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.