22 | MARCH 2 • 2023
T
he relationship between
a mother-in-law and
daughter-in-law can
be complicated and tense.
Especially for the proverbial
Jewish mother-in-law who
believes wholeheartedly that
no woman out there could ever
possibly deserve her perfect
son — who also happens to be
a doctor or lawyer, of course.
So, it’s not too common to
hear about a mother-in-law
who made her son’s shidduch!
Janice Adler grew up in
Oak Park and earned her BA
in economics and MBA in
finance from the University of
Michigan. In 1980, the summer
between her sophomore and
junior year, she looked for tem-
porary employment.
“I didn’t want to work at
Burger King anymore,” Janice
shared. “So JVS helped find
me a job at Congregation B’nai
David. It was good pay and
close to home. There was noth-
ing not to like.”
While working there, Janice
naturally met the who’s who of
B’nai David society, including
the incoming president Larry
Traison and his wife, Barbara,
president of the sisterhood.
On the day of the sisterhood
luncheon, an extremely well-
dressed young man suddenly
strolled in to the office.
“He was wearing a three-
piece vested suit, a full beard,
sunglasses,” Janice said of the
very welcome distraction. “I
said, “Well, hello, who are
you?”
Steve explained he was Barb
and Larry’s son and needed to
call his office.
“He called his office and they
said to him, ‘Um, why are you
calling? You just left 5 minutes
ago!’” Janice laughed.
It turned out he’d used
“needing to call work” as an
excuse to meet “the new cute
girl in the office” his mother
had been raving about.
Steve skipped the luncheon
and schmoozed with Janice for
the next two hours, eventually
asking her on a date for the fol-
lowing Thursday night.
“Thursday night?!” yelped
his mother when she was
informed about the date. “She
could be married by then!”
But Barb needn’t have wor-
ried. Steve and Janice dated
that whole summer and con-
tinued their courtship when
Janice returned to school.
Actually, they had many
mutual friends and had vague-
ly known each other — no
surprise considering the two
had grown up less than a mile
apart.
At the time, Steve was work-
ing in his family business,
Walker Printery, and was not
in college, but he began taking
business classes so he could
be a member of Metro Detroit
Sammies (Sigma Alpha Mu) …
just so he could offer Janice his
fraternity pin.
“Steve would never do that
now, but that’s what he did
back when he was truly smit-
ten,” said Janice, who still has
that pin in her jewelry box.
“He used to be very roman-
tic. My roommate also had a
serious boyfriend, and we had
a friendly competition to see
who got more flowers every
Friday.”
Janice has been a season
ticket holder to University of
Michigan football since her
freshman year. When they
started dating, Steve learned to
become a Michigan fan. He’s
famous for saying, “It’s written
in the Ketubah that I go to all
Michigan games.”
Steve and Janice were mar-
ried in August 1983, have three
kids — Elizabeth (married to
Rabbi Ari Witkin), Rebecca
and Randi, two grandchildren
and one on the way. They live
in West Bloomfield and have
been members of Beth Ahm
for over 30 years now and are
still blissfully happy together.
“My mother-in-law passed
away around Rosh Hashanah,
and I eulogized her,” Janice
said. “There’s not too many
people out there who can say
they were fixed up by their
mother-in-law.”
This column will appear biweekly. If
you’d like to share your ‘meet-cute’
story, please email burstynwithjoy@
hotmail.com.
OUR COMMUNITY
‘My Mother-in-Law
Handpicked Me’
ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Janice and Steve Traison
Janice could always
count on flowers
from the young and
romantic Steve.
HOW WE MET