Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

Detroit Took Center Stage in 1980
I

usually find my topics for “Looking 
Back” columns during my cruises in 
the William Davidson Digital Archive 
of Jewish Detroit History. Whenever I 
enter the Archive to do research for one 
subject, I usually find interesting stories 
or reports on another subject about 
Jewish Detroit. 
The idea for this week’s Looking 
Back, however, is from my 
friend, Allan Gale. Did I 
know, he asked, that 40 
years ago, Detroit was the 
host for the Council of 
Jewish Federation’s (CJF) 
49th annual General 
Assembly (GA)? Well, 
I did not know that. So, 
I dove into the Archive 
and soon learned all about the GA from 
reports in the November 1980 issues of 
the JN. 
Although the CJF had met before in 
Detroit in 1940, 1946 and 1960, the larg-
est was the GA in 1980. It was held Nov. 
12-16 at Detroit’s Plaza Hotel, the hotel 
in the Renaissance Center at that time. 
More than 2,500 delegates and guests, lay 
leadership and professionals from 800 
communities representing all 50 states 
and Canada were in attendance. Detroit 
Jewish leader Dulcie Rosenfeld was the 
chairwoman of the Host Committee, 
The GA opened with Rabbi Richard 
C. Hertz from Temple Beth El delivering 
the dvar Torah. Detroit Mayor Coleman 
Young extended greetings to the audi-
ence. Detroit Jewish Welfare Federation 
(now the Jewish Federation of Metro 
Detroit) President George M. Zeltzer and 
CJF President Morton L. Mandel led the 
event.
Many leaders from Michigan and 
Detroit’s Jewish community participated 
in the GA. There were presentations 
from Rabbi Irwin Groner of Shaarey 
Zedek, Rabbi Efry Spectre of Adat 
Shalom and Rabbi Daniel Allan of 

Michigan State University’s Hillel. 
Representing the CJF Women’s 
Division were Detroiters Carolyn 
Greenberg, the national vice-chairwom-
en, and Executive Committee members 
Dulcie Rosenfeld and Shelby Tauber. 
On Thursday, Michigan Gov. William 
Milliken welcomed the delegates, and the 
state’s junior senator, Carl Levin, was on 
a panel (sure is hard to imagine him as a 
junior senator!). To be sure, these are just 
a very few of the many Jewish Detroiters 
who contributed to the organization of 
and programming for the GA. 
The GA addressed a wide range of 
topics such as the plight of Soviet Jews, 
peace in the Middle East, Jewish educa-
tion, young Jewish leadership and health 
care. The full program is on page 10 of 
the Nov. 7, 1980, issue of the JN.
The recent U.S. presidential election 
was another topic. Ronald Reagan had 
just been elected to the presidency. 
Reagan was nominated at the Republican 
convention also held in Downtown 
Detroit in August, another major nation-
al event for the city in 1980.
The highlight was the plenary speak-
er, Menachem Begin, prime minister 
of Israel. Begin was introduced by Max 
Fisher and spoke about the importance 
of the Jewish diaspora and current affairs 
in Israel. 
A lot has changed since the GA was 
held in Detroit in 1980. The Jewish 
Federation moved to Bloomfield 
Township in 1991. Detroit has endured 
a bankruptcy. Instead of Max Fisher and 
Al Taubman, Dan Gilbert is among those 
now shaping modern Detroit. 
Many of same issues discussed 40 
years ago, however, are still important 
for the Jewish community today. This is 
interesting reading. 

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 | MARCH 18 • 2021 

Detroit Took Center Stage in 1980

