22 | APRIL 9 • 2020 

A

fter recovering from 
COVID-19 last month, 
Rabbi Daniel Nevins, the 
former Adat Shalom Synagogue 
rabbi, is partaking in a blood 
plasma experimental treatment 
trial at Mount Sinai Hospital in 
New York. 
Nevins lived in Farmington 
Hills for 13 years and was the 
rabbi at Adat Shalom from 
1994-2007. He is now living in 

Manhattan, where he is the dean 
of the rabbinical school at the 
Jewish Theological Seminary. 
On March 12, Nevins was 
tested for COVID-19 and 
received his results back on 
March 19 — he tested positive. 
“Fortunately, my symptoms 
were not very dreadful. I had a 
little fever, was feeling very tired 
and I had a lot of headache and 
muscle ache in general,” Nevins 

told the Jewish News. “I was 
fortunate enough to just stay at 
home and allow myself to heal.” 
After his recovery, Nevins 
heard about a COVID-19 
experimental treatment from 
his daughter’
s friend, who is a 
medical student at Mount Sinai 
Hospital. He went the following 
day to take a test to confirm that 
he no longer had COVID-19 
and that he had antibodies pres-
ent. By March 27, Nevins was 
sitting in the New York Blood 
Center donating blood plasma. 
“I am a frequent blood donor, 
but this is a completely different 
process,” Nevins said. “Normally 
when you donate blood it just 
comes out of your vein pretty 
quickly, but here, since they are 
taking your platelets, they use an 
apheresis machine which takes 
out part of the blood and then 
returns the platelets together 
with some saline so you don’
t 
get so drained … literally.” 
On March 24, the Food and 
Drug Administration (FDA) 
announced that doctors could 

treat critically ill COVID-19 
patients with plasma from 
recovered patients on an exper-
imental basis. Doctors who are 
interested in participating in 
these experimental trials must 
seek approval from the FDA 
first. 
Plasma has been shown effec-
tive in treating other infectious 
diseases, like polio, measles and 
influenza. Patients must meet 
certain criteria and provide 
informed consent to be eligible 
for COVID-19 experimental 
treatment trials. 
“Normally I wouldn’
t be tell-
ing the world about my health 
situation, but in this case it was 
worth it because a lot more 
people heard about this pro-
gram and were able to come in 
and donate,” Nevins said. “This 
seemed to be one of the few 
things, until there is a vaccine 
available, that might actually 
help people recover. I was fortu-
nate enough to be in a position 
where I could donate to this 
treatment trial.” 

Jews in the D

COURTESY OF RABBI NEVINS

Making a Difference

Former Detroit rabbi recovers from coronavirus, 
donates blood plasma to experimental treatment. 

CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER

Rabbi Daniel 
Nevins at the 
New York 
Blood Center.

T

he Well, Metro Detroit’
s 
nationally recognized 
organization for Jewish 
young professionals, has hired 
Metro Detroit native Marni 
Katz as its new family educator 
beginning this summer. 
Katz will oversee The Well’
s 
young family activities, includ-
ing Tot Shabbat, Young Family 
Shabbat Playgroups and the 
monthly family education 
series. 
“The Well is really innovative 
in the way that they approach 
the Jewish community,” Katz 
told the Jewish News. “I am 

excited to be a part of that and 
work with the new team to see 
what we can grow.” 
Katz has lived in Chicago 
for the past 15 years. She grew 
up in West Bloomfield, attend-
ed Harrison High School in 
Farmington Hills and graduat-
ed with a bachelor’
s degree and 
a master of social work from 
the University of Michigan. 
For the last 14 years, Katz 
served as director of JCC 
Chicago’
s Apachi Day Camp 
program, where she managed 
activities for nearly 700 kids 
each summer. 

During her free time, Katz 
enjoys writing for her blog, 
Simple Gray T-Shirt, cooking, 
baking and making fun crafts 
with her two daughters, Tilly 
and Poppy. 
“My blog is really created 
to help moms and families, 
especially ones with little kids, 
keep things a little bit simpler 
around the house,” Katz said. 
“It’
s a lot of simple recipes, 

things that can be done quickly 
that are pretty family-friendly, 
and also just tips and tricks 
about organization and sched-
uling. My motto for my blog 
and my life is that, ‘
life should 
be as simple as your favorite 
gray T-shirt.’
” 
Katz and her husband, 
Stuart, will move back to Metro 
Detroit with their two daugh-
ters this summer. 

CORRIE COLF - STAFF WRITER

The Metro Detroit native returns back 
to her roots to lead The Well’
s young 
family offerings.

Marni Katz to Become The 
Well’s New Family Educator

COURTESY OF MARNI KATZ

Marni with her 
husband, Stuart, 
and daughters, 
Tilly and Poppy