OCTOBER 7 • 2021 | 9

pastrami still goes best on rye, 
as time goes by.
” 
We also began creating 
some new traditions in our 
home. At a talk for parents 
of bnai mitzvot, a rabbi gave 
some simple but great advice 
about creating a more Jewish 
home on Shabbat: “Just do 
something.
” So, we started 
singing a few prayers and 
lighting Shabbat candles. Bim 
bom, Shabbat shalom, and 
prayers over wine and challah 
made a difference. 
My wife and I joined a 
Temple Israel chorus, lovingly 
led by Cantor Neil Michaels, 
giving us something we could 
do together, she as an alto 
and I as a baritone. Singing 
cemented our involvement 
at temple and helped make 
Kabbalat Shabbat services feel 
more meaningful and spiri-
tual. And even when COVID 
prevented us from attending 
services, we could still listen 
and sing on Zoom from our 
kitchen table.

FULL CIRCLE
Skipping ahead many years, I 
recall how singing helped us 
feel connected with our aging 
parents. Leslie’s father and 
my mother had passed away, 
which left my mother-in law, 
Eileen, and my dad, Leon, as 
the matriarch and patriarch 
of our family. And when we 
got together, after dinner, we 
often got out song sheets from 
their era, and I improvised the 
chords and we found out what 

“oldies but goodies” really 
meant! And when Leon and 
then Eileen each gradually 
reached the waning days of 
their lives, we sang with them 
and to them at their bedsides. 
So, what goes around does 
come around. Leslie singing 
to our grandchildren and at 
her mom’s bedside. My mom, 
instilling the joy of singing 
within me, which I then 
passed forward to my kids and 
grandkids (and anyone else 
who will listen to my songs). 
Singing at the seder with those 
old tunes to maintain the fam-
ily traditions. My grandson 
learning to play the guitar and 
singing Beatles songs with me. 
My granddaughter singing 
sweetly in musicals and in the 
temple youth choir. 
Hopefully, next Pesach, 
Papa and Grandma will kvell 
as one of our younger family 
members dares to ask the 
Four Questions for the first 
time. And, many years from 
now, I can only hope that my 
grandchildren will remember 
their papa singing songs I 
wrote especially for them on 
each of their birthdays. And 
when they recall our family 
singing together at the seder 
table, maybe at least one of 
my grandchildren will show 
one of their children the only 
proper (Eisenberg) way to sing 
“
Adir Hu” (after the men fin-
ish washing the dishes)! 

Dr. Jeff London is a retired child 

psychiatrist from Farmington Hills.

“MANY YEARS FROM NOW, 
I CAN ONLY HOPE THAT MY 
GRANDCHILDREN WILL REMEMBER 
THEIR PAPA SINGING SONGS 
I WROTE ESPECIALLY FOR THEM 
ON EACH OF THEIR BIRTHDAYS.”

C
l
i
c
k. C
a
ll. G
i
v
eN
o
w
. 
www.hfldetroit.org • 248.723.8184

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

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@HFLDetroit

Community donations help Hebrew Free Loan give
interest-free loans to local Jews for a variety of personal,
health, educational and small business needs.

For more than 120 years, Hebrew Free Loan
has been a resource for small businesses in
Michigan. In fact, it was a group of businessmen
who met in the back room of a Detroit shoe
store to create Hebrew Free Loan at a time
when banks wouldn’t lend to Jews. Loans
made from the new agency helped businesses
begin, purchase merchandise and employ
workers. The success of Michigan’s Jewish
community is closely woven with HFL.
If you have experience, ideas, drive and
vision, how can you bring those things into
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or expanding an existing one; whether you’re
doing it on your own, or as part of a team,
Hebrew Free Loan’s Marvin I. Danto
Small Business Loan Program may be
able to help you consider the possibilities.
What are you dreaming of? Contact
Hebrew Free Loan at 248.723.8184 to
begin the conversation.
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