looking back
On Oct. 30, 1977, the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan
helped to dedicate a state of Michigan historical marker
commemorating the site of the first Jewish religious services
held in the city of Detroit in 1850. Located on East Congress,
facing St. Antoine, the marker notes the group of German Jewish
immigrants who gathered at the house of Isaac and Sarah Cozens
and formed the first minyan in the city. That group later formed
Congregation Beth El, now known as Temple Beth El. •
The ceremony was attended by members of JHSM, Temple Beth El and the then newly formed Congregation T’chiyah. Photo courtesy of
Walter P. Reuther Library, Wayne State University. Note: the marker remains in this location although, at present, is offsite for repairs.
From the DJN
Davidson Digital Archive
T
he Oct. 30, 1942, issue of the JN began with another
headline, story and guest editorial about the War Chest.
OK, OK. We know this was a critical issue, but I’ll admit,
it is getting a bit redundant as a storyline from 75 years ago. So,
let’s turn to some other interesting news.
One of the sub-headlines on the front pages was “U. of M.
Foundation Dedicates Building on Sunday.”
The story is about a new Hillel House at the
University of Michigan, which was, by the
way, completely furnished by the B’nai B’rith
Women’s Auxiliary of District No. 6. Founded
in 1926, Hillel at U-M was only the fourth insti-
tution of its kind in the United States. While
90 years ago, Jews had a hard time enrolling at
U-M, currently, about 16 percent of students
Mike Smith
at the university are Jewish. And, Hillel House
Detroit Jewish News
still holds a weekly Shabbat dinner.
Foundation Archivist
66
October 26 • 2017
jn
An advertisement for the Norwood Telenews Theater caught
my eye this week. Hard to believe in this era of nearly instant
news and accompanying images on the internet and social
media, that news was much slower in 1942. There were radio
broadcasts, the mass media of the day, and even live broadcasts
from London, England, during the war.
Locally, there were newspapers like the Detroit News, Detroit
Free Press and, of course, the Detroit Jewish News, but these
publications had limited capacity for images. So, what do
you do? Well, you go to Detroit’s only newsreel theater, the
Norwood Telenews and watch the more than 50 newsreels
shown that week. And, as a bonus, theaters in 1942 were usu-
ally air-conditioned while homes were not. Who needs televi-
sion or an iPhone? •
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.
Historic photos are curated by the
Jewish Historical Society of Michigan.