jews in the d

Jewish Champions

Serlings to be honored at HMC’s
34th Anniversary Dinner.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

I

n the Birmingham law office he
founded in 1972, Michael Serling
drinks his coffee from a mug bear-
ing the Spartan logo of Michigan State
University. His wife, Elaine, a retired
nurse and an award-winning singer
and Jewish songwriter, says she is loyal
through marriage to the green and the
white, though she received her nursing
degree from Wayne State University’s
School of Nursing.
Proudly displayed in Michael’s office
are framed wedding photos of the
Orchard Lake couple’s daughters, sons-
in-law and grandchildren. Interspersed
are photos of the couple posing with
giants in the local and international
Jewish community: Max Fisher. Natan
Sharansky. And Elie Wiesel standing
before the statue of Sparty.
“This shot was taken back in 1999,
when I worked with MSU in bringing
Wiesel to give that year’s convocation
address,” said Serling, who received his
bachelor’s degree in history and teach-
ing certification from MSU in 1966 and
his law degree in 1970 from the Detroit
College of Law, now the MSU College
of Law. “Back in the 1990s, Wiesel gave
us much advice on how to strengthen
Jewish and Holocaust education at MSU.”
The Serlings will be honored Sunday,
Nov. 11, at the 34th Anniversary Dinner
of the Holocaust Memorial Center
(HMC) at Congregation Shaarey Zedek
in Southfield. Guest speaker George
Takei will deliver a speech on his impris-
onment in a Japanese American intern-
ment camp during World War II. Takei is
well known for his role as Lt. Sulu on Star
Trek as well as being a vocal community
activist and supporter of human rights.
“We are pleased to honor Elaine and
Michael Serling,” said HMC CEO Eli
Mayerfeld. “We are fortunate to have
supporters like the Serlings who ardently
believe in the importance of Holocaust
education. They are caring community
leaders who are very active in the Jewish
community and have made a meaningful
impact through their shared commit-
ment to Holocaust education.”
The Serlings have a legacy of enriching

18

November 8 • 2018

jn

Michael and Elaine Serling

Jewish life at MSU — most recently with
their multimillion-dollar gift to the now-
named Serling Institute for Jewish Studies
and Modern Israel. And they say it is
their life’s mission to support Jewish con-
tinuity and foster a “greater connectivity
with the State of Israel.”
“Our gift places the emphasis on part-
nering with Israeli universities, scholars
and start-ups to utilize the advances
coming out in an array of disciplines,”
Elaine said. “We need to make sure
younger people understand Israel is not a
warhorse but a tiny country that, in spite
of its size and geographical location in
one of the most dangerous places on the
globe, continues to be on the cutting edge
of technology and progress.”
Previous gifts from the Serlings helped
make MSU the sixth university in the
country to establish an endowed chair in
Israel studies, created in 2005.
Serling, who specializes in asbestos
litigation and environmental law, is chair
of the MSU Jewish studies program
advisory board. He was vice president of
the Michigan Anti-Defamation League
and still serves on its executive commit-
tee. Using his knowledge as a former
Detroit school teacher, he created and
led the ADL Dream Dialogue Program,
a multi-ethnic teen dialogue group.
Michael and Elaine also are trustees at
Beaumont Hospital.
Elaine has been a Jewish music educa-
tor for nearly four decades, having taught
at Adat Shalom, Birmingham Temple,

B’nai Moshe and Temple Emanu-El. She
started performing in her early teens at
state fairs, charity events, weddings, local
TV programs and for Michigan’s USO
chapter. She volunteers at the Farber Soul
Center and is a member of Adat Shalom’s
Sisterhood and Hadassah. Both are active
in StandWithUs and AIPAC, where
Michael serves as a Michigan council
member.

LOVE OF ISRAEL
The Serlings have traveled to Israel a
dozen times. One of their longest stays
was in the early 1970s when they lived
in Jerusalem for a year shortly after mar-
rying. They enrolled in ulpan (Hebrew
immersion course) and were quickly part
of a rapidly changing Israeli culture in the
years following the 1967 Six Day War.
Michael worked at Bank Leumi, assist-
ing new immigrants with financial mat-
ters. Elaine worked as a nurse at Shaare
Zedek Medical Center.
When they returned to the U.S.,
Michael advised attorneys handling
asbestos cases in Israel. Elaine’s year in
Israel inspired a second career writing
Jewish songs that touch upon Jewish hol-
idays and customs, a love of Israel and,
when she became a grandmother, the
importance of passing Jewish continuity
from one generation to the next.
The Serlings’ generosity also will allow
new generations of MSU students to
explore their professional aspirations by
studying in Israel.
“No matter what professional segment
they enter, a trip to Israel through MSU
will change their lives,” Michael said. “It
gives them respect for where the Jewish
people have been and where we are
going. For non-Jewish students who trav-
el to Israel, they gain a perspective of how
Israel is thriving as a democratic state.”
The Serlings believe the college years
may be the last chance for Jewish youth
to strengthen their Jewish identities. It
is the antidote, they say, to the increase
in anti-Semitism emerging in American
society, especially on campuses, where
the boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS) movement was founded.
“What is happening in Michigan [with
BDS] is happening all over the country,”
Michael said. “Yes, BDS demonstrations
on campus will continue, but if you
are confident and strong, then a strong
Jewish presence on campus will continue
to build and thrive.” ■

For further information, call
(248) 553-2400.

continued from page 17

“For me, it was not so much
a problem,” he said. “How you
adjust has to do with how inter-
active you were to begin with,
and mine is increasingly so. Each
docent brings his or her own
experiences, background and
personal stories.
“Additional training was more
about technique than content.
How in 90 minutes do you
make an impact? If you view it
as something with contempo-
rary usage, you can have them
walk out with the idea they have
choices and those choices make a
difference.”
Abbe Sherbin of West
Bloomfield has been a docent for
two years.
“As a newer docent, I think
change is good. Improvement
should be a priority and a goal,”
she said.
“The training we are getting
now certainly has a goal to
encourage people to ask ques-
tions and share thoughts about
what they are learning. I don’t
know what people know unless
they ask questions,” she said. “It’s
incumbent on me to be well-
versed to address those questions
and thoughts.”
Other changes include adding
a tour a day (sometimes eight
tours daily with up to 30 people
each), keeping the HMC open on
Monday nights, using a new tour
booking system to better manage
tours, customizing tours for spe-
cial interest groups, getting more
information from teachers about
what they want their students to
walk away with and matching
docents to best fit each group.
“We are at the beginning
of something really exciting
and impactful,” Saltzman said.
“We continue to move forward
because we are so clear on what
our goals are, and we have all
bought into that as a team.
When we talk about our mis-
sion — engaging, educating and
empowering — we mean it and
we’re doing it.” ■