looking back

Bernard Isaacs, center, and others during an annual Jewish National
Fund Dinner, Detroit, circa 1970. Isaacs was an educator, scholar and
writer. Born in Lithuania in 1882, he emigrated to the United States in
1904, where he learned English and earned a bachelor’s degree in civil
engineering from Cooper Union in 1911. Shortly after, he decided to
devote his career to Hebrew literature and Jewish education. He taught
in New York and Indiana before moving with his wife, Belle, and their
four children to Detroit. In 1919, he took over leadership of the newly

organized United Hebrew School of Detroit. By the time of his retirement
in 1955 at age 73, there were at least eight branches of the United
Hebrew School with an enrollment of 2,500 students. After retirement,
he continued to be active in Jewish educational endeavors, serving as the
vice-president of the National Council for Jewish Education and conducting
a Hadassah study group. During his lifetime, he also authored several
volumes of short stories in Hebrew, which were often translated into
Yiddish and English. Isaacs died at age 93 in 1975. •

Courtesy Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan. Research by Dr. Cinda Nofziger from the Bernard Isaacs Papers at the Bentley.

From the DJN

Davidson Digital Archive

A

fter reading the March 22, 1943, issue of the JN, I thought I
might write about local issues this week. If you’ve followed
my columns for the past year, you already know the war is
still raging, and the Allies and American Jews and their leaders are
worried about what to do with all the refugees from Europe.
The front page had an article about the many
Jews from around the United States serving over-
seas as Red Cross directors. While so many of
the reports in the JN since the war began focused
on men and women serving in the Armed Forces
or in the British military and workforces in
Palestine, this article reminds the reader that
plenty of Jews were doing lots of good deeds in
non-combat roles in Europe. Indeed, the Red
Mike Smith
Cross,
then, as it does today, was a leading force
Detroit Jewish News
in
providing
support and aid to those suffering
Foundation Archivist
from disasters generated by both natural, and in

58

March 22 • 2018

jn

this case, human causes.
The main story regarding the Red Cross directors, however, was
about Detroiter and former Jewish Social Service Bureau Aide
Betsy Spalter. Her photo is front and center. At that time, Spalter
was serving as Red Cross personal service director in Great Britain.
And, check out page 13 for a cute photo of Temple Israel’s prize
winners in the Purim Masquerade Contest.
Finally, the really big news! The Detroit Jewish News was 1 year
old! It had survived its first year of publication when many new
journals, newspapers and magazines did not. And, as we now
know — it survived and prospered for another 75 years and count-
ing. What did we learn from its first year of printing news for and
about Detroit’s Jewish community? More on that next week. •

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives,
available for free at www.djnfoundation.org.

