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Time Travel

Our
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T

March 27, 1942. In keeping with the
his week’s edition of the Jewish
tradition of a loyal Jewish News reader,
News publishes on the same
I went immediately to the back of
day (May 3) that a sold-out
the paper to read the obituaries
audience will gather at Congregation
first. But there wasn’t a single death
Shaarey Zedek for the paper’s 75th
notice to be found! Instead,
Diamond Anniversary
I found an advertisement for
Legacy Gala, the most pres-
Cunningham’s Drugs that fea-
tigious event at the syna-
tured Dr. Lyon’s Tooth Powder
gogue since my wedding 34
for only 26 cents. Such a deal.
years ago.
For those of you who can’t
The evening features the
resist reading an obituary first,
Klezmatics, the only klezmer
go to page 16 of the inaugural
band to win a Grammy, win-
issue. You’ll find two notices
ning Best Contemporary
adjacent to an ad for Ira
World Music Album in 2006 Alan Muskovitz
Contributing Writer
Kaufman on Dexter Boulevard.
for “Wonder Wheel,” lyr-
Can you imagine the obituar-
ics by legendary folk singer
ies when the JN celebrates its
Woodie Guthrie.
150th anniversary? By then,
Some interesting Jewish
people will be living well into their
trivia: According to woodyguthrie.
100s and, God willing, you’ll still be
org, “Guthrie’s Jewish lyrics (Guthrie
able to talk Star Deli into taking their
was not Jewish) can be traced to the
$5 coupon for the shivah even though
unusual collaborative relationship
it expired in 2078.
he had with his mother-in-law, Aliza
Flip to page 17 of that first issue,
Greenblatt, a prominent Yiddish poet
who lived across from Guthrie and his and you can get updated on how
Hank Greenberg was doing since he
family in Brooklyn in the 1940s.”
traded in his Detroit Tigers uniform
Proceeds from the Legacy Gala
for one in the U.S. Air Force. Hank
will benefit the Detroit Jewish News
“discounted all stories by Eastern
Foundation (DJNF) that, according
newspapers who stated that he will
to the organization is, “through its
retire from baseball after the war.”
William Davidson Digital Archive of
And he didn’t, returning to the Tigers’
Jewish Detroit History, the Michigan
lineup in 1945 after three years of
Jewish community’s indispensable
active duty.
source of primary information that
If anybody knows about the JN’s
educates, illuminates and makes rel-
evant the community’s past, strength- past, it’s columnist extraordinaire
Danny Raskin. Try wrapping your
ens its present and shapes its future.”
brain around this: Danny has been
I urge you visit the archives at
with the paper since the first issue!
djnfoundation.org. I scrolled my way
Page 19 to be exact. Mazel tov, sir!
back in time to the very first issue,

Back then, Danny was offering his 2
cents worth of tidbits when the paper
sold for just 10 cents an issue! For
$3, nearly the price of a gallon of gas
today, you could’ve purchased a year
subscription to the paper in 1942 and
saved yourself $2.20 off the newsstand
price — enough to buy five tins of Dr.
Lyon’s Tooth Powder.
Congratulations to JN Publisher/
Executive Editor Arthur Horwitz,
Managing Editor Jackie Headapohl,
Story Development Editor Keri Guten
Cohen and the entire award-winning
staff at the Jewish News on 75 years of
journalistic excellence and dedication
to our community.
And thank you to everyone who
supports the DJNF. Your contribution
not only supports the archives but
also funds my being cryogenically fro-
zen so that I can be brought back to
write a column on the occasion of the
paper’s 150th anniversary. To future
generations, allow me to thank you in
advance for reading that historic col-
umn … even if it’s after you read the
obituaries. •

Alan Muskovitz is a writer, voice-over/acting
talent, speaker, emcee and guest host on the
Mitch Album Show on WJR AM 760. V isit his
website at laughwithbigal.com and “Like” Al on
Facebook.

letters

Reaction to “Some
Uncomfortable
Gaza Truths”

I just completed reading the article by
Michael Koplow (April 19, page 8). If
ever there was a far-left-wing piece of
work, this was it. I am an independent.
I have no tolerance for those on the far
right nor on the far left. This article, for
the most part, is despicable.
I particularly take issue in this article
with the paragraph starting “Israel Not
Blameless.” What Koplow fails to under-
stand is that the actions of the govern-
ment of Israel are existential. He states
to set aside the Hamas fighters killed
on March 30. You cannot set aside the
shooting of these individuals. He states
that Israel still wounded hundreds more
and to consider the odds of every single
one of these people being a terrorist or

affiliated with the terrorist group when
the numbers were 20,000-30,000 people.
This “peaceful demonstration” was
stimulated by Hamas. They influenced
the myriad of people involved to rush
the fence separating them from Israel’s
citizen populace. The intent was to
break down the fence and attack every
Jew they could, make no mistake of
that. The unarmed and “innocent”
people either had the wool pulled over
their eyes or they were totally complicit.
It so very matters that Hamas put Israel
in this untenable situation; and what
made it worse is they again used the
“innocent” Palestinians as shields for
this nefarious act. Hundreds of injuries
were caused by Hamas, not by Israel.
He points out that Hamas has not
fired a rocket into Israel in 14 months.
He fails to bring up the reason they
haven’t fired rockets into Israel for 14
months. The reason is that that ordi-

nance is expensive, and Hamas discov-
ered it was ineffective. Israel, being one
of the only moral governments in the
world, developed the Iron Dome system
to knock down the incoming missiles
instead of raining their own missiles
into Gaza. What country does that? If
Canada attacked the United States from
Windsor, our government would level
that city.
Koplow is correct that Israel does not
have perfectly clean hands. However, it
matters not what they do in the face of
world opinion. Its government is vilified
by the United Nations far more than
any other country in the world. The
reason that Israel is reluctant to again
speak with the Palestinian Authority is
particularly highlighted by the fact that
Mahmoud Abbas has stated specifically
that Jews will not be allowed to live in a
Palestinian state. That should say it all.
Yes, I am saddened by the conditions

continued on page 6

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.

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@HFLDetroit

May 3 • 2018

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