jews in the d

COURTESY OF THE RABBI LEO M. FRANKLIN ARCHIVES OF TEMPLE BETH EL, BLOOMFIELD
HILLS, MI.

Looking Back

Mr. Eisenberger with Temple Beth El’s b asketball team in the 1950s. Check out those uniforms!

From the DJN Foundation Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

N

Mike Smith

Detroit Jewish
News Foundation
Archivist

78

ext week will mark the 140th
birthday of a very import-
ant Michigan Jew: Osias
Zwerdling. This is not a household
name in Detroit, so don’t feel bad if
you don’t know his name, but he is
someone to consider and remember.
For many years, Zwerdling was
the foremost Jewish leader in Ann
Arbor. At Congregation Beth Israel,
he is indeed a household name.
I ran across an article in the Nov.
5, 1948, issue of the JN that report-
ed that Zwerdling’s friends, citizens
of Ann Arbor, and University of
Michigan faculty and students were
celebrating his 70th birthday. This
was a big deal. Zwerdling was a
remarkable fellow.
Zwerdling was born in Brody,

October 18 • 2018

jn

Austria, now part of the Ukraine, on
Oct. 27, 1878. At age 13, he appren-
ticed to become a tailor. Zwerdling
always dreamed of coming to
America and, after a long journey
that began when he was 22 with
stops in Paris, France and Buffalo,
N.Y., he arrived in Ann Arbor in
1903 to accept a job at Mack and
Company, Ann Arbor’s flagship
department store. Along the way,
Zwerdling also married Hannah
Kaufman from Manchester, England,
in 1907, the same year he opened his
own store in the city, selling women’s
clothing and, later, furs.
Zwerdling really made his mark
as a civic leader. He was a founder
of Congregation Beth Israel in Ann
Arbor after spending his first decade

in Michigan traveling to Detroit
for services. There were only three
Jewish families in Ann Arbor when
he moved there, so he decided to do
something about the lack of a min-
yan or synagogue. With five other
men, he organized Beth Israel in
1916. Zwerdling was its first presi-
dent and held that office for the next
32 years. He was also the “go-to” guy
for Jewish students and faculty at
U-M, worked with the Boy Scouts,
Jewish Family Services of Ann Arbor
and many other worthy causes.
As I said, Zwerdling was remark-
able. He died in 1977 at age 98. ■

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