6 | JUNE 3 • 2021

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, reflecting 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


PURELY COMMENTARY

REDISTRICTING PROCESS from page 4

community spanning several
municipalities.
To ensure fair
representation, it is
incumbent upon the public
to advise the MICRC of
the communities of interest
throughout the state. To that
end, the MICRC is holding
public hearings, including
ones at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June
8, at Suburban Showplace in
Novi and at 6 p.m. Thursday,
June 10, at the Marriott in
Pontiac.
Engaging with the 2022
redistricting process is
critical to Metro Detroit’s
Jewish community. Not only
does the Jewish community
constitute a community of
interest under redistricting
guidelines, but, since 2010,
West Bloomfield Township,
the municipality with the
greatest number of Jews

in the state, has been
gerrymandered to ensure that
a municipality almost 25%
Jewish that consistently votes
for Democratic presidential
nominees by almost 2:1
margins has been represented
almost continuously by
Republicans in the Michigan
legislature.
West Bloomfield also bears
the distinction as one of the
only municipalities in the
entire state that has been
divided between two districts
on both the state legislative
and congressional maps. It
has also been separated from
neighboring communities
like Orchard Lake, Sylvan
Lake and Keego Harbor
— which all share similar
interests.
Divisions like those in
West Bloomfield disempower
communities and inhibit

collective political action, as
even the most attuned voters
struggle to remember which
district they live in and who
represents them.
To rectify gerrymanders
like those in West
Bloomfield, as well as ensure
the MICRC considers Jews
as a community of interest
in other municipalities we
live in, such as Huntington
Woods, Farmington Hills,
Bloomfield, Southfield,
Birmingham and Franklin,
Jewish Detroiters must be
present and engaged with the
Redistricting Commission’s
hearings.
At a time of rising anti-
Jewish hatred (Oakland
County alone has witnessed
35 anti-Jewish incidents over
the past four years out of 150
statewide, according to the
Anti-Defamation League)

and threats to voting rights,
environmental conservation
and other critical issues,
the Jewish community must
actively engage with the 2022
redistricting process and
advocate for our community
before the Michigan
Independent Citizens
Redistricting Commission.

For more resources on the
2022 redistricting process, visit
www.michiganredistricting.
org or contact Noah Arbit at
noah@mijewishdems.org.

Noah Arbit is the founder
and chairman of the Michigan
Democratic Jewish Caucus.
A native of West Bloomfield
Township, he also serves as
director of communications for
the Oakland County Prosecutor’s
Office.