Looking Back
From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History
accessible at thejewishnews.com
70 | MARCH 14 • 2024
J
N
Detroit: A Home to
Amazing Jewish Women
T
his week’s JN is celebrating amazing Israeli women and Jewish women from Metro
Detroit. I can tell you that, in many ways, this is nothing new. Women have been leaders
in Detroit and Michigan since the first Jews settled in Detroit in the early 19th century.
Women, however, faced many obstacles along the way, including a long, hard fight to gain the
right to vote — the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution finally gave women the right to
vote in 1920.
BTW — the first prominent suffragette in Michigan was a Jewish woman,
Ernestine Rose.
Thousands upon thousands of pages in the William Davidson Digital Archive of
Jewish Detroit History hold articles, reports and announcements that demonstrate
the engagement and leadership of women in communal and political affairs. I
found some great examples.
First, it is most interesting to note that, for most of the 20th century, once
women married, in most citations in the Detroit Jewish Chronicle and JN, they lost
their first names and simply became “Mrs.” (insert husband’s surname here). See
the poster for annual Bar-Ilan University dinner in 1963 when Mrs. Joseph Ehrlich
and Mrs. Theodore Bargman were honored (Oct. 18, 1963, JN). This practice did not change
until around 1980, much later than one might expect.
Some individual women kept their first names if they held important positions. Pioneer
Blanche Hart (1876-1949) has been cited as the founding mother of Detroit Jewish Social
Services. Hart is well known for establishing the Fresh Air Society in 1904 (now Tamarack
Camps). In 1903, however, she was hired as the first executive director of the United Jewish
Charities (now the Jewish Federation of Detroit) and served as such for 20 years. Hart was
indeed a pathbreaker for her era.
Years later, the JN cover story, “The Leadership Dance,” was an illustrative report (Feb. 18,
2000). It discussed progress for women in Jewish communal organizations, and noted that, in
2000, women held only 25% of national board positions. To Detroit’s Jewish community’s credit,
the local rate of participation was much higher.
The JN also holds evidence of great gains for women leaders since the time of that report.
The Jewish Federation of Detroit, for example, has had several female presidents, such as Nancy
Grosfeld and Beverly Liss. The first was Penny Blumenstein in 1998.
The community has also produced great civic leaders. Search the JN and you’ll see many sto-
ries of women such as the “indefatigable” Gilda Jacobs and pioneering politician Lana Pollack,
and before them, the legendary Maxine Berman.
And, there are many Jewish businesswomen. The late Florine Mark was a global
business leader as the president and CEO of Weight Watchers. In the JN, you’ll also
see articles and advertisements about women in local businesses such as Realtors
Cindy and Emily Kahn at The Agency, and Dana Cooper and Laurie Glass at
Cooper Glass, again to name just a few.
I wish I could name all the Jewish women who have shaped modern Detroit and
Michigan as educators, activists in communal organizations, civic leaders and poli-
ticians, entrepreneurs and businesswomen, and over the past few decades, as rabbis.
But we should take a moment to celebrate and honor their contributions during
Women’s History Month. Here’s to the women leaders yet to come.
Want to learn more? Go to the DJN archives, available for free at thejewishnews.com.
Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair