SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022 | 29

AT THE END OF LIFE

Ezra Drissman of Oak Park, formally of 
Farmington Hills, is a young father who has 
unfortunately experienced several family 
deaths in recent years. His mother, Harriet 
Drissman, passed away unexpectedly nine 
years ago. Three weeks after that, his father-
in-law, Rabbi Eliezer Cohen, passed away. 
“The community was incredible,
” Ezra 
said. “I can’t describe the amount of phone 
calls, visits and food that stocked our 
fridge.
”
More recently, Ezra watched as his elderly 
father’s health slowly deteriorated until he 
passed away in May 2022. 
“While losing a parent is always difficult 
and painful, shivah this time was much 
more therapeutic,
” Ezra said. “It was both 
sad and a celebration and remembrance of 
who he was.
”
Ezra had only recently joined Rabbi 
Bromberg’s shul and hadn’t even met every-
one in the congregation, but every member 
came to the shivah. 
“They didn’t know me, but they took the 

time,
” he said. “I think that the Jewish com-
munity comes together in times of death is 
what is so enduring. There I was, my world 
was quite literally crushed. I can’t think of a 
lonelier time in life than after the death of a 
parent or close family member. There isn’t 
that smiling face or warm hug … These 
small tokens, these visits, this time these 
people gave me made a huge difference.
”
Going on a shivah visit can be emotion-
ally stressful. It can be painful seeing some-
one’s grief up close. It can be heart-wrench-
ing and agonizing. Ezra understands this 
and it made him even more appreciative of 
every visit he received.
“Going to a funeral or shivah has to be 
the most uncomfortable thing that one 
does. Yet I can’t think of a more giving way 
to help someone through his most difficult 
period,
” Ezra said. “Getting this stream of 
people coming in just to be with me for 
days on end. The visits and phone calls by 
people who shared stories and memories of 
my loved one meant so much.
”
Ezra said one man he barely knew came 

to the shivah house, sat in the back and 
didn’t really say much. Today, they are good 
friends. “It was that small token. He came, 
he made the effort … and yes, it made me 
feel better. I still cherish that.
”
These days, Ezra is eager to pass on the 
kindness to others who are sitting shivah. “I 
think that’s one of the many lessons I took 
to heart: To take five minutes, 10 minutes 
from my day and sit with someone who is 
grieving. I know it really does help them.
”
 These are just three personal stories 
of when the Detroit Jewish community 
provided the cushion of comfort during 
hard times. Though everyone’s journey is 
different, what’s similar here is the thread of 
Aliza Bracha, Sima Leah and Ezra being so 
appreciative of the community and wanting 
to pay that support and love forward. 
Perhaps it is this resolution that makes 
acts of kindness spiral in bigger and wider 
circles, encompassing all of us so that it’s 
always continuing and benefiting everyone, 
making Detroit such a warm and wonder-
ful place to live. 

C

ongregation B’nai Moshe is wel-
coming Dr. David Tenenbaum 
as its keynote speaker of its 
Spectacular Speaker Series on 
Tuesday, Sept. 13, at 7:30 p.m. at 
the West Bloomfield synagogue.
Tenenbaum has been called the 
Dreyfuss of our time. The son of 
a Holocaust survivor and father of 
four, in 1997 he was falsely accused 
by the U.S. Army of being an Israeli 
spy based solely upon antisemitic 
accusations from co-workers, which the 
government then covered up under the 
pretense of national security. 
 Despite being told by Tenenbaum’s 
lawyer that the Jewish Sabbath begins an 
hour before sundown and ends about an 
hour after sundown Saturday evening, 
the FBI executed a search warrant in the 
middle of Shabbat. During the raid of the 
Tenenbaums’ home, his children’s music 
and coloring books were seized along 

with the family’s personal files and com-
puters.
Tenenbaum was suspended from his 
job, and his program, designed to 
save warfighters’ lives, was disman-
tled. The Tenenbaum family was 
placed under 24-hour surveillance 
for months in a “game” of psycho-
logical warfare. His children were 
unnecessarily frightened by sur-
veillance vehicles that would slow-
ly drive by as they played outside 
on their front lawn.
Tenenbaum made the headlines of the 
local newspapers where he was labeled a 
spy because the government conveniently 
“forgot” to seal the search warrant. Media 
from around the globe were spoon-fed 
false information that classified materi-
als were hidden throughout his house, 
including the baby’s bedroom, though 
no classified materials were ever found 
because there were none to be found. 

Hateful comments were posted about 
Tenenbaum on white supremacist web-
sites; anonymous phone calls threatened 
him. He and his family’s lives were in 
danger.
Tenenbaum’s neighborhood, home 
to Holocaust survivors and a thriving 
Orthodox Jewish community, were intim-
idated in an effort to isolate the family 
from the community. Members of his 
community who attempted to help him 
were visited in the middle of the night 
by his community’s police department 
and threatened while others in the small 
Jewish community were threatened by 
FBI agents themselves. 
After an 18-month investigation, the 
FBI and Department of Justice admitted 
there was no evidence that Tenenbaum 
had done anything wrong.
Tenenbaum will have copies of his 
book, Accused of Treason – The US Army’s 
Witch Hunt for a Jewish Spy, available. 
The Spectacular Speaker Series is free 
and open to the public. Registration is 
required at bnaimoshe.org. 

Submitted by B’nai Moshe.

Dr. David 
Tenenbaum

B’nai Moshe Welcomes 
Dr. David Tenenbaum 

