Looking Back

From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History

accessible at thejewishnews.com

Y

eshiva Beth Yehudah will hold its
annual dinner on Nov. 3 this year.
The featured speaker will be for-
mer United Kingdom Prime Minister, Boris
Johnson, and prominent Jewish Detroiter
Matt Lester, founder and CEO of Princeton
Enterprises, will receive the Outstanding
Leadership Award.
This year’s dinner will also
mark 110 years since Rabbi
Yehuda Leib Levin opened
his after school Jewish educa-
tion program for boys at the
Mogain Avrohom Synagogue
in Detroit. The Yeshiva was
named for him after his pass-
ing in 1925. The Beth Jacob
school for girls was added in 1954.
Since Rabbi Levin’s first class, Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah has grown into one of Metro
Detroit’s premier Jewish educational insti-
tutions. It now features a preschool, a girl’s
school, a boy’s school, “Partners Detroit,” a
Scholar’s Kollel, as well as summer camps,
special education and enrichment pro-
grams for about 1,400 students in K-12
grades; for 400+ children at the James
Grosfeld Center for Special Education; and

for 40+ scholars at the Kollel.
It has also been noted that Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah is much more than a school. Mark
Davidoff, who received the Outstanding
Leadership Award in 2018 — the Yeshiva’s
highest honor — succinctly summarized
the role of the Yeshiva in greater Detroit:
“It’s like Abraham’s Tent — welcoming to all
with room for everyone.”
The annual dinner itself is a bona fide
“Big Deal,” and another aspect of Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah that has grown with its over-
all educational programs. If the dinner is
anything like those held over the last few
years, well over 2,000 supporters will attend.
As I researched the history of the Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah annual dinner in the William
Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit
History, I was struck by the number of
outstanding annual speakers and awardees.
They represent the best leadership of, not
only Michigan and Metro Detroit, but that
of America at large (to say nothing of two
UK Prime Ministers — Tony Blair was the
first).
Last year, for example, the featured speak-
er was Gov. Josh Shapiro of PA, who was
introduced by Michigan Gov. Gretchen

Mike Smith
Alene and
Graham Landau
Archivist Chair

YESHIVA BETH YEHUDAH

34 | NOVEMBER 3 • 2024 Yeshiva Beth Yehudah Special Edition J
N

A Brief History of the
Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah
Annual Dinner