looking back: the 2000s

SPONSORED BY: GREIS JEWELERS

THE DEFINING MOMENT of this de-
cade came on Sept. 11, 2001. Utilizing
hijacked commerical airliners as weap-
ons of mass destruction, coordinated
terrorist attacks brought down the
World Trade Center twin towers, heavily
damaged the Pentagon and, due to the
heroics of doomed passengers, led to
the crashing of a third plane in a Penn-
sylvania field that was bound for the
White House. With thousands dead and
a country traumatized, America struck
back with wars on terror in Afghani-
stan and, later, against the regime of
Sadaam Hussein in Iraq.
Terrorism and armed conflict were
also occurring in the Middle East. The
start of the decade saw the beginning
of the Second Intifada and conflicts be-
tween Israel and Hezbollah in Southern
Lebanon, and Israel and Hamas in and
along the Gaza Strip.
In 2007, the American and world
economies were severely jolted by the
collapse of the housing market and its
financial underpinnings. By Election
Day 2008, large numbers of Americans
were unemployed, unable to remain in
their homes and had lost much of their
net worth. The American automo-
bile industry, outsized drivers of the
Michigan economy, was on the brink
of bankruptcy, with some subsequently
seeking protection to reorganize. The
Detroit Jewish community suffered
along with the rest of the population,
and its social service safety nets were
stretched to the limit.
The historic election of Barack
Obama as America’s first African-
American president was supported by
approximately 75 percent of American
Jews, according to exit polls.
In 2000, the Jewish News was sold
to Renaissance Media, which was
founded by Jewish News Publisher
Arthur Horwitz and hedge fund titan
and Jewish communal philanthropist
Michael Steinhardt. Two years later,
an electrical malfunction sparked a
fire that destroyed the Jewish News ’
Southfield office. It managed to publish
a 116-page edition — one day late —
with its own tragedy as the cover story.
Metro Detroit Jews said good-bye to
philanthropic icons Max Fisher, William
Davidson, David Hermelin and Samuel
Frankel. The Jewish News tackled top-
ics centered on a 2004-2005 demo-
graphic study showing a decline in the
Detroit Jewish community’s population
to 72,000 from 96,000 in 1989.•

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July 18 • 2017

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