10 | JANUARY 12 • 2023

I

n celebration of its 80th anni-
versary last year, the Detroit
Jewish News reprinted and
distributed its first edition from
March 27, 1942. Like any publica-
tion, this inaugural
edition provides
a snapshot at that
moment of Jewish
life in both Detroit,
America and else-
where.
A careful read-
ing reveals a local
community encountering both
challenges and opportunities in
the face of latent discrimination,
antisemitism and desire for accep-
tance during those difficult years
with the Unites States fighting
for freedom in Europe and Asia,
our fellow Jews facing the ravages
and murderous evil of Nazism
and fascism, and Jews living in
mandatory Palestine striving to
establish a Jewish state.
It is no surprise then that many
of the articles and stories in the
first-ever Detroit Jewish News
went to lengths to emphasize
the Jewish community’s patrio-
tism, loyalty and commitment
to America. Certainly, World
War II propelled the integration
of the community’s Jewish and
American identities, and the
paper’s coverage of the war effort
and its direct impact on the local
Jewish community was necessary.
Unlike other periodicals of the
time that likewise covered the
war, what made, and continues
to make, the Detroit Jewish News
unique is its particular Jewish
angle in its reporting.
Interwoven throughout the
initial edition is the empha-
sis of the Jewish community’s
“
Americanness” and the counter-
vailing and persistent antisem-
itism it encountered, as high-
lighted by articles and editorials
addressing the hateful rhetoric
of Father Charles Coughlin.
But nothing encapsulates this

communal desire of acceptance
better than the 1942 Platform
of the Detroit Jewish News that
expresses the desires and tensions
faced by the community through
its emphasis of the community’s
responsibilities as Americans, the
belief in “the American way of
life” and the “sacred American
ideal of fair play” and the neces-
sity to “build a wholesome
American life based on inter-faith
cooperation.
”
The 1942 Platform concludes
with the desire that the paper and
the Jewish community “acting
together, [is] in a position to bring
the most good to America, to the
ideal for which America stands,
and to the Jewish communities
which form an important element
in the American commonwealth.
”
It seems entirely reasonable that
a community enduring continued
marginalization and discrimi-
nation, coupled with a nation at
war, would emphatically stress its
commitment to American ideals
with the strong desire for acceler-
ated integration into, and accep-
tance by, mainstream society.
Fast forward 80 years to the
Detroit Jewish News current suc-
cinct Mission Statement and its
Vision Statement where the need
to emphasize our community’s
commitment to America is no
longer necessary; it is an undeni-
able and self-evident fact — but
instead re-positions the focus
inward:
Mission Statement: The
Detroit Jewish News will inform
and educate the Jewish and gener-
al community to preserve, protect
and sustain the Jewish people of
greater Detroit and beyond, and
the State of Israel. The Detroit
Jewish News will be of service to
the Jewish community.
Vision Statement: The Detroit
Jewish News will operate to appeal
to the broadest segments of the
greater Detroit Jewish communi-
ty, reflecting the diverse views and

interests of the Jewish commu-
nity while advancing the morale
and spirit of the community
and advocating Jewish unity,
identity and continuity.
In the past eight decades, the
Detroit Jewish community has
flourished, and it continues
to thrive. There is no longer
a need to prove we belong.
Jewish participation in all fac-
ets of American life has been
normal, expected and com-
mon. The impact we have made
in this community, individually
and collectively, exponentially
and disproportionately exceeds
our numbers. The Jewish pres-
ence and influence in all facets of
society, including arts, medicine,
law, academia and politics, is so
commonplace that it could be
assumed that this was always
the norm, yet the origins of the
Detroit Jewish News itself proves
otherwise.
Unfortunately, our acceptance
into the larger society has not pre-
vented the resurgence of antisem-
itism. The underlying message
expressed in the Detroit Jewish
News 80 years ago that inte-
gration was a means to abating
antisemitism was noble but sadly
incorrect. We are encountering an
unprecedented rise in antisemi-
tism that seems to be accelerating
each week. Most worrisome is
that this trend is not limited to a
certain relegated non-influential
segment of people espousing
anti-Jewish hatred.
Politicians, celebrities, athletes
and others with large platforms
are frequently expressing and
endorsing blatant antisemitism,
whether it is age-old anti-Jewish
tropes, anti-Israel hatred or overt
dog-whistle phrases inferring
Jews without expressly stating so.
Antisemitism is becoming nor-
malized. It is no longer limited to
the extremists, supremacists or
the dark underbelly of this coun-
try but readily promoted by those

with a significant public profile
and sphere of influence. With
the assistance of technology and
social media, the amplification
and substantiation of this hateful
rhetoric creates an environment
where public animosity toward
Jews is frequent, accepted and has
led to an unprecedented rise in
violent antisemitic acts not seen
in decades.
Has American Judaism reached
an inflection point? Or worse, a
tipping point? Antisemitism is
becoming normative, and like
Hemingway’s characterization of
bankruptcy, what began gradually,
now seems to be occurring all at
once.
Those hopes expressed in the
early days of this paper, con-
firmed by the achievements of the
Detroit (and American) Jewish
community in the decades since,
now provides fertile ground for
this pernicious resurgence and
escalation of antisemitism. We
can neither afford to be compla-
cent nor complicit, and we must
use all tools available to combat it,
including continuing to commit
to living as proud Jews.

Jeff Schlussel is an attorney at Carson
Fischer in Bloomfield Hills, a member of
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit Board of Governors and a board
member of the Detroit Jewish News
Foundation.

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The inaugural issue of the
Detroit Jewish News