metro »
Wishing
Everyone
a Happy
Passover
from the shops at
continued from page 38
Detroit City Hall at Woodward and Michigan
Lincoln Shopping Center
utterances now were brilliant. And after
a final moment during which he rose to
the most sublime heights of eloquence,
he concluded.”
Advance America
Bling Bling
Book Beat
Bread Basket
Brenda's Beans & Greens
Dollar Castle
Dr. Lazar DPM
Fallas
Four Sisters Fashion
Instant Tax
Lee Beauty Supply
Lincoln Barber Shop
Metropolitan Dry Cleaners
Metro PCS
Paper Goods Wearhouse
Payless Shoe
Rainbow Apparel
Sneaker Villa
Step in Style
Street Corner Music
Top That
T-Nails
The Suit Depot
McDonald's
White Castle & Church's Chicken
A YESHIVA FOR DETROIT
There were conflicting reports on the
number of Jews in Detroit in 1916.
According to the Funk & Wagnalls
Jewish Encyclopedia, Detroit had 30,000
Jews in 1915. However, the April 23,
1916, issue of the Jewish Chronicle
claimed Detroit’s Jewish population had
jumped from 5,000 or 6,000 to 60,000 in
25 years.
Whatever the figure, the Orthodox
community was worried about the
future, as boys
stopped their religious
education around the
age of 13. Rabbi Judah
Leib Levin, considered
by most in the local
religious community
as the city’s leading
rabbi, rallied business
Rabbi Judah
and community lead-
Leib Levin
ers for the purpose of
providing advanced
Jewish studies to a select group of boys
of post-bar mitzvah age.
The first class of five was taught by
Rabbi Abraham T. Rogvoy, with Rabbi
Levin the principal and Isaac August the
first president. The Yeshiva, as it would
become known, met in the school build-
ing attached to the Mogen Abraham
synagogue. Among the founders and
funders was Isaac Rosenthal, who would
also become a founder of the Yeshiva
when it would become a day school, dif-
ferent neighborhoods and decades later
during World War ll.
Abraham Levin, the 19-year-old
son of Rabbi Levin, president of the
Michigan Menorah Society and vice-
president of the Michigan Zionist
Society, was elected to membership in
LINCOLN CENTER
Greenfield at 10 ½ Mile
the Phi Beta Kappa Fraternity at the
University of Michigan. His brother,
Isidore, three years older, was accorded
a similar honor at Harvard in his junior
year. As a sophomore, Isidore was cho-
sen to Harvard’s debating team and the
following year was named captain.
AID FOR THE AGED
Fresh Air Society volunteers, when not
occupied with camp duties, served as
aides in the clinic at the Hannah Schloss
Building on High Street. They helped
with home care for the ill and aged
and dispensed medicines, milk and
proper foods. By 1916, the United Jewish
Charities set up a small operating room
in the clinic to perform minor opera-
tions, which saved hospital expenses.
Fresh Air Society supervised the opera-
tion of the clinic and assumed its finan-
cial obligations.
For the first time since its founding
14 years earlier, Fresh Air Camp was
conducted along strictly kosher lines.
Meats were brought from Detroit, and
two sets of dishes were used. Authorities
in charge made every effort to adhere to
the dietary laws and guidelines set up by
Rabbi Levin.
In 1916, Beth David, based in the for-
mer Shaarey Zedek building on Winder
Street, had a membership of 178 fami-
lies. The first Hebrew Congregation of
Delray formed in a house on Burdeno,
just north of Jefferson and west of Fort
Wayne. Ahavas Achim organized and
dedicated its synagogue at 9244 Delmar,
about three-quarters of a mile east of
Woodward and three-quarters of a mile
north of Grand Boulevard. The newly
formed Beth Yehudah Congregation held
its first service in a frame dwelling on
the corner of Adelaide and Hastings.
The Jewish Home for Aged purchased
a home at 318 Edmund Place, today
about five blocks north of the north-
ern entrance to Ford Field. Detroit’s
2090920
continued on page 42
40 April 14 • 2016