M
y extended family gathered at my and Robert’
s home
to celebrate my dad Simon Sleutelberg’
s 100th birth-
day. Th
roughout my life, my dad would remember and
mention every relative’
s birthday. He would say: “Today
would have been Opa’
s 93rd birthday,
” or “Today would have been
Oma’
s 109th birthday.
”
Th
ough he died 15 years ago, we gathered on his
100th birthday on Nov. 23 to eat his favorite foods, remi-
nisce about his life, tell stories and watch two videos, one
recorded by Steven Spielberg’
s Shoah Foundation project
in which Dad shared his life story, including his escape
to America. Th
e other video was fi
lmed during our 1995
three-generation family trip to the Netherlands, where
Dad shared what his life was like in Appingedam.
He stood in front of what had been his kosher meat
market and talked about what it was like growing up in
a small Dutch town. We went in what was the synagogue (now an event
space) in which he celebrated his bar mitzvah in 1932. From the wom-
en’
s balcony, his grandchildren, Ariel and Hannah (then 8 and 3), sang
songs and blessings Ariel learned at Hillel Day School. We went to the
Jewish cemetery where he talked about our relatives who were buried
there as well as the dozens of aunts, uncles, cousins and his grandpar-
ents who were murdered by the Nazis. We stood on the bridge from
which, as a teenager, he painted a canal scene which hung in our home
in Hudson and now graces our Lake Orion home.
Having escaped the Netherlands on the last ship out of Rotterdam
Harbor, Dad arrived in New York with his parents and younger brother.
Th
ey made their way to Michigan where they had a distant relative. He
and his parents started Meyer’
s Department Store in Hudson, a town
with no other Jews, where they hid their religious identity in case
Hitler’
s decrees ever made their way to these shores. Aft
er the war they
learned of the murder of nearly all their relatives.
Dad was set up as a pen pal with a hidden child survivor, Edith Hes,
who still lived in the Netherlands. Th
ey married in 1954 and started a
family in Hudson. Over the years, my parents felt more comfortable dis-
closing our Jewish heritage and became proud to represent the Jewish
world in this small rural town. Th
ey joined the synagogue in Jackson,
Michigan, where our whole family became pillars of the congregation,
each in our own way.
My sister Ester became the fi
rst dentist to have graduated from Hud-
son High School, and I became the fi
rst rabbi to have done so.
On the occasion of Dad’
s 100th birthday, the Hudson Post-Gazette
newspaper published a front-page op-ed that stated: “Simon and Edith
Sleutelberg were kind, thoughtful and giving people. Simon — and the
rest of the Sleutelberg family — taught us a lot. In a gentle, unassuming
way, Simon and his family exemplifi
ed respect for the community they
became a part of, and the community returned that respect. Th
e Sleute-
lbergs reminded us, by their mere presence here, that diff
erences make
us strong. Th
e integrity with which they lived their lives is a shining
example for all of us.
”
Dad’
s 100th birthday was a real celebration of his life and the lasting
impact he has had on each of us. We look forward to my mom’
s 100th
in 2027. ✽
Rabbi Arnie Sleutelberg served as spiritual leader at Congregation Shir
Tikvah in Troy for 28 years.
28 | APRIL 30 • 2020
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RABBI ARNIE SLEUTE
Celebrate!
Those Who
Came Before
Simon Sleutelberg’s
100th birthday celebration.
Rabbi Arnie
Sleutelberg
Remembering
Remembering
The Sleutelberg family gathered to mark their late father’s 100th birthday.
The family watched a video of Simon’s interview with the Shoah Foundation.