JULY 8 • 2021 | 21

F

or the first time in 38 days 
since Frontier Myanmar
managing editor and 
Metro Detroit native Danny 
Fenster was taken prisoner at 
Insein Prison in Myanmar, he 
was granted a phone call on June 
30 with his wife, Juliana, who 
took it from the U.S. Embassy 
with his brother Bryan Fenster 
patched in from another phone. 
“It was mostly us checking in,
” 
said Bryan in a phone interview 
with the JN. 
“We established he was OK, 
and we told him the whole 
world is watching and we are 
doing all we can as a family to 
get him out. He sounded good, 

and he said he was healthy. I was 
even able to crack a joke with 
him and hear him laugh. We 
know he will be home soon, but 
not soon enough.
” 
Danny had his second court 
hearing on July 1 in Yangon 
and was sent back to prison for 
another two weeks before his 
next July 15 hearing. 
On July 1, Danny’s employer 
Frontier Myanmar reported 
that a police complaint letter 
filed with the court confirms 
that the authorities arrested 
Frontier Myanmar managing 
editor Danny Fenster because 
they believed he was working 
at Myanmar Now, despite him 

having resigned from that media 
outlet in July 2020.
“Frontier believes Danny has 
done nothing wrong, and we 
reiterate our call for his imme-
diate and unconditional release. 
The documents in Danny’s case 
file just further underscore why 
he should be freed immediately.
”
Though Bryan said that the 
phone call and news of his sec-
ond hearing with the presence 
of a counselor from the U.S. 
Embassy are encouraging, he 
and his family will not rest until 

Danny is back on U.S. soil. 
Bryan stayed up late into the 
night of June 30 to hear the 
outcome of the July 1 hearing, 
which took place at 10 a.m.
“There is still no charge even 
after his second hearing,
” said 
Bryan. “He has complied with 
Myanmar laws, policies and 
codes of the country, and he 
has respected the culture there 
the whole time. It would have 
been the perfect opportunity to 
deport him, but there is still no 
indication that’s going to happen; 
there is still no timeframe.
“We are so thankful to the U.S. 
Department of State and U.S. 
Embassy in Myanmar for their 
continued effort to secure access 
to Danny, and these are small 
successes,
” said Bryan.
“We are not done. Not even 
close. Success is not a phone call. 
Success is Danny Fenster, here, 
home in the United States. We 
will continue to work with and 
push our government.
” 

COURTESY OF BRYAN FENSTER

Another hearing set for July 15.

Family Speaks
to Danny Fenster

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Bryan and Danny Fenster, 
September 2019, at a 
friend’s wedding in Krakow, 
Poland. It was the last time 
the brothers saw each other.

R

econstructionist 
Congregation T’
chiyah 
has a new home.
The congregation was found-
ed in 1977 with the mission of 
building an acces-
sible, welcoming, 
diverse, inclusive 
Jewish community 
that integrates a 
deep commitment 
to social justice with 
robust, dynamic 
meaningful spirituality.
The congregation will 
now meet at the First United 
Methodist Church in Ferndale.
The shul outgrew its previous 
home at the David and Miriam 
Mondry Building in Oak 
Park on the Taubman Jewish 
Community Campus, according 

to T’
chiyah’s community engage-
ment associate Jake Ehrlich.
“Our congregation has been 
consistently growing since 2014,
” 
he said. “It’s the largest we’ve ever 
been now with 130 folks.
”
T’
chiyah settled in at its new 
home on June 22. The location 
is good for its members. “When 
looking at our membership 
historically and currently, we’re 
almost about 50-50 between 
folks who live in Detroit and in 
the suburbs,
” Ehrlich said.
The congregation chose to 
rent space from the First United 
Methodist because of the orga-
nizations’ shared values, such 
as the embracing of the Black 
Lives Matter movement and the 
LGBTQ+ community. Ehrlich 
said that one-third of congre-

gants identify as LGBTQ+. 
When T’
chiyah returns to 
in-person events, its schedule 
will consist of weekly services on 
either Friday or Saturday. The 
first scheduled in-person event 
at T’
chiyah’s new home will take 
place during the High Holidays. 
 Congregation T’
chiyah will 
host a virtual entertainment gala 
on Thursday, July 22, at 7 p.m., 
titled, T’chiyah m’CHAIyah 2021: 
All Dressed Up & Nowhere to Go!
This fundraiser variety show 
revue features comedy, music 
and other lifegiving shtick, 
including Detroit techno from 
T’
chiyah’s own Jo Rad Silver; 
Geulah Finman, a stand-up, 

sketch, improv comedienne and 
show producer native to Detroit 
and now in San Francisco; skits 
directed by Barbara Goldman, 
and headliner; feminist come-
dian and host of the Misandry 
Podcast, Marcia Belsky. In 2014, 
she was a semifinalist in the 
NBC Stand Up competition. 
Get tickets ($18-$540) at www.
tchiyah.org/mchaiyah. Higher 
level tickets come with “Cheese 
Plate-in-a-Box” from Mongers 
Provisions. Commercial spon-
sorships are welcome. Direct 
inquiries to Victoria Kohl at 
vikol123@yahoo.com.
For information, email Ehrlich 
at tchiyahjake@gmailcom. 

IMDB

Marcia 
Belsky

Congregation T’chiyah moves 
to Ferndale, plans fundraiser.
New Home

BRIAN GOLDSMITH JN INTERN

New home of T’Chiyah

