16 | JULY 29 • 2021 

A

n ice cream social 
event was held 
on the Jewish 
Senior Life campus in West 
Bloomfield, with residents 
of the Marvin & Betty 
Danto Health Care Center, 
Fleischman Residence 
and Hechtman and Meer 
Apartments attending with 
support from the Ella Baker 
Lecture and Music Series 
Fund. 
Ella Baker was a resident 
who spent many years at 
Hechtman, then Fleischman 
and finally at Danto. In her 
memory, Ella’s daughter 
Esther Salamon established 
a special fund for residents 
at JSL in West Bloomfield to 
be entertained and enhanced 
with a series of music and 

speaker engagements. This 
was the kickoff event of the 
fund, with many more events 
expected. 
Rennie and Esther 
Kaufmann, a singing father 
and daughter duo, performed 
various songs at the event, 
which also featured an ice 
cream truck.
Sarah Lowe, a resident of 
Danto, was one of the many 
residents enjoying ice cream, 
the music and the friendly 
scene. 
“We’re just so happy they’re 
showing concern for seniors, 
because we enjoy being 
thought of and we appreciate 
it so very much,” Lowe said.
“It means a lot, it gets us 
outside and enjoying the air, 
and allows us to see every-

body,” Fleischman resident 
Ileene Zate said. “We’ve been 
stuck inside for COVID, and 
we’re out now and enjoying 
ourselves.” 
Tracey Proghovnick, direc-
tor of Residential Marketing 
and Community Relations for 
JSL, realizes the significance 
of the event after how tough 
the past year and a half has 
been. 
“It’s so wonderful to see 
smiles on faces, people enjoy-
ing ice cream and being 
together again on a beautiful 
summer day,” Proghovnick 
said. “We may have taken it 
for granted before the pan-
demic, and now we appreciate 
it even more so than ever.
“Ella loved to walk, 
loved flowers, loved music 
and everyone knew her,” 
Proghovnick recalled. “I hope 
today she’s looking down and 
smiling at this beautiful event 
in her honor.” 

MUSIC BRINGS JOY
Bracha Drissman, direc-
tor of Life Enrichment for 

JSL provides cool treats, cool music.
Ice Cream Social

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

DANNY SCHWARTZ

Ileene Zate enjoys the social.

Rennie and Esther Kaufmann

T

he Cohn-Haddow 
Center for Judaic 
Studies at Wayne 
State University announced 
that Batsheva Ishakis (from 
Bais Yaakov) Ariella Leib 
(Farber Hebrew Day School), 
Emily Abrams (Walled Lake 
Northern High School) 
and Adam Arnold (North 
Farmington High School) 
are the winners of its Annual 
High School Jewish Writing 
Competition.

This competition, now in 
its sixth year, invites high 
school students across the 
Metropolitan Detroit area to 
submit an essay or poetry on 
any Jewish-related topic. The 
goal of this competition, center 
Director Howard Lupovitch 
explained at a recent awards 
ceremony held on campus, 
is “to encourage burgeoning 
young Jewish intellectuals 
to think and write not only 
reflectively but critically — 

an especially 
important skill at 
a time when 140 
characters passes 
for complete 
thought.”
For the sixth 
straight year, the 
center received many strong 
entries, from which it chose 
the four winners. Ishakis’ 
entry, titled 
“Pride,” describes 
the will and power 
we have within to 
stand up for who 
we are and our 
beliefs.
Leib’s entry 
titled, “There Will Always Be 
People,” outlines the reality 
of the human experience 
(differences in political and 

religious beliefs 
and lives) and 
that rather than 
fight each other, 
we should follow 
our own path and 
respect each other.
Abrams’ entry, 
titled “Faith and Pride-Lost 
and Found,” describes how the 
darkest moments of her life — 
the antisemitism by her middle 
school peers that led her away 
from Judaism and Jewish life 
— led her to the 
B’nai B’rith Girls 
and a stronger 
connection with 
her Jewish identity 
and community.
Arnold’s 
entry, titled 
“The Epiphany of the 21st 

Four high schoolers named winners
in Cohn-Haddow writing contest.

Up and Coming
Student Writers

JN STAFF

Batsheva 
Ishakis

Ariella Leib

Adam 
Arnold

Emily 
Abrams

OUR COMMUNITY

