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…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 33 once had more than 1,200 employees and seven locations: West Bloomfield, Ann Arbor, Northville, Plymouth, South Lyon, Commerce Township and Union Lake. Hiller’s was sold to Kroger in 2015. After that, Justin worked with Gleaners Community Food Bank to help launch a neighborhood mobile grocery program and as a stewardship administrator. “The food service industry has played an integral role in my life and I...…

…34 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 T here’s a tremendous collection of cookbooks in the libraries of Michigan State University, and they’ve digitized a number of them for researchers and the public alike to read and enjoy. Amongst these tomes is The International Jewish Cook Book, published in 1918. A snapshot of Jewish foods from all corners and of all types, the recipes pay attention to kosher laws and holiday concerns, and cove...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 35 M any wonder what is the real secret of the Jewish nation? How do the Jews have so many members who invest their entire lives in study and scholarship? What is the deeper reason for motivation to acquire knowledge and be edu- cated? More than 3,000 years ago, a small percentage of people knew how to read. Only the most elite received education. The ruling class specifically intended it that way to ensur...…

…36 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 W hat are the key turning points in history? What are the events that changed the world beyond recognition and whose impact was felt by everyone, everywhere? You could talk about the invention of the electric light bulb or Gutenberg’s printing press. You could mention the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, which set off World War I and led to World War II, or the French and American Revolutions, or the ...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 37 Adam, which comes from the Hebrew word adama, meaning “earth” or “ground.” What is the connection between the two? The Maharal explains that humans are similar to the ground in one essential respect: They are both pure potential. Whether or not a piece of land will produce fruit depends on what is done with it. Even the most fertile piece of land will not produce fruit if it is left to lie fallow; it needs ...…

…Synagogue Directory CONSERVATIVE Adat Shalom Synagogue Farmington Hills (248) 851-5100 adatshalom.org Ahavas Israel Grand Rapids (616) 949-2840 ahavasisraelgr.org Congregation Beth Ahm West Bloomfield (248) 851-6880 cbahm.org Congregation Beth Israel Flint (810) 732-6310 cbiflint.org Congregation Beth Shalom Oak Park (248) 547-7970 congbethshalom.org Beth Tephilath Moses Mt. Clemens (586) 996-3138 bethtephilathmoses.com B’nai Israel Sy...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 39 Shomrey Emunah Southfield (248) 559-1533 congregation-shomrey- emunah-105705.square.site The Shul-Chabad Lubavitch West Bloomfield (248) 788-4000 theshul.net Yagdil Torah Southfield (248) 559-5905 Young Israel of Oak Park (248) 967-3655 yiop.org Young Israel of Southfield (248) 358-0154 yisouthfield.org RECONSTRUCTIONIST Congregation Kehillat Israel Lansing (517) 882-0049 kehillatisrael.net Congrega...…

…40 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 W hen Matthew Lipitz was in first grade, his teacher told the students to draw a picture of their parents in their occupational garb. Upon seeing Lipitz’s rendering, the teacher told Lipitz that his drawing was a nonsensical fabrication and sent the first grader crying to the princi- pal’s office. When the principal returned to class with Lipitz in tow, the principal repri- manded the teacher, announcing tha...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 41 safe being in a larger com- munity. “The pandemic gave me time to reflect, recharge and renew,” Lipitz adds. “It was an incredible time to recon- nect to my family and to my faith. I did a lot of convers- ing with God in those 18 months.” Even during that time, Lipitz made it a priority to continue his charitable vol- unteer work with his home- town Jewish Community Center in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, where Lipi...…

…42 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 W hat briefly was filmed in 1938 to remember vacation travels in Poland came to circulate across the web, motivated a book and recently was expanded into a 69-minute movie to be shown virtually this month by the Sundance Film Festival. The expressive milestones resulted from happenstance discoveries followed by deter- mined research and connected families descended from residents of a small town, Nasielsk, wh...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 43 University and has taught at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, had traveled widely to find authentic ancestral records. “It’s amazing to have my grandfather’s souvenir travel film showing on the film festival screen, and I’m amazed at how his imagery touches people in a way that’s profound, ” Kurtz said. “That’s astonishing, something miraculous to me. ” FINDING COMMONALITIES Reactions to the clip and the fi...…

…BOB SAGET: YOU PROBABLY DIDN’T KNOW THIS; AUSTISM ON AMAZON, WASPS FIGHT ON HBO A day after Bob Saget died, the Jewish Telegraph Agency (JTA) did a good job of pulling together excerpts of interviews in which he discussed being Jewish. In short, he was “really Jewish,” but not very practicing for most of his adult life. The JTA article did touch on the fact that his faith in religion was shaken by the very premature deaths of ...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 45 ARTIST SPEAKS 7 PM, JAN. 20 Hosted by the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan on Zoom. An exclusive con- versation with Israeli artist Yigal Ozeri and his daughter, Shear, managing director of Yigal Ozeri LLC. Ozeri is one of the leading artists of photorealism in the world. Hosted by Barbara Cohn, this live conversation will cover Yigal Ozeri’s life grow- ing up in Israel, his artistic influences, the art ...…

…46 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 When I Grow Up, a graphic narrative based on newly dis- covered, never-before-pub- lished autobiographies of Eastern European Jewish teens on the brink of WWII — found in 2017 hidden in a Lithuanian church cellar. Registration is free: jysa.edu. HONORING MLK JR. 3-5 PM, JAN. 27 A virtual program brought to you by the University of Michigan Frankel Center for Judaic Studies. “Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as a ...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 47 SPOTLIGHT B irthright Israel, the largest educational tourism organization in the world, and Onward Israel, the leading provider of mid- length immersive experiences for young adults in Israel, have merged. Combining these two orga- nizations strengthens Israel- diaspora ties by providing expanded opportunities for more Jewish young adults to participate in travel, study and professional development expe- r...…

…the exchange community bulletin board | professional services For information regarding advertising please call 248-351-5116 or 248-234-9057 or email salessupport@thejewishnews.com Deadline for ad insertion is 9 a.m. on Friday prior to publication. Aaron Mendelson Heating and Cooling, LLC. 248-855-0437 Cell: 248-912-2292 License # 7118488 Maintenance, Installation, Repair & Hot Water Heaters Ajmendelson1@gmail.com FAMILY OWNED SINC...…

…KLARA ABAYEV, 91, of Oak Park, died Jan. 6, 2022. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, David and Larisa Abayev of Commerce Township; grandchildren, Regina Abayev, Marina Abayev; great-grandchildren, Ashton, Lior. Mrs. Abayev was the beloved wife of the late Abram Abayev; dear sister of the late Jenya Shkolnik, the late Bella Halfin. Contributions may be made to any charity dealing with assisting first responders...…

…OBITUARIES OF BLESSED MEMORY 50 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 M arilyn Schechter of West Bloomfield, known for her bright smile and independent spirit, died on Jan. 2, 2022. She loved her family with all her heart, filled her life with deep and lasting friendships, and was an accomplished artist, continuing to work late into her life. Marilyn was the beloved wife of Neal Schechter for 39 years, until his death in 2007. Together, with ...…

…JANUARY 20 • 2022 | 51 artists had studios, too, bouncing ideas off each other. In her studio, she was surrounded by materials she had been collecting for years, like antique doll heads, fanciful fabrics and buttons of all shapes, sizes and colors. If she saw beauty in a thing, it might sit on a shelf — and in her mind — for years until one day, the idea hit to combine two old things and make one completely new thing. Her work ...…

…continued from page 49 OBITUARIES OF BLESSED MEMORY 52 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 learning; she spent her free time studying the history of Scotland and the lands and people of the Bible. She was also an avid music lover and loved playing the piano all her life. Rena was preceded in death by her husband, Av; and her son, Natan. She is survived by her son, Gil, and his wife, Lisa; and their children, Kaitlyn and Ryan; her daughter, Al...…

…R osalie Rishavy, born Rosalie Berman, died in her sleep, surround- ed by family, on Dec. 31, 2021, of complications from Parkinson’s disease. She will be remembered fondly by her many friends and family as a fierce propo- nent of equal rights, the rights of workers and desegregation. She was an avid reader, loved to entertain and adored her family. Rosalie was born in Detroit to Faye (Steiner) and Louis Berman. Home with asth- ma...…

…Looking Back From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org 54 | JANUARY 20 • 2022 A Yiddish Literary Giant L ast fall, I read about a “lost” novel of the great Yiddish author and playwright Sholem Aleichem. For some unknown reason, this novel, Moshkeleh Ganev or Moshkeleh the Thief, was left out of Aleichem’s 28-volume collected works. First published in a Yiddish Warsaw ne...…

…Schmidt’s Auctioneers Since 1911 A few highlights from our Jan. 1 st, 2022 Auction: Our Auctions offer online access to national and world-wide markets, competitive consignment rates, local pickup and on-time payments without excuses. Schmidt’s Antiques Inc. Since 1911 5138 West Michigan Ave. | Ypsilanti, Michigan. (734) 434-2660 www.SchmidtsAntiques.com We are now accepting select items for our upcoming auctions. Including Fine Ar...…

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…$200 Jan. 13-19, 2022 / 11-17 Shevat 5782 $200 Jan. 13-19, 2022 / 11-17 Shevat 5782 JEWISH NEWS JEWISH NEWS THE DETROIT thejewishnews.com What could be more comforting on a cold winter day than a hot bowl of chicken soup? See page 14 Food for the Soul …

…See Our Improved Features to Help Manage Your Account! • Online Account Access for Immediate Updates • Submit Address Changes, Starts and Stops • Easy Renewal Payments • Manage Gift Subscriptions • More ways to get in touch Email Us: subscriptions@thejewishnews.com Reach Out Through Our Website: https://thejewishnews.com/contact/ Or Call 248.351.5108 Subscribe Today! $200 Feb. 11-17, 2021 / 29 Shevat-5 Adar 5781 JEWISH NEW...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 3 contents contents contents PURELY COMMENTARY 4-11 Essays and viewpoints OUR COMMUNITY 12 Thoughtful Judaism The new year offers plenty of chances to learn. 14 Food for the Soul What could be more comforting on a cold winter day than a hot bowl of chicken soup? 18 Green Project National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan is helping the homeless, and the environment, with sleeping mats made o...…

…4 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 for openers Happy Healthy New Year! G roundhog Day is less than a month away and there’s a major change coming to the annual celebration in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. That’s right, this year is not about whether Punxsutawney Phil will see his shadow when he emerges from his burrow on Feb. 2, but rather will he be wearing a mask? Pray not, we don’t need six more weeks of the pandemic. There is actually som...…

…6 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 essay A Look at Israel: 2022 D espite entering the third year of the glob- al pandemic, it seems that 2022 is looking quite positive for Israel, albeit with some challenges. Over the last 12 months, Israeli tech IPOs, as well as merg- ers and acqui- sitions, jumped a massive 520% over the previ- ous year, with an unprecedented value of $81.2 billion, compared to $15.4 billion in 2020. In addition, 2021 wa...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 7 DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-354-6060 thejewishnews.com Round Up Virtual Thursday, January 20, 2022 7 - 8:30 p.m. Join us: https://bit.ly/WBSDKinder Turn anxiety into excitement! Is your child starting Kindergarten in September? Please join our webinar to learn more! Supported through the generosity of The Jewish Fund and the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Family...…

…8 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 A s we mark the one- year anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, some in our country question the health of our democra- cy. Can we be sure that peo- ple will accept the results of the 2022 mid- term elections? Will we see more politi- cal violence? A recent poll conducted by the Washington Post and the University of Maryland revealed that about one-third of Americans agree with the ...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 9 ed even before the 2020 election, has weakened democracy. Sixty percent of Republicans, according to polls, do not believe that Biden was elected in 2020. That shows the power of a lie, delivered by a trusted source and repeated endless- ly by a segment of the news media. “Should we see the expan- sion of antisemitism after the elections of 2022 and 2024 (an official celebration of an act of antisemitic vio-...…

…10 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 opinion Jews and Muslims Can Work Together A long-simmering conflict between CAIR, the Muslim- American civil rights organi- zation, and the Anti-Defamation League has now reached the boiling point: A Bay Area CAIR leader dismissed the ADL and groups like it as “polite Zionists” who could not be trusted as allies. ADL’s CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, fired back, calling her comments “textbook vile, antisemiti...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 11 SHOULD WE BE CONCERNED? continued from page 9 interrogating our own commitments. Urging American Muslims to write off the majority of American Jews as enemies from the start is to foreclose any possibility of serious interfaith work and undermines relationships that could be politically valuable for American Muslims. The strategy is as counterproductive as it is dehu- manizing. I am not primarily concerned with...…

…12 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 J ust as it did in the fall, Congregation Shaarey Zedek of Southfield will offer weekly in-person, free and study sessions open to the public that broadly cover the sweep- ing concepts of Judaism beginning 10 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 30. The hour-long classes will be con- structed from the Thoughtful Judaism curriculum, devel- oped by the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America and made possible by a grant fro...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 13 T he Dorothy and Peter Brown Jewish Community Adult Day Program reopened its Southfield location Jan. 5 after a nearly two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. While staff had pivoted to virtual programming to keep vulnerable seniors engaged and as active as pos- sible, the Southfield center remained closed until a critical number of both vac- cinated participants and available staff was reached. T...…

…OUR COMMUNITY I t’s chicken soup season. As the temperature drops and the snow begins to fall, there’s nothing quite like sitting down to a steaming hot bowl of soup. COVID-19 has accelerated soup sales even fur- ther, say local delis. Luckily, whether you want to sit down or carry out, there’s no shortage of delis in Metro Detroit ready to make you a bowl of this Jewish comfort food. There’s someone up early stirring giant pots of br...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 15 Art Dubin of Pickles & Rye Deli holds a steaming bowl of comfort. PICKLES & RYE …

…OUR COMMUNITY 16 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 attachments to healing, soothing, uplifting — it’s Jewish penicillin. It is woven into the warmth and fabric of our culture. ” Stage Deli sells chicken soup in its restau- rant and also has a grab-and-go case for people who want to heat it up at home. It makes a filling and tasty snack, meal and cooking base for sauces, rice or potatoes, he says. “We make it every day — as big as our pots are i...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 17 infection. Research also looks at how chicken soup contributes to helping people feel less lonely and its potential to lower blood pressure. Meanwhile, people con- tinue making their passion for the popular comfort food known, one bowl at a time. At Steve’s Deli, peren- nial winners at Temple Shir Shalom’s Annual Chicken Soup Cook-Off, they have regulars who come in from all over Oakland and Wayne counties t...…

…OUR COMMUNITY Green Project ALISON SCHWARTZ SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS 18 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 Carrie Kushner makes plastic yarn. COURTESY OF NCJW …

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 19 P lastic Bags Make Plastic Mats is the name of a new initia- tive from National Council of Jewish Women, Michigan (NCJW|MI), which is aimed at both addressing the plastic pollution problem while helping Detroit’s homeless community have a better night’s sleep. Members of NCJW|MI’s Green Committee wanted to come up with a practical solution to reduce the plastic waste from plastic bags and learned that it was...…

…OUR COMMUNITY L ocal nonprofit Lighthouse, which helps the fight against homelessness and poverty in the community by providing food, shelter, transi- tional housing, affordable hous- ing developments and other ser- vices, has pivoted and expanded to accommodate the increase in the local community’s needs due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Early in the pandemic, emer- gency food distribution shifted from being supplemental to being enti...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 21 to renting hotel rooms and providing meals to our shelter clients, and equipment and logistical support around those initiatives, ” Hertz said. “We were very lucky to have a community surround us with support to make all this happen. ” A LONG-TERM APPROACH On any given night, Lighthouse is serving four times the num- ber of households with emer- gency shelter services during the pandemic. Lighthouse is also i...…

…22 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 faces&places Helping others is a central value of Judaism and of Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield. Led by Beverly Gale and Cathy Lichtman, a team of more than 30 synagogue volunteers, from teens to seniors, prepared 350 lunches for the clients of Crossroads of Michigan, a Detroit- based social service agency. The volunteers prepared a multi- course meal from scratch — baked pasta, green beans, salad, ...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2022 | 23 One doesn’t need to search online to know that society is struggling with relationships. Most of us know this first- hand. If you do check online, you’ll find ample evidence that this is a worldwide issue, in which marriages are struggling, friendships are strained or broken, and family conflict is on the rise. That’s the bad news. The good news is that we can make things better, and it begins with healthie...…

…24 | JANUARY 13 • 2022 T emple Israel has housed the homeless for many years, partner- ing with the South Oakland Shelter. This year, the week looked different but was filled with amazing hard work and creativity. While Temple Israel was not able to physically house the homeless, Temple members were able to feed them lunch and dinner for the week. Throughout the week, volunteers of all ages came together to prepare and pack- ...…

…JANUARY 13 • 2021 | 25 At its fall board meetings, The Jewish Fund re-elected its leadership and elected four new board members. Michael Eizelman was re-elected Board Chair and Jeffrey Schlussel was re-elected Vice-Chair. New members are Dr. Jeffrey Devries, Gilda Jacobs, Dr. Candace Johnson Kimpson and Steven Schanes. The board awarded nearly $1 million in new and contin- uation grants. This includes a new capacity building grant...…

…SPORTS H e’s been a national champion with his club soccer team and a state champion with his high school soccer team. Now 17-year-old Troy Athens High School senior Ryan Gruca is looking for a place to play college soccer. He’s not worried about having to earn a spot in that team’s starting lineup. “It’s OK if I don’t play right away in college. I’ve been on the bench a lot during my soc- cer career and worked my way into the s...…