14 February 21 • 2019
jn

continued from page 12

jews d
in 
the

ilies come together with both instructors. Its emerging 
curriculum will entail traditional and experiential Jewish 
learning. The lessons will be coupled with community 
service projects and outings to reinforce Jewish values by 
putting them into action.

MEET SOME FAMILIES

Erin Einhorn & David Lorenz
 
Erin Einhorn and her husband, David Lorenz, live 
near Downtown Detroit with their two children. 
Einhorn, originally from West Bloomfield, has 
enjoyed the lifestyle of urban neighborhoods in 
Philadelphia, Brooklyn and Manhattan. When 
she returned to the area with a family of her own, 
it seemed natural to her to find a place to live 
within Detroit. 
Einhorn works as Detroit bureau chief of the 
nonprofit education news organization Chalkbeat, 
which covers public schools in seven states and 
across the country. Lorenz is a software developer 
who commutes to work Downtown by bicycle. 
This enables them to share one car. Thanks to the 
Eastern Market, Whole Foods, other local stores 
and Amazon, there is no real reason to leave the city 
for anything they need. 
“Cities are my comfort zone,” Einhorn said. “We 
love walking to places and enjoying the events and 
restaurants that you can find only living in a city. 
I had all these great things in New York and in 
Philadelphia, and that is exactly what I wanted in 
Detroit.” 
Einhorn is on the board of the RCD and a mem-
ber of IADS. The family enjoys social and holiday 
programming with JTot, a group for families raising 
Jewish kids in the city of Detroit. Founded in 2015 
by Einhorn, Kate Bush and Silverman, it is a partner-
ship between IADS and the RCD, with funding from 
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. It 
provides Jewish programming for kids and a social 
network for parents. In just three years, it has grown 
from serving 12 kids to close to 50. Her family is also 
involved in Dor Hadash. 
Each school morning, she walks her daughter to 
the neighborhood DPSCD school where she is in 
the first grade. She says sending her kids to school in 
Detroit is a decision questioned by family and friends 
back in the suburbs. 
“If you only look at test scores for Detroit’
s 
schools, you might get the impression that every-
thing about Detroit’
s public-school system is horri-
ble,” Einhorn said. 
“But, on a personal level, this is not what we are 
experiencing. Just like in any school in any school 
district, not every child is having their needs met. 
Sadly, test scores are down across the state. Just as any 
parent in any school district, you have to be invest-
ed and advocate for the needs of your children in 
school.
”

Erin Einhorn and David Lorenz 

with their children

Dan & Rebecca Yowell
Since 2016, the Yowells have had another child, 
Charlotte, to keep big brother Alexander, 6, com-
pany in their Brush Park home. Rebecca Yowell 
works for Wellspring Foster Care and enjoys work-
ing and helping those who live in the city around 
them.
“I believe in working for the good of the people 
of Detroit,” she said. “In that, I have a personal 
investment in Detroit, for the wellbeing of the 
people here is also my wellbeing. I want the kids 
I work with to succeed just as much as I want my 
own to succeed.”
Alexander started the pre-K Montessori program 
at Charles L. Spain Elementary-Middle School and 
is now a kindergartener. The Yowells are active 
parents in their school and attend monthly meet-
ings with other engaged parents and appreciate the 
attentiveness of DPSCD Superintendent of schools 
Dr. Nikolai P. Vitti. 
“Whenever you tell someone that you are send-
ing your child to a Detroit public school, you 
always feel like you have to explain your decision,” 
Rebecca Yowell said. “In spite of the talk and 
rumors floating around that the city may consoli-
date the Montessori program into one building, we 
hope the city will sustain and continue to grow the 
program.”
The Yowells enjoy participating in JTot and live 
walking distance to the city’
s Chabad house. 
“We keep meeting new (Jewish families) who 
have moved into the city for different reasons. It 
is also amazing to have nearby so many of these 
activities geared toward young Jewish families,” she 
said. 
The Yowells are aware of the realities of living 
in a city and, just as in any city, there is crime. But 
other than their car being broken into a few times, 
Yowell said she has never felt unsafe in her home 
or walking in her neighborhood. 
In fact, it is the walkability of Detroit’
s neigh-
borhoods — and always running into friends and 
neighbors when they are out — that makes it feel 
most like a community. They have memberships 
to multiple museums to give their children’
s child-
hood a true city kid experience. 

Rozita Knox
Rozita Knox, a single mom of eight, has 
been a Detroiter since 2010 and lives on 
the east side of Detroit close to Grosse 
Pointe. It was this same year when, 
after years of soul 
searching, she and 
her mother Chava 
Knox as well as her 
children, now ages 
3 months to 18, 
formally converted 
from Christianity 
to Judaism. They 
all belong to 
the Downtown 
Synagogue, 
where Chava is 
a board member 
and Rozita’
s son 
Antwoine is taking bar mitzvah lessons.
Being black and Jewish, Rozita finds 
herself straddling the different commu-
nities within Detroit. In their former 
schools in St. Clair Shores, Knox’
s chil-
dren were the only non-white kids in 
school. Now, in Detroit’
s schools, they 
find themselves the only kids in their 
class who are Jewish. 
Knox says her Jewish identity gets 
surprised reactions. 
“When I tell people I am Jewish, let’
s 
just say I get many different responses,” 
said Knox, an independent contractor 
who works as a stage hand for corpo-
rate event planning. “I have to explain 
to people that, yes, you can be black 
and Jewish and, no, I do not have a 
Christmas tree in my home. But I wel-
come others to come into my home 
to celebrate Jewish holidays with me. 
Because I converted, I get to understand 
faith from both sides.”
Knox loves that now there are more 
Jewish families in Detroit to enlarge her 
circle of Jewish connections. 
“Finally, there are adults [with their 
kids] in town who understand where 
I am coming from, and there are now 
classmates for my children who they 
can relate to as Jews.
“These are such welcoming chang-
es; it’
s great to see Detroit grow and 
change, to be part of it all and to see 
that the growth has a Jewish component 
to it.” 
The Yowells: Dan, Rebecca, Alexander and Charlotte.

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Dor Hadash friend 

Rebecca Long and 

Brooklyn Pertee-Knox.

