1942 - 2024
Covering and Connecting
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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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The Detroit Jewish
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Vice President: David Kramer
Secretary: Robin Axelrod
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Larry Jackier, Jeffrey Schlussel,
Mark Zausmer
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Arthur Horwitz
Founding Publisher
Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory
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6 | MAY 9 • 2024
J
N
T
he text messages were
short, but clear. “How r
u?,
” I asked. “Processing,
”
came the response. “How r u?”
she asked back; “same,
” I said.
“It’s a lot.
” That was both of us,
to each other.
I stood on the
Tel Aviv board-
walk, overlooking
the Mediterranean,
with Bring Them
Home Now! ban-
ners and placards
flapping in the
breeze behind me.
My 22-year-old daughter Noa
stood in Krakow, having spent
the week traveling to some of the
darkest parts of our collective
Jewish history. Majdanak. The
Warsaw Ghetto. Auschwitz-
Birkenau. Both of us preparing
for Shabbat, she at the end of her
weeklong journey, and me, at the
beginning.
My late father, Emery
Grosinger, was a Holocaust survi-
vor, having been imprisoned as a
12-year-old in Auschwitz, and lib-
erated from Mauthausen miracu-
lously on his 13th birthday, May
8, 1945. I am blessed to speak a
handful of times each month at
the Zekelman Holocaust Center,
telling my dad’s story to visitors
of all ages and backgrounds.
My daughters and my brother’s
children are all well-versed in his
story, having traveled with him
to his hometown in Hungary as
well as to Mauthausen to partic-
ipate in WWII commemoration
ceremonies twice over the past
decade plus.
I love telling his story. I get
to keep his memory alive, even
playing a short video of him
retelling his memories of first
arriving at Auschwitz. It is diffi-
cult to hear, but I love his voice.
I look forward to the Q&A with
my audience, a given once I finish
the narrative arc that ends with a
few slides and a one-minute talk
about his amazing life from 1948
until his death in 2022.
I have the privilege of time,
knowing how he courageously
came to America as a 15-year-old
orphan and built a life with hard
work, a family. How each spring,
he would grow quiet and reflec-
tive, remembering dates, people
and experiences that seemed to
crowd the calendar, especially
over his younger years. About
friendship, and a thirst for knowl-
edge and much more. I get to
share his philosophies, painting a
picture long beyond the horrors
of the Holocaust.
MODERN-DAY HORRORS
But here I was in Israel, to attend
a conference — and to see with
my own eyes what happened on
Oct. 7, 2023, and every day since.
To witness the horrors, the pain,
to share in the grief of Israelis, to
reiterate the anguish and despair
held by us in the diaspora, to cry
out for the death and destruction,
and to pray for the swift and safe
return of those held deep under
Gaza, in unknown conditions,
prisoners once again for the sim-
ple “crime” of being Jewish.
I was hesitant to travel to the
sites of the atrocities in Southern
Israel. Not out of fear for my safe-
ty, but out of respect. Listening to
survivors of the horrors of Oct. 7,
seeing the destruction, all of it felt
like I would be a disaster tourist,
taking advantage of people as
they continue to live in a night-
mare of recall and not knowing
when the nightmare ends. I
imagined it akin to talking to a
Warsaw Ghetto survivor while
the war continued to rage.
I was wrong. As Rafaela, a
23-year-old Brazilian Israeli and a
PURELY COMMENTARY
guest column
Bearing Witness,
Across Time and Space
Kari
Alterman