Looking Back
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From the DJN Foundation Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
Mike Smith
Detroit Jewish
News Foundation
Archivist
Ilene Monast of West Bloomfield shared this photo of her family from the
April 16, 1933, issue of the Jewish Forward. From left to right are Zelig and
Pearl Stern, Hyman and Dorothy Sweet, Harry and Grace Galens, Isadore
and Sussel Sweet, Harry and Sarah Friedman and their daughter Lorraine,
Esther Sweet, Arthur Sweet and Ben Sweet.
The photos on the wall are of
Monast’
s great-great grandparents.
S
o, JN Story Development Editor Keri Cohen
asked me to see if I could find any interesting
tidbits about Passover in the William Davidson
Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History. I said
sure — and quickly discovered there were only a
mere 20,113 pages with Passover stories! Where do
I begin?
The first Passover stories were in the April 21,
1916, issue of the Jewish Chronicle — its first year of
publication — in a section called “Congregational
News.” It was noted there would be Passover ser-
vices at Shaarey Zedek and Temple Beth El. Rabbi
Leo Franklin would speak at Beth El.
Along with the religious services cited in 1916
— and many, many years after — you can find a
plethora of advertisements seeking to provide every
Passover need. Men who wished to be well dressed
for Passover? See “Krenz” at John R and Broadway
streets in Detroit. Need kosher wines, liquors and
brandies? See S. Frank on Hastings Street.
There were also notices regarding more serious
Passover matters. In the April 4, 1916, issue, there
is a story about 13,882 applications from the Jews
of Odessa, Russia, to the Petrograd Committee in
Detroit seeking Passover food for Jewish prisoners
of war from Germany and Austro-Hungry. World
War I was still raging in Europe, and Russia was
still a participant member of the Allies. The Russian
Revolution was still months away.
For today’
s column, however, I will offer some-
thing a bit different; an entry from the April 18,
1997, issue of the JN: “
A Passover Tale of Chelm.”
This is an interesting short story from Mark Binder,
along with some very compelling artwork, which is
displayed on this page. Here is the link to the story:
bit.ly/2GiCrik.
So, there are plenty of stories and other items
in the Davidson Digital Archive to search about
Passover in Detroit’
s Jewish community over the
past 100 years. I wish a joyous Passover to all. ■
70 April 18 • 2019
jn