14 | JULY 9 • 2020 

of leaving wine and other small gifts on 
people’s porches to brighten a neigh-
bor’s day. 
“
All these women have just bonded 
together to try and make this a little 
easier for everyone,
” she said. 
Lauren Cohen, a single mom to 
19-month-old daughter Kinneret, 
decided to expand her quarantine bub-
ble to include her parents after a strict 
two-week distancing period in mid-
March. They’ve helped ease the stress 
of single parenting for Cohen, who 
lives in Lathrup Village. And Cohen 
has been glad to have these months 
with her daughter — time she wouldn’t 
have gotten otherwise as a single work-
ing mom.
“We’re really thankful for this time,
” 
she said.
But for Vishniac, who moved with 
her boyfriend to a new house just as 
quarantine began in March, and Segal, 
whose brother came to live at her 
house during the stay-at-home peri-
od, having other adults in the house 
doesn’t make much of a difference 
when it comes to parenting. 
“
A parent is really different than 
another person,
” Segal said. “No one 
else can kiss her booboo when she falls 
or gets hurt.
” 

UNIQUE CHALLENGES 
No matter what kind of support they’re 
receiving, local single parents say there 
are challenges at every turn of the pan-
demic. 
Gray is a preschool teacher at Temple 
Beth El in Bloomfield Township, but 
teaching swim lessons was another big 
part of her income. Those were put on 
hold as indoor pools closed across the 
state. Although she didn’t qualify for 
unemployment, she did start getting 
food stamps for the first time. 
“I was getting the free lunches from 
the school that I never thought I would 
do,
” she said. “It was very humbling.
” 
Keeping their children up to date 
with virtual schooling also became a 
major struggle for some parents when 
Michigan schools moved online in 
March. Kaganove’s son Nathan receives 
extra support at his middle school. It 

was a struggle to keep him motivated 
to do schoolwork at home, Kaganove 
said. 
“It’s just not going to work fighting 
with him, so I don't,
” he said. “I kind of 
let him do his thing.
” 
Kaganove said he hopes “with every 
fiber of my being that we get some-
thing a little closer to normal in the 
fall” in terms of school. 
Vishniac, who ran around trying to 
get her daughter ready for online math 
class, said her daughter will repeat sec-
ond grade next year — a decision made 
before the pandemic began. That made 
struggling to get her daughter to finish 
schoolwork even more frustrating, 
Vishniac said. 
“Give me a single parent pass,
” she 
said. “Tell me I’m allowed to disappear 
for the rest of the school year.
” 

NOW WHAT? 
Now that summer has arrived and 
Michigan’s stay-at-home order has been 
lifted, single parents are faced with 
more options and more uncertainty. 
Vishniac has started hiring babysit-
ters again to help keep Luta busy while 
she works. Kaganove hopes to go 
camping with his son — staying out-
doors is low-risk and he wants to find 
a way to get the two of them out of the 
house, he said. 
But what happens beyond the sum-
mer is still hazy. Vishniac wants to 
hear from Luta’s school about what the 
fall will look like and what the future 
might hold. 
“I just want a plan, you know?” she 
said. “It’s difficult to imagine what I’m 
going to be doing in another several 
months. I know that I can’t keep this 
up … that’s for certain.
” 
In terms of finding support from 
the Jewish community, Segal said she 
hopes a group like SPARC can gain 
funding once again. 
“I’
d like [the community] to 
acknowledge that there are single par-
ents out there and I’
d like them to have 
an organization again,
” she said. “I’
d 
like them to have a single Jewish par-
ent, working on whatever they do for 
single Jewish parents.
” 

Steven Kaganove 
and his son Nathan

continued from page 13

COURTESY OF STEVEN KAGANOVE

Jews in the D
cover story

Lauren Cohen 
and Kinneret

Erica Gray, 
Leah and Chloe

COURTESY OF ERICA GRAY
COURTESY OF LAUREN COHEN

