Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

54 | DECEMBER 16 • 2021 

People of the Book
I 

am a dinosaur. While I spend several 
hours every day reading online news 
and stories, when I want to seriously 
read, I still turn to books. You know, those 
old-fashioned, paper-based things that you 
hold in your hands. No scrolling down the 
screen: When reading a book, you must 
physically exert yourself and manually 
turn the page. 
Books do take up space in one’s home. 
Especially, if certain people 
— not me, of course (wink, 
wink) — possess a few 
hundred of these antiquities. 
As an archivist who has 
spent a career preserving 
the written word, I have 
been disturbed by recent 
reports pertaining to books. 
In November, the American Library 
Association reported an “unprecedented 
rise in attempts to ban books in libraries” 
for 2021. In Virginia, one school board 
member vigorously promoted the notion 
of burning books that did not meet his 
politics. 
It is one thing for a school board to 
deliberate about a particular book and 
whether that volume is appropriate for 
an age-specific audience. It is another to 
advocate wholesale banning, or worse, 
burning. Such attitudes remind me of 
book burning in Nazi Germany when, 
regardless of content, books were tossed 
into the flames, just for the crime of 
having Jewish authors.
However, if book lovers seek 
encouragement about the staying power 
of books and libraries, just cruise through 
the William Davidson Digital Archive of 
Jewish Detroit History. There are hundreds 
of entries related to Jewish libraries, to say 
nothing of reviews of individual books on 
Jewish subjects and/or by Jewish authors, 
or stories about events like the annual 
Detroit Jewish Book Fair.
A few stories caught my eye. In 
the 1920s, the Detroit Jewish Chronicle 
published many items about libraries 

around the world. In its March 18, 1921 
issue, the Chronicle noted the opening 
of the first Jewish library in Glasgow, 
Scotland. The Aug. 3, 1923 issue has 
a prominent story about the Jewish 
Theological Seminary in New York 
securing the “Greatest Jewish Library in 
the World.” There are also many reports 
of new Jewish libraries in Palestine during 
that decade.
The post-World War II era is very 
interesting. There are numerous stories in 
the Chronicle and JN about Jewish libraries 
being reopened as Nazi-looted books and 
documents were returned to their owners. 
See the reports about this phenomenon 
occurring in Amsterdam (April 5, 1946, 
JN) and Lublin, Poland (March 15, 1946, 
Chronicle) or the editorial in the June 1, 
1945, Chronicle, “Books for Europe.”
Libraries still matter today. This past 
March, retired Judge Avern and Lois Cohn 
donated more than 500 selected books 
to the Historical Society of Michigan 
for its Lois and Avern Cohn Library 
and Archives (March 24, 2021, JN), and 
the Detroit Jewish Library opened at 
Congregation Dovid ben Nuchim 
in Oak Park (March 3, 2021, 
JN). Five years ago, the Machom 
Devorah library also opened in Oak 
Park (Dec. 8, 2016, JN).
And it’s not all about paper. 
Modern libraries are increasingly 
offering digital books and other 
resources. The first reported 
electronically accessible Jewish 
Library in Detroit was at 
Congregation B’nai Moshe (Nov. 29, 
2007, JN).
“The People of the Book” can 
boast of a long history of supporting 
libraries, whether paper or digital. I 
could not find any story of a Jewish 
library burning books. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN 
Foundation archives, available for free at www.
djnfoundation.org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

