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Summer’s Flying By

S

of flies swarming around you because
o, how’s your summer coming
apparently the little guy called in rein-
along?
forcements. Suddenly, you’re trying not
If you’re like me, you waited for
to inhale too deeply as you now have
summer all winter long, dreaming of
five flies hovering around your
reclining blissfully in a ham-
facial region — and all would
mock in your backyard, listen-
rather die than let your nostril
ing to the tinkling ice cubes in
rim remain un-flied.
your glass and watching the
And even when you’ve had
fluttering butterflies, while the
enough and head indoors,
days stretched ahead of you,
some follow you inside. Then
without the stress of having to
they’re zipping around annoy-
rush kids off to school or worry
ingly, humming louder than
about their homework, packing
Rochel Burstyn
your air conditioning and
lunches or carpool pick-up.
crashing repeatedly at your
It’s never as relaxing as you
windows, trying desperately to
envision, is it?
get out, which is just proof you
The sun burns, ice melts,
shouldn’t keep your windows
kids are bored and I don’t even
too clean. It’s confusing for local wildlife.
own a hammock.
But I suppose I’d rather interact with
And sure, there are butterflies, which
goal-oriented flies than seagulls with
are lovely, but who’s looking at but-
no fear, like they have in Australia. A
terflies when you’re swatting at flies?
And they’re just so determined. They’ve couple years ago, I was sitting outside
Sydney’s Opera House, enjoying lunch
got to be among the most persistent
with my sister Brocha when all these
creatures on the planet, with the most
seagulls started congregating nearby,
obscure goals. An innocent-looking fly
eyeing us beadily. It was as Brocha
will decide it wants nothing more in
lifted her potato knish about an inch
life than to perch its skinty little form
right on the rim of your nostril. You can from her open mouth that one rather
swat at it 10 times but all you’ll wind up daring seagull seized his chance,
swooped in and grabbed a chunk
with is a tired arm and a whole army

right out of her hand.
Brocha’s resulting scream shattered
all the windows in the Opera House,
frightened school children across the
country and reportedly temporarily
deafened the prime minister although
it did have the benefit of momentarily
distracting some flies that were trying
to land on his left ear lobe.
The fact is that time (brace yourself)
flies. And while we’re rubbing aloe
on our sunburns, coveting the cooler
weather and a yard free of flies and
bees, we might as well remind ourselves
that we’ll seemingly blink and it’ll be
winter. Soon we’ll be turning up the
heat and trying to text while wearing
gloves and bundling up in cozy blankets
and drinking hot chocolate.
And while that might seem lovely
right now, when that does happen, we’ll
also be complaining about the cold and
the hassle about digging out the car and
how we miss the sunshine and wishing
so badly it was summer already!
Which it is now. So, we might as well
enjoy every moment of it while it’s here,
flies and all! •

letters

Remember
The Children

In response to Henry Friedman’s letter,
“Forgotten Children” (July 13, page 5),
I, too, have always desired to hear the
stories of more of the children who per-
ished at the brutal hands of the Nazis.
Many years ago, I was privileged to
attend the speaking engagement of
the renowned photographer Arnold
Newman at the DIA. As he regaled us
with tales of the people behind the
many iconic portraits he had created,
I was most taken by the story he told
of his meeting with Otto Frank, whose
photograph he captured in the attic of
the home in Amsterdam in which he
and his family had hidden (and where
Anne Frank penned her diary).
As they spoke, Mr. Frank suddenly
became very quiet as he leaned against
a wooden post in the empty attic
space, illuminated by the light coming
from the window out through which
he stared. Mr. Newman waited for a
moment, at which time Mr. Frank softly
spoke and said, “The world forgets
that I had another daughter.” At that
moment, Mr. Newman snapped the
iconic photo the world has come to
know. (His other daughter’s name was
Margot.)

That story holds great meaning to
me. I am the daughter of a survivor.
My dad, the late Benjamin Kawer, sur-
vived Auschwitz, Bergen-Belsen and
Langenstein-Zwieberge and, in his later
years, was also a survivor speaker at the
Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills.
As far back as I can remember, at the
end of every service at shul, he would
always stand for the Mourners Kaddish,
even when I knew he was not observ-
ing a yahrtzeit. I always wondered
why and, one day many years ago, I
asked him. He told me he was reciting
Kaddish for all the children who died
in the Holocaust, that every day was
the yahrtzeit of someone’s child and
that it was unlikely that anyone was
saying Kaddish for all of the unknown
children.
From that day forward, I also stand
for Mourners Kaddish as a matter of
remembrance, compassion, honor and
legacy, for all of these children and out
of respect for my dad’s desire that no
child of the Holocaust is ever forgotten.
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for remind-
ing our community of the importance
of remembering. Zachor (remem-
brance).

Dina Kawer
Huntington Woods

Adopt-A-Kaddish

Henry Friedman’s letter “Forgotten
Children” touched me in a special
way. His letter moved me deeply
because of all my cousins who per-
ished in the Shoah, some I knew from
pictures sent to my mother in Eretz
Israel as well as the fate of the 1.5 mil-
lion innocent children who never had
the chance to grow up.
And that is why when I learned of
the Adopt-A -Kaddish project spon-
sored by Hebrew Memorial Chapel
in partnership with the Holocaust
Memorial Center, I knew immediately
I wanted to participate.
I received the name of my beautiful
Kaddish girl, Liba Malka Ginsberg from
Staszow, Poland, who was born in June
of 1927 and who perished during the
liquidation of Staszow in November
1942. Her yahrtzeit is 22 Kislev. On that
date, I light a candle and say Kaddish as
I do for other family members I lost.
So now this beautiful girl will not
be forgotten. I call on you all to have
your own Kaddish boy or girl so these
innocent children will no longer be
forgotten.

Rachel Kapen
West Bloomfield

Our
Story

Oscar Presaizen and his
father, Eugene, own and run Silver
Fox Furs in Detroit’s New Center. In
addition to cold storage and sales,
Eugene is a furrier, which allows
the business to offer custom fitting,
remodeling and restyling of fur
coats, jackets and accessories.
Over the course of the economic
downturn, several large fur retailers
in the region folded, but Silver Fox
Furs survived.
“We’ve been operating for more
than 30 years,” said Oscar. “Our
family business weathered the bad
economy, mostly through personal
service, and is still going.”
As the economy improved, the
family looked for a way to capture
new business in the emerging
market, and approached Hebrew
Free Loan for help.
“The Marvin I. Danto Small
Business Loan Program was
extremely easy to navigate,” Oscar
said. “I’d been through the mort-
gage process for my house, and it
was cumbersome compared to our
dealings with HFL. Everyone at
HFL heard me out and they were
open to my ideas, asked good
questions and were generally
encouraging.
“What the loan allowed us to do
was expand our marketing and
advertising to reach out to areas
without furriers, make new contacts
and bring in business,” Oscar said.
“Furs are an investment in some-
thing that is tailored specifically to
your needs. Those customers need
a personal touch, which we can
offer. Hebrew Free Loan is helping
us share that with new markets.”

Click. Call. Give Now.
www.hfldetroit.org
248.723.8184

Health. A fresh start.
A good education.
The next great business idea.

Hebrew Free Loan gives interest-
free loans to members of our
community for a variety of
personal and small business
needs. HFL loans are funded
entirely through community
donations which continually
recycle to others, generating
many times the original value
to help maintain the lives of
local Jews.

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

jn

@HFLDetroit

July 27 • 2017

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