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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