Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History 

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

L

ike you, I read the JN. Two recent 
stories by Associate Editor Rachel 
Sweet inspired me.
Rachel writes a weekly feature about 
members of the Jewish community who 
volunteer to help others. In 
the recent July 27 JN, she 
wrote about Casey Belen, 
12, who dedicated his bar 
mitzvah project to helping 
children in pediatric care. 
On Aug.13, Rachel wrote 
about Danielle “DeeDee” 
Lefkowitz, 9, who held a 
bake sale to raise funds for 
Chai Lifeline, a New York-based organi-
zation that supports children and families 
who are dealing with serious medical 
issues. Great stories!
And, I wondered — what would I find 
about Jewish youth and good deeds in 
the William Davidson Digital Archive 
of Jewish Detroit History? The answer 
is … plenty! Thousands of such stories, 
reports and announcements have been 
preserved in the Davidson Archive. They 
provide plenty of evidence that the local 
community, as well people across the U.S. 
and in Israel, have been the beneficiaries 
of Detroit youth mitzvahs. In fact, it was 
a bit difficult to select a few to discuss for 
this column.

An investigation into youth mitzvahs 
might begin with Danny Raskin’s early 
“Youth Listening Post“ columns in the 
JN in the 1940s. Danny often noted the 
good works of young Jewish Detroiters. 
Likewise, in the 1960s through 1980s, 
“Youth News” was a feature dedicated to, 
as the title states, news of young Jews.
References to good works can be also 
found in bar and bat mitzvah announce-
ments in the JN. For example, see the 
Nov. 9, 2001, issue. Molly Alison Foltyn 
helped to reconstruct a bedroom for an 
ill child at the “Suite Dreams Project” and 
Steven David Betel assisted with special 
education students as well as Gleaners 
Food Bank in Detroit.
I found a number of excellent fea-
ture articles on young individuals with 
big hearts. Cameron Warshawsky gave 
a concert for the residents of the Meer 
Apartments on the Applebaum Jewish 
Community Campus (Feb. 6, 2015, JN). 
The year before, Molly Warshawsky baked 
with Chef Justin Kurtz to make muf-
fins for hungry families (Oct. 9, 2014). 
Both of these youth mitzvahs were made 
possible through Rabbi Daniel Syme of 
Temple Beth El, with help from 8-year-old 
Noah Ostheimer. Together, they launched 
“
Angels and Dreamers,” a foundation to 
assist 7- to11-year-old children like Molly 

and Cameron to perform the mitzvahs 
they dreamed of making.
Another nice story is about Carson 
Litvin. He was thinking about his eighth 
birthday and decided that he did not 
need presents. Instead, Carson decided 
to host a charity birthday/dance party 
(April 24, 2014).
Even weather is no obstacle to mitzvah 
making. Teenage boys from Hillel Day 
School volunteered to help physically 
challenged kids enjoy snow sports (Jan. 
8, 1999).
Rachel Prinstein returned from a 
Birthright Israel trip and “realized how 
vital it is to stay connected and support 
different programs in Israel.” Subsequently, 
as a student in the University of Michigan’s 
School of Art and Design, a T-shirt she 
created became a fundraising campaign 
for the Ofer School for Autistic Children 
in Haifa (Aug. 10, 2006).
The stories I cite are just the tip of the 
youth mitzvah iceberg. I could go on … 
and on. The Davidson Archive is filled 
with such stories from the last 126 years. 
They offer proof that some good things 
never change. 

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation 
archives, available for free at www.djnfoundation.
org.

Mike Smith
Alene and 
Graham Landau 
Archivist Chair

62 | SEPTEMBER 15 • 2022 

The Kids Are More Than All Right