10 | OCTOBER 20 • 2022 

PURELY COMMENTARY

guest column

A Time for Reflection
T

he period around the 
High Holidays is a time 
for self-reflection and 
consideration of what we can 
do better in the coming year. It 
is a time for contrition, retro-
spection but also 
an opportunity to 
look forward. As I 
engage in my own 
self-analysis each 
year, I ask myself 
what I can do to 
improve the lives 
of others in my 
Jewish community.
My desire to help others is 
rooted in my Jewish faith, my 
personal and family history, and 
my firm belief that one should 
make the world a better place 
than the world he or she entered. 
In Judaism, the mitzvot of tik-
kun olam (repairing the world) 
and tzedakah (charity) are of 
paramount importance. Jews 
are literally commanded to help 
those in need. Sitting in shul this 
year, I was reminded that the 
central themes of Yom Kippur 
are teshuvah (repentance), t’fil-
liah (prayer) and tzedakah. In 
short, a pillar of being Jewish is 
helping fellow Jews.
My personal experiences and 
my parents’ experiences shape 
my desire to be communally 
active as well. My mother and 
her family came to Detroit as 
Holocaust survivors with no 
money, no knowledge of the 
English language and very few 
remaining family members. 
Before departing for America, 
my mom and her family were 
sustained in a displaced persons 
camp in Germany by care pack-
ages from the Joint Distribution 
Committee (JDC), an organiza-
tion dedicated to helping Jews in 
need around the world. 

Upon arriving in Detroit, my 
mother’s family built a life by 
relying in part on members of 
the Jewish community. At the 
end of her life, my grandmother 
found comfort and purpose 
by participating in the Brown 
Center’s Adult Day Program.
My father’s family came 
to Detroit from Russia. Not 
long after arriving here, my 
great-grandfather took out a loan 
from Hebrew Free Loan to make 
ends meet. I am humbled to now 
serve as president of that same 
organization that made that loan.
Growing up in a comfortable 
Jewish household in Metro 
Detroit, it became apparent to 
me that I needed to give back to 
the community that had given 
so much to my family. After 
moving back to Detroit in 2001 
after six years in Washington, 
D.C., I reached out to the Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan 
Detroit and asked to get 
involved. I secured a position on 
the board of Federation’s Young 
Adult Division and was lucky 
enough to ascend to the presi-
dency of that organization sever-
al years later. 
I am so proud to say that I 
am currently a donor to several 
Jewish organizations in our com-
munity and involved as the pres-
ident, board member or com-
mittee member of several area 
Jewish organizations, including 
Hebrew Free Loan of Michigan, 
our Jewish Federation and the 
Detroit Jewish News Foundation. 
I suspect that most of the 
readers of this piece have a 
compelling story about how 
their family settled in the United 
States and Detroit and about how 
the Jewish community helped 
them. I imagine that most read-
ers, regardless of level of Jewish 

observance, feel a strong sense 
of obligation to fulfil the sacred 
mitzvot of tikun olam and tze-
dakah. If so, I urge you to give 
your resources (time and money) 
“until it feels good” as David 
Hermelin, an esteemed commu-
nity member of blessed memory, 
used to say. 

How do you get involved? 
Reach out to those that you 
know who are involved and 
ask for assistance. If you do not 
know anyone to contact, reach 
out to a Jewish organization 
that speaks to you. If you have a 
passion for helping seniors and 
families, contact Jewish Family 
Service. If you care about voca-
tional and mental health services, 
contact Gesher Human Services. 
If you want to help feed Jews that 
need food assistance, contact 
Yad Ezra. These are but a few 
examples of the many wonderful 
organizations helping Jews in our 
community. I can assure you that 
our local Jewish institutions are 
thrilled to have offers of assis-
tance and will do everything that 
they can to engage with you.

So, this year, take the initiative 
and get involved. The secret 
sauce to our thriving Jewish 
community is our unparalleled 
ability and willingness to take 
care of and support one another. 
Dr. Martin Luther King once 
said that “service is the rent we 
pay for the privilege of living on 
this Earth.
” I can assure you that 
no rent payment will ever feel 
this good! 

David Kramer of Bloomfield Hills is the 

husband of Anessa Kramer and father 

of Sam and Max. David is a principal 

of Gemini Risk Partners in Birmingham. 

He serves as the president of Hebrew 

Free Loan of Michigan and as a board 

member of the Jewish Federation of 

Metro Detroit, the Detroit Jewish News 

Foundation and Oakland University.

David 
Kramer

return to his blusterous claim 
that Hezbollah’s threats made 
Israel capitulate. That big talk 
will be a poor attempt to mask 
that Lebanon has, for the 
first time, entered a kind of 
de facto recognition of Israel 
and its borders. It also won’t 
acknowledge that Hezbollah’s 
own freedom of action will 
now be constrained. 
The deal still must survive 
passage through both 
countries’ political systems, 
which will not be easy. For 
Israel, there are internal 
matters that the attorney 
general, the courts, the 
Knesset and, ultimately, the 
voters, will have to address. 
But for U.S. interests, a 
creative resolution that allows 
any gas to flow for Lebanon 
and more gas to flow for Israel 
without risk of conflict is a 
win. 

Daniel B. Shapiro is a distinguished 

fellow at the Atlantic Council. He 

previously served as U.S. Ambassador 

to Israel. 

LEBANON from page 8

Corrections
In “Congregation Beth Ahm 
at Niagara Falls” (Sept. 29, 
page 29), it should have stat-
ed that Beth Ahm member 
Janet Pont had been working 
at Congregation Shaarey 
Zedek for decades.

In “Glimpse the Past” (Sept. 
8, page 52), about the 
documentary film Three 
Minutes: A Lengthening, it 
should have stated that the 
footage was not restored 
for the purpose of this film. 
Rather, after Glenn Kurtz 
had his grandfather’s film 
restored, he shared it with 
the U.S Holocaust Memorial 
Museum. It was subsequently 
viewed by Marcy Rosen, who 
recognized her grandfather, 
Maurice Chandler, as a 
young boy in the film. 

