104 | JULY 14 • 2022 

BUSINESS

know, however, that he would 
fall in love with architecture. 
 “I really enjoyed the scale of it 
and the focus,” he says.
Yet before diving into 
architecture, Forta finished 
high school in 11th grade and 
spent the next year-and-a-half 
in Israel, studying at a yeshivah 
outside Jerusalem. 
 “I wasn’t really sure where I 
stood after high school as far as 
religion and Judaism,
” he says. 
“While I was there, I found how 
[Modern Orthodox Judaism] 
could relate to my life.
”
With a renewed perspective 
on Judaism in his pocket 
and after spending time 
volunteering at Shalva National 
Center for Children with 
Disabilities, Forta felt ready 
to take the next step in life 
back in Michigan at Lawrence 

Technological University.
There, he worked with 
Hillel of Metro Detroit to 
build a Jewish community 
at the school. However, as 
COVID-19 impacted both 
onsite programming and 
student organizations, Forta 
instead helped direct people 
toward other Hillel college 
programming in the area.
Now busy with graduate 
school and building his career 
in architectural design, Forta is 
looking forward to continuing 
to positively impact the 
community through his work.
His goal is “to raise the 
quality of life and the quality 
of neighborhoods without 
necessarily raising the prices 
of the neighborhoods,
” Forta 
says. “That’s where my interest 
landed.
” 

Because the government 
no longer holds regular 
auctions, Jeff relies on two 
big surplus shows held 
annually in Las Vegas and 
a worldwide distributors’ 
network.
According to Jeff, many 
people collect World War 
II items such as canteens 
and leather goods, and 
there is also a market for 
reproductions of gear used 
in World War II, the Korean 
War and the Vietnam War. 
In addition, Joe’s Army 
Navy stocks extensive 
name-brand cold weather 
and camping equipment, 
including items for Camp 
Tamarack, as well as 
specialized shoes and boots. 
The store has “80 feet of 
specialized bags to transport 

stuff,” Jeff says.
He enjoys the search 
for unusual merchandise, 
such as reverse osmosis 
cylinders, used in treating 
water. (Three out of 15 have 
sold.) “There is a lot of 
detailed, computer work. I’m 
constantly looking for new 
and oddball stuff. I truly 
enjoy the business,” Jeff says.
According to the Gold-
smiths, many army surplus 
stores have closed. “We have 
a tremendous number of 
returning customers,” Jeff 
says.
His father adds that 
some of them are second-
generation customers. Joe’s 
Army Navy celebrated its 
50th earlier this month with 
sales, refreshments and gifts 
at both store locations. 

50 YEARS from page 103
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Promised Land

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Hands in 
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