…JEWISH NEWS JEWISH NEWS THE DETROIT thejewishnews.com A happy ending as an “only child,” 62, meets her unknown siblings for the first time. See page 12 $200 May 26-June 1, 2022 / 25 Iyar - 2 Sivan 5782 A happy ending as an “only child,” 62, meets A happy ending as an …
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…MAY 26 • 2022 | 3 PURELY COMMENTARY 4-11 Essays and Viewpoints OUR COMMUNITY 12 Mystery Solved! A happy ending as an “only child,” 62, meets her unknown siblings for the first time. 18 A “Home for Everyone” Bais Chabad in final stages of opening a new mikvah and new playground. 20 Beth Shalom’s Mastermind of Events Beth Rodgers brings the community together through events. 22 ‘Charging Up’ Their Faith Kalamazoo’s B’n...…
…4 | MAY 26 • 2022 for openers Our Last Class with Mr. Leuchtenberg A nticipating a high school reunion can evoke varied reactions. Most folks look forward to seeing old friends. Some dread the return of high school angst. For some, it’s the push to really start following that diet. Everyone who attends tries to look their best. And, of course, some skip the whole darn thing. Every 10 years since my graduation, I’ve gone t...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 5 Member FDIC. ⬢®, Huntington® and ⬢ Huntington.® are federally registered service marks of Huntington Bancshares Incorporated. ©2022 Huntington Bancshares Incorporated People expect banking that suits the bank. We do things differently at Huntington. We work to deliver services that feel intuitive, benefits that feel effortless, and experiences that feel tailored to your life and your goals. People tell us it’s hard ...…
…6 | MAY 26 • 2022 1942 - 2022 Covering and Connecting Jewish Detroit Every Week To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.djnfoundation.org The Detroit Jewish News (USPS 275-520) is published every Thursday at 32255 Northwestern Highway, #205, Farmington Hills, Michigan. Periodical postage paid at Southfield, Michigan, and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send changes to: Detroi...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 7 brilliantly noted has the same three syllables as Leuchtenberg). I included a dubious line about how he had helped us to learn to fly like “Leuchtenbirds.” We watched our beloved teacher take it all in, and we just knew we had done something good. It was our chance to try to pay Mr. L. back for all he had given us many years ago. And something else happened as we went around the room that day. We were able to ...…
…8 | MAY 26 • 2022 PURELY COMMENTARY student’s corner The Bible’s Portrayal of Jewish Trauma U pon reading the books of Ruth and Esther, it may appear as though the only similarity between them is their resilient titular characters. However, when put parallel to one another, their boundless contrasts — from tone to demographic — serve to the Torah’s intent of revealing the difference outlooks on life bring to trauma. With...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 9 …
…10 | MAY 26 • 2022 guest column Detroit Project Understanding T he Jewish Community Relations Council/ American Jewish Committee of Detroit (JCRC/ AJC) kicked off the month of May with the inaugural 2022 Detroit Project Understanding fellowship sum- mit. The summit was designed to bring together emerging young leaders in the Black and/or Jewish communities of the Metropolitan Detroit area. It was co-sponsored by the Coalitio...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 11 I have a friend who just gave birth in Jerusalem. Her baby girl was struggling to latch, and awash in a flood of hormones and debilitating exhaustion, the two of them spent a long two hours sobbing together in the nursing room at Hadassah Hospital. My friend is Israeli. She wears a Star of David. There was another mother in the room — a Palestinian woman from East Jerusalem … she wore a purple hijab, ...…
…12 | MAY 26 • 2022 ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER E M YSt R At age 62, an “only child” meets her unknown siblings for the fi rst time. ON THE COVER ABOVE: Susie Simons Liebman (center) and her newly found siblings, Maureen Lefteroff and Marvin Katz. RIGHT: A collage of love between the two “new” sisters, Susie and Maureen. OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT: Susie with her son Benji Tarockoff and daughters Halli Tarockoff and Abbi Eme...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 13 E SOL D V MAY 26 • 2022 | 13 E L he pretty, outgoing little girl always knew she was adopted and therefore felt very special. Her late parents, Rachel and Jack Pludwinski of Southfield, did not believe in keeping the adoption a secret from the child they named Susan Beth Pludwinski. Susie, 62, now known as Susan Simons Liebman of Coral Springs, Fla., left Michigan in 2010 when her now deceased husband, Steven Si...…
…continued from page 13 decided, and went about her life. That includes working as a substi- tute teacher at Lubavitch Hebrew Academy in Margate, Fla. Susie became frum (Orthodox Jewish) 12 years ago and brought along second husband, Steven Simons, when Rabbi Yankie Denburg introduced her to the Chabad-Lubavitch movement, a form of Chasidic Judaism. Susie had met the rabbi when she had his daugh- ter in her class at the Hebrew Acade...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 15 Since the genetic genealo- gy revolution began in the late 1990s, DNA testing has provided valuable informa- tion to anyone interested in learning about their genetic ancestry. Researchers find the commercial DNA testing kits invaluable for untan- gling genealogical riddles on their family trees. The kits reveal how the custom- er’s DNA is similar to others from certain geographic regions. Results are shown by p...…
…16 | MAY 26 • 2022 After the portion stating, “In the Matter of, ” the line below reads “Baby Girl, ” followed by a redacted last name now known to be “Katz, ” and then “Pludwinski. ” Jack, Rachel and their attorney signed the document. FINDING OUT How did cousin Tracey’s mother, Janet, now deceased, learn about the adopted Katz baby? Tracey said the most likely source was Frances Jackson, her grandmother and Janet’s mother. Ethel a...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 17 DNA testing has lifted the veil of secrecy on closed adoptions, also called “confidential” or “secret” adoptions. Once a com- mon practice in the United States, they make up only 5% of adoptions today. Closed adoption is a process by which an infant is adopted by another fam- ily, and the record of the biological parent(s) is kept sealed — protected from inquiries. Closed adoption was often a societal solu- t...…
…18 | MAY 26 • 2022 R abbi Elimelech and Chaya Sarah Silberberg came to West Bloomfield with two small children in November 1975 as shluchim (emissaries) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. They embraced the quiet, suburban community, encouraging people from all levels of observance to learn and increase their participation in Jewish life. The Sara & Morris Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center’s founding fathers were a group of Holocaust sur...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 19 members who are the pillars of our community, but many of their children and grandchildren have now moved back,” he said. “Bais Chabad has a very youthful energy, and I’m very happy to say I’m always looking to add to that.” Bais Chabad has two major projects currently in the works. The Mallor Walder Community Mikvah Center, an approximately 2,500-square-foot facility, is about triple the space of the curren...…
…20 | MAY 26 • 2022 B eth Rodgers wears many hats at Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park as its vice president and chair of the programming committee. Rabbi Robert Gamer nominated her as Volunteer of the Week because he wanted to shed light on what Rodgers brings to the congregation. “She continues to bring exceptional programs to Beth Shalom as well as the larger community,” Gamer said. “Café Shalom brings musical talents on an...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 21 PRESENTING SPONSOR Barbara and Michael Kratchman Thank You Premier Event Sponsors! VIRTUOSO SPONSOR Bluma Schechter CONDUCTOR SPONSORS Judy and Jeff Aisen | Janet Aronoff | Frances and Kenneth Eisenberg Judy and Irwin Elson | Nancy and James Grosfeld Gail Katz – Hava Leichtman Creative Expressions Fund Katie and Evan Leibhan | Joy and Allan Nachman ARTIST SPONSORS Nora Lee and Guy Barron | Faye and Paul Blatt | Rh...…
…22 | MAY 26 • 2022 I f you’re driving an electric or hybrid vehicle around Kalamazoo and need some charging power, you could head to the parking lot at Temple B’nai Israel. The congregation maintains two power lines available to anyone. The charging station, installed last June, might impress onlookers as strictly an expression of environmental concerns, but the congregation also is expressing a modernized approach to spirituality....…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 23 mentally conscious and to be part of an effort of like-mind- ed faith organizations, ” Odza said. “Having EV chargers at Temple B’nai Israel makes it easy and convenient for me to recharge my car. “I hope that someday soon we will all take for granted that chargers are nearly everywhere we travel. For now, I’m happy to know that our congregation is out front in encouraging sustainable practices. ” Bertman likes...…
…24 | MAY 26 • 2022 OUR COMMUNITY T here’s a mitzvah I like to do; it’s so easy you can do it, too! Just a few coins is all it takes, for you to do the Tzedakah Shake!” Among the many mitzvot students learned about this year, tzedakah was one we focused on each week. Every Sunday morning, the students at Yachad, the combined religious school of Temple Emanu-El and Congregation Beth Shalom, both in Oak Park, came together to s...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 25 OUR COMMUNITY T ake a peek inside JSL ’s Meer Apartments in West Bloomfield and you’ll see residents participating in usual independent living activities, such as a book club, playing cards and shmoozing. But one you might not expect — a men’s woodworking club — was started about four years ago by Meer’s Environmental Services Supervisor Rick Napper. “ At previous buildings I’ve worked at, I’ve always had a men’...…
…26 | MAY 26 • 2022 F ew experiences are more disheart- ening for a newly minted Jewish college student or young profes- sional than an encounter with anti-Jewish bigotry, which is spreading and becoming more vicious and prominent on campuses and in media, especially social media. As part of a year-long effort to con- front antisemitism — often masquer- ading as anti-Zionism or opposition to Israel or social activism on behalf of the P...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 27 ment is trying to recruit.” Tishby’s book, written in the popular argot of the millennial (and even young- er generation) — filled with “F-bombs,” by her own description — offers a skeletal history of Zionism, including the complex poli- tics, militarism, immigration, ethnic displacement and upheaval that reshaped the modern Middle East. Growing up in Israel, she had her existence shaped by the reality of war an...…
…OUR COMMUNITY 28 | MAY 26 • 2022 F arber Hebrew Day School-Yeshivat Akiva’s 58th Annual Dinner takes place on June 8, and this year’s alumni honorees, Chaya and Joey Selesny and Shaindle Braunstein-Cohen, are as representative as ever of Farber’s consistency in producing communal leaders. The Selesnys’ time at Farber shaped them as people and professionals, and Joey Selesny fondly recalls there always being a desire for excel...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 29 M1 Concourse is excited to announce the opening of a 28,500 SF state-of-the-art event center located immediately adjacent to the Champion Motor Speedway, where your guests can enjoy thrill rides around our 1.5-mile track that you cannot experience anywhere else. M1 Concourse is one of the most unique entertainment facilities in the Midwest. Our new event center is ideal for hosting signature events, including vehi...…
…30 | MAY 26 • 2022 OUR COMMUNITY W DIV-TV Sports Director Bernie Smilovitz is a go-to source for news about Detroit’s franchise sports teams and other professional sports. A winner of six local Emmys and six Best Sportscaster Awards, he’s known for the humor that informs his reporting and in his trade- mark “Bernie’s Bloopers” and “Weekend at Bernie’s” sports segments. Smilovitz was born in Brooklyn and raised in southeast Wa...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 31 ed Poland in September 1939, “we had to go to the borders to fight back, ” Izzy said. Held four years in a slave labor camp, he recalled in the film being forced to cut trees that 30 or 40 people would then carry up the hill. After escaping with others, the group lived in the woods and did whatever was need- ed to survive as part of the Resistance. Years later, Izzy received a letter from the Hungarian governme...…
…32 | MAY 26 • 2022 D aniel Aschheim, Deputy Consul General at the Consulate General of Israel to the Midwest, was in Metro Detroit last week to get the word out about Social Impact Grants from the Israeli Consulate. Three grants of up to $5,000 will be offered to applicants who are committed to creating social impact in new ways or through maintaining existing social programs. Aschheim, based in Chicago, said part of his j...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 33 Rolling Hills 3300 Crumb Road Commerce Township, MI 48390 RollingHillsRetirement.com 248-716-1887 Apartments are Renting Fast. Call today to RSVP or schedule a private tour: June Events Invite a fun-loving friend to join you for a night of music and dancing! Experience our resort lifestyle firsthand with a tour of our beautiful community, meeting our friendly managers and residents, and showing off your best d...…
…OUR COMMUNITY 34 | MAY 26 • 2022 I t looked like any other funer- al procession, except there was no hearse and no corpse. Volunteers in a small convoy of cars from Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park to Hebrew Memorial Park in Clinton Township were carrying old prayerbooks and other printed materials containing the name of God. According to Jewish tradi- tion, these need to be stored or buried, not trashed or burned. Such item...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 35 It literally turned my life around. How a short-term training program from Oakland Community College gave Shawn McWilliams opportunity and a lucrative career. OAKLAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE STAFF L ike so many teenagers, Shawn McWilliams grad- uated high school with- out knowing what he wanted to do with his life. “I was told to go to a four- year college and get a degree to find a job,” says Shawn, who graduated fro...…
…36 | MAY 26 • 2022 W hen Moishe Pod Detroit opened in December 2021, there was one goal: to build upon Detroit’s already vibrant Jewish community. Geared for young adults and organized by couple Jeremy Rosenberg, 23, and Menuchah Bluth, 24, who goes by Chella, Moishe Pod Detroit puts on events, social gatherings and more to create a hub for Jewish Detroit. Rosenberg and Bluth live in-house at Moishe Pod Detroit (or MoPo), l...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 37 we come across someone new who’s Jewish and hasn’t found that sweet spot of how they want to be engaged [with the community], we try to make ourselves available to them.” For Rosenberg and Bluth, who were hosting Shabbat dinners and other Jewish events long before becoming Moishe Pod Detroit residents, the pod was an excellent way to continue their mission with the support of the larger Jewish community. It a...…
…38 | MAY 26 • 2022 faces&places Hosted by Motown Museum and the Jewish Community Relations Council/AJC, the May 15 Motown Seder brought together Detroit’s Jewish and Black leaders using the model of a traditional seder dinner. After a warm welcome from Motown Museum Chairwoman and CEO Robin Terry and JCRC/AJC Executive Director Rabbi Asher Lopatin, guests enjoyed and sang along during performances from the museum’s 2022 Amplify...…
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…40 | MAY 26 • 2022 faces&places Approximately 500 people gathered at Hillel Day School in West Bloomfield May 2 to celebrate Nancy and Robert “Bobby” Schostak as they received the 2022 Dream Maker and Rabbi Jacob E. Segal (z’’l) Awards at the school’s Annual Gala. Annie Slabotsky, a 2011 Hillel graduate, also received the Distinguished Alumni Award. Guests enjoyed an evening filled with exciting live and silent auctions, live ...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 41 faces&places At a programming committee meeting back in March, members of the Cancer Thrivers Network decided it was ready to have an in-person activity and chose to do a program at Goldner Walsh Nursery in Pontiac, where participants could build their own terrariums. “We have a lot of members inter- ested in plants and both indoor and outdoor gardening, ” said Trisha Mindel, Cancer Thrivers Network program mana...…
…OUR COMMUNITY 42 | MAY 26 • 2022 I t happened in 1998, then not again until 2015. Now it’s happened again. What’s happened? The West Bloomfield High School baseball team has won a league championship. The Lakers — guided by 26-year-old Coach Josh Birnberg — won the Oakland Activities Association White Division title this spring, only their third league cham- pionship in 25 years. “ A day I will never forgot” is how Birnberg describe...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 43 not done. We’re moving on to our next goal,” said Weiss, who hit two home runs in a game against Farmington earlier this month and will continue his baseball career next season at Schoolcraft College in Livonia. His brother Andrew Weiss, a former West Bloomfield baseball player, is finishing his Schoolcraft baseball career this spring before moving to play at Michigan- Dearborn. He’s an outfielder. Schoolcraft p...…
…44 | MAY 26 • 2022 R abbi Herbert Yoskowitz stepped away from being the full-time spiritual leader of Adat Shalom Synagogue in 2018, but he has not stepped away from professional leadership in the ethical imperative of the rabbinate. The rabbi’s central commitment has moved from synagogue to academia as he regularly conducts two seven-session seminars at the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine. Both are par...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 45 “Just as I am passionate about transmitting the tragic lessons of history to the next generation of physicians, I want them to know about Jewish physicians and nurses who rose to great heights and remained true to high ethical standards in caring for people in ghettos and concentration camps even at the risk of their lives.” In planning seminar content, Yoskowitz consulted with Professor Dan Michman, head of...…
…ERETZ S ean (or Zeesha) Littman, 31, made ali- yah from Oak Park in 2011, about two months after he married Ilana. He cred- its the decision to his wife’s wisdom. They live with their children, Tamar, 9, Emuna, 8, Tzofia, 6, and Ahuva Roza, 17 months, in Ramat Beit Shemesh. JN: Where did you move to? Sean: At first, we lived in Tel Zion, which is a Yishuv out- side of Jerusalem, where we knew one person who lived there. We ended...…
…MAY 26 • 2022 | 47 Michelle Bortnick, Jackie Eaton, Pam Farber, Anna Gartman, Adina Levin, Nick Porterfield, and Lauren Sterling ADINA LEVIN Elementary Judaic Studies Educator Kindergarten NICK PORTERFIELD Middle School Educator Language Arts & Social Studies Grades 5-6 TO ELEMENTARY EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR, JODI TEPPER MAZAL TOV Hillel celebrates ALL of its incredible teachers who inspire a passion for learning each and every day. H...…
…48 | MAY 26 • 2022 Brooks Kogan Barron, son of Lori Kaftan and Marc Barron, will be called to the Torah as a bar mitzvah at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield on Friday, May 27, 2022. He will be joined in celebration by his brother Quinn. Brooks is the loving grandchild of Carole Kaftan Rubin and Barry Rubin, Geraldine and Melvin Kaftan, and Nora and Guy Barron. Brooks is a student at Birmingham Covington School in Bloomfield...…
…Marx-Grossman S ally and Leonard Grossman of Berkley and Lynette and Eric Marx of Cape Town, South Africa, are thrilled to announce the engagement of their children Michelle Malka Grossman and Jason Yaakov Marx. Michelle graduated from Michigan State University with a B.A. in journalism. She is senior marketing manager for a large digital marketing company, and her career has included serving in the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit and...…
…50 | MAY 26 • 2022 BENJAMIN STERN Bloomfield Hills High School National Honor Society, International Thespian Society, BBYO Regional President, Nu?Detroit Teen Editor, Hawkeye Managing Editor, Jewish Fund Teen Board, Temple Israel Madrich, Roots, Youth Federation of Temple Israel, Teen Engagement Fellowship, Theater, Superior rating in acting, Student Leadership, Class VP, United and Varsity Soccer. Elon University HUNTER ZORN-B...…
