Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

70 | SEPTEMBER 29 • 2022 

A Tribute to the Queen
Q

ueen Elizabeth II passed away on 
Sept. 8, 2022. The news brought 
forth a global outpouring of praise 
and mourning for a woman of considerable 
grace, skill and dedication to England and 
the British Commonwealth. 
The outpouring of love for Queen 
Elizabeth was near universal. Even many 
of her critics, including those who see the 
institution of royalty as an evil anachronism 
from the past, or those who 
remember that she was the 
queen of a nation with a 
questionable colonial history, 
still considered the woman 
herself to be a person of great 
dignity. 
The Queen generated a good 
measure of adoration from 
the British Jewish community. 
“She spent her 96 years doing 
the right thing, day in and day out, out of a 
sense of duty,” stated Baron David Wolfson, a 
Jewish member of the British House of Lords. 
Jeremy Harvardi wrote that her 
commitment to service and traditional 
British values “had resonance for British 
Jews, too, given that their own faith 
encompassed notions of religious duty and 
communal service.” 
During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, 
Jewish members of Parliament and local 
governments became commonplace. Current 
Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom Ephraim 
Mirvis said Elizabeth cherished Jewish 
communities in the Commonwealth. The 
Queen knighted the late British Chief Rabbi 
Jonathan Sacks.
One gripe against the Queen was that 
she never visited Israel. True, but she did 
host Israeli leaders and gave an honorary 
knighthood to Shimon Peres in 2008. She 
also inaugurated Britain’s first permanent 
memorial to the Holocaust in 2000.
 Yes, there were a few family scandals in 
the royal House of Windsor, but the Queen 
rose above them. And — oh, my! — the 
distinctive hats and purses she wore. But 
nothing should belay the fact that she was 
tough and determined.
I found 592 mentions of Queen Elizabeth 
in the William Davidson Digital Archive of 
Jewish Detroit History. Pages before 1953 

are usually references to Queen 
Elizabeth of Belgium, who was 
also supportive of the Jewish 
community.
Many pages reference the 
Cunard luxury ocean liner, 
the HMS Queen Elizabeth.
As it was being completed, 
World War II broke out and 
the liner entered service as 
a troop ship. After the war, 
the HMS Queen Elizabeth
resumed its intended mission 
as an ocean liner in 
1946. The Archive 
shows that many 
young Detroit 
Jewish newlyweds 
sailed on the Queen 
Elizabeth for their 
honeymoons. Its 
replacement, the QE 
II, still sails.
Queen Elizabeth 
appears on many 
pages in the Archive. 
Her coronation was 
front-page news on 
June 5, 1953. JN Editor 
Philip Slomovitz 
wrote about the Queen 
Elizabeth Coronation 
Forest in Israel (June 
17, 1955). The Dec. 31, 1982, JN reported 
that the Queen and British Prime Minister 
Margaret Thatcher hosted leaders from the 
Canadian Jewish Congress. In 1983, the 
Queen was front-page news again when she 
inaugurated the City of Hope Medical Center 
in Los Angeles during her visit to America’s 
West Coast (March 18, 1983). 
A steady rock of unity, dignity and 
compassion in modern times, Queen 
Elizabeth will be sorely missed.
Sidenote: The “Queen” did visit Detroit in 
2011, when our own Alan Muskovitz did his 
best impression of her. At the JN, we have 
long suspected that Al might be a little bit 
crazy. This article appears to support that 
theory (April 21, 2011). 

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

A Tribute to the Queen

are usually references to Queen 
Elizabeth of Belgium, who was 

resumed its intended mission 
as an ocean liner in 

Queen 

QE 

pages in the Archive. 
Her coronation was 
front-page news on 

Editor 

wrote about the Queen 
Elizabeth Coronation 
Forest in Israel (June 
17, 1955). The Dec. 31, 1982, JN reported 

