… NOVEMBER 19 • 2020 | 1 An Extraordinary Agent Providing Extraordinary Results! 248.568.7309 | Cindy@CindyKahn.com | CindyKahn.com 442 S. Old Woodward Avenue Birmingham, MI 48009 Cindy Kahn REALTOR® $200 Dec. 24-30, 2020 / 9-15 Tevet 5781 See page 14 Longtime Detroit Jewish fertility doctor used his own sperm to inseminate patients, new DNA tests show. His offspring speak out. An Unknown Mishpachah …
…Season's Greetings …
…4 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 VIEWS 6-13 IN THED JEWS 13 Oak Park Couple Make Aliyah, Join Children and Grandkids. 14 An Unknown Mishpachah Longtime fertility doctor in the Jewish community used his own sperm to inseminate patients, new DNA tests show. 18 New WSU Press Director Sees “Position to Succeed” Stephanie Williams discusses staff upheavals and Jewish publishing. 20 Balance Boxes Local teen starts...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 5 Nazli G. Sater Family Law Practice Chair | Partner 248.784.5178 nsater@wnj.com Roquia K. Draper Family Law Attorney | Partner 248.784.5081 rdraper@wnj.com wnj.com FAMILY L AW …
…6 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 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 Sou...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 7 Partner with our scientists to solve humanity’s most difficult challenges. And if that isn’t reward enough, there are year-end tax benefits, too. TO START EXPERIENCING THESE REWARDS, CALL 800.242.2947 or email cpp@acwis.org W E I Z M A N N - U S A . O R G Example: Give $25,000 at age 80 and get $1,625/year (6.5%) for the rest of your life. Age 70 4.7% Age 85 7.6% Age 75 5.4% Age 90 8.6% Age 80 6.5% ...…
…B etween boredom from spending so much time at home and fear of getting COVID-19, I, like many Americans, have taken to excessive online ordering. Not socializing with anyone except my husband, not being able to see my family or friends, not eating in restau- rants or shop- ping in stores, I have resorted to COVID compulsive online buying. (Could this be a new syndrome?!) While some of my purchases have been practical, some ...…
…Go to thejewishnews.com and use code Chanukah2020 at checkout. Be sure to login before purchase if you are already subscribed. Subscriptions@renmedia.us can help if you have lost your login info. Valid for in-state and out-of-state online orders only. Offer ends 12/31/2020. Offer can not be applied to completed payments or mail in requests and can not be combined with any other offer. New or Renewed 2-year subscriptions! $15 OFF MAK...…
…10 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 VIEWS A t the Jewish News, we have used this year’s Antisemitism Project to attempt to address the big questions of this “ancient evil” in 2020: what constitutes it, how we talk about it and what we can do to end it. This year, we also published an interview with Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Detroit — by far our most controversial article of the year, largely because many of our readers believe ...…
…continued on page 12 expressed a desire to “make sure that progressive movements are never tainted by antisemitism. ” Second, Beinart added, “Zionist Jews should not be excluded from progressive spaces. ” He then parsed the ways different Jews define Zionism and debate it amongst themselves. The JN is just such an organization: we are a Zionist publication, but that doesn’t prevent us from having honest conversations about the ter...…
…12 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 DANNY SCHWARTZ On Dec. 10, the first night of Chanukah, the JN partnered with Chabad in the D, The Shul and other local Jewish organizations to livestream the annual Menorah in the D lighting from Downtown Detroit. Because of the pandemic, people were advised to watch from home this year — and tens of thousands of you did, from all over the world. Here is a selection of reader responses from Zoom and Faceb...…
…U pon their permanent arrival to Israel as this summer ended, Mark and Badonna Berkman, for- merly of Oak Park, added a new Hebrew word to their vocabu- lary: bedood. The coronavirus bedood, or lockdown, was not the start of an aliyah the Berkmans may have chosen when they discussed the idea of becom- ing Israelis as far back as their first dates while in their 20s. The Modern Orthodox couple spent the decades of their mar- riage ...…
…14 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER IN THE JEWS D ON THE COVER An Unknown W hen sisters Lynn Neher and Jaime Hall, then Lynn and Jaime Brown, were grow- ing up in a non-Jewish household in Bloomfield Hills in the 1960s, they thought of them- selves as polar opposites. Jaime had dark hair, pale skin and blue eyes. Lynn had blond hair, olive skin and green eyes. They had a running joke in the family that Jaime wa...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 15 “My mom would roll in her grave if she knew he was my father, ” Jaime told JN. “She did not pick that. ” Jaime, who now lives in Traverse City, has so far connected with five other half-siblings assumed to be the biological children of Dr. Peven through artificial insemination. They’re spread out across the coun- try, from Michigan to Oregon. Dr. Peven, 104, delivered more than 9,000 babies during his career,...…
…16 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 IN THE JEWS D ON THE COVER delivered many Detroit Jews. Sy Ziegelman, also a retired OB-GYN in the Detroit area, remembers Dr. Peven as a respected doctor in the com- munity, who liked to fish in his spare time. Ziegelman first met Dr. Peven as an intern at Sinai Hospital in 1963. He was “rather well-thought of, kind of a gentleman,” Ziegelman said. “He was considered to be a very competent obstetri- cian...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 17 She’d learned in her 20s that there was “something unique about [her] conception,” she said. After her brother got a DNA test, she decided to get one, too. “I think it’s really great,” Landes said. “It answers a lot of questions because I’ve never resembled any of my current siblings at all. When I’ve spo- ken with my DNA matches, close matches, I feel like a part of me … that was missing is now found.” H...…
…18 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 T he annual Association for Jewish Studies Conference for academic publishers took place Dec. 13-17. For Wayne State University Press, one of the biggest national publishers of Jewish Studies aca- demic books, quite a lot has changed since last year’s display. Most significant- ly, the Press has welcomed a new director, Stephanie Williams, who started her job in August and moved to Detroit at the end of...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 19 either did not have a vigorous understanding of publishing, of university press publishing or of management making major deci- sions for the Press. ” She declined to elaborate further. Now, though, Williams is “very pleased” with the administration’s current level of support for the Press. “I would not have taken the job, and I certainly would not have moved to Detroit, I defi- nitely would not have bought a ...…
…20 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 E than Endelman’s summer should have included camp and hanging out with friends. But COVID severely limited his options. Of course, he wasn’t alone. Students everywhere faced disappointments over canceled plans and social restrictions, but Endelman, a Bloomfield Hills High School freshman, found a very productive and charitable way to fill his schedule. In June, he started a Detroit chapter of Balance Box...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 21 F or the first time, Jewish families who live in eastern Oakland County had a Chabad Chanukah event of their very own. On Dec. 13, the Chabad Jewish Center of Troy arranged a very large public Menorah lighting in Troy, attended by 350 people who joined from the safety of their cars. “This must have been the largest Jewish celebration that the entire eastside has seen in a very long time, and for sure a ...…
…22 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 R abbi Yoni Dahlen of Congregation Shaarey Zedek has gone viral on the social media platform TikTok for a video in which he shows how to light a chanukiah. The video had nearly 100,000 views as of press time. Using the username “Motor City Rabbi” on the popular video plat- form, Dahlen uses the service to teach Jewish rituals to the general public. Other videos of Dahlen’s on the platform include a tutorial...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 23 B’nai Moshe To Feed 400 Henry Ford Hospital Workers on Christmas Eve Congregation B’nai Moshe of West Bloomfield is show- ing their gratitude for all that healthcare workers have done over this year by providing a Christmas Eve dinner to all 400 night-staff personnel at Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield on Dec. 24. For many years, B’nai Moshe has baked and delivered cookies to Metro Detroit police a...…
…24 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 M any people are struggling with stress issues as the pandemic marches on. One way proven to help is to engage in creative activities. Studies have shown that working on crafts lets people forget about their stress for a while and allows them to focus on the positive things in their life, an effect similar to meditation. The Council Re|Sale thrift store in Berkley, operated by the National Council of Je...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 25 Detroit Jews for Justice Celebrates Detroit Moratorium on Water Shutoffs D etroit Jews for Justice has long been working to end water shutoffs in Detroit, and their efforts came to fruition Dec. 8, when Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan announced a moratorium on water shutoffs would be extended until the end of 2022. Duggan also announced that Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, former director of the Detroit Health Department a...…
…My (Big, Fat) Joyful, Tearful Polish Wedding 26 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 …
…O K, it wasn’t that big, and it wasn’t that fat. But meaningful? Oy, vey! My beautiful bride, Dr. Freda Lengel Arlow, a divorcee of 10 years, and I, a widower of 13 years, decided to exchange our wed- ding vows in a very special place. We were wed in October 2019 in Kazimierz, the centuries-old Jewish quarter of Krakow, Poland’s second-largest city. The choice of Poland for a destination wedding might seem “beyond the pale” — but the city...…
…destroyed; but now, we are rebuilding Jewish life here. “Your wedding in Krakow is a symbol of our people’s resilience and ability to start over and start fresh — and that’s something very special. ” HEARTFELT MOMENTS Freda’s son, Dan Arlow of San Francisco, walked his mother to the chuppah just after Dan’s wife, June, escorted me there. All wedding arrangements were made by the very helpful JCC Krakow staff, including a heimish ...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 29 IN THED JEWS R eaders have voted and the results are in! Here are the winners of the online Chanukah art contest. Each will receive $18. JN readers choose online Chanukah winners. WINNERS! More UNDER 6 FIRST PLACE: HALEY HAMBURGER SECOND PLACE: MAX FRIEDMAN AGES 7-9 FIRST PLACE: ANNE GARDIN SECOND PLACE: NOAH GITLIN AGE 10-12 FIRST PLACE: ZEEV MAINE SECOND PLACE: TALYA BERNHARDT FIRST SECOND FIR...…
…30 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 A multi-million-dollar economic program announced earlier this month will provide immediate, quick relief for some members of Oakland County’s restaurant industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Oakland Together Restaurant Rescue Program will distribute $10 million in grant money to 1,000 restaurants and bars. The money can be used for operations, including payroll costs; weatherization and equip- men...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 31 T CF Bank announced Dec. 13 that it had been acquired by Columbus, Ohio-based Huntington Bank and that the combined entity would have “dual headquarters” in Detroit and Columbus, mark- ing a big moment in the career of TCF Bank chair and prominent Jewish Detroit philanthropist Gary Torgow. Under the agreement, TCF will merge into Huntington, and the combined holding company and bank will operate und...…
…32 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 M ichelle and Jan Sherman of Farmington Hills are thrilled to announce the engagement of their daughter Jamie Renee to Benjamin Ethan Blinder, son of Laurie and Mark Blinder of West Bloomfield. Jamie received her bachelor’s degree in communications from Michigan State University and spent the past decade working in public relations in New York City, Chicago and finally back home in Detroit. Benjamin rece...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 33 SPIRIT I n this week’s portion, we have a big reveal. Joseph, moved by his brother Judah’s desire to serve as Joseph’s slave in place of Benjamin, orders his Egyptian entourage out of the room and tells his brothers who he really is. They are speechless until he assures them he is not angry with them — rather, his being sold into slavery was part of a Divine plan that allowed him to be in a position to...…
…34 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 A nn Arbor-based fiction writer Anna Megdell’s short story “For the Days to Be Long Again” has been selected to be included on the 30th-anniversary edition of NPR’s Hanukkah Lights series, airing nationally on various NPR stations during Chanukah. The hourlong show can also be heard online at NPR.org. Since 1990, NPR has celebrat- ed Chanukah with the program of original stories inspired by the Jewish fes...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 35 P rofessional dancer and activist Johanna Kepler has made it her mission to use the creative arts as a tool to inspire social change. The recent University of Michigan graduate who majored in dance with a minor in Latino studies has used her platform to spark discussions about racial injustice, immigration reform and most recently, the impact that the COVID- 19 pandemic has had on the performing arts community...…
…36 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 “That intersectionality in my identity sparked interest in the personal narrative and the personal story.” She especially focuses on gathering stories from people of color, which are portrayed in both her interview project and through her choreographed dance. “Creating these plat- forms and making those connections, I’m trying to figure out how we can get a seat at the table,” she continues, “to make cha...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 37 HISTORY AT BEDTIME 8 PM, ONGOING The Detroit History Club is offering short, nightly, history lessons presented as a bedtime story. History Bedtime Stories will be posted nightly on its Facebook page, and on its website the following morn- ing, detroithistory- tours.com. DIA FOR KIDS 1 PM, DEC. 26 The Detroit Institute of Arts is proud to present a free special edition of Wimage LLC’s engaging and live o...…
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…40 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY c. 1956 PRISCILLA “PRISSY” BACHAIOV, 84, of Farmington Hills, died Dec. 11, 2020. She was a very talented person: a singer, actress, comedian and artist. Priscilla was a warm, lov- ing, welcoming and fun indi- vidual; she cooked fabulously and loved to feed her family and friends great Jewish and Bukharian dishes. She was also a talented singer and actress, who loved to laugh an...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 41 love of her life, Steven Belson of Birmingham. They first lived in Boston, Mass., then moved to South Florida in 1985. Sally worked as a social worker for the Detroit Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office in Detroit, served as the founding executive director and social worker for the women’s shelter Aid to Victims of Domestic Abuse (AVDA) in Delray Beach, was an interviewer for the Steven Spielberg Shoah Visu...…
…42 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY THEODORE “TED” BROD, 82, of Oak Park, died Dec. 14, 2020. He is survived by his wife of 33 years, Annette Brod; daughter and son-in-law, Dana and Ron Swain; son and daughter- in-law, Todd and Rhonda Brod; stepchildren, Michelle and Kevin Raisch, Brian Soloway, Pamela Soloway Strohs, Olive and Isabelle Soloway; grandchildren, Alexander Swain, Vanessa Swain, Isabelle Swain, Jacqu...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 43 the AEPhi sorority. She loved to travel with Ruth Felmus; they became world travelers and had visited 67 countries. She is survived by her daughters, Ilene Harris, Nancy Harris/Roger Shepherd, Pat Harris-Linton, Elaine Pollack; her grandchil- dren, Megan and Jonathan HLZacks, Whitney Harris- Linton; her great-grand- daughter, Gavriella HLZacks. She is also survived by Dennis and Peggy Frank. Mrs. Harris wa...…
…44 | DECEMBER 24 • 2020 SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY GAIL ROSE SOSKIN, 88, of Sacramento, Calif., formerly of Southfield, died Dec. 7, 2020. She is survived by her daughter, Diane Ash; son and daughter-in-law, Neil Soskin and Gayle Brickman; grandchildren, Justin Ash and Michelle Zimmerman, Marissa Ash and Michael Reilly, Aaron Soskin and Kayla Soskin; great-grand- son, Ethan Joshua Ash- Zimmerman. She is fondly remembered by Norma...…
… DECEMBER 24 • 2020 | 45 I t is among pride and joy structures of Novi that build- er/developer Irwin Arkin once called a dream of life … The white edifice that today stands as the fine Shiro Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar enjoys history and décor as a yesteryears home and fine eatery that today might seem to overshadow its fine Japanese pre- sentations … But the Japanese choices and appearances are noted to be in somewhat of...…
…COW 051 JANUARY TO sa@AVEN' BLOOM FI MtWotyvy.com @tyvypethotelwb @tyvypet #tyvypet bloomfield@tyvy.com $2.00 DEC. 24-30, 2015 / 12-18 TEVET 5776 Y 7 et hoW Mhhe day o ky© gOloin 82,opia veteMaMan Umuffy ooa[the ToMets oontorr A JEWISH RENAISSANCE MEDIA PUBLICATION DETROIT JEWISH NEWS theJEWISHNEWSocorn » Special Delivery: » Improving Safety: » Keeping Watch » Oscar Preview: Student brings solidarity letters to Israel. See pag...…
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…contents et the Dec. 24-30, 2015 I 12-18 Tevet 5776 I Vol. CXLVIII, No. 21 JEWISHNEWS SHABBAT LIGHTS Shabbat: Friday, Dec. 25, 4:47 p.m. Shabbat Ends: Saturday, Dec. 26, 5:53 p.m.* Shabbat: Friday, Jan. 1, 4:47 p.m. Shabbat Ends: Saturday, Jan. 2, 5:58 p.m.* * Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah calendar. Cover design: Michelle Sheridan The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 29200 Northwestern Highwa...…
…1—s u CS 0 COMPETITION Autodesk g 0 Opportunity that Lasts a Lifetime PROBLEM SOLVING. CRITICAL THINKING. GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE. CREATIVITY. For generations, Cranbrook has fostered creative and critical thinking skills in our students while preparing them to excel at the colleges of their dreams and in life beyond. Now more than ever, universities and employers understand what we have always known: an education that develops this kind of thi...…
…viewpoints >> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com for openers You Don't Say — But You Should! M any a truth is said in jest:' or face. so the old saying would have • Love may conquer all, but us believe. Old sayings are so its shelf life is only as long as prevalent in our language that they often your last shower. contradict each other, but there always • If you love something, let seems to be a place for them in conversa- it free...…
