 SEPTEMBER 3 • 2020 | 31

Iconic Museum Asks 
for Public Help

Marvin’
s Marvelous Mechanical Museum opens 
GoFundMe page to help with expenses.

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
M

arvin’
s Marvelous 
Mechanical Museum 
has opened a 
GoFundMe page to help cover 
expenses incurred while the 
arcade has remained closed due 
to the COVID-19 pandemic. 
The GoFundMe was start-
ed by Jeremy Yagoda, current 
“Ringmaster, Grand Poobah 
& Self-Designated Adult 
In-Charge” at Marvelous 
Marvin’
s and the son of founder 
Marvin Yagoda, who passed 
away in 2017. Over $62,000 out 
of a goal of $75,000 has been 
raised as of Aug. 31. More than 

1,500 people had donated as of 
that time. 
“It is our goal to reopen 
Marvin’
s once it is safe to do 
so and without risk to patrons 
and staff. However, financially 
speaking, we cannot afford to 
wait that long,” Yagoda wrote on 
the page, also mentioning that 
the arcade’
s expenses — includ-
ing rent, insurance, electrical 
and general maintenance — are 
currently over $10,000 a month. 
As an arcade, Marvelous 
Marvin’
s cannot reopen until 
Michigan moves into Phase 5 of 
coronavirus containment. 

In an interview with the Jewish 
News last month, Yagoda said 
he was hesitant about creating 
a GoFundMe page. His family 
was used to giving to others, not 
taking from them, he said. 
“It just doesn’
t feel right ask-
ing for help to keep a business 
to survive when there’
s peo-
ple who are literally starving 
because of this, and even before 
this — people who really need 
help to live every day, not to 
keep their business open,” he 
told JN. 
But Yagoda also told JN he 
was hopeful that Marvelous 

Marvin’
s would make it past this 
pandemic. On the GoFundMe 
page, he wrote, “All of us at 
Marvin’
s are grateful for the 
memories and pictures you 
shared, and we hope to build 
lots of MARVELOUS new 
memories with all of you soon! 
#smallbusinessrelief.” 
The GoFundMe page for 
Marvin’
s Marvelous Mechanical 
Museum can be found at this 
link: www.gofundme.com/f/
marvins-marvelous-mechani-
cal-museum?utm_source=face-
book. 

Jeremy Yagoda 
(left) and his 
father Marvin 
stand in the 
arcade. 

JEREMY YAGODA

Michigan Jewish Groups Sign Ad 
in Support of Black Lives Matter

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

The New York Times ad calls the BLM movement “our best chance at equity and justice.”

M

ore than 600 Jewish 
organizations — 
including at least 12 
Michigan groups — signed onto 
a message supporting the Black 
Lives Matter movement, pub-
lished as a full-page ad in the New 
York Times on Friday, Aug. 28. 
Protests in support of Black 
lives have erupted throughout the 
nation this summer in response 
to continued racism and police 
violence against Black people in 
the United States. The message 
from Jewish organizations comes 
days after Jacob Blake, a Black 
man, was paralyzed following 
being shot seven times by police 
in Kenosha, Wisconsin. 

“We support the Black-led 
movement in this country that 
is calling for accountability and 
transparency from the govern-
ment and law enforcement. We 
know that freedom and safety for 
any of us depends on the freedom 
and safety of all of us,
” the mes-
sage reads. 
The Michigan groups that 
signed onto the ad include: 
 • Bend the Arc: Jewish Action 
Greater Ann Arbor 
 • Beth Israel Congregation 
(Ann Arbor, MI) 
 • Detroit Jews for Justice 
 • Habonim Dror Camp Tavor 
 • Hebrew Day School of Ann 
Arbor 
 • Isaac Agree Downtown 

Synagogue 
 • JCRC/AJC of Detroit 
 • Jewish Communal 
Leadership Program, University 
of Michigan 
• Jewish Community Center of 
Greater Ann Arbor 
 • Jewish Federation of Greater 
Ann Arbor 
 • Michigan Democratic 
Jewish Caucus 
 • National Council of Jewish 
Women — Michigan 
Some Jews have disavowed the 
Black Lives Matter movement for 
ties between its leaders and the 
Boycott, Divest and Sanctions 
(BDS) movement, as well as 
for repeated instances of syna-
gogue vandalism and anti-Israel 

rhetoric that has accompanied 
several BLM marches (including 
graffiti targeting a synagogue in 
Kenosha). But the message in the 
Times calls for Jews to support the 
movement, saying “when Black 
movements are undermined, it 
leads to more violence against 
Black people, including Black 
Jews.
” 
“The Black Lives Matter 
movement is the current day 
Civil Rights movement in 
this country, and it is our best 
chance at equity and justice. 
By supporting this movement, 
we can build a country that 
fulfills the promise of freedom, 
unity, and safety for all of us, no 
exceptions,” it concludes. 

