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.