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

