6 | MARCH 10 • 2022

1942 - 2022

Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
FOUNDATION
go to the website
www.djnfoundation.org

The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520)

is published every Thursday at

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Farmington Hills, Michigan. Periodical

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Detroit Jewish News,

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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:
Rachel Sweet
rsweet@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
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Senior Account Executive:
Kathy Harvey-Mitton
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| Business Office
Director of Operations: Amy Gill
agill@thejewishnews.com
Operations Manager: Andrea Gusho
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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


Bombing
of Babi-Yar
The name Babi-Yar (Babyn
Yar) has deep resonance
in the Jewish world. It
was the site of one of the
worst massacres during the
Holocaust. More than 33,000
Jews were shot at close range
by the Einsatzgruppen, units
of the Nazi army whose only
job was to shoot Jews all
day and all night. This was,
of course, before the Nazis
perfected their mass-killing
apparatus. This was personal,
intimate, grotesque.
My Northwestern professor,
Peter Hayes, did seminal
research on how the Nazis
kept their soldiers plastered
so they could carry out the
horrifying task without
protesting too much. Until
yesterday, a memorial
complex and Jewish cemetery
marked the site. On March
1, Putin bombed it. Yes, the
same Putin who claimed he

was “de-Nazifying” Ukraine
by targeting/removing/killing
its Jewish president!
Nothing about this war has
been justified, civilized or
rational. But the symbolism
behind bombing Babi-Yar
is almost too much to bear.
I pray the world continues
and escalates the response to
Putin’s war before it is truly
too late.
And this certainly won’t
solve it, but the World Union
for Progressive Judaism
has set up a crisis fund. I
hope you will join me in
contributing generously at
https://wupj.org/give/ukraine.

— Rabbi Mark Miller

Temple Beth-El

In Praise of
Zelensky
So much for the stereotype of
the submissive Jew; German
soldiers marching/herding
them into the Warsaw ghetto,
onto cattle rail cars and into

the Auschwitz ovens.
I am so proud of the
Jewish Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the
large number of Ukrainian
Jews staying to fight to the
death in a hopeless battle
against Putin’s invaders.
Zelenskyy knows he is
Putin’s No. 1 target to be
captured or killed. He refuses
offers to escape to safety and
form a government in exile.
I will be lighting another,
ninth, Chanukah candle to
honor this man. Killed or not;
he is as much a hero in our
history as the Israelites on
Masada.
Please join me in planning
to light another, ninth,
Chanukah candle for
Volodymer Zelensky!

— Lawrence Freedman

Bingham Farms

Volunteers
for Israel
Regarding the Feb. 24
“Federation Offers Two
Birthright Trips in May”
(page 24), we recommend
young adults and students
explore Volunteers for Israel,
added to their Birthright
experience, to volunteer on
IDF bases working and eating
meals alongside soldiers,
sleeping in the barracks
and learning what the IDF
experience means to their
peers in Israel.
For more information on
this trip, contact our Campus
Director Mallory Kovit at
malloryvficampus@gmail.
com. For online information
and an application, go to
vfi-usa.org, scroll down to
“Programs” and click on
“Young Adults.” To contact
VFI, call (248) 420-3729 or
email michigan@vfi-usa.org.

— Carol Kent and Ed Kohl

VFI Great Lakes Regional Directors

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