Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at www.djnfoundation.org
Fighting Hunger
I
read the cover story in the Sept.
10 issue of the JN with great inter-
est. In 2020, like antisemitism,
hunger is still with us. With the pan-
demic and its accompanying severe
economic woes, unfortunately, hun-
ger, like antisemitism, will be on the
rise in the near future.
It was therefore heartening to read
Madeline Halpert’
s
recent story about
Hazon and Chad
Techner doing their best
to “rescue” extra food
around the city and use
it to alleviate hunger.
This is an admirable
partnership, to say the
least.
I was also very interested in the
“Food Rescue” story for another
reason. Recently, while on one of my
frequent (one might say, obsessive)
searches in the William Davidson
Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit
History, I ran across two related hun-
ger stories from the past.
First, I read about the launch of
the JN’
s yearlong campaign to fight
hunger in Metro Detroit in 2005. The
campaign was launched to coincide
with Rosh Hashanah, the beginning
of the Jewish New Year and the High
Holidays. An editorial by then-Story
Development Editor Keri Guten Cohen
introduced the campaign in the Sept.
29, 2005, issue of the JN.
Much like the current focus on
antisemitism throughout 2020, the
JN published stories that year about
efforts made by organizations and
individuals to combat hunger, and
sponsored events that raised aware-
ness and resources. All proceeds
were donated, non-kosher items to
Gleaners food bank and kosher items
to Yad Ezra, which leads to my sec-
ond point of interest — Yad Ezra is
celebrating its 30th anniversary this
year.
Yad Ezra’
s vision is succinct but
powerful: “
A Jewish Community
Without Hunger.” And, for the past
three decades, “Michigan’
s Kosher
Food Pantry” has provided millions
of pounds of food to Jewish families
in need around Southeast Michigan.
My search for “Yad Ezra” in the
William Davidson Archive showed
that its name appeared on 4,371 pages
of the JN since 1990. In short, there
are many stories about and photos
of Yad Ezra volunteers and the good
deeds they performed. Several of
these stood out. The Sept. 29, 2005,
issue of the JN that launched its
campaign has excellent stories by
Shelli Liebman Dorfman about then
15-year-old Yad Ezra. I also like that
issue’
s cover photo of Lea Luger, Paul
Finkel and Elaine Ryke in the Yad
Ezra warehouse.
The Feb. 16, 1990, issue of the JN
reported the opening of Yad Ezra,
with very nice photos of its first
director, Jeanette Eizelman, and vol-
unteer Rabbi A. Irving Schnipper. I
also liked the photo of volunteers in
the Dec. 6, 2018, JN when Yad Ezra
celebrated over 20 million — yes, that
is 20 million — pounds of food dis-
tributed to needy Jewish families.
Hunger is still an issue in Metro
Detroit. However, the efforts of
organizations such as Hazon and
Yad Ezra, to name just two, and of
individuals like Chad Techner and all
those who volunteer their time and
effort, and because the Detroit Jewish
community as a whole provides sup-
port in a myriad of ways, fewer fam-
ilies will go hungry this year. Tikkun
olam in action, I would say.
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN
Foundation archives, available for free at
www.djnfoundation.org.
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair
46 | OCTOBER 1 • 2020