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. 

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, 
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

| Advertising Sales 
Director of Advertising: Keith Farber
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Senior Account Executive: 
Kathy Harvey-Mitton
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| Business Office
 Director of Operations: Amy Gill
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 Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho 
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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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