JULY 27 • 2023 | 77
J
ewish tradition teaches
that when the heart is
full, the eyes overflow.”
It was a quote Rabbi
Daniel B. Syme, rabbi
emeritus of Temple Beth El
in Bloomfield Township,
used to describe his
unwavering love for his
beloved wife, Dr. Jill Susan
Syme, who passed away
after sunset on July 8, 2023.
Tears can manifest grief,
Syme explained at his
wife’s memorial service
at Ira Kaufman Chapel,
but they can also embrace
goodness, caring and love.
This feeling, Syme said,
embodied his love story
with Jill — “his Jill, the
woman whom he adored.”
Rabbi Daniel Syme and
Dr. Jill Syme weren’t your
average love story. The two
married later in life, in their
50s, but first met in 1962 at
a summer camp conclave of
Michigan state temple youth
in northern Michigan.
“She was stunning,” Syme
recalls. “Breathtaking,
with beautiful eyes. I was
smitten.”
He wanted to ask her out,
but his best friend said,
“Danny, she’ll never go out
with you.”
The young Daniel
Syme didn’t yet have his
driver’s license. Jill lived
in Huntington Woods,
and he lived in a Jewish
neighborhood at Seven Mile
and Livernois in Detroit.
Reluctantly, Syme listened
to his friend, and he and Jill
went their separate ways.
As the two grew older,
Syme worked in New York
City for many years. Jill,
meanwhile, was living in
California, Pennsylvania and
then Baltimore, completing
her Ph.D. in psychology.
Ironically, although Syme
and Jill had lost touch, he
was planning to move to
California himself from
New York — until his father,
the elder Rabbi Syme, called
and asked if his son would
move back to Detroit to take
care of him and his mother,
who were in ailing health.
Syme, after some
convincing, returned to
Michigan for one or two
years to care for his parents
and joined Temple Beth
El, where Jill’s parents, the
late Eugene and Mignon
Kraft, were members of the
congregation.
Eugene Kraft was set to
undergo open heart surgery,
and Syme went to sit with
his wife, Mignon, at the
hospital. After 36 years,
there was Jill, who had
flown in from Baltimore.
Now, Syme had his
driver’s license and picking
Jill up was no problem.
The two exchanged phone
numbers, and Syme said to
Jill, “I just want you to know
that I’m going to marry
you.”
Jill hung up on the
tenacious rabbi. She had
been single for 12 years and
had no intention of getting
married again after a few
marriages that didn’t work
out.
Two years later, the pair
married and enjoyed 25
years of marriage together
— and Syme no longer had
plans to stay in Michigan on
a short-term basis to care
for his parents.
Syme called the 25 years
they spent together the
“happiest years” of his life.
Jill was a gift to him and the
world, he said, a blessing.
Dr. Syme was a successful
mental health practitioner
who helped countless
people navigate and heal
life’s greatest hurdles. She
was an expert in sacred
contracts and specialized
in relationship issues in
family-owned business.
In her role as rebbetzin
(rabbi’s wife) at Temple Beth
El, Syme pioneered and
developed an alternative lay-
led service where she wrote
and delivered sermons.
Some of the most beloved
and cherished topics
included “gifts of a broken
heart” and “pushing the
envelope of our comfort
zones,” which resonated
deeply with congregants.
Syme was a devoted wife
and mother. She was loved
by her children, Jennifer
(Joseph) Cohen and
Elizabeth “Bon” Friedman.
She was also the proud
grandmother of Samantha
and Matthew Cohen.
Still, Dr. Jill Syme
wouldn’t have wanted a
memorial service full of
sorrow, explained Temple
Israel’s Rabbi Paul Yedwab,
who officiated the service.
Instead, she would have
asked for a quote to be read
from her favorite song, “I
Will Survive” by Gloria
Gaynor.
Jill was an “exceptionally
strong woman,” Yedwab
said. “A survivor. A unique
presence.” In life and death,
she will survive — “through
you and through all of us.”
Yedwab called Jill a “tiny
human” with a larger-than-
life personality. She was
charismatic, direct, funny
and smart, and will be
remembered by everyone
she met.
“She was a force,” he said.
“She was unapologetically
Jill.”
Those who wish to further honor the
memory of Dr. Jill Susan Syme may
do so by making a contribution to
Planned Parenthood, P.O. Box 3673,
Ann Arbor, MI 48106
855-896-4966, www.
plannedparenthood.org or the
American Cancer Society,
20450 Civic Center Drive, Southfield,
MI 48076, 248-663-3400, www.
cancer.org
‘She Was a Force’
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Dr. Jill Susan Syme
OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY