32 | AUGUST 10 • 2023 

faces&places

The Jewish Historical Society of 
Michigan (JHSM) transported 
a busload of enthusiastic Metro 
Detroiters to Bay City on a 
beautiful, sunny Sunday at the end 
of June.
The group included one of two 
rabbis who share duties at the Bay 
City synagogue, Rabbi Dorit Edut, 
and several Detroiters with ties to 
the Bay City or Saginaw Jewish 
communities. They were joined by 
other observers interested in the 
Jewish history of Michigan outside 
of Detroit. 
Rabbi Ari Witkin shares duties 
with Rabbi Edut at Bay City’s 
Temple Beth Israel.
The Bay City community 
members hosted the bus 
participants with a tour, a history 
lesson of the area and some joined 
the group for lunch.
The first stop on the tour was 
the “Hebrew Cemetery” in Bay 
City. Participants were amazed 
by the size of the burial grounds, 
which hold 800 gravesites. Many 

Jews followed the lumber industry 
servicing lumbermen and the 
growing new community as 
peddlers and small business owners 
in the late 1880s. 
One of those Jewish families was 
the Himelhoch family, including 
three brothers. The tour made a 
stop at the Himelhoch Victorian 
home, which is now a bed and 
breakfast. One of the Himelhoch 
brothers left Bay City to establish 
the well-known Himelhoch 
Department Store in Detroit.
The tour went by the 
Palestine Colony at Bad Axe, 
an experimental agricultural 
community from 1890 that lasted 
about 10 years; some of the Jews 
from Bad Axe remained in the area 
for decades. 
Tour participants look forward 
to another Jewish history trip 
to northern Michigan in early 
October.
Hilary Duberstein, JHSM 
program director, arranged the Bay 
City tour. 

Jewish Historical 
Society Hosts 
Bay City Tour

PHOTOS COURTESY JEWISH HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF MICHIGAN

JHSM members visit 
the Bay City Community 
Jewish Cemetery. 

James and Janet Moses have tea on the 
porch of the Himelhoch’s former Victorian 
home, now a bed and breakfast.

Rabbi Dorit Edut leads 
Kaddish at the Jewish 
cemetery in Bay City. 

