44 | OCTOBER 8 • 2020 

Soul
of blessed memory

continued from page 43

sisters-in-law and brothers-
in-law, Ceil Cicural, June 
Rubenstein, and Bryan Levy 
and Diana Trivax.
Mr. Shy was the dear 
brother-in-law of the late Sol 
Cicural and the late Seymour 
Rubenstein. 
Interment was at Hebrew 
Memorial Park Cemetery. 
Contributions may be made 
to Forgotten Harvest, 21800 
Greenfield Road, Oak Park, 
MI 48237, forgottenhar-
vest.org, St. Jude Children’
s 
Research Hospital, 501 St. 
Jude Place, Memphis, TN 
38105, stjude.org,; or to 
a charity of one’
s choice. 
Arrangements by Ira Kaufman 
Chapel. 

ROBERT 
“BOBBY” 
WOLOK, 54, of 
Oak Park, died 
Sept. 24, 2020. 
He is survived 
by his brother, Mark Wolok; 
sister, Lori (Wolok) Charlton; 
nieces and nephews, Jake, 
Shelby and Harlow Wolok, 
Logan and Sydnee Charlton; 
many other loving family 
members and friends.
Mr. Wolok was the beloved 
son of the late Sanford and the 
late Harriet Wolok.
Contributions may be made 
to Jewish Family Service 
or the Jewish Federation 
of Metropolitan Detroit. 
Arrangements by Dorfman 
Chapel.

Remembering Singer 
Helen Reddy

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Following shortly after the death 
of Supreme Court Justice Ruth 
Bader Ginsburg, we have news 
of the loss of another 
woman dedicated to 
women’
s rights. Singer-
lyricist Helen Reddy, 
known for belting out 
the words she wrote for 
“I Am Woman” in the 
1970s, died Sept. 29, 
2020, in Los Angeles. 
She was 78.
During an interview with 
Reddy in 1999, I learned about 
her conversion to Judaism as 
she married for the second time 
and the way she learned that 
her maternal grandmother had 
been Jewish.
Reddy learned of her her-
itage during conversations 
with a maternal aunt, who had 
always lived in a distant city. 
The aunt recalled how Reddy’
s 

grandmother would light the 
Shabbat candles and travel 
quite a distance to buy kosher 
meat. Because the grand-
mother’
s in-laws were 
Scottish Presbyterians, 
the woman hid her Jewish 
practices.
During the JN inter-
view, Reddy said, “I think 
spirituality is more about 
what’
s in your heart and 
how you treat people than 
whether you’
re keeping two sets 
of dishes.”
It could seem a twist of 
fate that this Grammy Award 
winner, credited by some as 
writing the words to what has 
been called the women’
s lib-
eration anthem, moved ahead 
mirroring the strength shown 
by her maternal Grammy, who 
privately held on to Jewish tra-
ditions. 

WIKIPEDIA

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