…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 31 George Marshall, aka the performer Raw Silk, has been playing cabaret in Detroit for decades. While he doesn’t typ- ically offer private shows, the people JARC serves have been fortunate to receive personal- ized performances via Zoom during the pandemic. His recent JARC show was Valentine’s Day-themed and featured songs about love. Marshall spends weeks carefully planning the perfor- mance, with song choices a...…
…D ozens of people gathered in Detroit for the relaunch of NEXTWork, NEXTGen Detroit and JVS’ professional development and network- ing series for young Jewish Detroiters. The program kicked off with Jason Raznick, co-founder and CEO of Benzinga. He built the com- pany 12 years ago during the Great Recession and, after a recent nine-figure acqui- sition, he’s calling this new chapter Benzinga’s “second inning.” The event was hos...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 33 N EXTGen Detroit’s Winter Fundraiser: Distilled & Chilled will bring Metro Detroit’s young Jewish adults some of the best the city has to offer in live music from local art- ists, classic Detroit fare and Detroit City Distillery’s signa- ture spirits — all for a good cause. The night out in the Motor City will benefit the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit’s 2022 Annual Campaign. The fundraiser is set...…
…SPORTS G olf is important to J.J. Modell. “I enjoy the compe- tition. It keeps me sharp in life,” he said. Golf will take Modell to Israel this summer. The 50-year-old Bloomfield Hills resident and investment advisor will compete in golf in the men’s masters division (age 50 and older) for Team USA at the 21st Maccabiah Games. “Playing golf in the Maccabiah Games is something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s been a goal of my golf c...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 35 I n Pekudei, we wrap up the Book of Exodus and learn that the Israelites have fin- ished constructing the Tabernacle. We find a final accounting of the gold and silver used in the construction and learn that the ritual objects and garments that the Israelites had been instructed to make were complet- ed as well. We also find the results of the recently completed census (603,550 males over age 20). Upon com...…
…S itting is the new smoking. So goes the new health mantra. Spend too much time at a desk or in front of a screen and you are at risk of significant danger to your health. The World Health Organization has identified physical inactivity as the fourth greatest health haz- ard today, ahead of obesity. In the words of Dr James Levine, one of the world’s leading experts on the sub- ject and the man credited with coining the mantra, sa...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 37 become the first member of the covenantal family to build a house, yet he does not call the place “house” (as in Bet- El or Bet-lechem). He calls it “cattle-sheds.” It is as if Jacob, consciously or unconsciously, already knew that to live the life of the covenant means to be ready to move on, to travel, to journey, to grow. One might have thought that all this applied only to the time before the Israelites cro...…
…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...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 39 Shomer Israel Oak Park (248) 542-4014 godaven.com 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 La...…
…ARTS&LIFE THEATER JET creates an Arizona production of The Diary of Anne Frank. On the Road Again …
…B ringing and mounting a new production of The Diary of Anne Frank from Michigan to Arizona in the middle of a pandemic has been a labor of love of epic proportions, to say the very least. But with grit and clever resourcefulness, one fiercely determined snow birder extraordinaire and her small, but mighty, Scottsdale-area team of friends and relatives were able to make it happen. For more than 27 years, the Jewish Ensemble Theatre (JET)...…
…ARTS&LIFE THEATER continued from page 41 42 | MARCH 3 • 2022 JET Season The Jewish Ensemble Theatre will reopen its 2021-2022 season with: Same Time Next Year by Bernard Slade April 21-May 15 The Full Monty by Terrence McNally and David Yazbek June 2-26 Amadeus by Peter Shaffer July 14- Aug. 7 TBD Aug. 25-Sept. 18 JET’s 2022-2023 Season begins Oct. 6 with the Rocky Horror Picture Show Single ticket prices $49/ adu...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 43 ARTS&LIFE BOOKS E xcitement is in the air after the release of the new children’s book by Michigan author Lori Ellis. The new book, titled Ryan’s Magical Shoes, was inspired by her parents who were Holocaust survivors. Ellis said the story teaches young children about diversity and acceptance. Born and raised in Detroit, Ellis now lives in West Bloomfield with her husband, Jeff. She holds a master’s degree in s...…
…44 | MARCH 3 • 2022 CATWOMAN IS JEWISH, THE ’80S LAKERS, THERANOS MESS The Batman opens in the- aters on March 4. There is a long backstory on the production of this new entry in the Batman odyssey. Suffice it to say that it pretty much is a “new start” for the Batman series. So many “new starts” probably would have surprised Bob Kane (1915-1998), who created the Batman comic character. The Caped Crusader is played by Robert P...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 45 KIDS PLAYTIME 10-11 AM, MARCH 3 Children ages 0-5 and their favorite adults are invited to come play in per- son at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. Join Lindsay Mall for a Rhythm and Ruach class, with songs, gross motor activity and more. The community is welcome at $54 per family per seven-week session and with a limit of 15 families each session. The spring session runs Thursday mornings through April...…
…46 | MARCH 3 • 2022 own needs are being met during this challenging time. It’s easy to feel isolated but Jewish Family Service and Jewish Senior Life are here to offer family caregivers support, comfort and a sense of community. “Taking Care of the Caregiver” with author Rabbi Laura Geller will be a virtual presentation. Info: jfsdetroit.org/caregiver. FRANKEL CENTER EVENT 4-6 PM, MARCH 10+ “Secrets” film series. Free. Dr. Debo...…
…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. MARCH 3 • 2022 | 47 Aaron Mendelson Heating and Cooling, LLC. 248-855-0437 Cell: 248-912-2292 License # 7118488 Maintenance, Installation, Repair & Hot Water Heaters Ajmendelson1@gmail.com...…
…OBITUARIES OF BLESSED MEMORY 48 | MARCH 3 • 2022 VIVIAN KEIDAN BERRY, 93, of Huntington Woods, died Feb. 21, 2022. She is survived by her son, Hank Berry, and his fiancee, Jessica Rhodes; daughter, Karen Berry; grandchildren, Rhys Leahy, Max Leahy, Emily and Eric Whale, and Amy Berry; great-grandchildren, Matthew Schick and Alison Whale. She is also survived by her loving and devoted caregivers, Washita Smith Myree, Marayama...…
…continued on page 51 MARCH 3 • 2022 | 49 Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Temple Israel, 5725 Walnut Lake Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48323, temple-israel.org/trib- utes; or to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel. KENNETH BRENNER, 76, of Farmington Hills, died Feb. 16, 2022. He is sur- vived by his wife, Yvonne Kawashima; daughter, Mariko Brenner; broth- ers, Ronald Brenner and Terry Brenner;...…
…50 | MARCH 3 • 2022 B lanche Gantz, 100, of Santa Barbara, Cali- fornia, died Feb. 19, 2022. She passed away peaceful- ly three months before her 101st birthday. She lived a full, high-energy life filled with love and joy from her friends, family and dance. She was a strong, indepen- dent, creative woman who loved socializing. Blanche grew up in Brook-lyn, N.Y., and moved to Detroit at age 9. She was a child performer in the Ca...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 51 Feld; many other loving family members and friends. Mr. Feld was the beloved husband of the late Roslyn Feld; the brother of the late Marilyn Haile. Interment took place at Adat Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia. Contributions may be made to the Bais Chabad of Farmington Hills. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. ERIC “RICKY” FISHMAN, 75, died Feb. 21, 2022, in Hanover, Pa. He was born in Pittsburgh, gr...…
…extremely proud. Interment took place at Hebrew Memorial Park Cemetery in Clinton Township. Contributions may be made to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation or the National Kidney Foundation. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel. NANCY LYNN GOLDEN, 75, of San Mateo, Calif., formerly of Detroit, died Feb. 17, 2022. She is survived by her siblings, Dr. Theodore and Diana Golden, Ellen Golden and Mark Kelley, and Richard and Linda Gold...…
…MARCH 3 • 2022 | 53 S eymour Salinger, 98, died Feb. 2, 2022, the last of his family’s great generation. He was born in 1923 in a small town in Lithuania, the youngest of seven children. In 1939, his mother sent him and his sister to live with their older brothers, who were already in Detroit. Sadly, she did not survive the Holocaust to join her children. After finish- ing Central High School and a semester at Wayne State Uni...…
…54 | MARCH 3 • 2022 Looking Back From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org Sholem Aleichem Institute: All Things Yiddish R ecently, I wrote about Sholem Aleichem (1859-1916), the famous Yiddish writer of stories and plays. During my research on Aleichem in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History, I ran across hundreds of references to his namesak...…
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…JEWISH NEWS JEWISH NEWS THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS $200 Feb. 24-March 2, 2022 / 23-29 Adar 1 5782 thejewishnews.com thejewishnews.com Jewish Bakery Renewal Stacy Fox is determined to preserve — and improve — Jewish-style bakeries in Metro Detroit. See page 12 …
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…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 3 contents PURELY COMMENTARY 4-9 Essays and viewpoints. OUR COMMUNITY 10 Good News at Frankel Jewish Academy The school introduces Shorashim Grants providing all students up to $10,000 toward tuition. 12 Jewish Bakery Renewal Stacy Fox is determined to preserve — and improve — Jewish-style bakeries in Metro Detroit. 16 On-Ice Fundraiser Local hockey tournament raises funds for...…
…4 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 essay Why I Wrote a Jewish Book about Kidney Donation G rowing up, like lots of idealistic young people, I always wanted to be the kind of person who would change the world drastically and for the better — perhaps as a life-saving scientist, a soul-inspiring musician or a transformative political leader. The problem was I wasn’t quite cut out for those fields and even those who do make it big in t...…
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 5 essay Legacy: The Yellow Violin F lemington, New Jersey, was stop number one on my three-week August concert tour some years back. Half of the buildings in this Delaware River town are on the Register of Historic Places. Masterfully restored 19th-century Victorians resplendent with sumptuous flower boxes line each side of the main boulevard. This is not just another exit on the turnpike— its claim t...…
…6 | FEBRUARY 24 • 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: D...…
…DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205, Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248-354-6060 thejewishnews.com The Byron and Dorothy Gerson Centennial Innovation Fund Honors the Legacy of Two Community Champions Dorothy “Dottie” (z”l) and Byron “Bud” (z”l) Gerson are remembered as two of Jewish Detroit’s greatest leaders and benefactors. Their passion and generosity for our community was matched only by their commitment to family, and...…
…8 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 PURELY COMMENTARY soon forget. I felt blessed to have a role in this incredible saga. After the event, Sharon Brooks wrote to me: “Sam, you asked me a question I never thought about before. What if my grandfather was able to bring the violin to Israel? Would this music have this new life, this revival of spirit? Perhaps what seemed like such an injustice back then was a part of the master plan. Maybe the...…
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 9 MISREPRESENTING MAUS continued from page 6 matter of days three different volumes of Maus zoomed up Amazon’s top 10 list — no one has seemed troubled by the ease with which media reports consistently misrepresent Maus as a novel. I doubt the initial report in the Times, or of those who took their cues from it, intended to imply that Spiegelman’s text is a work of fiction. So why did they? Why do our profession...…
…F amilies of high-school aged students who didn’t think they could afford a day school education have a new option today. Frankel Jewish Academy (FJA) announced the Shorashim Grant program — an opportu- nity for current and incoming families, regardless of the ability to pay, to opt-in to grants that help reduce the cost of annual tuition. Shorashim Grants are avail- able at up to $10,000 per student annually. and families will b...…
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 11 uates of FJA. Their leadership, and therefore Frankel Jewish Academy’s impact, will be felt for years to come. ” The Shorashim Grants will be evaluated over the next few years to determine their effectiveness. The goal is to continue to offer them to stu- dents who enroll at FJA in 2023 and beyond. In addition to the Shorashim Grants, Frankel Jewish Academy continues to offer generous tuition assis- tance. ...…
…12 | FEBRUARY 24 • ON THE COVER PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST Stacy Fox at Star Bakery …
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 13 Y ou’re always warm and never hungry if you work for a bakery,” said Stacy Fox, a hometown gal with a thing for old bakeries — old Jewish bakeries in particular. Fox was 16 when she began working with Marty and Joyce Herman at Marty’s Cookies & Bakery in Birmingham, a business known for its definitive chocolate chip cookies. At age 24, she purchased the bakery and kept it for 20 years. A tasty new chapter ...…
…14 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 specialties. Speaking of Star Bakery, she said, “People come from all over for our seven-layer cake,” but she’s also found great loyalty to Diamond Bakery’s recipe for seven-layer cake. “We’re famous for our rye bread,” she said, again referring to Star Bakery. For the time being, Star is making all the rye bread sold at Diamond Bakery and teaching bakers there to make it the same way. The rye is popular for...…
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 15 Stacy Fox relies on her longtime employee Marilyn Wolton of Oak Park, associated with Star Bakery since 1960. The only child of Polish Holocaust survivors Joyce and Henry “Chaim” Abramowitz, Wolton was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany. She remembered when her father, owner of a shoe repair shop on Coolidge, told 14-year- old Marilyn to “find a job, but you’re not working for me.” Down the street...…
…A vrumi Lorkis of Oak Park has been a hockey player since his school days at Yeshivah Beth Yehudah. Free time would find him on the ice rink at the Jewish Community Center of Metro Detroit at practice or games. Now at 32, the high school teacher still likes to play pick- up hockey for its social and exercise benefits. “Hockey is a passion and a commitment,” Lorkis said. “The gear gets expensive, and it takes time and practice ...…
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 17 OUR COMMUNITY T he award-winning series returns for a second season to feature profiles of Detroit seniors, including colorful stories of entrepre- neur Larry Mongo, owner of Cafe D’Mongo’s Speakeasy in Downtown Detroit; the philanthropy of Max Fisher family scion and matriarch Jane Sherman; a vivid oral history of the Cass Corridor arts scene in the 1970s by legendary artist Nancy Mitchnick; the trans- f...…
…T he late Dorothy and Byron Gerson were devoted to Detroit’s Jewish community and to Israel, a commit- ment shared by their family for several gen- erations. They traveled often to Israel and contributed generously to improve Jewish life in Detroit and Israel. Now their legacy is being honored through a series of grants from the William Davidson Foundation. Byron and Dorothy Gerson were the brother-in-law and sister of the late Willia...…
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 19 INNOVATION FUND AT FEDERATION In addition to the gift to the Israel Museum, the Foundation is granting $3.5 million to Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit to establish the Byron and Dorothy Gerson Centennial Innovation Fund. The Gersons were long-time donors to Jewish Federation, receiving Federation’s lifetime achievement award in 2011. This new proj- ect complements the Hermelin-Davidson Foundation for...…
…20 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 OUR COMMUNITY T he Cis Maisel Center for Judaic Studies and Community Engagement will present Defiant Requiem, a moving feature-length documentary that honors the prisoners of the Terezín concentration camp. The screening will be held in the Oakland Center Banquet Rooms (312 Meadow Brook Road, Rochester) on Wednesday, March 9, at 7 p.m. The film tells the Terezín prisoners’ stories and combines histo...…
…FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 | 21 Maestro Murry Sidlin COURTESY OF JEFF ROFFMAN Treblinka and Auschwitz. Maestro Murry Sidlin will speak to OU students during an afternoon event about the film and its music. He will then show the film at the evening public event and lead a discussion after the screening. Defiant Requiem has received numerous awards nationwide. Sidlin, a conductor with a unique gift for engaging audiences, continues a ...…
…22 | FEBRUARY 24 • 2022 OUR COMMUNITY E leanor Roosevelt Hadassah, a Hadassah chapter for Greater Detroit and its suburbs, is hold- ing a virtual celebration of Purim on March 3 at 7:30 p.m. with an evening of music, friendship and entertainment, featuring a performance from Lisa Soble Siegmann. Siegmann, a singer, songwriter, cantorial soloist and song leader, began singing professionally at age 5 — and hasn’t stopped. The Blo...…
…On Sunday, March 6, our community volunteers will be making calls to secure donations to Federation’s 2022 Annual Campaign. Every day, Federation’s partner agencies are taking care of older adults, children and other vulnerable individuals. Providing emergency financial assistance for families in need, and educational supports for our day schools. Delivering mental health services for those that are struggling. This is all pos...…
…Join fellow young adults who live in (or are from) Metro Detroit on an upcoming Birthright trip. There are two dates to choose from: May 9-19, 2022, and May 23-June 2, 2022. Based on Israel Outdoors’ flagship Israel Quest itinerary, Detroit Community Birthright trips give you the opportunity to explore Israel’s natural beauty, its epic 3,000-year history and its colorful cultural traditions, alongside fellow young Jewish Detroit...…
