…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 13 August 2020. There are three full-time staff members. Zach (Weisman, head of product), me and a director in Montreal. (There’s also a team of developers who report to Weisman.) I also recently recruited Becky Melamed, former director of PJ Library. We started putting events on Jlive in January 2021, and now people are really using it and really registering with it. And organizations are trusting us to put event...…
…14 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 OUR COMMUNITY T hanks to the generos- ity of Detroit’s Jewish community and other funders, Jewish Family Service (JFS) has been able to expand its staff and volunteer corps over the past two years, recon- figuring and adding services to help the community cope with the stresses of COVID. The agency was able to pivot quickly to serving its counseling clients via Zoom, Facetime or video conferencing rather ...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 15 independently, with workers visiting them at home as nec- essary. During the pandemic, said Ohren, direct care work- ers could continue to visit cli- ents at home, but social work- ers and volunteers switched to remote connections. Because many seniors are less adept with technol- ogy than younger adults, JFS offered them Uniper Care, a service developed by an Israeli company that enables televisions to func- t...…
…16 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 OUR COMMUNITY F or Tu b’Shevat, Hazon Detroit will be presenting a program entitled, “Elements of Life: Moving Together with Nature, Artistically Experiencing the Beauty of Tu b’Shevat,” an interactive, sensory-rich the- ater experience showcasing the elements that foster the life and growth of a tree. The program takes place 6-9 p.m. on Jan. 16 at the Berman Center for the Performing Arts. Specific viewings t...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 17 TOP: Choreographed dancers will dance around the four elements with the movements representing each element. Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest The Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest, a free, (mostly) online, collab- orative festival, returns for a second year from Jan. 10-14. The Fest is an inter- national Jewish climate festival reflecting a cross-collaboration of hundreds of Jewish organizations committed to maki...…
…18 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 OUR COMMUNITY T eens: Get your pens (or keyboards) at the ready. With some thought and effort, you can win some cash and great leadership experience for col- lege. Here are three opportunities you need to know about. COHN-HADDOW ANNUAL WRITING COMPETITION The Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies at Wayne State University is holding its seventh annual writing com- petition for Metro Detroit high school stude...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 19 Supported through the generosity of The Jewish Fund and the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Family Foundation. Need help taking care of a parent? ☐ Call jhelp at 1-833-445-4357 ☐ Visit jhelp.org ☐ Chat online with a staff member or schedule a call at jhelp.org ☐ Do all of the above X Q We Have Answers. As featured on: Need Help with an IRS or State Tax Problem? Call the experts at 1-800-TAX-LEVY (829-5389) ...…
…20 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 F or 10 years, Rebbetzin Rachel Tessler Lopatin has worked as a volunteer matchmaker for SawYouAtSinai, an online matchmaking platform for Jewish singles. She’s helped create thousands of dates worldwide, more than a dozen of which have led to marriage. “If you know the type of person they’re searching for, you will hopefully be able to connect them with great people,” she says of matchmakers like hers...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 21 same life experiences and religious values. Others prioritize location, while many seek out certain personality traits. “I encourage people to look outside their community,” Tessler Lopatin says. “People often reach out because they feel like they’ve met everyone around them. What I’m able to say is, ‘You actually haven’t met everyone.’ It’s important to keep stirring the pot.” By stirring the pot — or mak...…
…22 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 B orn and raised in Detroit, Wayne State University School of Medicine alumnus Steven Lauter and his brothers were the first of their family to attend college. Their parents had difficult times, so finances were tight, but Sadie and Reuben Lauter encouraged their children to focus on education. Dr. Lauter took his parents’ guidance to heart, receiving full tuition scholarships and funding assis- tance for ...…
…24 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 continued from page 22 jobs until he became a bartend- er, which led to co-owning and operating a small bar. Sadie’s efforts were focused in the home, making sure the family had packed lunches and food on the dinner table. The family had Friday dinner together to light candles, and the boys were educated in the rituals and tra- ditions of the Jewish faith, each having a bar mitzvah ceremony. “Despite being qu...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 25 C ongregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield will host a Zoom series highlighting global Jewish communities on four Sundays in February from 7-8:15 p.m. Jewish travel guide specialists will present the history, cultural back- ground and status of import- ant sites central to Jewish communities in China, India, Spain and the Netherlands. On Sunday, Feb. 6, Israeli Eliaz Reuben-Dandeker, a descendant of leaders ...…
…26 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 faces&places On Sunday, Dec. 12, children in JEMS (Jewish Education Matters) at The Shul in West Bloomfield explored the impor- tance of the mitzvah of mezu- zah. A mezuzah race around The Shul and a visit by Rabbi Levi Kagan, a skilled scribe from Oak Park, brought the lesson to life. Parents joined the children for the hands-on demo, which focused on the intricacies of writing with a quill on parch- ment,...…
…JANAURY 6 • 2022 | 27 D uring the fall and winter months, Young Israel of Southfield (YIOS) hosts a weekly Saturday night Torah learning program for the entire family. The program is called Veshinatam Levanecha, which is a phrase borrowed from the Shema, which means that you should thoroughly teach your children (words of Torah.) Approximately 30 minutes after Shabbat concludes, parents and children, both boys and girls, as well a...…
…28 | DECEMBER 23 • 2021 BUSINESS Gil Gur Arie Ford, with a renewed focus on innovation, recruits globally. ADAM FINKEL SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS From Israel Glass House to the …
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 29 PHOTO COURTESY OF FORD n the biography of Steve Jobs on Gil Gur Arie’s bookshelf, author Walter Isaacson shares a story about the day Jobs unveiled the Macintosh computer. A reporter from Popular Science asked Jobs what type of market research he had done. Jobs responded by scoffing, “Did Alexander Graham Bell do any mar- ket research before he invented the telephone?” Ford’s CEO Jim Farley, with decades of experie...…
…30 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 ously served as the director of information sys- tems at the company after having impressed the U.S. executives with his work around computer systems in the European office of Ford. The South Africa native, who made aliyah to Israel and completed a Ph.D. at Hebrew University, continues to reside in Metro Detroit. Gur Arie’s role is focused on transforming Ford into a data-led business, which includes modernizing ...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 31 R yan Berke helped make history in 2016. He was a member of the Detroit team that played in the first ice hockey com- petition at the JCC Maccabi Games. Fast forward six years. Berke is 19, in his third year playing junior hockey. And loving it. “Playing junior hockey has been great for me not only for my hockey career, but also for my personal growth,” he said. The North Farmington High School graduate is a ...…
…32 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 California from 2016-18, helping Detroit win a bronze medal in Miami. Berke’s hockey career began not too many years after he was born. After playing for several years in the Novi Youth Hockey Association, then in the Compuware and Victory Honda travel programs, he began his junior hockey days with a two-season stay with the Atlanta Capitals in the NA3HL, scoring 13 goals and dishing out 16 assists during ...…
…MAZEL TOV! JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 33 Canvasser 100th N atalie Canvasser turned 100 on Dec. 20, 2021. Due to COVID and her age, she celebrated quietly with her family, Sandi and Thom Millman; their daugh- ters, Jodi and Shelley; Marci and Charles Canvasser; their daughters and son-in-law, Alana and Evan Wolf and Kayla Canvasser; and great-grand- children, London Drew Wolf and Pierce Aspen Wolf. OCT. 6, 2021 Dana and Dale Sobel of At...…
…34 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 mother who lives down the street from us, my cousins who live two blocks away, my parents, of course. I talk to them every day, but it’s not the same. I also miss snow. People from Michigan think I’m crazy, but snow is my favorite season. My dad called me recently to see the snow. JN: What do you love about living in Israel? GK: Waking up every day, there’s a purpose to my life because I live where my nation...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 35 I n the depths of slavery, a message comes to the people. A message from God about the future. A precursor to our freedom. The message takes the form of two key mitzvot given to the Jewish people long before we receive the Torah at Mount Sinai. These mitzvot relate to the Jewish cal- endar. The first is the mitzvah of Rosh Chodesh. God says to Moses and Aaron: “This renewal of the moon shall be the beginning of...…
…36 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 SPIRIT continued from page 35 panied our liberation from that exile. In his commentary, Oznaim LaTorah, the great Lithuanian commentator, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin offers another interpretation for the significance of Nisan becoming the first month. We know that Nisan isn’t the only “first month” of the Jewish calendar. Tishrei, the month we celebrate Rosh Hashanah, also marks the beginning of the year. Put differe...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 37 because it was a call to the entire nation that now was the time for spiritual renewal. One of the key teachings of the Torah is our capacity for renewal. We are not subju- gated to the laws of nature. We can rise above our own instincts, our own nature. We can make ourselves into the people we were meant to be and live lives of greatness, and it’s in our hands to do that. Like God, Himself, who created the ...…
…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...…
…JANUARY 6 • 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 Congregat...…
…ARTS&LIFE POP CULTURE A new reality-TV sensation, a raunchy indie-film spin on shivahs and a rare glimpse into Turkey’s Jewish com- munity made a big splash in 2021, while else- where, old favorites (Curb Your Enthusiasm, Jeopardy!, West Side Story) made big impacts in the Jewish world. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency covered every twist and turn that kept us entertained and enlightened during this difficult year. Here are the greatest...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 41 and is played by Harvey Keitel — in Lansky. The top prizewinner at this year’s Berlin Film Festival was an angry satire about sex tapes, COVID, history education and antisemitism. Bad Luck Banging Or Loony Porn depicts Romanian citizens angry over a teacher’s private transgressions, but blind to their own ignorance about how their coun- try has historically treated Jews. Israeli film imports to the U.S. shone bri...…
…42 | JANAURY 6 • 2022 ARTS&LIFE BOOK REVIEW O nce upon a time, a star, a superstar, perhaps the leading television performer in all of America, lived right here in Jewish Detroit, seemingly next door to everyone. In the 1950s, when school children had a lunch break long enough to allow them to walk home, enjoy lunch with their stay-at-home mom and get back in time for afternoon class, Lunch with Soupy filled a need. It gave ho...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 43 1926, firstborn son of the only Jews in Franklinton, North Carolina. His parents — like Jews all over the rural South — ran the general store. Milton’s father, Irving, died in 1931. In 1934, Milton’s mother, Sadie Berman Supman, married Felix Goldstein, and moved with her three sons to Huntington, West Virginia. Milton graduated from Marshall College (now University) in his hometown, where he began his career ...…
…44 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 A THRILLER, FATHER/ DAUGHTER SURGEONS, PIVOTING WOMEN AND MORE The 355, an action spy thrill- er, opens in theaters Jan. 7. Jessica Chastain stars as a CIA secret agent who teams up with other inter- national agents to recover a secret weapon. Simon Kinberg, 49, directed the film and he co-wrote it. He has co-written several X-Men films and he’s also a top film produc- er. Check out Good Sam, a CBS series ...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 45 WOMEN & TALMUD 11 AM, JAN. 7-FEB. 25 Adat Shalom Synagogue invites you to join Rabbi Aaron Bergman on Zoom to read together the writ- ings of great contemporary Talmud scholars such as Rabbi Dr. Judith Hauptman and Dr. Ruth Calderon to gain insight into how these texts can still create meaning for all of us today. All texts available free of charge at sefaria.org. Free. To RSVP and receive the Zoom ...…
…46 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 Russian army during World War I. Register: jtsa.edu. WINTER WARM UP 11 AM-12:30 PM, JAN. 16 Warm up with NEXTGen Detroit, JFamily and Hillel Day School for a cozy morning of crafts, cocoa and connecting with other young Jewish families in Metro Detroit at Hillel Day School, 322300 Middlebelt, Farmington Hills. Cost: $15 per family. Gym time fun, Tu b’Shevat planting, snow sensory stations, MLK Jr...…
…JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 47 Fishbane, who will discuss his book, Embers of Pilgrimage, a collection of original poems incor- porating imagery from the Zohar and other Jewish mystical works. Register: jtsa.edu. GLOBAL CONNECTIONS 4-5 PM, JAN. 12 “Iran: What to Do Next” will be a Zoom program brought by the American Friends of Rabin Medical Center. Robert Siegel (former senior host of NPR’s “All Things Considered”) conducts th...…
…48 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 Aaron Mendelson Heating and Cooling 248-855-0437 Cell: 248-912-2292 License # 7118488 Maintenance, Installation, Repair & Hot Water Heaters Ajmendelson1@gmail.com FAMILY OWNED SINCE 1973 $65 SERVICE FEE 24/7 Emergency Service Apple a Day Take a bite out of learning! Call Debbie! (248) 514-8349 On Site Apple Training and Support Call today for your free in-home consultation 248.855.8747 Caren Bass C...…
…AMY ABEL, 34, of West Palm Beach, Fla., for- merly of Waterford, passed away on Dec. 17, 2021. Amy was the beloved daughter of Lori and Bruce Abel; dear sister of Brian Abel; loving aunt of Maddox Wilson; beloved by her aunts, uncles and many cousins. She was predeceased by her grandparents, Judy and Norman Sommers and Phyllis and Martin Abel. Interment was at I. J. Morris at the Star of David Cemetery of the Palm Beaches. Co...…
…continued from page 49 OBITUARIES OF BLESSED MEMORY 50 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 JOYCE BLUMER, 95, of West Bloomfield, died Dec. 27, 2021. She is survived by her husband of 75 years, Dr. Abraham Blumer; sons and daughters-in-law, Mark and Susan Blumer, Gary and Terre Blumer, and Dr. Robin and Dr. Kathleen Blumer; grand- children, Justin and Amanda Blumer, Melissa Blumer, Erin and Sean Amirkhiz, Evynne Blumer, Paul Blumer, David and ...…
…continued on page 52 JANUARY 6 • 2022 | 51 LUBA BETH GRUNDY, 89, of Farmington Hills, died Dec. 24, 2021. She is survived by her devoted husband of 70 years, Allan Grundy; sons and daughters-in-law, Dr. Gurusahay (Mukta) Khalsa, Leon (Cris), Jeffry, and Dr. Bruce Grundy; seven grand- children; four great-grandchil- dren; many other loving fami- ly members and friends. Mrs. Grundy was sister of the late Dr. Ramon Jacobs and the l...…
…52 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 Eric Guerin, Jessica (Andy) Beach, Howard Siegelbaum, Steven Siegelbaum; many other loving family members and friends. Mrs. Pevos was the beloved wife of the late Ray Pevos; daughter of the late Harold Mahler, the late Betty Mahler and the late Adelle Mahler; sister-in-law of the late Sue (the late Dan) Pevos; aunt of the late Julie Sias. Interment took place at Clover Hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham. Co...…
…W hen Harry Reid was 19, he wanted to marry Landra Gould. Her Jewish parents had other ideas. Reid, a middleweight boxer who con- verted to the Church of Latter-day Saints as a college student, got into a fistfight with Gould’s father in her front yard. And then he and Landra eloped. Reid’s pugilistic sensibility served him well in politics, lifting him up from abject poverty in Nevada on to Congress, where he became the Democratic ...…
…54 | JANUARY 6 • 2022 Looking Back From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org A Design Icon N ew York City’s School of Visual Arts is currently displaying an exhibition in tribute to Milton Glaser (1929- 2020). Glaser was an internationally acclaimed Jewish graphic designer and illustrator and, with partner Seymour Chwast, a co-founder of the Push Pin Design Studios in 19...…
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