6 | MAY 6 • 2021 PURELY COMMENTARY 1942 - 2021 Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.djnfoundation.org The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to: Detroit Jewish News, 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan 48334 MISSION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will be of service to the Jewish community. The Detroit Jewish News will inform and educate the Jewish and general community to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish people of greater Detroit and beyond, and the State of Israel. VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater Detroit Jewish community, refl ecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity. DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-354-6060 thejewishnews.com Publisher The Detroit Jewish News Foundation | Board of Directors: Chair: Gary Torgow Vice President: David Kramer Secretary: Robin Axelrod Treasurer: Max Berlin Board members: Larry Jackier, Jeffrey Schlussel, Mark Zausmer Senior Advisor to the Board: Mark Davidoff Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair: Mike Smith Founding President & Publisher Emeritus: Arthur Horwitz Founding Publisher Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory | Editorial DIrector of Editorial: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@thejewishnews.com Associate Editor: David Sachs dsachs@thejewishnews.com Social Media and Digital Producer: Nathan Vicar nvicar@thejewishnews.com Staff Reporter: Danny Schwartz dschwartz@thejewishnews.com Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@thejewishnews.com Senior Columnist: Danny Raskin dannyraskin2132@gmail.com Contributing Writers: Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Leibman Dorfman, Louis Finkelman, Stacy Gittleman, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Robin Schwartz, Mike Smith, Steve Stein, Ashley Zlatopolsky | Advertising Sales Director of Advertising: Keith Farber kfarber@thejewishnews.com Senior Account Executive: Kathy Harvey-Mitton kmitton@thejewishnews.com | Business Office Director of Operations: Amy Gill agill@thejewishnews.com Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho agusho@thejewishnews.com Operations Assistant: Ashlee Szabo Circulation: Danielle Smith Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner | Production By Farago & Associates Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Designers: Kelly Kosek, Kaitlyn Schoen, Michelle Sheridan 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