20 | OCTOBER 31 • 2019 

she has met a life goal. 
“I feel certain that I’
ve ful-
filled one of my dreams and 
I feel these books were very 
worthy of my efforts,” she 
said. “It was a real coup to 
have written (Jethmalani’
s) 
biography.”
Currently, Adelman con-
tinues to serve as a delegate 
from Wayne County for 
the Michigan State Medical 
Society and is president 
of the Detroit Medical 
Academy. She also is edi-
tor emeritus of the Detroit 
Medical Journal, a publica-
tion she edited for 17 years. 
She and her husband are 
members of Adat Shalom 
Synagogue in Farmington 
Hills, are involved with 
the Jewish Theological 
Seminary in New York and 
have been involved in spon-
soring Israeli students. They 
also help raise money as 
part of Friends of Hebrew 
University of Jerusalem.
“We’
re particularly 
interested in education,” 
Adelman said. 
Along with her profession-
al, religious and philanthrop-
ic pursuits, Adelman wants 
to continue focusing on her 
creative life, specifically sell-
ing her custom-made jewelry 
and paintings. She even has 

an idea for a third book, one 
that would explore why so 
many Jews, including those 
living in Israel, feel comfort-
able in India, a country she 
and her husband have trav-
eled to 20 times among the 
60 or so countries the couple 
has visited. 
“There is a more mystical 
and philosophical reason 
for that connection,” she 
said, beyond the fact that 
India has become quite 
pro-Israel and the more 
mundane facts that it is 
inexpensive to travel to 
India and that the two 
countries share English as a 
spoken language. 
“I think there’
s an atavis-
tic connection between the 
two religions” of Judaism 
and Hinduism, she said.
Adelman notes that she 
lives by a simple philosophy 
in remaining active, even 
when she has the choice of 
slowing down after accom-
plishing so much in her 
lifetime.
“If you don’
t stay active, 
you die,” she said. “If you’
re 
not part of this world and 
making contributions, 
you’
re in God’
s waiting 
room. You need a raison 
d’
etre,” which means having 
a reason for living. 

Susan Adelman, author of After Saturday Comes Sunday,” with 
Norma Hakim, 93, whose story is told in the book that explores 
the history of Christian and Jewish communities in the Middle 
East and the Aramaic language.

PHOTO COURTESY SUSAN ADELMAN

continued from page 18

Jews in the D