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, refl
 ecting 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

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
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

6 | SEPTEMBER 2 • 2021 

continued from page 4

happy college life shifted dramatically. 
Classes were transitioned to a virtual 
format, which came with its share of 
complications. My lovely dorm I had 
been enjoying for the last five months 
had to be emptied prematurely. I moved 
out with the help of my family one rainy 
afternoon, clad in masks and gloves. No 
longer could I meet my friends in the 
dining hall, hang out in the Hillel lounge 
or simply walk about without a mask.
The changes hit me hard. My precious 
independence I’
d gained over my time 
in college was suddenly cut off, and 
I was forced to resort to Zoom and 
Facetime calls in order to connect with 
my loved ones. School online was totally 
new territory. Above all else, I felt I was 
missing out, that I was squandering these 
precious few years I had before I would 
need to join the workforce and become a 
full-fledged adult. 
Being a student during the pandemic 
has been a learning experience, one that 
has certainly shaped more than just my 
appreciation for the field of public health. 
It made me appreciate the smaller aspects 

of on-campus life I had previously taken 
for granted, such as the ability to study 
freely in a library or the chance to get 
a meal with friends in the dining hall 
before having a dorm movie night. It was 
these little things I miss most. 
It has now been over a year since I have 
been inside of a classroom, over a year 
since I have last been on campus. Now, 
I am poised to return. The dawn of the 
new fall semester rapidly approaches, and 
I look forward to it with hope. While it 
may not look like the student life I left 
behind all those months ago in March 
2020, it is a step toward healing from 
the many rugged changes the pandemic 
foisted upon our daily lives. It is a step on 
the road to normalcy. 
As I begin down this path, I walk with 
a newfound appreciation for all things 
small, a moment chatting with a friend, a 
second in a library, and I thank God for 
the opportunity to begin my college life 
anew. 

Loren Safta is a junior majoring in public health at 

Wayne State University.

PURELY COMMENTARY

Locker Room Memories
I really appreciate Jeffrey London’s 
reminiscence about the WB JCC’s 
Locker Room in the health club 
(Aug. 19, page 6). I also appreciate 
his thoughtful and touching 
comments about my Uncle Leo.
 I was a member of the Oak Park 
JCC for 21 years. We had the same 
camaraderie and fellowship in our 
locker room albeit for a shorter time. 
There was nothing like the JCC 
locker room in terms of building a 
sense of community, which many of 
us miss even more these days with 
so many COVID-19 restrictions 
still in place. It was a place where 
people of different neighborhoods 
and levels of religious observance 
could all come together and share a 
shvitz or watch a game. 
 The empty field along 10 Mile 
Road makes the memory of our Oak 
Park locker room that much more 
special. 

— Joshua A. Lerner

Huntington Woods

letters

