20 | OCTOBER 5 • 2023 J
N
T
he early 20th century saw a migra-
tion of Polish Jews to America,
and a group from Radom, Poland,
settled in the Detroit area and began their
new lives. In 1920, they established the
Radomer Aid Society. Their mission, a
successful one, has been to raise money
for charitable causes locally and abroad,
scholarships, and to establish a section at
the Hebrew Memorial Cemetery for their
members.
The Society holds a yearly banquet to
bring together the families of the original
immigrants for an evening of music, din-
ner and memorializing their ancestors in
a special candle-lighting ceremony. This
banquet has served as the main fundrais-
ing source for their good deeds. Due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, no banquet
had been held since 2019 — including the
milestone centennial banquet originally
planned for 2020 — until now.
The Radomer Aid Society’s Centennial
Celebration Banquet will be held on Oct.
18, at 6 p.m. at Congregation Beth Ahm
in West Bloomfield. The evening will
feature guest speaker Howard Lupovitch,
professor of history and director of the
Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies
at Wayne State University, who will be
giving his reflections on the “Radomer,
Past, Present and Future.”
Sandy Tuttleman of West Bloomfield
became active in the group
through her late husband,
Oscar, a third-generation
Radomer. Tuttleman has been
president of the Society for the
last 20 years.
“I have learned to love the
love they have for their ances-
tors,” Tuttleman said of the
group.
Dr. Sidney Simonian of
West Bloomfield also became
involved through her husband,
Michael Rubin, whose ances-
tors came from Radom.
“He has a seating chart
from his bar mitzvah in the
1950s, and all the people on
the seating chart were from
the Radomer. It was a pretty
active group for many years,”
Simonian said.
Over the years, membership has dwin-
dled for various reasons. Members aging,
members moving away and the younger
generations not actively participating like
their family members before them have all
been key variables. The dwindling num-
bers were exacerbated by the pandemic.
The hope is the 100th anniversary ban-
quet can re-energize the descendants to
get involved in the organization just as
their families did and continue to raise
funds for various causes in the process.
The Society is currently made up of
about 50 member families, a number that
includes families and widows. Regardless
of the quantity, the members are still as
close as ever.
“These people are lifelong friends; a
lot of them meet every week for dinner.
I don’t know how many other organiza-
tions out there started as immigrants and
banded together to do something like this,
but I think it’s pretty incredible it’s lasted
100 years,” Simonian said. “We’re hoping
that not only will this event bring together
those who have sort of fallen away, but to
also raise some money to do something
really nice.”
One of the Society’s proudest accom-
plishments over the years, through mem-
bership dues and contributions, has been
the donation of several fully outfitted
ambulances to the American Friends of
Magen David Adom (the Israeli
version of the Red Cross). The
Society has also raised funds for
charities and organizations such as
JARC, B’nai B’rith, The Zekelman
Holocaust Center, Yad Ezra and the
Jewish National Fund.
Tuttleman is amazed by the 100-
year mark and is proud to be carry-
ing on a tradition.
“There’s a core of people that
come to the monthly meetings, and
they enjoy each other’s company,”
she said. “We’re trying to get some
of the family members interested
and active. And when I say active,
there isn’t much to do except just
keep our little candles burning, so
to speak.”
Celebrate the Jewish spirit with
the descendants of Radom. Tickets
are $100 per person. RSVP to Sandy
Tuttleman by Oct. 10 at (248) 757-2349.
Radomer Aid Society
Celebrates Centennial
The banquet, originally planned for 2020, will
celebrate 100 years of Radomers in the Detroit Area.
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
OUR COMMUNITY
Dr. Sidney Simonian
Sandy Tuttleman
LEFT: The Radomer Aid Society was hon-
ored by Magen David Adom for its donated
ambulances.
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