6 | MAY 6 • 2021 

PURELY COMMENTARY

1942 - 2021

Covering and Connecting 
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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 ecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the 
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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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letters

Fond Memories of 
‘The Heights’ 

“Living Jewishly in the 
Heights,” the recent Jewish 
News article on the surge of 
Jewish residents in Madison 
Heights [April 15, page 12], 
recalls earlier experiences of 
the first Jewish students at 
Madison High School from 
1952-54. Oak Park was a 
newly developed community 
and had just one elementary 
school. Families with older 
students had to enroll them 
in school districts that would 
accept tuition students. This 
was still after the war and 
home construction in new 
suburbs like Oak Park was at 
warp speed! (“Warp speed” 
was probably not part of the 
patois of this time.)
My parents, Fred and 
Dorothy Nolish, were among 
those first Oak Park “settlers.” 
 

I, as a newly double promot-
ed 10th grader, found myself 
on a school bus en route to 
Madison High School, fol-
lowing my freshman year at 
Central, where geometry had 
terrified me, and my tone 
deafness had disqualified me 
from singing in the chorus. 
Understand that a Jewish 
student was a curiosity in 
this blue collar, working class 
community. There was a 
“Jew store” across from the 
school, and it was a given 
that you could be “jewed” out 
of money. And while I was 
a decent student at Central 
High School, I became a star 
at Madison. My classmates 
were friendly and welcoming. 
The teachers seemed delight-
ed to find such an industri-
ous student, and I was able 
to start a school newspaper 
and become its editor, serve 

as a class officer, participate 
in forensics, have the leading 
role in the school play, serve 
in the homecoming court 
and graduate as valedictori-
an. 
Let me note, however, that 
there was a total of 37 stu-
dents in my graduating class 
and few were college-bound. 
I doubt that I would have had 
this honor at Central, which 
was awash with brilliant, 
ambitious scholars! 
I had also found a boy-
friend among my Madison 
classmates, even though I 
recall hurt feelings when a 
boy of interest referred to 
me as “a walking dictionary,” 
but I found a steady who 
escorted me to school dances 
and the prom. My parents, 
concerned that I might not 
marry a Jewish boy, had 
joined Temple Beth El when 

I was in the fifth grade. Thus, 
for my last two years of high 
school, I lived in two worlds: 
my Madison High School 
classmates were very differ-
ent from the Beth El crowd, 
many of whom were from 
the city’s most prominent 
families. 
Thus, to read that Jews 
are “living Jewishly in the 
Heights” evokes memories of 
a community that enriched 
my life. I’m not surprised 
that this influx is impacting 
the city’s government and 
culture and that newcomers 
are experiencing friendship 
and support. It’s even more 
gratifying to learn that the 
city council approved a 
proclamation recognizing 
International Holocaust 
Remembrance Day! 

— Edie Broida

West Bloomfield

