4 | JULY 14 • 2022 

W

hen the 
Jewish News 
approached me 
about contributing to its 
80th anniversary issue, I 
was honored 
and humbled. 
Honored to be 
invited to share 
thoughts with 
this community. 
Humbled 
because I have 
worked in 
Detroit’s Jewish 
community for less than 
10% of the time that this 
newspaper has served as its 
scribe.
I felt similarly nervous and 

excited when I was asked to 
join the William Davidson 
Foundation in 2015. Despite 
a career in nonprofits and 
in-law connections to this 
region, I harbored doubts. 
Who was I to help 
lead a family foundation 
with a commitment to 
securing a bright future for 
Detroit, Israel and Jewish 
communities across the 
diaspora? I was not from 
Detroit. I had never visited 
Israel. And — I am truly 
embarrassed to admit — 
in my first week, I had 
to Google what “Shabbat 
Shalom” meant when that 
phrase filled my Friday 

inbox.
The Davidsons, Southeast 
Michigan and the Jewish 
people of Greater Detroit 
welcomed this stranger, 
and the Jewish News helped 
familiarize me with the 
culture of this beautiful 
community. After more 
than seven years now, I not 
only wish friends “Shabbat 
Shalom” — but I also know 
the difference between tzitzit 
and tzimtzum, Heschel and 
Herzl, shmurah and shmitah. 
My life is richer because of 
the words and phrases I have 
learned. As a now frequent 
traveler to Israel, my soul is 
nourished by the country’s 

spirit, food, pragmatism and 
joy. I am a better person 
having been introduced to 
the stories, traditions and 
relationships I experience 
daily at the William 
Davidson Foundation. 
Identities take shape this 
way. We mix what we inherit 
with what we discover. And 
like individual identities, 
communities also take 
form and remain vibrant 
this way. We hold what gets 
handed down and combine 
it with what we encounter. 
Evolution and growth are the 
products of a dance between 
the familiar and the foreign. 
In this context, 

column

80 Years, and It’s Just the Beginning
I

n November 1942, 
Winston Churchill said 
of the war, “Now this is 
not the end. It is not even 
the beginning of the end. But 
it is, perhaps, 
the end of the 
beginning.” 
Earlier that 
year, a visionary 
journalist who 
immigrated 
from Russia in 
1910, leveraged 
his learnings 
from his degree 
in journal-
ism from the 
University of 
Michigan and 
his experiences 
as a writer for 
the Jewish Chronicle to launch 

the Detroit Jewish News. This 
leader knew that the Jewish 
community would be desper-
ate for news and perspective 
given the unfolding devasta-
tion of World War II.
His name was Philip 
Slomovitz.
In that first issue, pub-
lished March 27, 1942, Mr. 
Slomovitz proclaimed: “We 
promise to give our people 
the latest news and histori-
cal data concerning Jews all 
over the world. We pledge 
to help build up the morale 
of the Jews in this war-torn 
world by fostering that spir-
it of brotherhood which 
will assure amity and good 
will among all faiths of the 
United States, the world’s 
greatest nation.” 

In this 80th anniversary 
issue, we proudly reprint 
the first edition of this great 
paper, with the support 
of the William Davidson 
Foundation, which has been 
instrumental in supporting 
the Detroit Jewish News 
Foundation and countless 
other important institutions 
and endeavors. We are grate-
ful for the ongoing support 
for this publication and 
for the William Davidson 
Archives of Jewish Detroit 
History.
When the Detroit Jewish 
News Foundation assumed 
ownership and control of 
the Detroit Jewish News in 
late 2020 from Publisher 
Emeritus Arthur Horwitz, 
the publication became part 

of a charitable enterprise and 
evolved into both a commu-
nity-supporting organization 
and a community-supported 
organization.
The newly constituted 
Board of Directors of the 
Foundation adopted mission 
and vision statements pledg-
ing in part “to be of service 
to the Jewish and general 
community” and to advance 
“the morale and spirit of 
the community, advocating 
Jewish unity, identity and 
continuity.” 
As you flip through the 
reprint of the first issue, you 
will note the story of Sgt. 
Hank Greenberg and the 
call to action by Fred M. 
Butzel on behalf of the Allied 
Jewish Campaign. 

Gary 
Torgow

Mark 
Davidoff

PURELY COMMENTARY

column
Welcoming the Stranger

Darin 
McKeever
 

80 YEARS on page 6

STRANGER on page 6