metro

B'nai David from page 20

I'M
GOING

niktv

SAP-P6. ",:sw, P
A);ir

•

"...to connect to our
community of awesome
moms and to have a
moment in time to
think, to sing, to dream,
to grow... for me."

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.

If you are a mom
with kids under 18

CONTACT LISA KNOLL

Iisak@aish.com

cleaning the tops of graves:'
His goal is to make the cemetery
safer and more accessible so people
feel comfortable visiting the graves
of their family members when they
want.
Phase 2 also marks the launch of a
more focused fundraising effort, he
said.
The Friends of B'nai David
Cemetery has formed a board, which
is working on raising an endowment
of about $350,000, which should
throw off enough money to take care
of basic maintenance at the cemetery.

r4';'•

The Cemetery's Future
"We are reaching out to former mem-
bers, other philanthropic folks in the
community and local Jewish founda-
tions to raise funds:' Goldman said.
Ralph Zuckman, executive director
of the Clover Hill Park Jewish Cemetery
in Birmingham, who also runs the
Greater Detroit Jewish Cemetery
Association and was previous head of
the Jewish Cemetery Association of
North America, is on the board of the
Friends of B'nai David. "I understand
what needs to be done, so I'm providing
a guiding hand to restore the dignity to
the cemetery:' he said.
According to Zuckman, B'nai David
is not alone. There are abandoned
Jewish cemeteries across the country
as synagogues ceased to exist and
populations shifted. In Cleveland, for
example, the Federation took owner-
ship of some abandoned cemeteries. In
Boston, a foundation, which received
an allocation from its federation, was
created to care for abandoned cemeter-
ies.
"Here in Detroit, we are trying to
establish a small trust fund to sup-
port basic maintenance at B'nai David
to allow us to at least make it look
respectable:' Zuckman said. "It will
take a community effort:'
Eli Saulson, a real estate investor
who lives in Franklin and serves on
the board of the Davidson Foundation,

,

Volunteers work to beautify the cemetery.

went to B'nai David because "Goldman
was my friend, and I wanted to help:'
he said.
Saulson, a member of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, arrived at the cemetery
thinking his family had no connection
to it. "It's a fairly small cemetery; and
as I walked around looking at names
on the tombstones, I discovered Max
and Bella Boesky — my maternal
great-grandparents:' he said. "I'm sure
there are many more people like me
who have no knowledge that their fam-
ily is even buried there:'
Saulson believes the community
should band together to create a per-
petual care fund for the cemetery.
"I'm sure there are a lot of people
like me who are open to helping out.
It's a question of having respect for our

ancestors:'
The Friends of B'nai David are also
working on mapping out the burials so
people have an easier time finding the
graves of their family members.
The cemetery had its first burial in
1898, six years after the founding of
Beth David Synagogue. There are about
1,200 grave sites there, and the last
known burial was in 2009. The Friends
of B'nai David has a list of burials, but
it is only accurate to 1993. The list is
available at www.bnaidavid.weebly.
corn.
The group has also planned a B'nai
David Visiting Day for Sept. 21 at 10
a.m. so community members can visit
the graves of their family members
before the High Holidays.

❑

The Friends of B'nai David Community Clean Up Day is Sept.14 at 10 a.m.
The cemetery is located on Van Dyke between Harper and McNichols in
Detroit. Sign up at the Friends of B'nai David Facebook page.
If you can't make it Sept. 14, there is another chance this year to help
clean up the cemetery. Ben Falik said that Repair the World will again be
at the B'nai David Cemetery on Nov. 9, the community's Fall Fix-Up Day.
"We're considering beautifying the cemetery with a mural," Falik said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

OR APPLY AT

www.jwrp.org

Lisa And Hannan Lis
To Be Honored By DPTV

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
6
strengthens the Jewish
identity of the home and
Detroit
builds community.
===

a sh

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

1927480

22

September 11 • 2014

Detroit Public Television will honor
Lisa and Hannan Lis with the
Dolores & George Riley Stewardship
Award at its annual Premiere Night
Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the Westin
Book Cadillac in Detroit.
Hannan Lis, with strong business
ties throughout southeast Michigan
as principal, COO and board mem-
ber of the WW Group Inc., and
founder and CEO of Lis Ventures

LLC, chairman of Estrakon Inc.,
chairman of HBR Labs and chairman
of Yoga Shelter LLC, also serves as a
volunteer board member of DPTV.
With his and his wife's dedica-
tion, they have opened their home
for "parlor meetings" of station
representatives to meet their friends
and associates, who have gone on to
support station activities. They also
have generously supported the sta-
tion's Smith Leadership Circle and
various other special programs.
The 13th Annual PBS Premiere

Night is DPTV's signature fundrais-
ing event, which unveils the new PBS
fall season and a variety of new local
DPTV productions.
To purchase tickets, visit DPTV.
org/PremiereNight or contact
Michelle Gaisser at (248)305-3739
or mgaisser@dptv.org. Patron tick-
ets are $300; benefactor tickets are
$500. Proceeds from Premiere Night
support Detroit Public Television,
which provides programs and online
content that educate and entertain in
partnership with the community.

