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