64 | SEPTEMBER 19 • 2019 

Soul
of blessed memory

ALAN MUSKOVITZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER
L

eslie Michael Goldstein 
of West Bloomfield, 
Detroit/Midwest 
director of development for 
Israel’
s Bar-Ilan University 
(BIU) for 36 years until his 
retirement in 2014, passed 
away at his home Sept. 6, 
2019, at age 71. Goldstein 
had valiantly and quietly 
battled cancer over the last 
six years. 
Goldstein was born 
in Detroit to Alfred and 
Elizabeth Goldstein. He was 
a graduate of Berkley High 
School and graduated from 
University of Michigan in 
1970.
Goldstein spent his junior 
year at Hebrew University 
in Jerusalem, where he fell 
in love with the State of 
Israel. He made aliyah in the 
summer of 1970 and began 
studies at BIU.
His love for Israel also led 
him to the love of his life, 
Dora (Harrar), his bride for 
46 years. The two met in 
1972 while they worked at 
a social welfare agency near 
Haifa. They married 13 
months later.
After completing his 
studies, Goldstein served a 
year in the Israel Defense 
Forces. Les and Dora 
returned to Detroit in 1976, 
where they would raise their 
family and where Bar-Ilan 
would impact Goldstein’
s life 
even further.
“As fate would have it, 
Bar-Ilan was soon looking 
for a new Detroit director 
— Goldstein got the job 
and hasn’
t looked back,” 
according to a JN article 
honoring Goldstein when 
he retired. (“Mr. Bar-Ilan,” 

Sept. 25, 2014)
He would go on to raise 
millions of dollars over the 
course of his career and 
took great pride that Detroit 
was the first to achieve a $1 
million campaign for BIU. 
“When you start with Babe 
Ruth and Lou Gehrig, it’
s 
not hard to produce that,” 
he quipped in the JN story, 
referring to the “heavy 
hitters who have supported 
the institution,” including 
the Stollman, Nusbaum, 
Grosberg, Kanat and 
Zekelman families, to name 
a few. 
Goldstein’
s family 
marveled that, even 
after his retirement, he 
continued to maintain 
personal relationships 
with all the Bar-Ilan staff 
and contributors. It was 
commonplace for him to 
attend their communal 
events, shivahs and simchahs 
because, while he loved 
his work, he loved the 
relationships even more.
“Les was a dedicated 
Jewish communal 
professional whose love of 
Israel and Jewish education 
blended seamlessly as the 
daily face for Bar-Ilan 
University in Detroit and 
much of the Midwest,” said 
Jewish News Publisher and 
Executive Editor Arthur 
Horwitz.
“Les Goldstein’
s decades 
of service assure his name 
will share an enduring 
connection with Bar-Ilan, 
now one of Israel’
s leading 
universities.”
Goldstein maintained 
a low profile about his 
health battles. “He never 

complained or wanted to 
be pitied,” said wife, Dora. 
Mark, one of Goldstein’
s two 
younger brothers, added: 
“He always deflected the 
conversation about how 
he was doing to how you 
were doing.” That carried 
over to his two adoring 
granddaughters, Sophia 
Goldstein and Sylvie Lang, 
for whom, even during his 
biggest health challenges, 
Saba Les always had time for 
extra bedtime stories. 
In his remarks at the 
funeral, brother Paul 
underscored Goldstein’
s love 
of family. “He could never 
seem to get enough of us. In 
the end, we were all he ever 
wanted and all he ever asked 
for from life.”
Added son Dan Goldstein, 
“He was home for dinner 
every night after work, no 
matter how busy he was. 
And he was always at the 
breakfast table before school 
the next day, trying to make 
conversation, even if we just 
grunted in return. I don’
t 
know of another father who 
simply loved being Dad as 
much as ours.”
Daughter Michelle Lang 
described how her father’
s 
tireless generosity for 
community impacted her. 
“At a young age, I would tag 
along to volunteer at Jewish 
Federation phonathons, at 
the Yad Ezra food bank, 
and in preparing meals for 
the homeless on Christmas 
Day. I did something 
similar last Christmas at 
home in Washington, D.C., 
and I felt close to my dad, 
remembering how we used 
to do it together.”

There will be a huge 
void at Congregation B’
nai 
Moshe during the High 
Holidays, where Goldstein, 
an accomplished Torah 
reader, was given the honor 
of reading the parshah every 
Rosh Hashanah and Yom 
Kippur. “One of the last 
things he said to me,” said 
Dora, “was he wouldn’
t be 
able to read Torah anymore.”
Goldstein was the beloved 
husband of Dora Goldstein; 
dear father of Dan (Lisa) 
Goldstein and Michelle 
Lang; beloved brother of 
Paul (Helene) Goldstein and 
Mark Goldstein (Kiko Yago); 
and loving grandfather of 
Sophia Goldstein and Sylvie 
Lang. 
Contributions in 
Goldstein’
s memory may be 
sent to the American Cancer 
Society, Congregation 
B’
nai Moshe or Bar-Ilan 
University. 
Arrangements by Dorfman 
Chapel. Interment was at 
Adat Shalom Memorial Park 
in Livonia. 

Goldstein

Les Goldstein’s Love of Family,
Community, Israel

