6 | AUGUST 3 • 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: Michael J. Eizelman 
 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, Shari S. Cohen, 
Louis Finkelman, Samantha Foon, 
Yevgeniya Gazman, Stacy Gittleman, 
Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, 
Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, 
Alan Muskovitz, Karen Schwartz, 
Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein, 
Nathaniel Warshay, Julie Smith Yolles, 
Ashley Zlatopolsky 

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

life and living it. 

JUST SAY YES
If I had given into my fears, 
I would have missed out on 
an amazing adventure. I say, 
say “yes.” As Shonda Rhimes 
says in her 2015 book Year 
of Yes, “Saying yes is courage. 
Saying yes is the sun. Saying 
yes is life.” So, step out of your 
comfort zone and try the 
things that scare you. Take a 
polar plunge (Lake Superior 
is freezing!). Ask your boss 
for a raise. Go on that date. 
You never know what you 
will be missing out on if you 
don’t. Says Rhimes, “Every 
‘yes’ changes something in 
me. Every ‘yes’ is a bit more 
transformative. Every ‘yes’ 
sparks some new phase of 
revolution.”

GET COMFORTABLE WITH 
BEING UNCOMFORTABLE
Let’s be clear. This camping 
trip was not Survivor. There 

were bathrooms with running 
water 100 yards away. Rich is 
an experienced camper. He 
has all of the supplies, knows 
how to set up a tent and 
happens to be an exceptional 
chef, even over a camp stove. 
Even so, camping was a new 
and scary experience for me. 
Despite missing some of the 
comforts of a luxury (or even 
not-so-luxury) hotel, I soon 
found there was something 
liberating about not being 

able to shower for a few days, 
with being bitten by bugs 
and with my air mattress 
deflating in the middle of 
the night. Once I decided to 
embrace the discomfort and 
the uncertainty, I was able 
to enjoy the here and now, 
which was pretty spectacular. 

MAKE ’EM LAUGH
The trip wasn’t all a cakewalk, 
to be sure. First, it was black 
fly season, and when we 

weren’t slathered in bug spray, 
we were getting eaten alive by 
bugs that left giant welts in 
their wake. Rides (and falls) 
on two pretty challenging 
mountain bike trails left me 
a bit battered and bruised. In 
hindsight, though, these were 
minor inconveniences, made 
innocuous by the fact that 
Rich and I can laugh through 
pretty much anything. 
A sense of humor in 
uncomfortable circumstances 
goes a long way. As Shirley 
MacLaine once said, “A 
person who knows how to 
laugh at himself will never 
cease to be amused.”
Contrary to my 
apprehension, not only did 
I make it through the week, 
but I also thoroughly enjoyed 
it. And I learned a little bit 
more about myself in the 
process. Would I do it again? 
Probably. Truth be told, 
though, I still think I’d rather 
sleep inside. 

continued from page 4
Coffee with 
a view.

