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Beloved Teacher And Artist

Louis Finkelman I Special to the Jewish

I

lse Roberg, of Oak Park, died on Nov. 12,
2015, at age 100. Mrs. Roberg was known
in the community for her long career as
a Hebrew school teacher and
her subsequent long career as
an artist.
In her native Germany,
young Ilse dreamed of becom-
ing a doctor. However, under
the Nazi government, Jews
were not allowed to attend
university; so, instead, she
attended the Jewish Teachers
use Roberg
Seminary in Wurzburg.
A friend introduced the
young student to a recent
graduate of the seminary, Alex Roberg.
Many servants of the Jewish community,
such as rabbis and cantors, had already left
by then, so Alex, at age 19, had become the
cantor and had to fill the other leadership
roles at the nearby town of Niederstetten.
Jews were not allowed in public schools,

so the Jewish school enrollment had grown;
Ilse was soon teaching at the Jewish school
in Stuttgart. The couple married at the
school gym in 1938; by that
time, laws prohibited travel for
Jews, so the guests at the wed-
ding were students and teach-
ers. Hardly any family attended.
Shortly thereafter, Alex
learned that the Gestapo was
looking for him. He slipped
away into the forest around
Stuttgart so they would not
find him. Ilse could still walk
through the town because she
looked perfectly German. They
arranged to meet in the forest that Saturday.
On that walk, they met 15 Jewish children
who explained that the Nazis had come into
their orphanage, murdered the director by
throwing him down the staircase and left.
Rather than stay in the orphanage, the chil-
dren had walked into the forest and walked

all night there. That day,
teachers. In a short time, the
Ilse and Alex found Jewish
tandem had developed Hebrew
families to take care of
schools at Congregation Beth
every one of those orphans.
Aaron, Adas Shalom Synagogue,
Miraculously, all the chil-
Birney Middle School and
Congregation Bnai David.
dren survived the war.
In 1939, Ilse's uncle, Hans
Alex and Ilse Roberg lived
Lowenstein, succeeded in
in an enclave within the Jewish
sponsoring the young couple
community, populated by their
to join him in Detroit. (The
fellow refugees from Germany.
rest of Ilse's family, her
As the neighborhoods moved,
mother, stepfather, brother
this group stayed close together.
and half-sister, managed to A needlepoint Mrs. Roberg At one point, one of their back-
escape to Brazil.) Ilse had
to-back neighbors was a girl
made in response to a
learned English in school,
whom they had helped rescue
1996 auto accident: "I
so she was employable; she shall not die, but live, and
from the Stuttgart orphanage.
began working as a maid.
Alex
and Ilse Roberg helped
recount the deeds of God:'
Alex still had to learn the
found Congregation Gemillas
language.
Chasadim, "the German Shur
Then Bernard Isaacs, head of the United
When Ilse Roberg retired from teaching
Hebrew Schools, was delighted to find
Hebrew school, she began intensive study
a trained teacher and hired Ilse. Shortly
at art school. For the rest of her life, she
thereafter, he hired Alex, who was learn-
produced a prodigious number of artworks,
ing English quickly. Isaacs recognized
including papercuts, calligraphic works,
Alex's administrative abilities and put him
needlepoint designs and other projects. Her
in charge of each new Hebrew school as it
son, Ezra, reports that each needlepoint
represented an incident in her life. For
opened. In whichever school Alex served
as principal, Ilse would become one of the
example, after a painful car accident in 1996,

WE REMEMBER & MOURN

JACK SHENKMAN

ONE OF JHCN's FOUNDING HOSPICE HEROES WHOSE GENEROSITY

AND LEADERSHIP IN THE COMMUNITY WILL BE SORELY MISSED.

Jack was one of a small group of pioneering supporters of the Jewish Hospice
& Chaplaincy Network. He possessed a visionary understanding of the
need for our community network and responded with his unmatched
determination, compassion, and philanthropy. He served on JHCN's Board
of Directors, initiated the Jack & Miriam Shenkman Caregiving Fellowship
team and was the driving force in creating the Shenkman-Weisberg Caring
Coalition Conference to ensure caregivers receive the best continuing
education possible so those facing the end of life receive the best care possible.

THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, BOARD, ADMINISTRATION, AND STAFF OF

THE JEWISH HOSPICE & CHAPLAINCY NETWORK

OFFER CONDOLENCES TO

JACK'S LOVING WIFE MIRIAM, HIS CHILDREN ELAINE BERESH, GLORIA COHEN,

ARNOLD SHENKMAN, AND MARTIN SHENKMAN, THEIR FAMILIES, AND TO HIS

GRANDCHILDREN, GREAT-GRANDCHILDREN, EXTENDED FAMILY AND FRIENDS.

MAY HIS MEMORY BE FOR A BLESSING.

oc& M/Ri„

JACK SHENKMAN ZL

MAY 24, 1920 - NOVEMBER I I, 2015
ONE OF THE FOUNDING HOSPICE HEROES
WHOSE VISION FOR OUR COMMUNITY ENSURES

NO JEW IS EVER ALONE.

Si

r '141

SHENKMAN

CAREGIVING FELLOWSHIP TEAM

The

JEWISHOSPICE

& CHAPLAINCY NETWORK'"

6555 W. Maple Road • West Bloomfield, MI 48322 • 248.592.2687 • www.jewishhospice.org

2050110

88 November 19 2015