FEBRUARY 20 • 2020 | 29
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www.hfldetroit.org 248.723.8184
Hebrew Free Loan Detroit
6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 48301
@HFLDetroit
When Dr. Edward Stein was a child, he was
aware of the good that Hebrew Free Loan did in the
community. Now in his eighties, Eddie recalls HFL
being there to help the family business.
“Dad was from Ukraine, Mom was from Belarus,
Eddie said. “They came here, assimilated very quickly,
learned the language and got right to work. Dad
was a dry cleaner and tailor with his own shop in
Detroit. I think things must have been very good in
the 1920s, because Mom and Dad had a house, and
drove a Buick. They lost their home during the
Depression, but managed to keep the business running
and eventually rebuilt what they lost. My brothers
and I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood near Central
High School, and it was like a city within a city.
Being Jewish was an important part of life, we kept a
kosher home, and we were connected to our community.”
Eddie says he knew that his parents took one loan
from HFL when he was young, for a new pressing
machine, but he didn’t know until he was an adult that
there were three separate loans. One day, he was
chatting with friend and HFL Honorary Life Member
Dr. David Kirsch, who offered to look up Ed’s family
information in HFL’s archives. When David revealed
all of HFL’s help, Eddie wanted to give back.
“I was never a heavy hitter,” Eddie said, “but
helping HFL was important to me, because they
helped my parents create a life for our family. I
asked the HFL staff to tell me what the additional
amount of the loan would have been at two percent
interest, and I donated that. After that was paid, I
converted it into a modest monthly automatic dontion.
I’m thrilled to help others thrive, with dignity, as we
did with the help of HFL.”
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