OUR COMMUNITY

A 

July 6, 2023, Jewish 
News article was the 
conduit to solve a 
small local mystery. But first, 
let’s backtrack. 
Meet Beverly, who’s “80+ 
years young,” from Detroit. 
Decades ago, she used to visit 
estate sales and buy different 
Judaica items. At one point, 
she purchased a stack of 
Jewish books, and promptly 
forgot about them … until the 
pandemic.
“During COVID, I started 
cleaning, like everyone else,” 
Beverly said. “I realized I had 
two matching bar mitzvah 
books. One was my son’s and 
one belonged to someone 
called Robert Green. I didn’t 
even know I had someone 
else’s book! I’m very sentimen-
tal, and knew that if it was 
mine I’d have loved to have it 
back so I decided to find this 
Robert Green and return his 
book.”
Beverly called the police 
but they were unable to help. 
She called the Jewish News 
who was able to supply her 
with Robert Green’s original 
bar mitzvah notice; his bar 
mitzvah took place at the for-
mer B’nai David congregation 
on Sept. 16, 1978 — but that 
didn’t offer any more infor-
mation than the bar mitzvah 
book.
“B’nai David no longer exist-
ed and no one seemed to know 
who had the records,
” Beverly 
explained. “My daughter spent 
hours Googling on the comput-
er to no avail. Robert Green is a 
pretty common name.
”

Beverly even called the state 
of Michigan for help, and the 
operator laughingly told her 
exactly how many hundreds 
of Robert Greens there are in 
Michigan — and in the entire 
United States! 
At one point, desperate to 
find the owner of the book 
she’d unknowingly had in her 
possession for more than 30 
years, Beverly reached out to a 
private detective! 
“The detective said, ‘Oh, 
that’s a beautiful story. I’ll see 
what I can find out!’ but I 
never heard from him again, 
so I guess he found nothing,” 
Beverly said. 
After an intense six-month 
search, Beverly shelved the 
book and gave up. 
Then, this past July, as 
Beverly relaxed with a cup 
of coffee and that week’s 
Detroit Jewish News, she read 
“Forgotten No More,” an 
article about the upkeep and 
recent improvements of the 
B’nai David cemetery, spear-
headed by David Goldman 
and Ann Zaron … and a light-
bulb switched on.
“I thought this is how I’m 
going to track down Robert 
Green!” Beverly promptly 
reached out to Ann. 
On July 22, Ann posted on 
the Detroit Jewish History 
Facebook page asking if any-
one knew a Robert Green 
who’d had his bar mitzvah 
in September 1978 at B’nai 
David. 
Within an hour, Karen 
Simon was contacted by two 
cousins and a friend, all who’d 

A Jewish News article helped solve a 45-year mystery.

Long-Lost Bar Mitzvah Book 
Finally Reunited with Owner

ROCHEL BURSTYN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

34 | NOVEMBER 23 • 2023 
J
N

Karen Simon receives her grandparents’ 
yahrzeit plaques from Ann Zaron.