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