JUNE 16 • 2022 | 35
involvement of the Jewish
community in Detroit’s
Underground Railroad.
During the years of the
Underground Railroad,
members of the original
Temple Beth El, Detroit’s first
synagogue, helped supply
resources to runaway slaves
to assist in their escape.
“That really piqued my
interest,” he explains. “It was
so unexpected.”
Following the history
tour, attendees of Project
Understanding listened to
guest speakers and walked
away with what Smith calls
an “elevated understanding
of the ways that we are
similar and different, and
where there are opportunities
and challenges for working
together and moving
forward.”
The feedback, Smith says,
was “enormously positive”
and garnered a lot of interest
in continuing to build a
foundation between the Black
and Jewish communities.
“When people are really
clicking and starting to
connect as human beings …
watching that relationship
flourish, that’s the most
rewarding to me,” Smith says.
PURSUING A
PASSION FOR ART
Outside of his tech and
community work, Smith is
an avid lifelong drawer also
working on building an art
career. Drawing mazes and
tangles with pens, Smith is
presenting his first art gallery
show in Pontiac at 46 North,
which will be on display from
June 17-26.
“Over COVID-19, I
started to realize that people
responded positively to it,”
he says of his art. “It was
a way that I could bring
joy to people, and I was
doing something that I also
enjoyed.”
Smith plans to continue
drawing and see where this
new journey takes him.
“It’s representative of
what I want to be doing next,”
he says. “I really want to step
up and take this seriously.”
Jacob Smith’s artwork, Us Them
This Special Exhibit
explores the life and
work of a Czech
Jewish artist who
used art and satire
as tools of adaptation
and resistance
while imprisoned in
Theresienstadt. It
features 134 original
paintings and
drawings. Open now
to December 31.
To Paint is to Live
The Artwork of Erich Lichtblau-Leskly
28123 Orchard Lake Road
Farmington Hills MI 48334
holocaustcenter.org
(248) 553-2400