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… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 1 $200 Jan. 14-20, 2021 / 1-7 Shevat 5781 Seniors, frontline workers among first to get COVID vaccine. See page 10 Fertility Fraud? More stories come forward following Dr. Peven revelations. page 16 Capitol Fallout Riots leave a mark on the nation as ADL calls for Trump’s ouster. page 14 …

…OWN YOUR JOURNEY. DISCOVER YOUR TOMORROW. FJA WILL PREPARE YOU. FOR COLLEGE? YES. FJA GRADUATES ATTEND THEIR COLLEGE OF CHOICE. BUT THIS SCHOOL IS ABOUT MORE. ARIELLE ENDELMAN Director of Admissions aendelman@frankelja.org 248.671.3248 Apply by February 21, 2021 to be considered for the FRANKEL MERIT SCHOLARSHIP a four year merit and leadership based award that covers $15,000 tuition per year for four years at FJA IDENTIFY, ES...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 3 contents OUR JN MISSION: We aspire to communicate news and opinion that’s trusted, valued, engaging and distinctive. We strive to reflect diverse community viewpoints while also advocating positions that strengthen Jewish unity and continuity. As an independent, responsible, responsive community member, we actively engage with individuals and organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life, and Jewish life, ...…

…4 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 OUR JN MISSION: We aspire to communicate news and opinion that’s trusted, valued, engaging and distinctive. We strive to ref ect diverse community viewpoints while also advocating positions that strengthen Jewish unity and continuity. As an independent, responsible, responsive community member, we actively engage with individuals and organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life, and Jewish life, in Sout...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 5 : Take a shot with JSL! Lease by January 29, 2021 in time to participate in our COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics. Lindsay Sklar, MD Dr. Sklar is pleased to announce that she has joined West Bloomfi eld Dermatology and Mohs Surgery. Dr. Sklar received her undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan. She completed medical school and residency at Wayne State University, School of Medicine, where she served as...…

…6 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 Most Read on the Web Each month, the JN will let you know the stories that were read most often online. If you missed any, you can go to the jewishnews.com and search for them by title. Here’s what was most popular in December. TOP 10 ON THE WEB 1. Longtime Fertility Doctor in the Jewish Community Used His Own Sperm to Inseminate Patients, DNA Tests Show 2. My (Big, Fat) Joyful, Tearful Polish Wedding 3. Evel...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 7 letters Importance of WSU Press Thanks so much for your recent story about Stephanie Williams, the new director at Wayne State University Press (Dec. 24, pg. 18). One of the great traditions of the Press has always been its rich tradition to not only publish books about Judaism but also to give voice to the dozens of local Jewish authors commit- ted to telling our Detroit sto- ries. I, too, was shaken up by ...…

…8 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 essay This Year, for Martin Luther King Jr. Day — Be a Heschel W e’ve all seen those grainy black and white photographs from the 1960s. We see Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. marching in civil rights demonstrations, oftentimes locked arm and arm with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, his fellow activist and close friend. As Jews, we see these pictures and we rightly take pride that a rabbi was integral to D...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 9 Take a shot with JSL! Lease by February 9, 2021 in time to participate in our COVID-19 Vaccine Clinics. Supported through the generosity of The Jewish Fund and the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Family Foundation. .org We Have Answers. Need help finding senior care?  Call jhelp at 1-833-44-JHELP  Visit jhelp.org  Chat online with a staff member or schedule a call at jhelp.org  Do all of the above ✗...…

…10 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 Jewish seniors, frontline workers among fi rst to get COVID vaccine. DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER of A s 2021 begins, many hope the year will bring a return to nor- malcy with the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine. And mem- bers of the Detroit Jewish com- munity are playing pivotal roles in distributing the lifesaving injection throughout the area. From frontline and health- care workers being the first ones ...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 11 gram the hospital system uses to set up appointments. Employees included in the first tier of vaccinations includ- ed emergency room physicians and staff, operating room staff, and the anesthesia, ENT (ear, nose and throat) and critical care departments, according to Adelman. The vaccine arrived at the Henry Ford West Bloomfield loading dock at 10 a.m. that day, with employee health techs primarily giving o...…

…12 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 a.m. and finished around 4 p.m. More than 130 people were administered the first dose that day. Most long-term care facil- ities will be receiving the Moderna vaccine due to the specific refrigeration and temperature needs the Pfizer vaccine calls for. The residents were mon- itored for 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine, and wellness checks were done the morning after for every resi- dent. The follow-up...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 13 according to Zenlea, includes the participants’ option to become unblinded, which means they can be told if they received the vaccine or the placebo in the trial if they want to. For those who received the placebo, they will be offered the Moderna vaccine that same day. For those who received the vaccine as part of their participation in the study, they won’t be offered anything since they’re already vacci...…

…14 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 O n Wednesday, Jan. 6, as Congress prepared to ratify the Electoral College vote confirming President-elect Joe Biden’s win, mobs of Trump supporters clashed with police and broke into the U.S. Capitol building. Five people have died as a result of the attempted insurrection. Michigan members of Congress were among the many politi- cians sheltering in place. The riots began after President Trump hosted a ...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 15 MICHIGAN FORESHADOWING The U.S. Capitol siege took place nine months after armed anti-lockdown protesters gained entry into the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing in April. “There were lessons to be learned that weren’t, ” state Sen. Jeremy Moss (D-Southfield), who is Jewish, told Slate after the Capitol riots. “This hap- pened in Michigan on April 30, Washington in January, and unless there’s a serious discu...…

…16 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 M ore people in the area are thinking about their DNA heritage and coming forward with sto- ries of their own fertility fraud experiences after the Detroit Jewish News reported last month that Dr. Philip Peven, a well-re- spected OB-GYN in the Detroit Jewish community, had secretly used his own sperm to artifi- cially inseminate some patients (Dec. 24 cover story). The JN story, however, alarmed some readers...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 17 she’ d been donor-conceived in 1993. Spencer then spent years looking through records of Wayne State University medical students, thinking one of them must have been her biological parent. After connecting with her first half-sibling through DNA tests in 2014, Spencer eventually deduced that their donor had not been a medi- cal student, as the doctor had promised her parents. Instead, he was a man named Han...…

…18 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 N ow more than ever, with a steadily increasing elderly population and continuing COVID-19 concerns, people are searching for compassionate and trustworthy care for their aging loved ones. With this in mind, two longtime friends combined their shared skills and interests to start a home healthcare business dedicated to personalized, professional caregiving. Matt Yaari, 32, of Royal Oak, and Guy Lavi,...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 19 add staff as the business grows. “Given the current pandemic-related unemployment, we’re eager to find high-quality compassionate caregivers and welcome the challenge of creating jobs that will pay higher than industry average in order to attract outstanding people,” Yaari noted. Lavi outlined the strategy to grow their client base. “We plan to use our connections in the Jewish community to find seniors...…

…20 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 L ike so many others, the pandemic has been an especially lonely and chal- lenging time for Lola Jerome, 95. Holed up in her apartment in Windsor, Canada, with safety only allowing limited masked visits from her local relatives and unable to see her relatives who live across the border, Lola has been feeling “gloomy. ” “I don’t remember anything like this in all my lifetime, ” she said. And Lola has lived ...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 21 Managed by: Proud Recipient of the Prestigious Ask Us Why! INNOVATIVE. ENGAGING. ENLIVENING. TOTALLY CAPTIVATING. LEARN MORE AT ALLSEASONSLIVING.COM Ann Arbor - NOW OPEN | Birmingham | Rochester Hills | West Bloomfield For the Joys of Independent Senior Living We have adopted new standard of care in our daily operations by implementing COVID- specific initiatives for our residents’ well-being including: Ÿ Conta...…

…22 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 J anice Cherkasky has been able to immerse herself in parties. Besides hosting them for family and friends, she plans them for others through her business, Gourmet Parties. Over the past 15 years, she and her husband, Richard, have invited about 40 guests to their Franklin home in celebration of New Year’s Eve. Beyond tra- ditions, annual partygoers have found fun activities by going along with different th...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 23 A Jewish student who attended the SOAS University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies) has received a full tuition refund (15,000 British pounds — slightly over $20,000) after filing a complaint to the school regarding the toxic antisemitism he experienced as a student there. The university will also conduct an investiga- tion into his claims. The news of the refund and investigation came on...…

…24 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 J ust a little over half of Americans know the meaning of “antisem- itism” - while 46% of the general public are not familiar with the term at all. More than six in 10 Americans believe antisemi- tism in this country is a prob- lem compared to 88 percent of Jewish Americans who agreed with this statement two years in a row. These are two main findings in The State of Antisemitism in America 2020 — a first...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 25 identify them as Jews since the Tree of Life shooting in October 2018. • 37% reported being the target of an antisemitic incident, such as a physical attack or an antisemitic remark online or in person, by mail or by phone in the past five years. However, 76 percent of those who were tar- geted did not report the incident. • 43% of those ages 18-29 say they have either personally experienced antisemitism on...…

…26 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 T his February, Rabbi Levi Dubov of the Bloomfield Hills Chabad will offer Journey of the Soul, a new six-session course by the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI) that will answer one of the most-asked questions about life: What happens when we die? “Death is both mysterious and inevitable,” Rabbi Dubov told the Jewish News. “Understanding death as a continuation of life reveals the essence and beaut...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 27 B arry M. Klein was a devoted alumnus, sup- porter and unwavering advo- cate for Oakland University. With his passing on Jan. 18, 2020, OU lost a generous and loyal friend. As a final act of support, Klein made a transfor- mative gift through his estate which, in part, has established the Barry M. Klein Center for Culture and Globalization. In 2003, Klein made an ini- tial bequest gift commitment through ...…

…28 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 M y mother, Lois Teicher, began renting her 2,000-square-foot studio at the Atlas Building on Gratiot Avenue in Detroit in 1982. The building was a well- known artists enclave and, today at 82 years old, she is the last art- ist to move out of the building. The Atlas Building, across from Eastern Market, was home to the Atlas furniture company in the 1920s. My mom decided on the Atlas Building for sev- eral...…

…D etroit native Dr. Donna Zfat-Zwas, 57, recalls that as a medical resi- dent, if she saw a woman with chest pain in the ER, checking for a heart attack was one of the last things she did. “Heart diseases are traditionally considered to be men’s diseases, ” said Zfat-Zwas, now the director of the Linda Joy Pollin Cardiovascular Center for Women at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem. “In Israel, awareness of women’s heart ...…

…30 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 MOMENTS BIRTHS MAZEL TOV! SEPT. 12, 2020 Dr. Stefanie Sherman and Dr. Bobby Dekker are overjoyed to announce the birth of their precious daugh- ter, Eleanor Bari Dekker (Esther Nava). Delighted grandparents are Fanny and Jeffrey Sherman, and Debbie and Robert Dekker. Eleanor is the great-granddaughter of Edward Sherman, Sara Pancer and Esther Godfrey. She is lovingly named in memory of her great-grand-...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 31 MILESTONES Rott-Gelfand A rthur and Julie Rott of West Bloomfield are thrilled to announce the engagement of their son Ryan Seth to Nicolette Faith Gelfand, daughter of Allison and Lee Gelfand of Merrick, N.Y. Nikki received her dual mas- ter’s degree in autism and spe- cial education from Columbia University. She works at a pri- vate school in Manhattan, teach- ing students with autism. Ryan received his law d...…

…32 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 SPIRIT An Eco Revelation P arshat Vaera is the most theological par- shah, as God reveals Godself to the world at the burning bush and then through the first seven plagues upon Egypt: bloody water, frogs, lice, mix- ture (of insects or wild animals), livestock pes- tilence, boils and hail. The Spanish rabbi Bahya ben Asher ibn Halawa (1255–1340), explains that God is “the hand that directs all of the phen...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 33 W hen Ruby Schwartz was beginning her senior year at Groves High School, she began thinking about becoming a col- lege freshman in 2020. Besides looking ahead to chemistry and marketing classes, Schwartz wanted to participate in extra- curricular activities, particularly theater productions. Schwartz had expressed theater interests for two years as part of the stage crew of the Groves performing arts pro- g...…

…34 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 P assages appearing from cover to cover in a new crime novel, The Nightworkers, reflect author Brian Selfon’s reactions to his actual employment involving light undercover work — first for Brooklyn prosecutors and later for Seattle public defenders. Selfon, aiming for a career as a novelist since pre-college years in Southfield, supported his goal with workaday jobs that included deskwork as a chief invest...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 35 FILMS continued on page 36 J ews may have been common fixtures of the Golden Age of Hollywood, with studio heads like Louis B. Mayer and Irving Thalberg calling the shots. But it’s rare they got to make films about what it actually meant to be Jewish. Meanwhile, during the same time frame, Yiddish theater was a strong and lively tradition. But there was a brief moment when these interests could overlap. ...…

…36 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 Plying similar terrain is Harry Tomashevsky’s The Yiddish King Lear (1935), in which a possessive patriarch’s insistent steering of his daughters’ lives (he says early on that women should be “ornaments”) sheds light on some troubling flipsides to strict insistence on tradition. The film, based on the play of the same name, is heavy on melodrama, as are several simi- lar entries in the set all set in the U....…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 37 ON THE GO PEOPLE | PLACES | EVENTS SPEAKER SERIES 8-9 PM, JAN. 14 Join Rabbi Jen Kaluzny and a free lineup of speakers. Visit: temple-israel.org/ event/speakers2021. MUSIC RETROSPECTIVE 5 PM, JAN. 15 The Ark in Ann Arbor will present this livestream series: 18 shows reflecting 20 years of the music of Rufus Wainwright. Tickets: $20 ($25 day of show); biot. ly/RW_TheArk. SERVE THE MOMENT JAN. 15-18 MLK Day, a...…

…HEALTHCARE G&F Professional Services- Compassionate, affordable, responsible and efficient homecare. Call Georgiana (248) 571-1837 (www. gfprofessionalservices.com) A1A CAREGIVER/COMPANION. Experienced, excellent references. 248-991-4944 Need a caregiver for your loved one? Call Selina 248.688.6675 Facility/ in home care CNA cert. Grooming, feeding, meds, blood sugar & vitals. Selena 248.747.1083 Exp. private duty caregiver for ...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 39 SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY DOROTHY KAUFMAN BRAIKER, 88, of Farmington Hills, died Jan. 5, 2021. She is survived by her daugh- ter, Terry Marlene Braiker; many other loving family mem- bers and friends. Mrs. Braiker was the beloved wife of the late Raymond Joseph Braiker; mother of the late Mark Howard Braiker; sister of the late Jack and the late Cecilia Kaufman. Interment was held at Machpelah Cemetery in Fe...…

…40 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY LORELEE HANDELMAN, 82, of Alma, died Dec. 22, 2020. She is sur- vived by her son and daughter-in-law, Robin Handelman and Kathline Fritz; daughter and son-in-law, Rayna Handelman and Mark Freifeld; sister and brother-in-law, Terri and Melvin Sharf; many other family members and friends. Mrs. Handelman was the beloved wife of the late Sy Handelman; daughter of the late Mitzi and t...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 41 cats taken in over the years. Her interests included bowl- ing, coloring, dancing, listen- ing to music, and shopping. Laura and husband, Gary, shared a sense of humor and enjoyed watching Seinfeld and going to Tigers games together. Laura graduated from Central High School in Detroit and worked at the Downtown Hudson store. She will be greatly missed. Mrs. Kienscherf is survived by her son and daughter-in- ...…

…42 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY knew her for her zest for life, wonderful smile and unforget- table giggles and being a friend to all. Mrs. Klain is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Elliot and Elaine Klain of Las Vegas, Nev.; daughters and sons-in-law, Cynthia Klain of Farmington Hills, Eileen and Richard Polk of Huntington Woods, Alice and Richard Silbergleit of Birmingham; grandchildren, Daniel Klain an...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 43 Jacob Jordan and Michael Moretsky; brothers and sisters- in-law, Dr. Robert and Barbara Moretsky of Bloomfield, Dr. Sanford and Barbara Moretsky of Scottsdale, Ariz.; stepson, Dr. Steven Eisenfeld; stepdaugh- ter, Jamie Eisenfeld Jennings; stepgrandchildren, Brynn and Quinn. He was the beloved eldest son of the late Ben and the late Elizabeth Moretsky. Interment was on Jan. 3, 2021, in Phoenix. SHIRLEY ROSE...…

…44 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY Weiner and Jason Weiner; sister and brother-in-law, Elaine and David Zack. Mrs. Weiner was the devoted daughter of the late Jack and the late Ann Freed; the loving sister of the late Sonny Freed. Contributions may be made to Kadima, 15999 W . 12 Mile Road, Southfield, MI 48076, kadimacenter.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. LILLY WEISS, 90, of Oak Park, died Jan. 5, 2021...…

… JANUARY 14 • 2021 | 45 A neighborhood dining legend is recalled by many who remem- ber favorite visits they had to Larco’s Inn on West McNichols (6 Mile) just west of Livernois, Detroit. Owned and operated by three broth- ers, Pete, Nick and Mike Larco, it opened in the 1960s and is still talked about … Pete and Mike used to work as waiters at another Italian restaurant, and Mike was a tool and die maker … Pete headed the kitchen,...…

…46 | JANUARY 14 • 2021 Looking Back From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org Poking Holes in the Glass Ceiling T he history of the Jews in Detroit and Michigan over the past century is a story of communal growth and progress. The community has grown in numbers and organzational strength, as well as political and business power. As my friend and Detroit Jewish News Fou...…

…Jessica J Kakos, DDS West Bloomfi eld 6621 W Maple Road Suite 200 West Bloomfi eld, MI 48322 Tel 248 489 5950 Bloomfi eld Hills 6443 Inkster Road Suite 176 Bloomfi eld Hills, MI 48301 Tel 248 855 4143 kakosdental.com …