…76 | MAY 18 • 2023 for college students by college students D uring the 2022-23 academic year, MSU Hillel planned three Shabbat celebrations on campus through its Spartan Shabbat Series. This was the second year of the annual series, with featured locations including the Breslin Center in December, Spartan Stadium in February and Munn Ice Arena in April. Students had opportunities to tour the facilities at dinner, with each S...…
…unique Shabbat experience. The Spartan Stadium Shabbat dinner came during a challenging time for the community, as it had been previously planned to be held less than two weeks following the tragic on-campus shooting. MSU Hillel quickly pivoted, focusing on providing a safe space for the community to come together, honor those we lost, pray for those still healing and uplift one another. With students, administrators, faculty and ...…
…78 | MAY 18 • 2023 for college students by college students A s I look back on my freshman year at Michigan State University, I am thankful for the lessons I learned and the incredible experiences I had with friends at MSU Hillel. I want to share some advice I have for any incoming freshmen. The first and most important piece of advice: Say yes. Saying yes may be difficult in a new environment, but it is the best way to gain ...…
…CLASS OF 2022 JENAE LODEWYK CLASS OF 2022 NALANI RENTA-VILLANUEVA CLASS OF 2019 GUS NAVARRO CLASS OF 2021 SIMON MOURANI CLASS OF 2016 RAJ CHHAYA CLASS OF 2022 KIANNA MATEEN CLASS OF 2011 TERONTO ROBINSON, M.D. CLASS OF 2015 CHRISTINA GUSTIN W A R R I O R S T R O N G Wayne State University graduates start making an impact the moment they earn their diplomas. That’s because a Wayne State education combines academic excellence with the...…
…8 | MAY 18 • 2023 PURELY COMMENTARY A ROLE MODEL Kushner went on with his edi- torial endeavors, serving with author Rabbi Chaim Potok as in writing the English commentary for Etz Chaim, the official Torah commentary of the Conservative Movement that was published in 2001. In his comments on the text of Achrei Mot, which was read on Shabbat the week of his own death, Kushner wrote … “ After the death of the two sons of Aaron, we ...…
…80 | MAY 18 • 2023 O n Thursday, April 20, Hillel of Metro Detroit (HMD) hosted a virtual antisemitism training in partnership with the ADL and University of Michigan - Dearborn’s student affairs staff. HMD’s Executive Director Miriam Starkman and Associate Director Brittany Begun attended, as well as Amy Finley, UM-Dearborn’s dean of students, and Shareia Carter, director at the Center for Social Justice and Inclusion. Th...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 81 NEXTDOR A new platform created by two Michigan students helps incoming college students connect. MeetYourClass hopes to address the difficulties of transitioning into college, such as meeting new friends, finding a community and discovering like-minded individuals. With more than 150,000 users registered since its launch last September by University of Michigan students Jonah Liss and Blake Mischley, both 19...…
…82 | MAY 18 • 2023 of the platform. “Once you add the five to 10 characteristics that you actually care about in a person, that’ll narrow it down to five or so people. ” However, Liss and Mischley envision MeetYourClass going beyond simply being a resource for students. They plan to partner with universities to transform the platform into a B2B (business-to-business) model. Now, they are running a pilot program with Midland Univ...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 83 N oah Adamczyk is taking his basketball talents to Mt. Pleasant. The high-scoring 6-foot-1 Bloomfield Hills High School senior guard committed earlier this month to Central Michigan University, where he’ll join a Chippewas team looking to rebound from a 10-21 season. Adamczyk said his official visit to Central Michigan sealed the deal. The Chippewas beat out a few other Division I and Division II schools for hi...…
…84 | MAY 18 • 2023 Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia’s entanglement in the stands with Denver Nuggets star Nikola Jokic during an NBA playoff game May 7 resulted in Jokic being assessed a technical foul and being fined $25,000 the next day by the NBA for “improp- er contact with a spectator sitting courtside.” The 6-foot-11, 284-pound Jokic could have been suspend- ed for elbowing Ishbia, a 5-10, 175-pound former Michigan State Univer...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 85 faces&places I n welcoming congregants and the broader community to celebrate Lag b’Omer with the Woodward Avenue Shul, Rabbi Mendel Polter said, “We are proud of who we are and what we do, and we have nothing to be ashamed or scared of.” He went on to quote Psalms (118:6), “The Lord is with me, I do not fear! What can man do to me?” On Lag b’Omer, Mary Kay Davis Park in Huntington Woods was full of joy and celebrat...…
…86 | MAY 18 • 2023 Peterson-Baratz S arit and Dr. Robert Nakisher of West Bloomfield, Elina and Roni Baratz of West Bloomfield, and Laura and Mike Peterson of Traverse City are overjoyed to announce the engagement of their children Dr. Danielle Baratz and Bryce Peterson. Honored grandparents are Hazel and Lionel Nakisher of West Bloomfield; Ruth Dvash of Ra’anana, Israel; Avi Dvash of Jerusalem, Israel; and Sara Baratz of Jerus...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 87 SPIRIT The Key to Continuity T he smiting of the Egyptian firstborn that began on the eve of the Exodus comes full circle this week. This portion recounts how God removed the Israelite first- born from the honored position as His chosen servants, replacing them with the tribe of Levi. Until then, the Israelite firstborn had been God’s own pos- session, favored and beloved. Now, they are stripped of their stat...…
…P arshat Bamidbar takes up the story as we left it toward the end of the book of Shemot. The people had journeyed from Egypt to Mount Sinai. There they received the Torah. There they made the Golden Calf. There they were forgiven after Moses’ passion- ate plea, and there they made the Mishkan, the Tabernacle, inaugurated on the first of Nissan, almost a year after the Exodus. Now, one month later, on the first day of the se...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 89 seeking a role model who will show the world what it is to live in faithful response to the word of God. He finds it in Abraham and Sarah. Act 2 is told in Genesis 12-50. The new order is based on family and fidelity, love and trust. But this, too, begins to unravel. There is tension between Esau and Jacob, between Jacob’s wives Leah and Rachel, and between their children. Ten of Jacob’s children sell the 11th,...…
…The Teen Board is a project of The Jewish Fund. The Jewish Fund was established in 1997 from the sale proceeds of Sinai Hospital to the Detroit Medical Center. Sinai Hospital was a Jewish community funded facility that grew into one of metropolitan Detroit’s top health care institutions. As a legacy of Sinai Hospital, The Jewish Fund continues the tradition of assuring quality and compassionate care for those in need in Metropolitan Detro...…
…Synagogue Directory METRO DETROIT CONSERVATIVE Adat Shalom Synagogue Farmington Hills (248) 851-5100 adatshalom.org Congregation Beth Ahm West Bloomfield (248) 851-6880 cbahm.org Congregation Beth Shalom Oak Park (248) 547-7970 congbethshalom.org Beth Tephilath Moses Mt. Clemens (586) 996-3138 bethtephilathmoses.com B’nai Israel Synagogue West Bloomfield (248) 432-2729 bnaiisraelwb.org Congregation B’nai Moshe West Blo...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 91 Temple Emanu-El Oak Park (248) 967-4020 emanuel-mich.org Temple Israel West Bloomfield (248) 661-5700 temple-israel.org Temple Kol Ami West Bloomfield (248) 661-0040 tkolami.org Temple Shir Shalom West Bloomfield (248) 737-8700 shirshalom.org REFORM/RENEWAL Congregation Shir Tikvah Troy (248) 649-4418 shirtikvah.org SECULAR/HUMANISTIC Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Metro Detroit Farmington Hi...…
…92 | MAY 18 • 2023 I t’s been 25 years since photojournalist Linda Solomon experienced concert preparation with Aretha Franklin as the noted singer rehearsed for a one-time performance with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Now Solomon shares those experiences by exhibiting some 50 images in the atrium and display area of the concert hall as the symphony dedicates a program — “Respect: A Tribute to Aretha Franklin” — with presentati...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 93 continued on page XX “She knew I respected her family as much as I respected her, ” Solomon explained. “She enjoyed opening up the paper and seeing a photo of her sister, niece or brother, and I was never intrusive. ” Because people did not have cell phones in the early years of Franklin’s success, Solomon was able to have some very singular pictures and presented them in a 2019 book, The Queen Next Door: Aretha...…
…94 | MAY 18 • 2023 O n opening day of her painting exhibit at the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center, Terry Matlen was thrilled that about a third of her 21 paintings sold and will be distributed when the exhibit ends on June 1. In the meantime, she hopes there will be more interested buyers because she established the autobiographical exhibit to relate to viewers and help them recognize their own ways of life and how they reached...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 95 THEATER Divorced, Beheaded, Died: History is about to get overthrown. I f you’re expecting to actually see Henry VIII in the 23-time award-winning musical romp known as SIX, think again. “We don’t need Henry in this show,” SIX cast member Taylor Pearlstein boldly exclaims about the “Historemix” of Henry VIII’s six ex-wives. The global Queendom comes to Detroit’s Fisher Theatre May 23-June 11. Penned by Toby Marlo...…
…96 | MAY 18 • 2023 learning how to see and how artists would see,” Matlen said. “The next assignment was to paint what we saw. I started taking more and more classes from her, and she believed in me and encouraged me to continue.” Matlen thought she would become an art teacher and studied for that at Wayne State University. At one point, she realized artistic teaching would not be for her and moved on to working in her stepfather’s jew...…
…MAY 18 • 2023 | 97 THE FOCUS THIS WEEK IS THREE TALENTED JEWISH WOMEN The week of May 18-24 is a rare week: It doesn’t have a movie or series premiere with a strong Jewish connection. This gives me the chance to focus on three women who, coincidentally, have similar Jewish family backgrounds. All three have recent projects that I haven’t mentioned before. If you use Roku to stream channels, as I do, you know that Roku is offer...…
…98 | MAY 18 • 2023 JFS SPOTLIGHT 7 PM, MAY 18 Fr. Patrick Desbois, a Roman Catholic priest, Holocaust researcher and human rights activist, will share his story at Jewish Family Service’s Spotlight Event at Temple Israel. Dollars raised enable Jewish Family Service to address the greatest needs of the community and continue serving the most vulnerable. Ticket info: 248- 592-2339 or givingjfsdetroit. org. BIM BOM BABY 10-11 AM,...…
…Subsidized tickets are available for $20 per person and include art materials, instruction from the artists and snacks. Register: jlive. app/events/4596. We never want cost to be a barrier to participation; reach out to Erica (erica@ meetyouatthewell.org) for financial assistance. SUMMER KICKOFF 2-3:30 PM, MAY 21 At Drake Sports Park in West Bloomfield. Organized by Camp Young Judaea Midwest. Open to the Jewish community in Det...…
…The JN celebrates Israel@75. See page 12 The JN celebrates JN celebrates JN Years of a Jewish Homeland Years a Jewish a Jewish Homeland Years $200 May 11-18, 2023 / 20-26 Iyar 5783 $200 May 11-18, 2023 / 20-26 Iyar 5783 JEWISH NEWS JEWISH NEWS THE DETROIT May 11-18, 2023 / 20-26 Iyar 5783 thejewishnews.com Years of Years Years …
…10 | MAY 11 • 2023 essay Israel At 75: A Richer, Stronger Nation T oday’s Israel is much different from the Israel of my youth. It is richer, stronger and much more diverse. I grew up in a seemingly egalitarian Israel, where our economy rested on socialist principles. The kibbutz (collective farm community) was the symbol of our society’s success well into 1970s and beyond, and it produced most of our military and political ...…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 11 tion. This stunning event fol- lows repeated public criticism of the Saudis by President Biden over the Khashoggi killing. Riyadh reacted to Biden’s hostility and softening of American sup- port. The growing influence of China and Russia in the Middle East does not bode well for Israel or the USA. Furthermore, Israel, unlike any other country, faces the exis- tential threat of annihilation. A soon-to-be nuc...…
…12 | MAY 11 • 2023 75 Years of a Jewish OUR COMMUNITY ON THE COVER …
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 13 T his year, Israel celebrates 75 years of independence as a Jewish state. Commemorations were held by Israelis, diaspora Jews and their friends around the world. It is indeed a special occasion for an extraordinary nation. It is nothing short of miraculous that Israel has transformed itself from a poor, nascent country into one of the world’s most prosperous, high-tech nations, all within seven decades....…
…14 | MAY 11 • 2023 OUR COMMUNITY ON THE COVER Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) is considered the spiritual father of modern Israel. An Austrian-Hungarian lawyer, journalist, writer and activist, Herzl become convinced that Jews needed a homeland. To champion this cause, he published Der Juderstaat (The State of the Jews) in 1896. Herzl then convened and chaired the first Zionist Conference in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. This was the bir...…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 15 Wednesday, June 21 I 7:00PM The Berman Center for the Performing Arts The J, 6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322 jewishdetroit.org/awards Frank A. Wetsman Young Leadership Award Shimon G. Levy Sylvia Simon Greenberg Young Leadership Award Amye Goldhaber Mark-Lis Family Young Leadership Award George M. Roberts The Mandell L. and Madeleine H. Berman Award for Outstanding Jewish Communal Service Trace...…
…16 | MAY 11 • 2023 could erupt into pogroms like those Jewish immigrants had experienced in Eastern Europe and Russia. For these members of the diaspora, a Jewish homeland was necessary as a place of refuge for Jews, a state devoted to Jewish religion and culture. Prominent members of Detroit’s Jewish community were decidedly and openly Zionist. Rabbi A.M. Hershman founded the Zionist Organization of Detroit, and Rabbi Judah Levin, ...…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 17 Europe who are anxious to begin life anew in the Yishuv. ” In the aftermath of WWII and the Holocaust, the Zionist cause became an urgent matter. Despite restrictions imposed by the British government on Jewish immigration to Eretz Yisrael, its population steadily increased. Many serious disagreements and conflicts occurred between Jews and British Mandate Palestine authorities as Jews became increasingly anxious t...…
…18 | MAY 11 • 2023 JEWISH DETROITERS PROVIDE SUPPORT During critical periods in its history, Jewish Americans have been generous in their support of Israel. Jewish Detroiters and Michiganders have always maintained a close relationship with Israel and have made great contributions to its well-being. This intimate connection continues to this day. Definitive proof can be found in thousands of reports in the Detroit Jewish Chronic...…
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…20 | MAY 11 • 2023 OUR COMMUNITY T he Woodward Avenue Shul in Royal Oak was a recent target of antisemitic hate speech in the form of graffiti. On April 28, about two hours before Shabbat, the Royal Oak Police Department informed the shul’s Rabbi Mendel Polter of a swastika spray- painted on the front outside wall of the building. The suspect, a 35-year-old woman, Randi Lucille Nord of Clinton Township, was taken into custordy la...…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 21 paramilitary and political organizations based in Ukraine. The battalion has a history of neo-Nazi leanings. MORE IN OAK PARK Another incident took place on an Oak Park family’s property on the evening of April 25, when resident Shaul Anthony found a swastika drawn on a baby stroller. Anthony called the Oak Park Police Department the next day and made a report. An investiga- tion is currently ongoing. That sam...…
…22 | MAY 11 • 2023 OUR COMMUNITY Judge Marla Parker Judge Jamie Wittenberg Details To RSVP for JBAM’s annual awards banquet at 6 p.m. Monday, May 22, go to jlive. app/events/3952. The cost is $36 for JBAM members and $48 for others by May 12; after that it is $48/$60. Judges are invited for free and may email JBAM President Nargiz Nesimova at nargiz.nesimova@gmail. com to get a complimentary registration code. CBS DETROIT …
…A Heartfelt ‘Thank You’ Two beloved judges to be honored by the Jewish Bar Association of Michigan. DAVID SACHS CONTRIBUTING EDITOR T here will be emotional moments on May 22 when the Jewish Bar Association of Michigan (JBAM) recognizes the contributions of two local jurists. One judge will be feted for her ongoing lifetime achieve- ments — the other will be celebrated posthumously for all the good he accomplished in a life cut s...…
…continued from page 23 OUR COMMUNITY 24 | MAY 11 • 2023 mation so that the court can make good decisions about setting a bond so we can pro- tect the public while a case is pending. “In addition, ” Judge Parker said, “the Council provides ongoing education about the dynamics of domestic violence so that we can make more edu- cated decisions when the cases come in front of us for sentenc- ing or other decision-making along the way....…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 25 Robert Wittenberg, said, “Jamie was always just a kind, com- passionate, modest person, always looking to help people. He worked in the prose- cutor’s office in Wayne and Macomb counties before decid- ing he wanted to become a judge. “I can’t tell you how many messages we received from attorneys that reached out to us saying that Jamie was either very influential or helpful when they were getting their car...…
…26 | MAY 11 • 2023 W hen I asked Fr. Patrick Desbois what he hopes peo- ple get out of his appearance at Jewish Family Service’s Spotlight Event on May 24, his answer surprised me. “I hope they will not sleep well after, ” he said. “Because when we see peo- ple sleep well, they forget what is hap- pening. ” A Roman Catholic priest, distinguished author, university professor, historian, forensic detective and world-renowned h...…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 27 CHAMPION 2023 CORPORATE SPONSORS Adam Bornstein/Merrill Lynch • Advance Plumbing and Heating Supply Co • Bloom Advisors • Bold Flow • Citizens Bank • Cool Jack’s Cooper Glass Homes • Core Litigation Support • EverVideo • Famous Dave’s BBQ • Fifth Third Bank • Fink Bressak Frameable Faces • Horizon Financial Group, Inc • JP Morgan Chase & Co. • Kandle Dining Services • Kaye Financial Lash Rubin Orthodontics • Lipton L...…
…28 | MAY 11 • 2023 OUR COMMUNITY H illel Day School will honor its 2023 Dream Maker Awardees Paula and Louis Glazier for their remarkable impact on their family, Hillel Day School and the Jewish community at Hillel’s Annual Gala on Sunday, May 21, at the school. The parents of Ilana Glazier (Hillel Class of 1990) and Mindy Civan (Class of 1992) became actively involved in the school as parents and continued to be involved until ...…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 29 T he Shalom Club, a group of about 140 Jewish residents of Fox Run, an upscale senior community in Novi, is producing an orig- inal musical performance, My Wedding at Fox Run, this spring. The musical parody was the idea of Dr. Stuart Falk, a retired den- tist and Fox Run resident, who has written many musical shows for his fraternity and synagogue. While at least one couple has met at Fox Run and subse- quentl...…
…MAY 11 • 2023 | 3 contents PURELY COMMENTARY 4-11 Essays and viewpoints. OUR COMMUNITY 12 75 Years of a Jewish Homeland The JN celebrates Israel@75. 20 Royal Oak Synagogue, Oak Park Community Targeted with Antisemitism 22 A Heartfelt ‘Thank You’ Two beloved judges to be honored by the Jewish Bar Association of Michigan. 26 Spotlight: Never Again Fr. Patrick Desbois is the guest speaker for this year’s JFS Spotlight Event...…
…30 | MAY 11 • 2023 B ageling” is when one Jew notices another and says something (often which may seem out of the blue) with the sole intent of making sure the other person knows that they, too, are Jewish. In the fall of 2008, Jerry Wayne moved back to Michigan from Florida and began selling home security systems. When he noticed the mezuzah on the doorpost of one house, he saw an easy way to score points with a potential custo...…
