6 | DECEMBER 30 • 2021 

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, 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

Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne 
Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Keri Guten 
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, 
Julie Smith Yolles, 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, 
 Deborah Schultz, Michelle Sheridan 
 

PURELY COMMENTARY

W

hen I finished 
rabbinical school 
in 2018, I entered 
the “real world” with $40,000 
in student loans. I acted fast, 
prioritizing repayment over 
everything 
else. Within six 
months, I paid 
nearly $10,000 to 
eliminate inter-
est, and I con-
tinued allocating 
three times my 
expected month-
ly payment. Interest didn’t get 
much chance to build, and 
when we hit the pandemic 
pause, I was on track to clear 
my loans in two years.

I am unbelievably lucky. 
My parents were able to help 
me with undergrad (due to 
generational wealth resulting 

from many Jews being coded 
as white after World War II). I 
had a scholarship covering half 
of rabbinical school, and my 

financial education set me up 
to make the decision to throw 
as much as I could at my loans 
as soon as I finished school.
One of my closest friends? 
Not so lucky. To pay the loans 
he took for his advanced 
degree, he would need to pay 
twice his rent each month 
just to scrape the top off the 
principal. His best hope (and 
current plan) is Public Student 
Loan Forgiveness, but the 
problems with that program 
have been well documented, 
and it’s nerve-wracking to 
watch his balance go up each 
month as interest continues to 
build.
When our current president 
campaigned, he acknowl-
edged the burden of student 
loans and promised to forgive 
$10,000 per borrower. Some 
are also calling for student 
loans to be forgiven entirely 
due to predatory loan prac-
tices coupled with the often 
false promise made to my gen-

opinion
We’re in a Shmita Year. So Why 
Aren’t American Jews Talking 
More About Student Debt Relief?

Rabbi Emily 
Cohen
JTA.org
Activists hold signs calling on President Joe Biden to cancel student 
debt and not resume student loan payments outside the White House, 
Dec. 15, 2021.

PAUL MORIGI/GETTY IMAGES FOR WE, THE 45 MILLION

