6 | MARCH 9 • 2023 

1942 - 2023

Covering and Connecting 
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 
FOUNDATION
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News will inform and educate the Jewish and general community to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish 
people of greater Detroit and beyond, and the State of Israel.

VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater 
Detroit Jewish community, reflecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the 
morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity.

DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205,
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248-354-6060
thejewishnews.com

 
 
Publisher
The Detroit Jewish 
News Foundation

| Board of Directors:
 Chair: Gary Torgow
 Vice President: David Kramer 
 Secretary: Robin Axelrod
 Treasurer: Max Berlin
 Board members: Larry Jackier, 
 Jeffrey Schlussel, Mark Zausmer
 
 
 Executive Director:
 Marni Raitt 
 Senior Advisor to the Board: 
 Mark Davidoff
 Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair: 
 Mike Smith
 Founding President & Publisher Emeritus: 
 Arthur Horwitz
 Founding Publisher 
 Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory

 

 Editorial 
 Director of Editorial: 
 Jackie Headapohl
jheadapohl@thejewishnews.com
Contributing Editors: 
David Sachs, Keri Guten Cohen
Staff Reporter: 
Danny Schwartz 
dschwartz@thejewishnews.com
Editorial Assistant: 
Sy Manello
smanello@thejewishnews.com 
Digital Manager:
Elizabeth King 
eking@thejewishnews.com 

Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne 
Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Shari S. 
Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Louis 
Finkelman, Stacy Gittleman, Esther 
Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer 
Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, 
Robin Schwartz, Mike Smith, Steve Stein, 
Julie Smith Yolles, Ashley Zlatopolsky 
 

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Senior Account Executive: 
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| Business Office
 Director of Operations: Amy Gill
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PURELY COMMENTARY

L

ast summer, I participated 
in a CTeen (Chabad Teen) 
Israel program. The trip 
was created to bring Jewish teens 
together from all around the 
country to travel to Israel. It last-
ed a whole month, and, oh, was 
it fun! I met so 
many new friends 
from across the 
USA and we made 
a lot of memories. 
Ironically, this trip 
might not have 
been something I 
was initially excit-
ed about, and yet it became the 
greatest vacation I ever had. 
It was on this trip that I heard 
an interesting story from one of 
my counselors, PK. (Whether 
it was true or not I cannot say, 
since the story is not mine, but 
it did have a very meaningful 
message.) 
The story is about PK’s rela-
tive, — Uncle? Grandfather? I 

don’t remember — who lived in 
Russia long ago. When he was 
about 18 years old, he was draft-
ed to fight in the war. One time, 
he was sent to the front lines, 
ordered to operate a machine 
gun and tasked with firing on 
enemy lines. Some time passed, 
and then he heard a gruff, strong 
voice behind him saying, “Hey, 
you!” The poor and afraid Jewish 
boy turned around to see a tall 
and young fellow Russian sol-
dier. This man must have been 
referring to him since their eyes 
connected like magnets. 
The words: “You stupid Jew, 
that’s not how you use a machine 
gun. Get off there and let me 
show you how it’s done!” came 
out of the soldier’s mouth. 
Hearing these words of hate, 
PK’s relative could have held on 
to a feeling of pride and rejected 
the Russian soldier’s proposal. 
How could someone dare to 
scoff at his methods, allegedly 

because of his heritage? It was 
insulting, to say the least. The 
temptation was itching at his 
tongue and hands to do some-
thing about it. However, he 
decided that there was no good 
outcome from escalating the sit-
uation and allowed the soldier to 
take his place.
What followed seemed like it 
came from a movie. PK’s rela-
tive walked some distance from 
the soldier and the gun, when 
he heard an object fall onto the 
ground and then some kind 
of rolling sound. Every soldier 
knew not only what this sound 
came from, but also that an 
ear-piercing explosion followed 
it. Somehow, PK’s relative was 
able to turn around and witness 
the aftermath of the explosion 
without sustaining a single cut. 
There, he saw the soldier who 
took his place at the machine 
gun, now heavily injured and 
yelling out in terrible pain. 

Call it Divine providence, 
karma or crude timing, but 
many people would agree that 
this sudden ending would have 
no chance of happening at all, 
right? But it did. It must have 
happened. The fact that this 
story could have no chance 
of being believed means that 
nobody would have imagined it 
in the first place, let alone told 
it to a live audience. And yet I 
heard it.
Judaism believes that there 
is a Divine justice that exists 
in the world, one that is not 
affected by differences in time. 
Knowing that every action has 
a consequence, it can be fur-
ther deduced that behind every 
consequence and action, there 
is a reason behind what caused 
it and why it happened, and it 
has a lot to do with the morality 
of the action. However, like this 
story, some consequences come 
around coincidentally.

Eliyah 
Fradkin

student’s corner

My Opinion on Divine Providence

