MAY 9 • 2024 | 15
J
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Jewish Senior Life’s 31st annual Eight Over
Eighty event celebrates special people.
PURPOSE-
DRIVEN
LIVES
SHARON ALTERMAN
In 1965, Sharon Alterman
of West Bloomfield was
the director of a Thursday
Night Social Group at the
JCC for young adults with
developmental needs. Her
dedication to and compassion
for her beloved group
members led her to think
about what their futures might
look like when they got older.
She began working with a
group of parents who became
the founding members of
the Parents Association for
Jewish Residential Care, the
precursor to JARC, which was
founded in 1969.
Alterman became the
nonprofit’s third president and
remains active at JARC more
than 50 years later, continuing
her commitment to enabling
adults with developmental
disabilities to live full,
meaningful lives.
Alterman also earned a
master’s degree in historic
preservation and archival
certification from Wayne State
University. She established
and worked at the Leonard N.
Simons Jewish Community
Archives at the Jewish
Federation of Detroit for more
than 20 years and continues to
volunteer weekly.
Handpicked by the late
Hon. Avern Cohen, Alterman
is presently participating
in and planning the third
volume of the History of the
Jews of Detroit. She has proudly
curated many exhibits for
the Jewish community,
including coordinating the
development of the Camp
Tamarack Charach museum
and the Max M. Fisher virtual
museum.
Alterman is a past president
of Congregation Beth Shalom,
longtime member of the
Saturday Luncheon Club
(recently chairing its 100th
anniversary celebration),
active on the cultural
committee of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, Shabbat
luncheon volunteer and has
completed 10 consecutive
years of Torah study.
EDITH BROIDA
A lifelong learner and book
lover, Edith Broida, dubbed
the “Pied Piper of Book
Talks,” presents and facilitates
book talks in Florida and
Michigan, most notably at
Temple Israel.
As a founder and past
president of the Palm Beach
nonprofit Insight Through
Education, she is passionate
about its mission to inspire,
educate and encourage
kindness, acceptance and
respect for all, using lessons
from the Holocaust and other
genocides to recognize and
oppose antisemitism, hatred
and bigotry.
A life member and board
member of National Council
of Jewish Women, Broida
volunteers for Bookstock,
Council ReISale and Back
2 School store, is a docent
for the Jewish Historical
Society’s Hasting Street
exhibit at the Detroit
Historical Museum and is
a member of WISDOM:
Women’s Interfaith Solutions
for Dialogue and Outreach in
Metro Detroit.
Broida cofounded the
multicultural “Museum
Group,” whose members
visited each other’s
museums, galleries, houses of
worship, ethnic restaurants
and neighborhoods in a
quest for knowledge and
understanding of racial and
religious differences.
An inspiring educator,
Broida was an English teacher
and administrator for 35
years in Madison Heights and
Oak Park and was an author
and consultant for Oakland
Schools. Her 53-year-old
book club, The Lit Group,
was featured in Life magazine
for its longevity. A resident
of West Bloomfield, she
continues to write and
submit letters to the editor
on topics that inspire spirited
responses.
continued on page 16
HEADSHOTS: BRETT MOUNTAIN PHOTOGRAPHY
LEFT: FJA student Zachary
Elbinger interviews Eight
Over Eighty Honoree Paul
Goldsmith. RIGHT: FJA
student Sarah Krivishkin
interviews Eight Over Eighty
Honoree Nancy Kalef.
BRETT MOUNTAIN