22 | SEPTEMBER 21 • 2023 

OUR COMMUNITY

M

ichigan Jewish history buffs 
will have an opportunity 
to learn about Jewish com-
munities in Northern Michigan while 
enjoying the fall foliage on an upcom-
ing three-day bus tour. The Jewish 
Historical Society of Michigan (JHSM) 
in partnership with JTraveler, a pro-
gram of the Jewish Community Center 
of Metropolitan Detroit, will offer this 
unique trip from Oct. 10-12, 2023. 
The idea for the trip came from 
Risha Ring, immediate past president 
of JHSM. She says that while JHSM is 
a statewide organization, they haven’t 
offered something like this for many 
years. Planning began in 2018, but the 
trip was postponed because of COVID. 
While Michigan’s larger Jewish com-
munities are concentrated in the south-
ern part of the state, the first Jewish 
settlers lived in Fort Michilimackinac, 
at the northern tip of of the lower 
peninsula. Michigan’s first Jewish set-
tler was Ezekiel Solomon, who traded 

among Native Americans and British 
soldiers. The JHSM travel group will 
tour a reconstruction of the house he 
shared with his cousin Gerson Levy at 
the fort; the reconstruction was funded 
by JHSM.
According to Catherine Cangany, 
Ph.D., executive director of JHSM, by 
the 1840s and 1850s, Jewish settlers had 
fanned out across much of Michigan. 
Many began as peddlers who even-
tually opened stores in small towns. 
Several small groups of Jewish settlers 
established agricultural communities 
in northern Michigan, but these did 
not last very long. Today, some north-
ern Jewish communities include a few 
descendants of their original settlers, 
but also retirees from Oakland County 
who have moved into their former sum-
mer homes.
The Jewish Color Tour will include 
visits to three northern Jewish con-
gregations: Temple B’nai Israel in 
Petoskey, Temple Beth-El in Alpena 

and Congregation Beth Shalom in 
Traverse City, as well as Charlevoix 
and Mackinaw City. Congregation Beth 
Shalom’s synagogue building is the 
longest in continuous use in the state, 
dating from 1850. 
Ring promises that the group will 
enjoy shared meals with three congrega-
tions as well as some time for shopping 
and a trip through the Tunnel of Trees, 
weather-permitting.
The Jewish Color Tour can accom-
modate 50 travelers and currently 40 
individuals have registered. The cost, 
including hotels, transportation and 
some meals, is $539 per person for dou-
ble occupancy and $741 per person for 
single rooms. Register online at www.
jhsmichigan.org. For additional infor-
mation, call (248) 915-1826. 

Jewish Historical Society and JTraveler offer a 
trip to northern Michigan Jewish communities.
Jewish Color Tour 

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

B’nai Israel 
in Petoskey

B’NAI ISRAEL

Risha Ring

JHSM

