JANUARY 02 • 2020 | 17

Jews in the D

What We Bring
To The Table
A

group of die-hard ping
pong players at the
Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield have
persevered for more than 12
years. We play every day from
9:30 a.m.-1 p.m.
Initially Big Boris, age 67,
and Little Boris occupied the
right table, keeping score in
Russian, leaving the left table to
the Americans: Sy Borsen, 92,
Fred Kendell and Bob Salamon,
both 86. When Bob’
s wife, Lila,
recently passed away, Fred orga-
nized a fund to plant 15 trees in
Israel in her honor.

Big Boris came from near
Chernobyl. Bob, a Holocaust
survivor, migrated to China
before arriving in the U.S.
Fred also endured the perils of
Germany. Once in America, he
studied art at Cass Tech. His
daughter is a museum artist in
California.
Kind enough to help me along
with my own art, he takes credit
for every piece I sell. Oh, and his
jokes, he always has one.
Sy was a national ping pong
champion until he was disqual-
ified for being too young. He is
our human ping pong robot. He
has mentored us all.
The team continues to
grow. Now there is Yury I
(Gendelman, 68), a dentist
from Ukraine, and Yury II
(Kuperstock, 67), a metal-
lurgical engineer also from
Ukraine. Yakov Faytlin, 72, is

a Birmingham photographer.
Illyah Dakhmutsay, 67, a Realtor,
was a champion boxer back in
Ukraine. While waiting for a
turn at the table, he burns off his
raw egg breakfast with warm-up
boxing routines.
Sasha Shakhim, 72, enjoys
eating 62 homemade Chinese
barbecue ribs from Hong Kong
Ken Wong, 62, a mechanical
engineer, the only non-Jewish
player we have.
Myron Stein, a teacher,
provides movie reviews. Lou
Brown, 72, a retired teacher and
opera buff, who displays his
collectibles and memorabilia at
the Royal Oak Farmer’
s Market,
shares CDs from the 1930s that
are played on a boom box for
ambience. It’
s contagious. Now
I listen to Big Band music at
home. So long, Talking Heads.
Sy, Lou and Bob formed a
Tuesday night poker group. For
one of Sy’
s big birthdays, and
he’
s had plenty, I bought him a
sweatshirt that says, “Ping Pong,
Poker, Porn.
” His daughter-in-
law wouldn’
t let him out of the
house wearing it, so he keeps it
in his locker and wears it here. I
hope Stacy’
s not reading this.
I traded in my tennis racket
for a paddle. The solo woman,
I’
m just one of the guys.
We slice and dice. We remem-
ber; we forget — but never the
score. We laugh together, cry
together. At closing time, when I
say, “Bye, guys; I’
m going home,
”
Fred says, “Hey, girl, you are
home.
”

ELLEN STONE SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

essay

This group of die-hard ping pong
players meet daily at the JCC.

YAKOV FAYTLIN

L E S S O N S
T H A T L A S T .

248.646.7717 | www.dcds.edu/openhouse

GRADES PK3 - 4
Maple Road Campus
GRADES 5 - 8
Hillview Campus
GRADES 9 - 12
Thirteen Mile Campus

JOIN US FOR OUR open house

TUESDAY, JANUARY 28 | 5-7 P.M.

D E T R O I T C O U N T R Y D A Y S C H O O L

PURCHASE TICKETS TODAY!
DSO.ORG/NEIGHBORHOOD OR 313.576.5111

TICKETS
START AT
$25
($10 for students
and kids)

$10
ti
ckets
f
or
veterans,
acti
ve
mi
l
i
tary,
and
f
ami
l
y.


Vi
si
t
dso.
org/mi
l
i
tary

BI
ZET’
S
CARMEN

Mei
-Ann
Chen,

conduct
or

St
erli
ng
Elli
ott,

cel
l
o

Thu.
,

Jan.

9
at

7:30
p.
m.

in
Sout
hf
iel
d

at

Congregat
ion
Shaarey
Zedek

Fri.
,

Jan.

10
at

8
p.
m.

in
Cl
int
on
Twp.
at

Macomb
Cent
er
for
t
he
Performing
Art
s

Sun.
,

Jan.

12
at

3
p.
m.

in
Beverl
y
Hil
l
s
at

Sel
igman
Performing
Art
s
Cent
er

ASK
ABOUT
PREFERRED
SEATI
NG

ELLIOTT

MADE
POSSIBLE
BY
THE
WILLIAM
DAVIDSON
FOUNDATION
2019-2020
CONCERT
SERIES