22 | MAY 21 • 2020
Jews in the D
Quarantine Matchmaker:
Adat Shalom Alumni Reunite to
Remember a Hebrew “Fiddler”
W
e came to be
together after
decades of
separation: from the four
corners of the United States,
from Canada. We came all the
way from Israel, despite the
shelter-in-place orders.
This was not for Holocaust
survivors. This was a Zoom
reunion of performers and crew
gathering to recall our all-
Hebrew production of Fiddler
on the Roof at Adas Shalom
Synagogue (now Adat Shalom)
in 1966.
What motivated us to come
together after 54 years?
“That Fiddler production
bonded us in a way that few
other experiences could do,
”
explained Rabbi Dorit Seligson
Edut of Huntington Woods
(who played Grandma Tzeitel)
to me when she asked me to
help organize the event.
Because I’
m a retired
fundraiser, I knew if could track
down lapsed donors, I could
track down our old friends. My
biggest challenge was finding
those who had left Michigan
physically. But I knew if I
could find them, their hearts
would still be at the synagogue’
s
original location in Detroit, on
Curtis Street near Livernois.
Our “stars” were the first to
be found. Rabbi Daniel “Tevye”
Shevitz responded “Yes!” from
Venice, California. Michal
Tamuz (known as Michelle
Sinkoff when she was Golde)
was happy to resurrect “Tevye”
from her home in Brooklyn,
New York. Rabbi Ralph Goren
in Atlantic City shared an
amusing story about how he
hated singing “Wonder of
Wonders” in his role as Mottel
Kamzoil. Marley Weiss, a law
professor in Maryland, was one
of Tevye’
s daughters.
Other cast members had
joined the rabbinate: Chorus
member Gordon Fuller is a
rabbi in Maryland. I reached
him through Elizabeth Cahan,
widow of Rabbi Leonard
Cahan, who had been one of
the show’
s directors. Joel Kaplan
of Vancouver, British Columbia,
was an executive in Jewish
community institutions across
the U.S. and Canada.
Connections made during the
play continued for many years.
Chorus member (now retired
judge) Susan Moiseev had her
first job in the legal world in
the firm of the play’
s assistant
director, Marvin Berris.
Dr. Jerry “Fyedka” Kohen,
a dentist in Chicago, recently
moved back to the Detroit
area. Cast members Maxine
Finkel Kane logged in from La
Jolla, California; and Howard
“Perchick” Berris and Michelle
Sher Newman greeted the group
from Florida. On opposite ends
of the Atlantic, Susan Newman
Barr has stayed close to home
— and is still a member of Adat
Shalom in Farmington Hills.
From Jerusalem, crew member
Ava Goldberg stayed up late to
participate in the reunion.
A high point of the gathering
was looking at black-and-white
snapshots of the production.
I was amazed at how young
we were, but, comparing those
faces with the ones in the Zoom
gallery, I could still see those
same kids in the eyes of our
gray-haired and sometimes
wrinkled faces.
I think Rabbi Edut put
it best when she called me
after the reunion. “It was a
great party! Thanks to Zoom
and modern technology for
bringing these old friends and
former ‘
temporary residents’
of
Anatevka together! A blessing
on all our heads — and treasure
every ‘
Sunrise and Sunset!’
”
DORIS RUBENSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
A scene from the 1966 Adat Shalom production of Fiddler shows (seated) Michal Tamuz
(Michelle Sinkoff) as Golde; Malka Littman (Marilyn Glaser) as Tzeitel; Rabbi Ralph Goren as Mottel.
COURTESY OF DORIS RUBENSTEIN
Detroit Jews for Justice
Gets Accelerator Boost
Detroit Jews for Justice, a local
Metro Detroit social justice orga-
nization, was one of eight orga-
nizations to be accepted into the
UpStart Venture Accelerator, a
nationwide Jewish program that
enables the success of ground-
breaking Jewish ventures.
Since its founding in 2014 by
Congregation T’
chiyah in Oak
Park, DJJ has helped organize
Metro Detroit’
s Jewish commu-
nity to partake in movements for
racial and economic justice. Led by
founding Executive Director Rabbi
Alana Alpert, DJJ draws from
Jewish tradition, thought and cul-
ture to enhance its initiatives.
DJJ’
s core focus is currently clean
and affordable water issues, but it
has also engaged volunteers in con-
tributing to meaningful campaigns
for racial and economic justice,
housing, voting, immigration
rights, transit and more.
“It’
s amazing to have national
experts join the ranks of dedicated
local volunteers and colleagues
who have been rooting for us and
helping us grow,
” Alpert told the
Jewish News. “We hope this sup-
port will help us meet the demand
we’
re experiencing. While we obvi-
ously don’
t do the work to receive
accolades, it is so important to feel
valued.
”
The UpStart Venture
Accelerator, started in 2006, has
served as a guide and launchpad
for more than 90 Jewish organi-
zations nationwide. EDJJ will also
have access to a pool of nonre-
stricted funding, up to $100,000, to
use for maximizing its growth and
impact.
“We work in coalition with
activists who understand that it’
s
not enough to feed the poor, but
that we have to fight for a living
wage — that it’
s not enough to
donate bottled water if we aren’
t
organizing for policies to make
water clean and accessible,
” Alpert
said. “
And we do it all with a deep
sense of our Jewishness: learning,
singing and celebrating Judaism all
along the way.
”
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER