What you saw was what he was.
He loved his girls, his mom, his sister
and me. He was out biggest cheer-
leader?'
People who knew him realized he
was fiercely determined about some
things, said Rabbi David Nelson,
rabbi emeritus at Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park where the Rotts
are members. "He was devoted to his
family, to his job and to his father's
memory?'
After his father, Manuel, died in
December, Rott found a strong sup-
port group in the daily morning
minyan at Beth Shalom, where he
went to say Kaddish. "He started out
of obligation, but he it turned into
much more said Susan Rott. "He felt
embraced?'
Susan and Neal, who recently cel-
ebrated their 36th anniversary, spent
almost every evening together. Rott
made it a point to come home for
dinner with his wife and his younger
daughter, Molly, 19.
Rott grew up in Oak Park and grad-
uated from Oak Park High School in
1970. He attended Oakland University
and graduated from Walsh College.
He had a good head for business
and numbers, his wife said. For many
years they owned a candy store, Plaza
Sweets in Southfield.
At Vince & Joe's, he was being con-
sidered for a promotion.
Mr. Rott is survived by his
wife, Susan; daughters, Molly of
Southfield, and Leslie of New York;
mother, Eva; and sister, Nancy, both
of Oak Park.

❑

s rockets rain down on
Israel, the Magen David
Adorn National Blood
Services Center, Israel's only blood
bank, has relied on the Iron Dome
for protection. But that hasn't been
enough. Hours before Operation
Protective Edge began, Professor Eilat
Shinar, MDNs blood services director,
and her team scrambled to move the
existing blood supply underground to
cramped bomb shelters.
Protecting the
center is impera-
tive. The facility in
Ramat Gan provides
blood for Israel's 8
million-plus people,
including the Israel
Defense Forces.
At the Dr. John
Eilat Shinar
J. Mames Chapter-
Michigan Region Celebration of Life
Gala on Sept. 11, Shinar will discuss
the challenge of safeguarding Israel's
national blood supply during wartime
as well as the immediate need to
build a larger, fully sheltered, under-
ground facility.
This year's Celebration of Life Gala
will honor the chapter's founders,
who came together in 1967 to sup-
port MDA when Israel's survival was
at stake. Today, as Israel's survival is
also under siege, these founders will
be acknowledged for paving the way
for the Greater Detroit community
to provide MDA with much-needed
resources — medical equipment,
paramedic training scholarships,
ambulances, emergency medical sta-
tions and more. MDA is not govern-
ment funded, so the more than $34
million raised since 1967 by the com-
munity has had a tremendous impact
on the lives of Israelis.
The gala also will provide an
update on MDNs efforts to save Israeli
civilians' and soldiers' lives as well
as a salute to the eight young adults
from Greater Detroit who served this
year as MDA Overseas Volunteers.
MDA has incurred millions of
dollars' worth of extra expenses to
provide its services during Operation
Protective Edge. Proceeds from the
gala will be used to replenish MDNs
medical equipment and supplies, and
to post a new MDA ambulance in
Israel honoring the chapter founders.
The gala will be held at 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, Sept. 11, at Congregation
Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield.
Reservation deadline is Sept. 4. For
donations and reservations, call (877)
405-3913 or go to www.afmda.org/
mames-gala.

❑

