8 June 6 • 2019
jn

T

he shocking news that 
57-year-old Dan Gilbert suf-
fered a stroke on May 26 is 
a stark reminder of the impact one 
person with a vision — and the will 
to implement it — can have on a 
company, a city and a region’
s future.
Gilbert moved Quicken and allied 
companies — approximately 1,700 
employees — from Livonia to Detroit 
in 2010, despite a prolonged economic 
downturn and a city teetering on the 
edge of bankruptcy.
He told Jewish News reporter Bill 

Carroll at the time that he was plan-
ning to “create the urban core of the 
city — new technology, and the best 
is yet to come. But we must retain the 
young talent graduating from colleges 
in the state … It’
s interesting to read 
obituaries in the local papers and see 
how many of the surviving children 
and grandchildren are listed as living 
out of state. All of the companies must 
join the push for jobs here. We’
re cer-
tainly doing our part.”
He tirelessly recruited skeptical 
companies and real estate developers 

— initially with mixed success — to 
join him in Detroit. Many were wary 
of taking such a gamble on a city with 
crumbling infrastructure, high crime 
rates and a deeply damaged reputa-
tion.
However, Gilbert’
s pied-piper vision 
resonated throughout his Detroit 
Jewish community. A 2005 demo-
graphic study by Dr. Ira Sheskin found 
that Detroit’
s Jewish population was 
the oldest outside of Sunbelt com-
munities and that the number of 
adults in their 20s and early 30s was 

views

Appreciating Dan Gilbert’s Audacious 
Vision, And Praying For His Full Recovery

continued on page 10

S

o far this year, eight states have 
passed laws severely limiting abor-
tion rights in an attempt to lay 
the groundwork to have Roe v. Wade 
overturned. Alabama has just passed 
the most restrictive law that makes per-
forming an 
abortion 
a felony 
at any 
stage of 
pregnancy. 
Georgia, 
Kentucky, 
Ohio, 
Missouri and Louisana have passed 
laws prohibiting abortion as soon as 
a fetal heartbeat is detected, about six 
weeks into a pregnancy, often before 
many women know they are pregnant. 
These laws are not in effect yet and 
will probably be blocked while they 
are challenged in courts, but the threat 
to a woman’
s right to make her own 
reproductive decisions is very real. 
Recently, a delegation of our mem-
bers from National Council of Jewish 
Women, Michigan met with many 
Michigan legislators and/or their staff 
about repealing 1931 Michigan laws 
that ban abortion. The Roe decision 
has mothballed the 1931 laws, but if 
Roe is overturned, women’
s reproduc-
tive healthcare would revert to stan-
dards established nearly 100 years ago.
NCJW believes that every woman 

should have the right to make per-
sonal decisions about her body, health 
and future; that, consistent with the 
value kavod ha bri’
ot (respect and 
dignity for all human beings), all 
women should have equal access to 
safe and legal health care; and that 
bans on abortion coverage interfere 
with a woman’
s moral autonomy and 
her power to make personal decisions 
based on her own moral or religious 
beliefs. We believe it is unjust for law-
makers to enshrine one religious view 
into law in order to restrict abortion 
access. Doing so erodes our nation’
s 
basic principle of religious liberty.
Unlike some faith traditions, which 
view abortion as murder, Jewish law 
does not because the fetus is not rec-
ognized as a “life” or a “person” with 
independent rights. The fetus does 
not have the same legal status as the 
mother who is a full-fledged, autono-
mous human being. It has no identity 
of its own since it is dependent on the 
body of the woman until most of the 
body emerges from her womb.
This is why Jewish sources explic-
itly indicate that if the continuation 
of a pregnancy might imperil the life 
or health of a woman, abortion is 
not only permitted but required. The 
interests of the woman always come 
before the fetus. According to some 
contemporary Jewish sources, health 
includes psychological health as well 

as physical health.
A recent CBS News poll indicated 
that 67 percent of Americans want 
to keep Roe v. Wade as the law of the 
land. Michigan’
s 2018 midterm elec-
tion placed three pro-choice women 
at the top of our state government. 
indicating that a majority of our 
state’
s electorate believes in a woman’
s 
right to decide for herself. However, 
Michigan’
s Republican-dominated leg-
islature appears to want to turn back 
the clock to the “old days” of secrecy, 
shame and illegal abortions.
We feel strongly that women have 
the right to make personal decisions 
about their bodies, their health and 
their futures. If you agree, contact 
your state representative and state 
senator to register your support to 
repeal the 1931 laws banning abortion 
(House Bills: 4113-4116; Senate Bills: 
50-52). To find your state legislators, 
go to house.mi.gov/MHRPublic/frm-
FindARep.aspx (representatives) and 
senate.michigan.gov/fysbyaddress.
html (senators). These calls could be 
among the most important you have 
ever made. 
You can join with us in our efforts 
to protect women’
s reproductive rights 
by calling the NCJW office at (248) 
355-3300, ext. 0. ■

Irma Glaser and Cathy Cantor are NCJW Michigan 
state policy advocates.

guest column
Protecting the Rights of Michigan Women

Irma Glaser and Cathy Cantor

Readers on Facebook reacted to our 
story (May 23, page 38) about Drag 
Queen Storytime at Congregation 
Shaarey Zedek. 

Debra Cash: Not the Shaarey 
Zedek of my childhood and that’
s a 
good thing.

Rachel Lutz: I graduated high 
school with Raven. Although this 
person’
s outward appearance has 
changed, their heart is still the 
same — generous and kind. Raven 
brings a lot of joy to these kids, 
and I can’
t understand why anyone 
would be so closed-minded to not 
embrace this concept. Don’
t like 
it? Don’
t send your kids. It’
s pretty 
simple, really.

Karen Couf Cohen: I love our shul.

Fred Cislo Jr.: I am glad to see 
there are people like Raven who are 
comfortable enough with themselves 
to be who they were meant to be 
and help to educate others.

Larry Gunsberg: Why is this even 
necessary? Why do we constantly 
expose our kids to weirdness? What 
is the purpose behind exposing our 
children to drag queens and why 
is it so important the drag queens 
need to read to our children? This 
is also happening in Huntington 
Woods and, frankly, I don’
t 
understand this at all. 

Nancy Simpson Moody: This is 
so sick and twisted. That’
s what’
s 
wrong with our society nowadays. 
God made you man or woman. 
Stick with what He made you.

The Jewish News welcomes reader 
feedback. Feel free to comment on 
thejewishnews.com, our Facebook 
page or send a letter to letters@
renmedia.us.

Online Comments

Correction:
 
In the May 23 issue, page 44, it should 
have stated that the Zioness Movement’
s 
Amanda Berman’
s visit to Beth Shalom 
was presented in partnership with the 
Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies.

 editorial

