E
ighty years ago, there was much to
talk and read about. America was still
reeling from the Japanese sneak attack
on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. Japan
declared war on the United States and Britain
after the attack on Hawaii and Honolulu. The
following day, the United States declared war
on Japan, and three days later, Germany and
Italy declared war on the U.S, after which
the U.S. declared war against them. Detroit’s
newspapers on Dec. 15, sorted out the facts
and destruction eight days earlier.
At Pearl Harbor, six warships were
destroyed, 2,729 men killed and 656 wound-
ed. One of the 2,729 killed was a 27-year-old
Jewish Detroiter, Harold Eli Shiffman. A
graduate of Central High School, Shiffman
enlisted in the Navy in 1940 and was sta-
tioned on the battleship Arizona as a radio-
man.
My uncle, Sammy Cohen, was married
at the Beth Tefilo Emanuel synagogue, then
on the corner of Taylor Street and Woodrow
Wilson in Detroit, on Dec. 7, 1941. He was
a member of Young Israel of Detroit and
so were most of the guests. The talk at the
wedding was war, and the young men knew
they soon would get an invitation from
Uncle Sam to report for induction. My Uncle
Sammy was ticketed to report for duty on
the second night of Passover. My older cous-
in related that the family was together for a
seder, and Uncle Sammy had to leave early.
Uncle Sammy saw military action in Italy
and was wounded storming enemy lines. He
was awarded the Bronze Star, Combat Badge
and Purple Heart for his heroics and spent
months recuperating at military hospitals.
He died in 1990 at the age of 80, but was
proudest that his children, grandchildren
and great-grandchildren were all observant
Jews. Today, the number is over a hundred,
and each and every one is an observant Jew.
“That’s the way to beat Hitler,
” he used to say.
Uncle Sammy knew the way the torch of
religious Judaism would pass on to the next
generation was to send his children to Jewish
day school, and his five children all graduat-
ed the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in the 1960s.
JEWISH SCHOOLS
However, 80 years ago in 1942, there were
no Jewish day schools in Detroit. The
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, then an afternoon
and Sunday school, housed over a hundred
students in six grades in a four-flat (two units
on the first floor and two above on the sec-
ond floor) on Elmhurst near Linwood while
the new YBY building, in partnership with
Congregation Mogen Abraham on Dexter
and Cortland, was in the finishing stages of
construction.
At the time, the United Hebrew Schools,
also offering a Hebrew studies program,
was headquartered in the Rose Sittig Cohen
Building on Lawton and Tyler, and the sys-
tem had a staff of 42 with almost 1,500 stu-
dents spread around several school buildings.
Samuel and Leah Bookstein donated
$25,000 toward the purchase of a building
on Linwood and Elmhurst to be transformed
into Yeshivath Chachmei Lublin. Rabbi
Moshe Rotenberg, a graduate of the insti-
tution in Lublin who had come to America
earlier in the year, served as dean of the
school.
JEWISH NEWSPAPERS
In 1942, Detroit had a population of over 1.7
million. The city had seven radio stations
and three daily newspapers, the Detroit
Free Press, the Detroit News and the Detroit
Times. The Jewish community had its publi-
cations, too.
For 26 years, since 1916, the weekly
Detroit Jewish Chronicle reported on the
happenings in the Jewish community. Most
people saw no need for another local Jewish
weekly. However, several community mem-
bers formed an advisory board and financial
backing behind editor Phillip Slomovitz.
Slomovitz had emigrated from Russia in
adolescence and mastered writing English.
He began his journalism career as a night
editor on the University of Michigan’s
student publication and graduated to the
Detroit News copy desk as a reporter and
editor. His interest in championing Jewish
causes and issues led to editorships with
the Jewish Pictorial, the Jewish Telegraphic
Agency and the Detroit Jewish Chronicle.
80 Years Ago
14 | JANUARY 20 • 2022
OUR COMMUNITY
HISTORY
In 1942, Joe Biden and the Jewish News
were both born.
IRWIN J. COHEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Yeshivath
Chachmei Lublin
Phil Slomovitz, circa 1990