26 | MARCH 30 • 2023 

OUR COMMUNITY

I

t’s been a few years since 
the community was able to 
celebrate its oldest members 
in person, but this year, the 
dedicated crew who plan the 
Bessie Spector Oldest Jewish 
Americans Celebration are 
looking forward to gathering 
in real life. Like the honorees, 
co-chairs Jain Lauter, Joyce 
Berlin Weingarten and Julie 
Zussman, as well as sponsor Joan 
Chernoff Epstein, all have a lot 
of history.
Epstein’s family celebrated 
her grandmother Bessie Spector 
at the very first Oldest Jewish 
American’s Brunch, and they 
kept going until Spector passed 
away at age 102.
“She was an incredible 
treasure. She was independent. 
She loved living in Jewish 
Federation Apartments. All the 
programming, all the people she 
met, just made her blossom,
” 
said Epstein. So, Joan and Bob 
Epstein decided to ensure the 
program in her grandmother’s 
memory.
“I will always have a big spot 
in my heart for what JSL did for 
my grandmother. It gave her this 
uplifting life,
” Epstein said. “I 
would call her up and say, ‘Bess, 
do you want to go to lunch?’ 
And she would say, ‘I’m sorry, I 
have a concert. I can’t leave.
’”

Weingarten’s grandmother 
Fannie Whiteman was also 
one of the first attendees, and 
Weingarten attended with her 
grandmother until her passing 
at age 102, at which time, she 
started going with her husband’s 
grandmother Belle Rosender, 
and then with her father, Louis 
Berlin.
“I remember Joyce loved to 
bring her dad,
” said Epstein. “He 
was such a handsome, healthy 
fellow. He strolled in there 
looking so dapper. Joyce has this 
attachment because her father 
was coming to the programs. It 
says a lot about what it means to 
people.
”
Carol Weintraub Fogel 
recruited Weingarten to join 
the committee, and she’s been 
involved ever since. 
“I have a long history with 
the event, with attending and 
supporting it, and I just think 
that it is a really beautiful way 
to celebrate our Jewish seniors 
in our community,” Weingarten 
said. “It gives them an activity 
to attend that’s all about them. 
And it gives us a chance to 
honor them for being so 
special.”
Jain Lauter’s father was 
honored when he turned 100. 
“I was hooked,” said Lauter, 
who has been on the committee 

ever since. “My favorite part 
of the event was watching my 
father and the other honorees 
interact with old friends, with 
lifelong friends they hadn’t seen 
in a long time and seeing my 
childhood friends. It was my 
father seeing Milt Zussman 
and me seeing Julie and Rick 
and Marcy. We would see four 
generations together, and that’s 
just cool,” Lauter said.
Zussman agrees. “My 
favorite memory is being with 
my father-in-law, his child, 
his grandchild, and his great-
grandchild. It was l’dor v’dor, 
just seeing the joy in Milt’s face.”
The Bessie Spector Oldest 
Jewish American Celebration 
will be held this year on 
Friday, May 5, at Adat Shalom 
Synagogue. The program will 

feature brunch, a ceremony 
celebrating the honorees and 
entertainment on the event’s 
theme, “The Golden Age of 
Television.” 
“I’m just thrilled that we are 
going to be back in person. 
That has been a very hard 
pill to swallow the last years,” 
Zussman said.
The program is planned and 
co-sponsored by Jewish Senior 
Life, the Jewish Community 
Center, Jewish Family 
Service, Jewish Federation 
of Metropolitan Detroit and 
Gesher Human Services. 
Honorees must turn 95 
by Dec. 31, 2023. To register 
an honoree or for more 
information, visit jslmi.org/OAB 
or call Beth Robinson at (248) 
592-5062. 

The Bessie Spector Oldest 
Jewish Americans Celebration 
is back in person.

Celebrating 
the Greatest 
Generation

JN STAFF

Bessie Spector
Joyce Berlin Weingarten and her 
father, Louis Berlin

Julie and Rick Zussman, son Adam Zussman with his daughter 
Charlotte and the late Milt Zussman

