6 | AUGUST 5 • 2021

1942 - 2021

Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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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.

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Detroit Jewish News,

32255 Northwestern Highway, #205,

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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,
of blessed memory

Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne
Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Shari S.
Cohen, Shelli Liebman 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

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Director of Advertising: Keith Farber
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Senior Account Executive:
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| Business Office
Director of Operations: Amy Gill
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Circulation: Danielle Smith
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| Production By
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PURELY COMMENTARY

and now only wait 28 days
between receiving two doses of
the same vaccine.
I experience the stark differ-
ence between our two realities
as soon as I pull up to U.S.
Customs and Border Protection,
where the guards are generally
maskless; Canadian guards and
travelers are required to wear
masks at border control. Despite
the Delta variant, I notice that
most Detroit residents contin-
ue to be maskless, including
employees at grocery stores and
restaurants. Shops and restau-
rants are buzzing, although
Downtown is still relatively
quiet, and people are living
not too differently from their
pre-pandemic lives.
Just a short drive away in
Windsor, it is still not uncom-
mon to see residents wearing
N-95 masks when in their car
alone or walking outside on an
empty street.
Despite Ontario now being

significantly more vaccinated
than Michigan, the Detroit
Jewish community appears to
have come back to life in a way
that we have not. Handshakes
and hugs have returned, meet-
ings are in-person again, and on
almost a weekly basis invitations
are being sent out to a wide
swath of in-person social and
cultural events. Jewish organi-
zations throughout the city are
starting to publicize internation-
al trips for young adults this fall
and winter, and Detroiters are
getting on planes for their sum-
mer vacations.

MORE RESTRICTIONS
Throughout Ontario, masks
are required in just about every
indoor situation, with a max-
imum of 25 people permitted
in a room, regardless of their
vaccination status. Asking for
someone’s vaccination status is
still legally murky and culturally
unacceptable, resulting in some

Canadians not feeling the urge
to get vaccinated, as being vac-
cinated does not automatically
translate into new freedoms.
Most meetings continue to be
held via Zoom, and summer
vacations are still mostly driving
distance.
Whereas President Biden
removed his mask on May 13
following the CDC’s revised
mask guidance, many of
Canada’s fully vaccinated federal
and local politicians are still
masked outdoors, elbow-bump-
ing their constituents and
behaving almost identically
to how we all did throughout
pre-vaccine 2020. Up until a
couple of weeks ago, basic activ-
ities in Ontario such as getting
a haircut and indoor dining
were forbidden, which left small
business owners no choice but
to operate an underground
black-market economy in order
to survive.
Restricting economic activ-

ity for so long and forbidding
cross-border tourism have
resulted in the closure of many
small businesses throughout
Windsor; I was shocked to
recently walk down Erie Street
in Little Italy and see so many
barricaded storefronts.
There are many aspects of
Canada I greatly appreciate,
such as its diversity, universal
healthcare and the general
civility of its people. I genuinely
hope that the Biden administra-
tion decides to reopen the land
border next month, not only to
revive cross-border tourism and
reunite loved ones, but espe-
cially because Canadians will
greatly benefit from observing
an alternative, and in my view,
more sustainable way of learn-
ing to live with COVID-19.

Originally from Boston, Dan Brotman

is a member of the Windsor Jewish

Community. He writes in his personal

capacity.

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