DJN October 29 2020

200 Oct. 29-Nov. Nov. 4,, 2020 / 11-17 Cheshvan 5781

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Newlyweds Jonathan Barkan and Ariel Fisher put a Jewish lens on horror films.

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[2020 + 2021]

contents Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 2020 / 11-17 Cheshvan 5781 | VOLUME CLVIII, ISSUE 13

22 VIEWS 6-14

29 ARTS

ETC.

25

The Exchange Soul Raskin Looking Back

State Hillel Groups Promoting Voting on Campus

17

Leadership Changes at Tamarack

29

18

Berman Slams Democrat Group for Linking him to Militias

What They Do in the Shadows Newlyweds Jonathan Barkan and Ariel Fisher put a Jewish lens on horror films.

JEWS INTHED 16

Local collection of political cartoons goes on display virtually.

31

Celebrity Jews

ON THE GO

Dating During a Pandemic Local matchmaker has created more than 300 successful love stories.

HEALTH 33

ERETZ 22

Biden’s Plans for Israel Daniel Shapiro tells the JN how the VP’s stance on Israel would differ from Trump’s.

36 23

Jewish Researcher Leads Detroit COVID-19 Phase III Vaccine Trials Kate Zenlea’s Moderna trial is one of the highest enrolling in the country.

MOMENTS

38 40 45 46

Presidential Art

32 20

33

Laboratory Leader

Shabbat Lights Shabbat starts: Friday, Oct. 30, 6:09 p.m.

Shabbat ends: Saturday, Oct. 31, 7:10 p.m. * Times according to Yeshiva Beth Yehuda

ON THE COVER: Cover photo/credit: Ariel Fisher and Jonathan Barkan/Tami Klein/ Tami Klein Photography Cover design: Kaitlyn Schoen

thejewishnews.com Follow Us on Social Media: Facebook @DetroitJewishNews Twitter @JewishNewsDet Instagram @detroitjewishnews

Farmington Hills native leads Stanford virology lab that created one of first COVID-19 tests.

Moments

SPIRIT 24

Torah portion

37

Kidney Donor Found on Facebook

OUR JN MISSION: We aspire to communicate news and opinion that’s trusted, valued, engaging and distinctive. We strive to reflect diverse community viewpoints while also advocating positions that strengthen Jewish unity and continuity. As an independent, responsible, responsive community member, we actively engage with individuals and organizations dedicated to enhancing the quality of life, and Jewish life, in Southeast Michigan.

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

Dear Friends, It is with deep gratitude that I express how much it meant to me to see so many lovely friends from across the community, former students (and their children!) and extended family at the driveby parade in my honor at Congregation Shaarey Zedek. You all warmed my heart so much, and this will remain a lovely, cherished memory.

Warm thanks to the amazing women of Congregation Shaarey Zedek Sisterhood for naming me as their 2020 Woman of Distinction, and for the incredible day I had! Their planning, execution and support was incomparable, and everything was just beautiful.

Thanks to all who came to CSZ, and to everyone who sent cards and notes, made Tributes to CSZ and to other organizations in my name, sent flowers, participated in the video*, and who listed their names and placed ads in the digital Tribute Journal*. Please know that my heart is full of naches, so much goodwill, love and thankfulness for each of you and what you bring to our Jewish community and to my life.

Lovingly,

Janet Pont *CSZ

Sisterhood will share a link soon!

OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

Mo

Diana Lewis Anchor/Reporter ABC, WXYZ Detroit “Enough To Be Dangerous takes us on quite a ride!

Mort gives us a peek behind the curtains of the music business, the news business, and into the heart of a man who could have been defeated by a tragic upbringing but instead stuck to his passion and created quite a life!

Mort gives back, mentoring so many himself and being a true force of positive change for black journalists.”

“A GREAT READ!” Murray Feldman Former Anchor/ Business Reporter FOX, WJBK Detroit Now WWJ News Radio 950

THE MOST TIMELY BOOK ABOUT THE MEDIA THIS YEAR An unforgettable peek into a life fully lived and a legacy that’s leaving a powerful imprint on TV news and people everywhere.

Enough to Be Dangerous chronicles Mort’s against-the-odds success, and his courageous quest to call out sexism and racism in newsrooms in St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit throughout the 1980s and 1990s.

“I could not put it down. So compelling–honest–and helpful. A book that had to be written–because anyone who witnessed what you will read here certainly needed to write a book about it.

A compelling story of struggles, determination, compassion-and love. And to be clear–as he does in life–Mort tells it like it is! No excuses!

A heartfelt look at one’s life from within that may just leave you asking...what have I accomplished... what I have I done to learn from experiences and work to make this a better place?”

John “Bulldog” Drummond Former Mob & Crime Reporter CBS, WBBM Chicago

“A no holds barred look at big city TV news in its heyday.

Mort Meisner tells of the highs and lows of running a news operation in Chicago, Detroit and St Louis.

Meisner minces no words as he grapples with a drug habit that almost takes him down.

Enough to be Dangerous is a great read.”

Scott Lewis Award Winning Former Investigative Reporter FOX, WJBK Detroit And Current Owner of Scott Lewis Investigations

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“I thought I knew Mort Meisner, former boss, and longWow, what an eye-opener!

Mort bares all in a gripping tale of child abuse, sex, drugs, booze and rock and roll. Plus, amazing inside stories about the underbelly of TV news.”

Dr. Isaiah “Ike “Mckinnon, Ph.D Former Detroit Police Chief And Deputy Mayor

“I have known Mort Meisner for 35 years. He is one of the most positive individuals who possesses a broader picture of the world and of the common man. Mort’s story will grab your heart and touch your soul. You will love every page.”

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VIEWS for openers

What’s Bugging You?

W

hen you see a bug scuttling along the floor of your kitchen or a spider rappelling down an invisible rope right in front of your eyes, what do you do? Scream the house down and call for reinforcements?

Squish the little bugger and throw it in the toilet without a second thought? Or trap it and release it in your compost heap while saying Rochel a special prayer and doing a Burstyn meditative pose?

Contributing I’m the capture type.

Writer Quick as a wink, I’ll slap a cup over the bug. And it’s got to be a clear cup otherwise two minutes later I’ll be saying, “Did I get it? Wait, did I?” and then I have to lift the cup to check, and it’s going to run at me with all 1,500 of its hairy vengeful feet.

(Yuck — just thinking about it is sending shivers up and down my spine!)

Then I leave the little hairy or footsy creature under that cup for someone else to take care of. But by the time one of my heroes arrive on the scene, the cup is inevitably overturned, the bug has escaped and I spend the rest of the day jumping out of

my skin every time a stray thread grazes my leg.

My husband isn’t as jumpy around multi-footed or winged creatures as I am.

He’s brave and daring (and lots of other things, too). Once, while everyone was shrieking as a disoriented bee zigzagged its way around our kitchen, he watched it, eagle-eyed, and then unthinkingly banged his cupped hand on the table and yelled proudly “Got it!” Then his eyes bugged out of his head and he started hopping up and down as he yelled “OWWWW!” He might have gotten the bee, but boy did the bee get him right back.

A few weeks ago, we had a pineapple in our kitchen; turned out there was a tiny

hitchhiking fruit fly that came with it. The pineapple is long gone but the fruit fly and its hundreds of descendants live on. I’m not exactly sure how it works scientifically, but I think the minute you kill one fruit fly, 50 more are hatched. Something like that.

We had to do something … So we became the proud owners of the Executioner. If you haven’t come across one yet, it’s a battery powered high-voltage electrical bug killing tennis racket that literally grills anything that comes into contact with it. When you swat a bug, there’s a flash of light, a little pop and a rather gruesome sizzle. The other day, my brave and daring husband said, “I wonder what it feels like” and then spent a very unhappy few hours whimpering over his burnt finger.

Since I’m already on the subject, I’ve got to mention the most celebrated fly in recent history — the one that landed on Mike Pence’s head during the vice presidential debate. His presence literally went viral. That fly is probably out there still doing interviews and signing autographs, unless it came in contact with someone’s Executioner or a philosophical frog.

Because you know what a frog’s philosophy is: Time’s fun when you’re having flies.

essay

Inauguration Day 2021

F

or roughly 60 million Americans, Inauguration Day 2021 will be a dark and crushing day. The people who backed the losing candidate will witness the swearing-in of the person they opposed (and Mark Jacobs possibly despise), Contributing and they are Writer likely to feel despair, hopelessness and anger.

Inauguration Day will signify a new reality for this country, just as it always does.

But this year, after months of a

historically divisive campaign, it will present a particularly crucial moment for us. People from both the winning and losing sides will have to decide how they wish to react to this new reality. How they do so will reveal much about the next chapter of this nation.

Will the supporters of the losing candidate retreat into cynicism, bitterness and apathy? Will they feel cheated and resort to lawless civil disobedience? Will many people forever lose their sense of patriotism, or maybe just a piece of it?

And for the supporters of the winner, will they be gracious and respectful? Will they extend a hand of reconciliation, or will they taunt and ridicule their fellow Americans, thereby deepening the divisions of this country? I have a vivid memory of a Trump supporter shortly after the 2016 election smirking at me and saying, “I’m gloating.

I’m double gloating.”

That was a cruel moment I’ll never forget, but it showed me precisely how not to act toward someone whose candidate had lost. I still recall how hurtful those words were as well as the

permanent damage they did to my relationship with that person.

In 1865, in a far more divisive time, President Abraham Lincoln visited the former Confederate capital of Richmond just days after it had fallen. There was no playbook for how victorious Americans were to treat defeated Americans. A Union commander asked Lincoln for directions on how he should deal with the people of the South. “Let ’em up easy,” replied Lincoln, in an extraordinary display of compassion and continued on page 10

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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Ask Us Why!

VIEWS letters

Trump and Israel Howard Lupovitch has no idea why President Trump is an outspoken supporter of Israel (Oct. 15, pg. 6). I favor the reason that he is a supporter of the Zionist cause.

Let us not forget that three previous presidents promised to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. No matter who wins the 2020 election, the embassy will remain in Jerusalem.

— Robert Moretsky Bloomfield

Howard Lupovitch is a historian and was expected to provide historical truth. Instead, he accommodates the views of the Democrat party. Lupovitch

thinks that President Trump, with all the good he did for Israel, is evil, and VP Biden, who worked on the U.S./Iran deal, is all that Jews can ask for.

He downplays the UAE and Bahrain peace deal.

Bret Stephens, a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist of the New York Times who opposes Trump bitterly, has written in praise of the 45th president for negotiating these peace agreements. He saw Trump as a visionary who understood that 70 years of U.S. prime negotiators’ failure to bring peace to the Middle East requires new thinking.

The deal was a true Middle East and global earthquake, and

Lupovitch must be factual, fair and responsible and admit it.

— Isaac Barr, MD Michigan Forum

Another Jewish Candidate Sorry to see that your elections coverage (Oct. 15 issue) did not include [additional] candidates that are also running for offices.

I am one of those candidates.

I am running for reelection in Oak Park as a trustee in the Oak Park School District.

In a JN paper from 2008, on the cover is a picture of myself and Misty Patterson with our manager and inside a lengthy article.

I have served the last 11 years.

— Maxine Gutfreund Candidate for Oak Park Trustee

Correction: The story about teen baker Eliana Schreiber (Oct. 22, pg.

26) had errors. Her father, Avy Schreiber, lives in Oak Park, not Southfield. Eliana worked at Clark’s Ice Cream year-round, and Grace Golodner is 16, not 17.

GOT A QUESTION ABOUT THE ABRAHAM ACCORDS?

Send it to letters@ thejewishnews.com or message us on Facebook.

We will answer them in an upcoming issue!

continued from page 8

magnanimity.

If Lincoln could be magnanimous following a horrific Civil War, then surely we can treat others with civility following an election. Lincoln’s lesson of healing is as necessary today as it was in 1865.

If you backed the losing candidate, I would suggest a thorough self-examination is in order. You may feel comfort in wallowing in anger and shooting off pithy emails and memes to your friends about how aggrieved you feel, but what’s that going to accomplish? What is achieved by allowing your anger to fester if all you do with that anger is regret the past and wish it were different?

It is far more productive — albeit much harder — to ask yourself the tougher questions: Did I do my share to get my candidate elected? Did I volunteer enough of my time?

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

Did I contribute financially and, if so, was it really enough or just a symbolic, token amount? Did I display a lawn sign, a bumper sticker, make phone calls, go door to door, work at the polls? Did I do anything at all, or just sit on the sidelines, criticize others and keep my fingers crossed that my candidate would win?

PATRIOTISM IN ISRAEL Americans are asked so little by our government. Basically, all we are expected to do is obey the laws and pay taxes.

By contrast, the State of Israel requires all citizens over 18 to submit to national military service. Despite a wide diversity among the Israeli people, there is a profound sense of pride and patriotism.

I will never forget my last trip there when a crowd of people on a Tel Aviv street, for no apparent reason, spontaneously

busted into the singing of the national anthem, “Hatikvah.”

My group naturally joined in, and as I sang, I studied the faces of the Israelis around me, some of them tearful and all feeling the heartfelt love toward their country. It was a surreal moment, and I recall being profoundly aware that one would never see something like that in America.

We haven’t had a military draft in America since 1973.

Nothing at all mandates that we serve our country. But we can choose to impose that mandate on ourselves by pouring our time and energy into our elections. Healthy democracies demand no less. Democracy is not a spectator sport, as the saying goes.

It’s popular to forecast gloom and doom if the election doesn’t go the way we’d like. I’m as passionate as the next guy when it comes to politics, but

excuse me if I don’t buy into the hyperbole that this will be the death of America if one candidate doesn’t win.

I’m quite sure the sun will rise on Jan. 21, 2021. But I’ll have little sympathy for those that bemoan the outcome but did nothing to avoid it. And I’ll be closely watching whether those same people — whose candidate will not be getting sworn in on Inauguration Day — will withdraw into apathy or commit to a whole new level of involvement in this democracy of ours.

In the post-mortem period of this tumultuous election, each American will have to face that all-important decision. Will they retreat from democracy or double down on it?

How they decide will ultimately have a profound impact upon the lives of my children, my grandchildren and the future of this nation.

VIEWS essay

Are Jews Being Left ‘Alone’?

I

remember a lot about when my dad means to ensure nobody is left behind.

So what would it look like to leave died. It was painful and scary and our fellow Jews “alone,” to turn our lasted nearly a decade. But I also backs or stand idly by? remember the love, I happen to think it might look Editor’s note: Rabbi care and guidance like a recent post on social media Joseph Krakoff, senior I received from from Republican Senate candidate director of the JHCN, the Jewish Hospice John James, showing him and the told the JN the group and Chaplaincy leaders of JHCN proudly smiling appreciated John Network (JHCN).

Annie in a Zoom meeting. Yes, the same James’ unsolicited It’s impossible for Jacobson John James who, after losing his donation to assist me to untangle the 2018 Senate race, has doubled during COVID and cold memories of down on his “2,000%” support for had a brief call to my dad’s last breaths from Donald Trump. thank him, “but we the warmth of the unendWhen I saw James’ post, after a do not make political ing support of the organiquick double-take, I was left nearly enorsements” and “we zation. Their mission: “No speechless. I couldn’t believe an orgaJew is ever alone,” and in did not authorize any nization with unimpeachable values social media posting, those moments, they truly could truly be supporting a man who exemplified it. and as a policy we promises to follow in the footsteps of “No Jew is ever alone” never authorize an impeached president. I continued to anyone to make any is quite the sentiment. It search for an answer. It turns out it was asks us to grapple with political statements on hiding in plain sight. what it means to live in our behalf.”

A few months ago, John James an interconnected socipromised to donate 5% of his camety, one where we are not paign funds to charities. To me, his gift just responsible for, but also have the

feels like a last-ditch effort to pander for the Jewish vote.

Did JHCN allow themselves to be used as a platform for the James campaign? That is why I am feeling so much hurt and confusion right now.

The organization has every right and, quite frankly, probably a responsibility, to deposit a check they receive. But I also believe JHCN has a responsibility to the community to either accept the money privately or refuse if it will knowingly cause harm.

John James is a man who supports taking away my current access to health care, the very access that gave my dad some measure of dignity in an otherwise wholly undignified death — and has not offered any coherent replacement. A man who believes insurance companies can charge you more or outright deny you coverage altogether if you have pre-existing conditions such as being born a woman, acne or are a person who requires mental health services. A man who continued on page 14

essay

Democracy Includes All

M

ost of us believe that for democracy to work, it must include us all. But Trump is trying to divide us by spreading blatant misinformation in the midst of an election. We all should be alarmed that on Trump’s live Levi Teitel town hall on Contributing NBC in Miami, Writer he repeatedly refused to publicly condemn QAnon, a bunk conspiracy theory that is rife with antisemitic undertones. This trend should alarm everyone, particularly

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

Jews across the country.

We have seen this before: QAnon’s main set of beliefs borrows from some of the most pervasive stereotypes about Jewish people and other groups. Enticed by the very real concerns of child abduction and trafficking, where QAnon crosses the line is how its central belief is a modern-day blood libel. It is then shocking and disturbing that the president would stoke the flames by giving these conspiracies a platform on his personal social media accounts as he has done more than 200 times.

Moreover, the number of Republicans running for office who hold QAnon close to their hearts demonstrates the depth of their influence in Republican Party.

The list includes a rightwing activist being scheduled to speak at the Republican National Convention this summer until she was pulled last-minute because she promoted a Nazi-associated document, 17 Republican members of Congress voting against a House resolution condemning QAnon, and a Republican candidate for Congress in Georgia who is open about her support

for QAnon and has received plaudits from top Congressional Republicans and Trump.

It’s more important now than ever to work together in order to fight back. With what the stakes are this November and what’s on the line for our communities, we need to unite across our differences this election season. Whether we are Black or white, Native or newcomer, Jewish or Muslim, we know that for democracy to work for all of us, it must include us all.

Levi Teitel is the rural communications coordinator for Progress Michigan.

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VIEWS

LEFT BEHIND from page 12

essay

There Is No ‘Jewish Vote’

A

n I24News poll determined that 63.3% of Israelis would prefer to see President Donald Trump reelected, versus 18.8% for Joe Biden. The majority believe that electing Biden would be harmful to the relationship between the U.S. and Israel.

But this difference pales in comparison to a new poll from Ami Magazine, which determined that 83% of Orthodox Ameicans, and fully 95% of the Haredi, support Trump.

The overwhelming majority of Israel’s Jews fled there escaping persecution elsewhere, primarily in the Arab world. They recognize Trump for his fairness and his friendship, and for a foreign policy that has spread peace and helped ensure their safety.

Trump vacated the Palestinian Authority’s veto power over Rabbi Israel’s self-determination and Yaakov withdrew funding from the Menken vicious pay-to-slay bounties for the families of terrorists.

His opponent pledges to reverse this policy.

Politicians from both parties assured us that a massive conflagration would result if the U.S. were to move its embassy to Jerusalem as Congress directed in 1995.

Trump proved them wrong. Thanks to his bold action, numerous countries moved or plan to move their own embassies. Israel now has peaceful relations with the UAE, Bahrain and Kosovo, a deepened relationship with Serbia, suggestions of a thaw with Saudi Arabia and multiple indications of future breakthroughs.

The same Ami Magazine poll showed overwhelming support for Israel in the Orthodox American community, and one might be tempted to dismiss the Orthodox as “one-issue voters.” But this would be wrong.

For those who adhere to Jewish religious tradition, the right to free practice of religion is cherished as a privilege. Attorney Nathan Lewin, a leading Orthodox legal advocate, described the present-day court as the best for religious liberties seen in his lifetime, even before the nomination of Judge Amy Barrett.

Observant Jews endorse policies that build

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and support life, family and faith as good for all Americans. We insist upon private, parochial schools to educate our children.

Orthodox Jews also recognize that denying funding to America’s finest is a recipe for disaster: The Bible demands judges and officers, for the alternative is anarchy.

Again, per the Ami poll, Orthodox Jews overwhelmingly believe that Trump is treated unfairly by a hostile media. And the Orthodox also know that as they were viciously attacked on the streets of New York City last year, the mayor did little to help.

Yet in the larger Jewish community, the majority clearly plan to vote for Joe Biden.

Why is their preference so wildly discordant with that of Israelis and the observant?

The answer can be summed up in the opening line of a news report by JTA from May of last year: “Senior Democrats in Congress embraced the agenda of the Reform movement, including gun control, immigration reform, abortion rights and dealing with climate change.”

It seems that the Reform movement has replaced classical Jewish, Biblical values with progressive politics.

To confuse matters yet further, Conservative Judaism is similarly far from conservative. And, sadly, the largest and fastest growing segment of the American Jewish community today is “Jews of no religion,” unaffiliated with any Jewish movement.

These are Jews who, in largest part, have fully adopted the progressive agenda.

An increasing number, though, now recognize that something is amiss — that the disconnect between the attacks upon the president they hear from the pulpit and his actual policies are exceeded only by that between the values espoused by their leaders and words of the Bible itself.

Jews will vote in accordance with their values; the question is whether those values will be derived from Judaism or progressivism.

It seems that either one leads inevitably to a particular choice.

Rabbi Yaakov Menken is managing director of the Coalition for Jewish Values. A version of this essay was first published in Newsweek and is endorsed by the Michigan Jewish Action Council.

proudly wishes, and promises, to eliminate abortion rights and do all he can to overturn laws that allow me to control my own body, leaving women open to dying during childbirth. A man who indefensibly invokes the term “genocide” to describe it as well.

But we know true genocide. The survivors of the Holocaust who sit in our synagogues or respond to “mom” and “dad,” “bubbie” and “zayde,” know true genocide. John James’ wish to assert that a woman’s right to control her own body is an example of “genocide” is simply outright dangerous and inexcusably disgraceful to the Jewish community.

In a race this preposterously close, for our institutions to turn their backs, to leave us alone while providing a platform to someone who will unequivocally put more Jewish lives in danger has very real consequences — no matter how hard we want to look the other way.

In addition to James’s stances on important healthcare issues — which should worry a group so intimately connected to our healthcare system — entertaining a candidate who proudly stands with Trump, who said the Charlottesville marchers were “very fine people” and told the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” is not merely putting forth a difference of opinion. It is, instead, agreeing to overlook a policy platform wrapped up in dehumanization and the delegitimization of human beings.

Accepting a donation from James is to decide anything is worth the price of discrimination and bigotry; the same discrimination and bigotry still heard in the Charlottesville chants of “Jews will not replace us” just over three years ago.

Thus, I know I cannot turn my back, I cannot leave our Jewish community alone as our Jewish organizations potentially help to elect a man who has promised to be a great risk to my life and the lives of millions of others. The Torah teaches us, “kol yisrael arevim zeh la’zeh” — all of Israel are responsible for one another.

Or, perhaps put another way, no Jew is ever alone.

Annie Jacobson is an intersectional feminist and activist.

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The Day After

the Election Afterthoughts and Aftershocks A virtual event with

Nolan Finley

Editorial Page Editor of The Detroit News

November 4 | 12-1 PM Register at jewishdetroit.org/thedayafter/ This event is open to donors of $18 or more to Federation’s 2021 Annual Campaign.

OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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MSU HILLEL INSTAGRAM

JEWSINTHED

MitzVote campaign

Hillel Groups Promote Voting on Campus Both U-M and MSU Hillels are using Hillel International’s MitzVote campaign.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

W

ith Election Day in a few days, Jewish college students across Michigan are still in the process of voting early or making their plans to vote Nov. 3.

At the University of Michigan and Michigan State University, campus Hillels are helping those students in every way possible, acting as a source of information in an important time.

Both U-M Hillel and MSU Hillel are putting their election efforts into Hillel International’s MitzVote, a nonpartisan getout-the-vote campaign providing students with the education and resources they need to mobilize and vote in the 2020 election.

U-M Hillel Chair Sarah

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Pomerantz says one of the ways they’ve encouraged students to vote is through Shabbat meal handouts, where upperclassmen will pick up meals while U-M Hillel provides stamps, envelopes and forms for registration and absentee applications.

“Our goal there was to get as many [students] registered as possible,” Pomerantz said.

On Oct. 19, the final day for voter registration in Michigan, U-M Hillel had a table set up at the center of campus with registration materials, answering any questions and directing students to where they can vote early on campus.

The following day, in collaboration with Ohio State University’s Hillel, U-M Hillel

held a “Why Vote?” election discussion panel with special guests, including former U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro and former Michigan State Sen. Gilda Jacobs. The event centered around the importance of voting and how Jewish values play into that.

U-M Hillel is also using MotiVote, a platform that aims to get people registered and increase voter turnout “by making the journey more easy, social and fun.”

Participants get placed into teams, and teams get points when participants complete specific tasks such as checking voting registration through the platform, by making a specific voting plan on the platform, and more.

“It’s a vote-based competition and a way to keep track of what you have done and still need to do, and it does some recruiting work for poll workers as well,” Pomerantz said.

While promoting voting has its obvious difficulties during a pandemic, Pomerantz believes it’s also opened new opportunities for U-M Hillel.

“Before, I probably wouldn’t have considered any program with OSU Hillel, and I think as far as being able to get interesting people to speak with us, it becomes not that big of an ask to jump on a Zoom call for an hour instead of flying out and staying here overnight,” Pomerantz said. “We’re asking less of their time, and we’re able to put on a program that otherwise people wouldn’t get to experience.”

Nate Strauss, director of Jewish Student Life of MSU Hillel, says they’re also putting all their efforts into the MitzVote campaign.

On Nov. 2, the day before Election Day, MSU Hillel is holding an event to celebrate voting. That event will also be an opportunity for students to

attend and make a plan on how they’ll vote in-person the following day.

“Whether that’s taking a Lyft, because Lyfts are free to the polls on Election Day, or if they need a friend to wait in line with them or something like that, we’re happy to coordinate that,” Strauss said.

Strauss says MSU Hillel has been focusing on having lots of individual conversations with students about voting, especially on the logistics side of things, and being a source of information more than anything.

Prior to the election, MSU Hillel created multiple social media campaigns discussing how voting is a Jewish value and providing a prayer for voting the day before the election.

Strauss estimates 85-90% of Jewish MSU students whom MSU Hillel has interacted with have voted early or absentee.

As a result of so many students voting early and not all of them necessarily receiving an “I Voted” sticker, MSU Hillel is providing hundreds of “I MitzVoted” stickers that they’ll be giving to students who voted early.

“Students like that, and they like to post on social media about the fact that they voted, so we’re excited about that,” Strauss said.

Strauss had conversations with MSU students who will be voting in the presidential election for the first time this year and was impressed with how hyper-informed and hyperaware the young voters are.

“They said this is such a monumental election, they feel like it was completely normal and natural to vote in it, rather than it being this new unknown kind of thing,” he said. “It’s really exciting and interesting to see that students are not viewing this as just ‘this is my right to vote’ but ‘this is my duty to vote.’”

Leadership Changes at Tamarack DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

T

amarack Camps has announced that effective Nov. 1, Steve Engel, its executive director since 2010, will retire after a 40-year career.

Lee Trepeck, formerly director of Camp Maas (Tamarack’s flagship camp in Ortonville), will Steve Engel become Tamarack’s CEO, and Carly Weinstock will take over as the director of Camp Maas.

“I want to Lee Trepeck acknowledge Steve Engel’s exceptional passion, commitment and hard work over his many years

of leadership as the CEO of Tamarack Camps,” Steve Ingber, chief operating officer of Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, said in a statement to the JN. “He has overseen tremendous growth and success at this community gem, and we are incredibly grateful for all he has done.

“Lee Trepeck has been an integral part of the Tamarack story for many years and we are excited for this next step in his career,” the statement continued.

Engel started with Tamarack in 2010 with a background in Jewish camping, including work as the director of JCC Denver’s Ranch Camp and Camp Sabra in St. Louis. He also oversaw a $15 million capital plan for

Tamarack.

Trepeck, now in his 12th year at Tamarack, was active in “big picture ideas” as director of Camp Maas, such as camper care, staff involvement and program implementation.

“We are so fortunate to have Lee Trepeck become our next CEO,” Engel told the JN. “Lee’s unparalleled enthusiasm coupled with his many talents will take Tamarack Camps to spectacular new heights.”

Amongst many national and local accolades, Trepeck received the Berman Award for Outstanding Professional Jewish Communal Service in 2017.

Trepeck has played an active role in the Detroit Jewish community, assuming leadership roles on the New Leaders Project, the YAD Executive Board, Israel Missions and the Temple Israel Board of Directors.

Weinstock began her Tamarack journey at age 7 and

began her professional career at Tamarack as a development associate in 2007. She assumed increased Carly responsibility over Weinstock the years, serving in a variety of important roles: head of Mid-Side, program director, senior assistant director and associate director of Camp Maas.

“We are thrilled this transition ensures a balanced progression from strength to strength,” the Tamarack statement read.

“Now, as they begin new journeys, please join us in a shared “Mazel Tov” to Steve, Lee and Carly.”

Trepeck and Engel were not available for comment at time of publication. Tamarack Camps canceled all its in-person summer programming in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has not yet announced plans for 2021.

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Berman at the Capitol

JEWS D IN THE

Berman Slams Democrat Group for Linking him to Militias DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

J

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ewish Michigan State Rep. Ryan Berman has rebuked backlash and a recent call from the Oakland County Democratic Party (OCDP) to “denounce his ties to militias,” following the arrest of 13 men accused of plotting to “storm” the state capitol and kidnap Gov. Gretchen Rep. Ryan Whitmer.

Berman The OCDP circulated two separate photos of Berman pictured with armed individuals, one dated September 2019 and one on April 30, 2020, when protesters demonstrated against the COVID-19 lockdown at Michigan’s capitol.

OCDP said Berman, a Republican, was “front-andcenter with armed militia members confronting Michigan State Police officers near the entrance to the Michigan House during a protest on April 30.”

But Berman tells the JN that neither photo has been interpreted accurately, calling the OCDP release a “smear.”

The April 30 photo, Berman said, shows him walking through the crowd to get to the house floor as the legislature was in session.

“The people in the crowd

were the ones there yelling at us, chanting to ‘let us in’ — meaning to let them in our session/chamber,” Berman wrote in an email. “Why would I be there yelling and rallying alongside those people when I’m an elected representative who is already allowed to go into the chamber and vote and voice my opinion?

“This is really ridiculous that I even have to explain why I was at my own workplace!”

Berman said he went out of the chamber at one point to try to de-escalate the protesters, letting them know he was there to listen to their concern.

“I was not a part of the rally or associated with those protesters, nor any militia!”

As far as the 2019 photo, Berman identified the other figures in the photo as “an attorney in the district and his friends,” but did not provide any further information.

“He stopped by my office while they were in Lansing to participate in a Second Amendment March at the Capitol,” Berman said. “I support the people’s ability to arm and protect themselves as per the Michigan Constitution.”

Berman, who represents Michigan’s 39th District, is up for reelection against Democrat Julia Pulver.

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MATERIALS Anything that shows up bold and bright.

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SIZE 8½" X 11", vertical format AGE CATEGORIES • Up to age 6 • Ages 7-9 • Ages 10-12

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OTHER PRIZES First, second and third-place finishers in each category win $18.

REQUIREMENTS A fully completed entry form (below) as well as a color photo of the artist must be taped to the back of the original artwork and sent to the address below by November 25, 2020. (Only one entry per child.)

Child's Name:______________________________________ Age:____________ Parents' Names: ___________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________ City: _____________________________State:_________Zip:________________ Day Phone: ________________________Evening Phone:____________________ Email:____________________________________________________________ School: __________________________ Religious School: __________________ SEND TO: The Detroit Jewish News – Attn. Jackie Headapohl I 29200 Northwestern Hwy., #110, Southfield, MI 48034 OCTOBER 22 • 2020

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COURTESY OF LISA CHABEN

JEWSINTHED

Dating During a Pandemic Local matchmaker has created more than 300 successful love stories.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

L

isa Chaben has a special gift for making connections.

The Metro Detroit-based matchmaker has helped more than 300 people fall in love and find their perfect matches since her first matchmaking venture in the late 1990s. “I’ve always had that intuitive,” she says.

As the pandemic changes the way people date, often making it more difficult to meet others, Chaben is taking her matchmaking business official with the launch of Match with Lisa, a personalized concierge service for people looking to connect with someone for a long-term relationship. It’s a service she now believes is more important than ever as many people are feeling the strains of isolation due to social distancing.

“People are lonely,” she says.

“They struggle to meet others and don’t know what to do.”

Because of this, Chaben says, her phone has been ringing off the hook with people looking to find a romantic match. For the matchmaker, though, helping others fall in love is something she has become an expert at over the last 40 years.

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Chaben, 57, who attends Temple Israel, first noticed a talent for matchmaking when she was 16. She would go out with her girlfriends and point out who they should date. This led to successful relationship matches, some of which resulted in marriage.

She continued matching people up through college and into adulthood even as she worked in real estate full time. Now she’s ready to take her business national by rolling out services to California, Arizona and Florida.

“I love making people happy,” she says. “It’s the best feeling.

You’re creating a story.”

Chaben now attends the children’s bar and bat mitzvahs of people she matched up early on in her career. Others she matched up now have grandchildren.

Chaben makes matches based on personality traits, hobbies, goals and mutual values.

Interested clients submit an application through her website, where they’re asked to share what they’re looking for and more about them.

Chaben will then look at

other applications to determine who could match up or tap into her personal network to see what potential matches exist.

She’ll then set up first dates via Zoom, which, although different from traditional dating, can often be less stressful for people, she describes. “Before, people would go meet in a restaurant,” Chaben says. “And you’d always feel so awkward.”

Through Zoom dates, people can meet from the comfort of their own homes and have more say in the direction of how the date goes, without having to worry about making it through a date that just might not be going so well. It’s that awkwardness, Chaben says, that often makes it obvious to onlookers when people are on their first date.

Zoom isn’t the only option, though. With winter coming up, Chaben has already planned out a variety of date ideas for those who do want to meet in person. Snowshoeing, igloos and sleigh rides are just a few items on the agenda for people who use her matchmaking service, which sees everyone from young adults, to divorcees and widowers, to people who have never been married.

For those who have experienced loss, though, Chaben believes there is always an opportunity to find a different love, even if it’s in a new form.

“You’re never going to find another love like that,” she’ll tell people. “But you are going to find a soulmate or someone that you can connect with. Someone you could go to the movies with or someone you could spend time with. You’re going to find a different avenue of love.”

Matches are possible for everyone, she says. “I tell people this all the time,” Chaben continues. “There’s a pot for every lid.”

Visit matchwithlisa.com to learn more.

Insurance Help Do you need health insurance? Enrollment for the Affordable Care Act begins Nov. 1, and you can talk to a certified healthcare navigator at Jewish Family Service through Zoom or over the phone to help you.

If you’re signing up for health insurance for the first time, learn about coverage options, subsidies and tax breaks. If you’re already enrolled, update your information and review your plan to ensure it’s still a good fit.

The help is free and available to everyone. For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact Olga Semenova at (248) 592-2662 or osemenova@jfsdetroit.org.

Thank God for Israel — Online Join the Jewish and Christian communities as they unite to honor Israel on an online webinar presented by the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, Michigan Jewish Action Council and Adat Shalom Synagogue 7 p.m.

Nov. 1.

Participants will hear from expert panelists on the newfound peace agreement between Israel and the UAE, ways you can get active in supporting Israel in your local community, and the rise of antisemitism and ways to combat it from special guest speakers.

Registration is required at gofoi.org/thankgodforisrael.

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Rabbi Levi Dubov teaching a class.

Biden’s Israel Plans Daniel Shapiro tells the JN how the VP’s stance on Israel would differ from Trump’s.

ANDREW LAPIN EDITOR

A

Joe Biden presidency would “treat Israel as a matter of bipartisan consensus,” says Daniel Shapiro, a Biden campaign surrogate who served as the U.S. ambassador to Israel under the Obama administration from 20112017.

Shapiro, now a Daniel visiting fellow at Shapiro the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, spoke to the JN from Israel. He said the former vice president would continue to push for a two-state solution as a “guide star” for U.S.-Israel policy; discourage any unilateral settlement, annexation or “sovereignty” actions by Israel; and oppose the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement in the U.S. Shapiro added that Biden “welcomes” the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between Israel, Bahrain, Sudan and the UAE that Trump facilitated. He said Biden would “work to expand the circle of peace” between Israel and its neighbors.

Biden also intends to keep the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, according to Shapiro.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a testy relationship with Shapiro and the Obama administration and has made no secret that he prefers Trump in the White House. Trump, in turn, has often touted his friendship with the PM and his own achievements in Israel on the campaign trail. Many Detroit-area

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Jews have said Trump has been better for Israel than previous administrations.

Shapiro, noting that Biden has known Netanyahu since the 1980s, said the candidate would pursue his plans for Israel “no matter who the Israeli prime minister is.” However, Shapiro said, “he will certainly discourage any steps, especially unilateral steps by either side, that will make [a two-state solution] harder to achieve.”

Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal brokered by the Obama administration.

Shapiro said, as a result, “Iran has moved much closer to a nuclear weapon” and is “in a more dangerous place” than when Trump took office. In a recent Miami Herald op-ed, Shapiro argued that Trump’s stance on Iran was one reason why his administration had “put Israel in greater danger.”

He said a Biden administration would work to put “multilateral” pressures on Iran to make it “come back into compliance with its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal.”

Biden himself said he would re-enter the deal if Iran agreed to return to “strict compliance;” Iran was recently revealed to be behind malicious emails targeting U.S. voters in an attempt to influence the election.

Shapiro also said Biden would be more aggressive in addressing antisemitism in America than Trump and push for “increased security for religious institutions,” including synagogues. “Unfortunately,” Shapiro said, “that’s more necessary than it’s ever been.”

New Course to Explore Biblical Secrets Learn how Bible stories have shaped Jewish worldview.

C

habad of Bloomfield Hills is offering a sixweek course from the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute (JLI), titled Secrets of the Bible: Iconic Stories, Mystical Meanings and Their Lessons for Life.

“Secrets of the Bible presents famous ancient biblical stories in fresh and modern ways that deal with universal human dilemmas,” explained Rabbi Levi Dubov, the instructor.

“The wisdom it shares should not remain a secret.”

The course presents a new way of reading the stories of Adam and Eve and the Tree of Knowledge, Noah and the great flood, the lifelong feud between Jacob and Esau, Joseph’s multicolored coat, the golden calf and Korach’s rebellion. For each of these stories, it seeks to answer the questions: What is the deeper meaning behind the story?

How does it shape the Jewish worldview? And what wisdom does it hold for us today?

Throughout its six sessions, Secrets of the Bible explores major life themes, including human subjectivity and bias, the underpinnings of relationships, negotiating spiritual growth with practical impact, why inspiration is fleeting and how to make it last, understanding equality and privilege, and navigating parallel spiritual and material life paths.

Rabbi Dubov has been offering online courses to the community since the start of the lockdown that have attracted over 200 community members.

“Now more than ever, we need to focus on our emotional and spiritual health,” he said. “There is no better way to do that than Jewish study and learning. I encourage everyone to give it a try, and see what weekly study can do for you.”

This course is designed to appeal to people at all levels of knowledge, including those without any background in Jewish learning. The course is open to the public.

The six-week course will be offered online via Zoom, with three class options: Wednesday evenings, 7:30-8:30 p.m., beginning Nov. 11; Thursday mornings, 11 a.m.-noon, beginning Nov. 12; and Friday afternoons, noon-1 p.m., beginning Nov. 13.

The course fee is $80, and includes the textbook. Chabad is offering a discount due to the pandemic, and additional scholarships are available.

The course is sponsored by Susan and Gary August, in honor of their children.

For more info and to register, visit www.bloomfieldhillschabad.org/secrets, or contact Rabbi Dubov at (248) 949-6210 or rabbi@ bloomfieldhillschabad.org.

MOMENTS MAZEL TOV! Liat Hadara Lerner, daughter of Joshua and Sandra Lerner of Huntington Woods, celebrated her bat mitzvah on Saturday, Oct. 17, 2020, in the backyard of her home. She was joined by her siblings Arianna and Benny. Liat is the granddaughter of Lorraine Lerner of West Bloomfield, and Horacio and Rosalie Schlaen of Hollywood, Fla. She is also the granddaughter of the late Leonard H. Lerner.

Liat is in seventh grade at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills and a member of Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park. Her mitzvah project was assembling and selling mishloach manot to raise money for underprivileged kids and for the HIAS.

Howard-Katz

D

r. Arthur Howard and Linda Slifkin Katz, both formerly from N.J., were married recently in their Wellington, Fla., home. Rabbi Stephen Pinsky officiated. Their Paris honeymoon was canceled due to the COVID pandemic.

Dr. Howard, son of the late Michael and Beatrice Howard, an OB/Gyn, had maintained a practice in both Essex and Morris Counties, N.J., for many years.

Mrs. Howard, daughter of the late Bernard and Lilyan Slifkin, is an RN/geriatric care manager, in her private Palm Beach County practice.

Dorfman 100th

E

leanor Dorfman of Scottsdale, Ariz., formerly of West Bloomfield, celebrated her 100th birthday on Oct. 6, 2020. A planned family celebration in Arizona moved to Zoom, with wishes and kisses from daughter and son-in-law, Gail and Lonny Zimmerman in Michigan; daughter, Karen Tessler with Ronnie Myers in Scottsdale; grandchildren, Daniel Zimmerman and Amanda SacksZimmerman, with great-grandson, Jonah Zimmerman, in New York; granddaughter, Julie Zimmerman in New York; and grandchildren, Samantha Cohen and Bradley Cohen in California. Wishing her happiness and good health and a hearty mazel tov.

Kosher Meals on Wheels Program

Stay Home, Stay Safe Kosher Meals on Wheels is available for homebound older adults who need assistance with access to food. Up to two meals per day will be delivered.

Kosher Meals on Wheels is provided by the National Council of Jewish Women in partnership with Jewish Family Service of Metropolitan Detroit, supported by JHELP and Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit.

Call JHELP at 1-833-445-4357 The call center is open Monday through Friday: 8am to 5pm

OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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SPIRIT TORAH PORTION

Of Influence and Power

O

ur portion opens ety that honors the human as with the first words the image and likeness of God. of God to Abraham: It is about a vision, which has “Leave your land, your birthyet to fully be realized but has place and your father’s house, never been abandoned, of a and go to the land world based on justice that I will show you.” and compassion.

These words are the Abraham is the most foundation upon which influential person Abraham was to build who ever lived. Yet, he our nation. ruled no empire and Rabbi Generally, people commanded no great Bentzion conform to their surarmy. He is the supreme Geisinsky roundings. They adopt example of influence Parshat the standards and without power.

Lech Lecha: absorb the culture of Why? Because he was Genesis 12:1the time and place in prepared to be different.

17:27; Isaiah which they live.

Leadership, as every 40:27-41:16.

I want you, says leader knows, can be God to Abraham, to lonely. Yet you continue be different. Not for the sake to do what you have to do of being different, but for the because you know that the sake of starting something majority is not always right, new: a nation that will not and conventional wisdom is worship power and the symnot always wise. The children bols of power — for that is of Abraham are prepared to what idols really were and are. challenge the idols of the age.

I want you, said God, to “teach One reason why Jews have your children and your house- become, out of all proportion hold afterward to follow the to their numbers, leaders in way of the Lord by doing what almost every sphere of human is right and just.” endeavor is precisely this willTo be a Jew is to be willing ingness to be different, refusing to challenge the prevailing to assimilate to the dominant consensus of worshiping the culture or convert to the domold gods. Statues, figurines, inant faith. That is why, howicons, idols represented ever small their numbers, Jews power. That is what Baal for created communities. It is hard the Canaanites, Zeus for the to lead alone, far less hard to Greeks, and missiles and lead in the company of others, bombs for terrorists and rogue even if you are a minority. states are today.

As Jews, we do not follow Power allows us to rule the majority merely because over others without their conit is the majority. It is what sent. Judaism is a sustained makes a nation of leaders. critique of power. It is about how a nation can be formed Rabbi Bentzion Geisinsky lives in on shared commitment and Bloomfield Hills, where he co-directs collective responsibility. It is Chabad of Bingham Farms with his about how to construct a soci- wife, Moussia.

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

PHOTOS BY ALEX SHERMAN

ARTS&LIFE ON THE COVER

What They Do in the

Newlyweds Jonathan Barkan and Ariel Fisher put a Jewish lens on horror films.

GEORGE ELKIND CONTRIBUTING WRITER PHOTOGRAPHY BY ALEX SHERMAN

M

any couples have a meet-cute. Jonathan Barkan and Ariel Fisher’s was a literal horror story.

The Ann Arbor residents met by chance in 2018, when they were writers and horror film aficionados visiting an all-night shoot on the set of Rabid, a remake of the 1977 body-horror film by cult-favorite Jewish Canadian director David Cronenberg. The movie is about a young woman who turns into a bloodsucking monster.

Unbeknownst to Barkan, Fisher was mourning the recent loss of her aunt Claudia, who co-founded the Danforth Jewish Circle, a progressive Jewish continued on page 26 OCTOBER 29 • 2020 25

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ARTS&LIFE continued from page 25

group in Toronto. The funeral was for a long engagement and a wedthe following morning, and the ding that would celebrate both their overnight shooting schedule wore shared Jewish identity and, fittingly, on her. But surrounded by strangers, their love of horror. (They had an she didn’t speak about it for most of engagement photo shoot at Storm the night.

Crow, a Toronto bar with different Barkan, noticing something was themed rooms modeled after Twin wrong, worked to create a friendly Peaks, H.P. Lovecraft and other atmosphere on set. He played games creepy classics.) between takes to pass the time and But just days after they returned to peppered Fisher with jokes over the Fisher’s hometown of Toronto from shoot’s long hours. a trip to Israel, the COVID-19 crisis “Ariel realized that I wasn’t exactly escalated into a global pandemic. a creep. She still didn’t know what Given the circumstances, it word to use exactly, but it wasn’t seemed best to make things official ‘creep,’” Barkan recalls. “Then, when on paper and worry about a fuller it came out that I was Jewish as well, celebration later. So, the couple immediately we were able to speak found a magistrate in Cornwall, the same language in a way that othOntario, held a small secular cereers weren’t.” mony with a few close relatives, and As a bonus, both lovebirds have blasted a mix of rock and metal on blurry background cameos in the the drive home to a dinner of sushi finished film. and champagne.

Barkan and Fisher are what one “It wound up being kind of percould call a Jewish horror movie fect, ” Fisher mused with a smile.

— ARIEL FISHER power couple. Barkan works in producing, acquisition and distribution CHILDREN OF THE DAMNED for independent horror films. He has Over a distanced interview with the overseen titles including Shifter, about couple and their dog, Dante, in Ann a time-travel experiment gone awry, Arbor’s Gallup Park, they recounted and Blood Vessel, about a boat infested their earliest ties to the genre. For with Nazi vampires. Previously, he both Barkan and Fisher, these date was an editor and critic at horror back well into childhood. websites Dread Central and Bloody Fisher’s maternal grandfather lost Disgusting. much of his family to the Holocaust Fisher is a freelance horror writer but managed to flee from presand editor for a range of outlets, ent-day Belarus to Western Europe including the influential Fangoria and later Argentina before settling in magazine, and runs The Bite, a weekly Ontario in the 1970s. The trauma left newsletter published by the horror him distant from his faith, shaping streaming service Shudder. The the more secularized Jewish identity couple split their time between Ann that was passed on in her family Arbor and Ontario. going forward.

Within the devoted, tight-knit Fisher recalled listening to the community of horror fans, Barkan films her older brother was allowed and Fisher are revered for their to watch in the other room of her open-hearted enthusiasm for the family home in Thornhill, a Toronto genre, as well as a deep well of suburb. She could overhear screamknowledge about its many grisly odds and ends. They’re as coning and crunching during films like Jaws and Carrie; those noises versant in Nightmare on Elm Street sequels as they are in brutal New alone during her single-digit years were enough to reel her in.

French Extremity films.

“I have vivid memories of being in my childhood home in The two got engaged in October 2019. They’d initially planned Thornhill and doing a puzzle with my mom in the dining room,”

“SCREAMS OF PEOPLE BEING EATEN BY A SHARK LULL ME TO SLEEP LIKE A LULLABY.”

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

was causing horrible damage,” he said. “Not only could I put a face to the horrors that I was going through; it also contextualized them.”

— JONATHAN BARKAN THE HORROR COLLECTIVE

Fisher said. “My dad and my brother were watching Jaws, and I have vivid memories of doing this puzzle with my mom but hearing Quint getting eaten in the other room.”

Later, Jaws acquired a ritualistic significance.

“I started watching it so much in my early teens that I would watch it to go to sleep,” she said. “It’s like my comfort movie.

Somehow the screams of people being eaten by a giant great white shark lull me to sleep like a lullaby.”

Viewing the 1973 horror classic The Exorcist one night at a friend’s house, at the tender age of 13, had the opposite effect.

Fisher was traumatized, by one scene most of all: Regan (Linda Blair), the preteen girl possessed by the devil, contorts into a gruesome spider-walk and darts backward down a staircase.

“I proceeded to not be able to sleep for a day and a half, and not be able to look at my stairs for months,” she remembers. “Few things have scared me that much since. So, from then on, everything else was a cakewalk.”

Barkan, likewise, took to horror from a young age while growing up in an Orthodox household. His parents had each emigrated from the former Soviet Union, met and married in Israel, and then moved to Ann Arbor for his father’s endocrinology residency. It was there that they had and raised Barkan and his older sister.

A “big blow” came for the family when Barkan was just 5. His sister was diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumor, leading to two years of long hours in hospitals. Oddly, it was this experience he credits with leading to his love of horror.

There was “lots of chemotherapy, radiation, surgeries, procedures,” he said. “We would go and visit her, and she would have tubes going in her nose and through shunts and everything. So, I grew up going to the hospital far more frequently than most other children and, as a result, hospitals went from being a scary or uncomfortable place to something that was just very natural.”

Working to stay out of the way in hourslong visits, Barkan would spend time in

“[MY] SEARCH HISTORIES ARE LIKE ‘BEST DECAPITATIONS IN MOVIES.’”

A scene from Blood Vessel, an Australian horror film about a boat filled with Nazi vampires.

Barkan oversaw the film’s VOD distribution this year.

the ward’s game room for younger patients, who often had visible physical disabilities.

“It was a very surreal experience because the walls had a painting of a sun and a rainbow and happy clouds and trees,” he said.

“It’s meant to be very bright and sunny and wonderful — meanwhile, all the children playing over there had tubes in them and are in wheelchairs. Some of them were missing limbs.”

To cope, Barkan took to the genre that grappled best with what he saw — or couldn’t see — around him: disease and death. Goosebumps was an early gateway.

His parents thought he was too young for proper horror movies, but they couldn’t keep him away for long.

“I very quickly turned to horror, not because of these people that I was constantly surrounded by, but rather because there was some unknown, monstrous villain in my sister’s head that was attacking her and

HEREDITARY As time passed, Barkan drifted away from the religious aspects of his Orthodox Jewish upbringing. His parents signed him up for Jewish summer camps and extra hours every week with the family’s rabbi; these efforts proved fruitless. But his love of horror “never left.”

Barkan graduated from the University of Michigan and expected to go into the recording industry. At the Bloody Disgusting website, he started writing about the intersection of music and horror, and interviewed figures like film director and heavy-metal musician Rob Zombie.

“I just kind of fell into it,” he said. “I pushed, and I worked, and I kept my head down, and I simply kept saying, ‘What can I do to help?’ That was always the question every day, every week, every month.”

Fisher likewise had a “natural gravitation” to the horror genre, which others around her observed quickly and pushed her to follow through on. At McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, her guidance counselor encouraged her to write for the school paper.

“I’d say, ‘Oh, they don’t want to hear from me,’” Fisher said. “And she’s like: ‘Ariel, that’s dumb. Go write.’”

From there, Fisher wrote a piece on horror remakes for a campus art magazine and the rest, per her description, “just kind of happened.” A decade later, her portfolio’s only continued to grow.

LET THE RIGHT ONE IN As a Jewish woman working in horror, Fisher finds that few in her community share that same identity. She said several of her peers have described her as their “first Jew.” Over the years, she’s been met online with responses ranging from discrimination and harassment to antisemitism. She’s trying to change the conversation by developing a Jewish horror-centric podcast with continued on page 28 OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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ARTS&LIFE

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

another Jewish woman in the community.

“Being a woman in this world is hard. It’s not welcoming, it’s highly judgmental, deeply competitive and laced with a lot of really problematic engagement,” Fisher said. “I spent a lot of time when I was first starting out wrestling with the other men in the industry.”

Fisher also identifies as pansexual and says that, combined with her Judaism, has given her “fear of rejection, fear of oppression, that fear of violence.”

“I’ve always struggled because I hid it from myself, let alone anybody else, for most of my life. As a lot of people [of] our generation did,” she said.

Barkan, whose extended family still lives in Israel, proudly notes he is Jewish in his Twitter bio and is willing to confront antisemitism directly online.

Both often find themselves wondering if their Jewish identity has informed their approach to horror. “The general white public never has to think, ‘Does my German heritage, or does my Norwegian heritage, have to be a part of this discussion?’” Barkan said.

Yet they feel at home.

“It’s the people in the horror community that you can go to and laugh about how your search histories are [terms like] ‘best decapitations in movies’,” said Barkan.

And in addition to the other editors, writers, critics and filmmakers in the horror space, they also have a strong working relationship with

each other.

“We constantly ask each other for feedback,” said Fisher. “I love having him be an extra set of eyes on something I’m working on.”

IT’S ALIVE Horror film is changing, as the genre embraces new forms of social critique through works like Get Out and the remake of The Invisible Man. There are more visibly Jewish horror films now, too, including The Vigil, about a dybbuk (evil spirit) that haunts an Orthodox man who has agreed to serve as a shomer (vigil keeper) over the corpse of a relative.

The film, which has large amounts of Yiddish dialogue and invokes themes of the Holocaust, left an impact on Fisher when she saw it.

“I was not prepared” she said. “I was uncontrollably sobbing by the end of it, because you have this kind of Exorcist-ish representation — except it’s us.”

The pandemic, too, is creating shifts in the genre.

With production on so many movies stalled and most audiences avoiding theaters, Barkan hopes some might turn online to find different sorts of films with smaller budgets.

Besides which, the couple note, the world is living through a horror movie right now — and Jews have survived one horror after another.

“We’re just less shocked by certain things,” said Fisher. “I think things are less horrific when you’ve seen things that are truly horrific.”

PHOTOS COURTESY OF HOWARD SCHWARTZ

ARTS&LIFE ART

Presidential

Art

Local collection of political cartoons goes on display virtually.

SUZANNE CHESSLER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

H

Howard and Robin Schwartz

oward Schwartz enjoys the humor of political cartoons, has amassed a collection of original drawings to characterize presidential campaigns and decided to put them on view. Although he intended to display the drawings in a gallery at the time of a national election, the pandemic changed his plans.

Like so many others with artistic interests, Schwartz has turned to a digital platform. The cartoons, kept on view in his home, have been copied and are showcased on a new website, potustoons.com.

The collection, so far with 23 images and three more in the framing stage, is joined with caricatures of winners even beyond the years covered in cartoons.

“I intend to have all the elections eventually represented,” said Schwartz, who has a commercial real estate business in Farmington Hills. “I look at them every day because they’re in my house.

“I wanted to share them with the public because they become so topical in an election year. Not everyone will have an appreciation for some of the points of view artists may portray, but they have to do with historical and political interests.”

Schwartz, who describes himself as a fiscal conservative and social liberal, traces his personal commitments to parental examples of a broader scope. He has voted early in this year’s election but does not want to disclose his ballot.

Schwartz’s cartoon collecting started in the 1980s when he was living in New York. While looking through an art gallery, Schwartz noticed a drawing depicting candidates in the George H.W. Bush/Michael Dukakis campaign and bought it.

“I got to meet the artist, Timothy Patrick Moynihan (a.k.a. Gus Murphy), the son of the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and four years later, I commissioned another drawing,” Schwartz said. “Again, four years later, I commissioned another drawing and kept those commissions going.”

After the artist died, Schwartz’s collection froze until finding other artists — Victor Juhasz of upstate New York, Michael Edholm of Iowa and Thomas Fluharty of South Dakota. Schwartz wanted each image to tell the story without captions even as some images show people in addition to candidates.

“The flavor of the conveycontinued on page 30 OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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Schwartz's gallery of POTUS cartoons.

Roosevelt vs. Parker, 1904, cartoon by Victor Juhasz

Jefferson vs. Adams, 1800, cartoon by Victor Juhasz continued from page 29

ance of information is done in the viewer’s mind,” Schwartz explained about the focus on images. “The expression of the artist speaks to the feeling the viewer gets when appreciating what the artist is trying to convey. Bush and Dukakis, for

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example, are shown in a pretty tough fight, and that conveys the spirit of the election.”

CLASSIC BATTLES Among the cartoons are those capturing Dwight Eisenhower versus Adlai Stevenson,

Lyndon Johnson versus Barry Goldwater and Andrew Jackson versus John Quincy Adams.

A favorite among many favorites in his collection pits Richard Nixon against John Kennedy in debate.

“I lived through that election as a little boy, and the Nixon era was impressionable,” Schwartz explained. “The artist shows Kennedy at the lectern with Richard Nixon hanging upside down in a Dracula suit. Nixon [was seen] as evil because of the war and his engagement with Kent State. To see Nixon portrayed [this way] is a great joy to me.”

While Schwartz commissions artists to depict particular elections, he gives them complete freedom in what they do. He also gives artistic liberty to the people who have designed complementary frames, John Rowland and Alex Rosenhaus.

Adam Weiner, the website designer, drew the caricatures at the bottom of the website.

Schwartz, a member of The Shul and a board member of Kadima and Friendship Circle, has tried his hand at artistic

expression through abstract paintings. His wife, Robin, enjoys fashioning designs from recycled clothing. His three children, in their 20s, also have artistic hobbies — Jacob with drawing, Louis with clothing and Samantha with German expressionism.

Family art also has been framed for display.

“I want to engage people in taking an interest in government and in the election,” Schwartz said. “I don’t care what their perspectives are, and I don’t care what their politics are.

“I also think it’s very important not to take everything so seriously. [We’re in] such a divisive time, which is not necessarily beneficial to the country, but because of that, there are aspects of the election which will be commissioned by future artists to portray in a distorted, comedic way.

“For the next presidential election, I will display my cartoons in a gallery.”

To view the election cartoons, go to potustoons.com.

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STREAMING CATCH-UP; JEWISH DOCTORS WHO ARE COVID-19 EXPERTS On the Rocks is a “dramedy” which opened in a few theaters on Oct. 2 (to be Oscar-eligible) and began streaming on Apple TV Plus on Oct. 23. Reviews were mostly favorable, with a few raves. But there were some thumbs-down by respected critics.

Rashida Jones, 44, co-stars as a wife who suspects her husband (Marlon Wayans) is cheating. Jones’ father (Bill Murray) insists they investigate. The supporting cast includes Jenny Slate, 38, and Barbara Bain, 89 (you might remember Bain as a co-star of Mission Impossible, the ’60s TV series. Most of her MI scenes were with the late Martin Landau, then her real-life husband).

The mockumentary comedy Borat (2006), starring Sacha Baron Cohen, 49, in the title role as an antisemitic reporter from Central Asia, was a huge hit. Cohen was determined that a sequel about current American events would be released before the election, and it was released on Oct. 23 on Amazon Prime. The new film (short tile: Borat Subsequent Moviefilm) finds Borat spoofing an array of conservative targets, includ-

ing Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani.

Several readers have asked me if any of the physicians who are developing vaccines for COVID-19, and/ or frequently appear on news programs to discuss COVID-19, are Jewish.

Dr. Tal Zaks, 54, is an Israel-born and trained oncologist who has been the chief medical officer for Moderna Therapeutics since 2015. He is the “point guy” on Moderna’s COVID19 vaccine development.

Dr. Peter Hotez, 62, is the director of the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development.

He frequently appears on MSNBC and CNN. He has been working with India on a COVID-19 vaccine.

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, 48, an internist, served as FDA commissioner from 20172019.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, 76, a pediatrician, is a pandemic expert at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness at the Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Dr. Steven Atlas, 65, a radiologist, joined the White House’s COVID-19 task force in August. His embrace of “herd immunity” and his disparagement of masks and social distancing have caused a firestorm of controversy.

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ON THE GO PEOPLE | PLACES | EVENTS

of 2 are asked to wear a mask, except when eating.

Individual bags of snacks will be given to each family. Bring a blanket for the music class. Note: A Zoom link will be provided for those who don’t want to participate in person. If there is rain that morning, all registered families will be notified via email and receive a Zoom link to get together online.

David Ammer

David Jackson

VIRTUAL NIGHTNOTES 7 PM, OCT. 30 Detroit Chamber Winds & Strings will present trombonist David Jackson with David Ammer on trumpet and James Libbie on the organ. For virtual concert tickets and info: mohan@ art-ops.org or 248-5592095.

FALL FAMILY OUTING 11 AM, NOV. 1 NEXTGen Detroit presents this event at Franklin Community Park, 32301 Franklin Road, Franklin.

Cost $5, register by Oct. 29; Mimi Marcus, (248) 642-4260, mmarcus@jfmd. org. There will be a music class, story time, cider and donuts and a photo op with your cuties in the costumes they wore the day before.

This event is intended for NEXTGen Detroit families with children up to age 3, but older siblings are welcome. This event is outdoors with participants spaced out in the park. All families must pre-register.

Limit two adults per child.

All participants over the age

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

LIMMUD MICHIGAN 11:30 AM-3 PM NOV. 1 This year, Limmud will be in the form of an efestival.

Registration is $18. To view the program, visit emamo. com/event/limmud-michigan-efest. For tickets, visit eventbrite.com/e/ limmud-miochigan-efestival-tickets-124633775979.

ELECTION AFTERTHOUGHTS NOON, NOV. 4 Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and the Professional Advisory Committee of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund presents “The Day After the Election: Afterthoughts and Aftershocks.” Speaker: Nolan Finley, editorial page editor of the Detroit News.

Cost for this virtual event: $18 donation to Federations 2021 campaign. Info: Susie Feldman, 248-203-1461, sfeldman@jfmd.org.

TORAH FOR OUR TIME NOON, NOV.4 Ohr Torah Stone in Israel will present a session of Ask the Rabbi. Under discussion with Rabbi Yoni Rosensweig will be “Halachah and Mental Health in the Era of COVID19.” Zoom link: ZOOM. US/J/9739742708.

DEVELOPING DETROIT 2-3:30 PM, NOV.4 The Jewish Historical Society presents “Opportunity Detroit: Dan Gilbert’s Impact on the City.”

Join Jeffery Brown and Jessica White for a virtual experience discussing Dan Gilbert’s Rocket Mortgage Family of Companies’ business portfolio and Detroit’s Central Business District.

Cost: $10 for members and $18 for non-members. Register by 9 pm on Tuesday, Nov. 3, at info@ michjewishhistory.org or 248-915-1826. Instructions for joining the Zoom call will be sent the day before.

BLUES WORKSHOP 7-8:30 PM, NOV.4 The Ark in Ann Arbor will host a blues workshop with Jorma Kaukomen.

Registration: $100 at ots.fm/ jklark. Sign on instructions will be given with registration.

CHILDREN’S LIT 7 PM, NOV. 5 The Michael and Elaine Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel at MSU will present Miriam Udel. She has created a translation of stories and poems for children, Honey on the Page. Her presentation is titled “Yiddish Children’s Literature and the Jewish 20th Century.”

After registering, you will receive an email with information on how to join the meeting. Register at msu. zoom.us/meeting/register/ tJYrdemrpzMtHdMiCXu20qYySROclmxWtke.

FAMILY ROOM SERIES 8 PM, NOV. 5 This free, virtual event is sponsored by the Ark in Ann Arbor. It will feature Mustard’s Retreat live from the Ark stage. The event is free and may be viewed on the Ark Facebook page.

Donations put in the “virtual tip jar” will go to support the Ark and the performers.

BOPPIN’ BINGO 7 PM, NOV. 7 Make it a night out with a Federation-sponsored outing for the whole family in the Shaarey Zedek parking lot and let the games begin: prizes, giveaways, local celebrity callers and sweet treats from the comfort of your car. $36 per car/family includes bingo, kosher treats and surprises. In addition to the cost of a ticket, families are asked to make a minimum $36 donation to the Federation’s 2021 Annual Campaign.

Info: Karen at kaplan@jfmd. org or Jodi at feld@jfmd. org. Register by Oct. 30.

FALL FIX UP 9 AM, NOV. 8 Help rake leaves and winterize homes (outdoor only) of older adults served by Jewish Family Service.

Drive-thru contact-less. Two ways: (a) All ages can report to Congregation Shaarey Zedek to receive supplies; (b) Young adults my report to B’nai David Cemetery, 9535 Van Dyke, Detroit.

Register by Oct. 30. Info: 248-592-2261.

Compiled by Sy Manello/Editorial Assistant. Send items to calendar@ thejewishnews.com.

Enrolling Locals in COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Kate Zenlea’s Moderna trial is one of the highest enrolling in the country.

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

B

y the time the COVID19 pandemic hit America in January, Kate Zenlea of Huntington Woods had been working for Henry Ford Health System’s (HFHS) Global Health Initiative (GHI) for about three years.

Now, she is the managing director of the hospital’s Phase III clinical vaccine trial for the biotech company Moderna.

Zenlea had never worked on a clinical trial before. “When I was selected to be the managing director to lead this trial, it was very daunting for me,” she said.

“But I had a very supporting

team, and we all worked well together, and I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.”

In addition, Dr. Erica Herc, a Jewish infectious disease expert in Bloomfield Hills, is one of the study’s investigators and played a large role in enrollment and its design.

Detroit is one of 90 sites participating in Moderna’s Phase III trial, and one of the highest enrolling for participants in the country. Those with active COVID-19 are not eligible for the trial.

The GHI’s mission prior to the pandemic was to work with

vulnerable populations at home and abroad by addressing public health threats and inequities, and implementing public health strategies around the world.

Once COVID-19 hit, the initiative shifted its mission to figure out how to address it in a localized way.

Early on, the initiative partnered with the Detroit Health Department to implement and expand COVID-19 rapid testing in Detroit.

When they were doing the testing, the Infectious Diseases Department of Henry Ford was chosen as one of the sites for the Moderna COVID-19 Phase III vaccine trial.

Zenlea built the team from the ground up, hiring about 45 nurses, research assistants and epidemiologists, who all report to her.

Three sites are running for Moderna, all within the Henry Ford campus in Detroit.

Zenlea herself is a Type 1 diabetic, so when the pandemic hit, she was a part of the at-risk population and quickly went

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KATE ZENLEA

HEALTH

Kate Zenlea consults with co-workers at Henry Ford.

remote. From home, she operationalized mobile unit work, worked on writing grants, making presentations, managing budgets and creating workflows.

Zenlea was able to do the prep for the trial remotely, including hiring the staff and securing clinic space.

Once the trial started, Zenlea needed to be there in person.

Now her day consists of quality control, putting out fires that come with managing 45 staff members at three sites and ensuring all regulatory processes and protocols are followed.

The trial delivered the first injection to a Michigan resident back in August. Half the participants receive the study vaccine, and half receive the placebo.

“All of the studies are a double-blinded study, meaning I as an investigator do not know what they got, and of course the participants do not know if they got the (study vaccine) or the placebo,” Zenlea said.

Because it is a double-blinded study, Zenlea has no information on how well the study vaccine is working.

“We enter all data into the (Moderna) database for them to analyze,” she said. “I would not know their process for reviewing.”

ENROLLING PARTICIPANTS Hundreds of people enrolled, and thousands signed up for the pre-screening to be a part of the trial. Zenlea takes pride in being one of the highest enrolling sites in the country for Moderna, and a leading site in enrollment for minorities.

“That was really important to us, especially from our background in public health and working with vulnerable and marginalized populations,” Zenlea said. “We really wanted to make sure, if the GHI was leading this work, that we were going to do what was true to us — we did not prioritize any continued on page 34 OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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continued from page 33

type of VIP list. We made sure we were prioritizing minorities who came from our community.”

Black enrollment, especially, has been low in the COVID vaccine trials, because of the community’s mistrust in the American health system after such racist medical incidents as the Tuskegee experiment.

When the president of Dillard University, a historically Black college in New Orleans, sent out a letter urging the campus community to consider enrolling in a COVID-19 vaccine trial, it was met with hundreds of posts of fierce backlash over their social media platforms.

“Our children are not lab rats for drug companies,” said one post. “I can’t believe a HBCU [Historically Black Colleges and Universities] would do this to our people,” said another response.

Zenlea couldn’t give any specific statistics about Black enrollment in her trial, but said her trial was featured on a Moderna webinar focused on diversity and inclusion, given their status as a leader in the area.

Most clinical trials of a study vaccine, especially Phase III clinical trials, take about 12-18 months to set up. The Zenlealed Moderna trial was set up in less than two months because of how active the virus became.

“I think it was about seven weeks, start to finish, from our enrollment date to when we started setting this up,” she said.

GETTING RESULTS The Moderna trial runs 24 months and requires multiple in-person visits, COVID swabs, blood draws, the injections of the study vaccine, and many follow-up visits and safety calls throughout.

According to Zenlea, an analysis will be done once Moderna has enough people enrolled and data gathered where they

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ground up … the work she is doing is truly admirable,” Zervos said. “[The vaccine trial] is one of the most incredible achievements I’ve ever seen in my lifetime, and it is largely due to Kate’s leadership. There are very few people in the country who could’ve accomplished what she’s done.”

The other principal investigator is Dr. Paul Kilgore, a senior scientist with the GHI and faculty of Wayne State University.

Kate Zenlea’s vaccine study focuses on inclusion of the minority population.

can statistically say whether the study vaccine is effective. If they determine the study vaccine is effective, the study would be “called” or “ended,” those who received the placebo would receive the vaccine, and the vaccine would go to market.

“It is possible that the sponsor (Moderna) will have enough enrolled participants and enough data to determine if the study vaccine is effective or not before the end of the study timeline, which is initially set for 24 months,” Zenlea said.

Zenlea and her team have not received any official word that the study will be “called” before the end of the trial period.

Zenlea will also be the managing director of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Phase III vaccine trial in Detroit, which she initially hoped would begin in the next few weeks, before news came out on Oct. 13 that Johnson & Johnson is pausing its trial while the company investigates a participant’s “unexplained illness.”

Zenlea and her team are aware of that issue, and she says J&J is investigating the “unexplained illness” and has halted

all study activities, internationally, until they know more.

“We still have plans to launch this trial at our site once the safety hold has been lifted, and we continue to work closely with the sponsor. Of course, we will not start any study activities until it is completely safe to do so,” Zenlea said.

Adverse events are expected in all clinical trials and the J&J study is no different, according to Zenlea.

“There are several clinical indicators that could trigger a ‘study pause,’ planned or unplanned, and they are always investigated in an abundance of caution,” she said.

There are more than 100 national sites for the J&J trial, and their enrollment target collectively is 60,000, about double that of Moderna’s.

Dr. Marc Zervos, head of the infectious disease division for HFHS and the principal investigator on the Moderna Phase III COVID vaccine trial in Detroit, knows how important Zenlea has been to the trial.

“Kate has remarkably built Henry Ford Health System’s COVID vaccine trial from the

JEWISH VALUES Zenlea grew up going to Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Hills and now belongs to Congregation Etz Chayim in Huntington Woods.

Zenlea is proud to represent her community, along with her husband, David, and 1-year old daughter, Shoshana.

“It’s a huge part of our identity,” Zenlea said. “To be Jewish and to be leading this, it just makes me proud that I can showcase this as a young Jewish professional of what our capabilities are and what I’m able to do, and I hope it’s making the community proud as well.”

Zenlea also suspects that even when the vaccine comes out, we’re still going to be practicing social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing measures for some time, due to it taking time for everyone to get vaccinated.

She believes caring for one’s community with those precautions runs true to her Jewish values as well.

“It’s not just me; it’s the community,” Zenlea said.

“We’re a part of something larger. That’s true if you’re referring to being Jewish or if you’re referring to helping to end a global pandemic.

We’re all part of a larger story, and the story here is we have to make sure we’re protecting ourselves and our community.”

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HEALTH

Lab Leader Farmington Hills native leads Stanford virology lab that created one of first COVID-19 tests.

ELIZABETH KATZ CONTRIBUTING WRITER

G

rowing up in Farmington Hills, Benjamin Pinsky, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor of pathology and medicine at Stanford University Medical Center, as well as medical director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory for Stanford Health Care and Stanford Children’s Health, didn’t necessarily have an interest in studying the behavior of viruses. All he knew was that cell biology fascinated him.

It was after he graduated from Harrison High School in Farmington Hills in 1992 and went to Harvard University that he became interested in biochemistry and molecular biology. There, he received a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry in 1996. He spent a few years at Harvard working in labs and obtained a Ph.D. in molecular and cellular biology in 2005 and his medical degree in 2007 at the University of Washington.

“I got super interested in clinical microbiology and virology,” he said, adding that he began to develop viral detection tests. His interest is in the clinical impact of clinical virology testing.

That interest, paired with assistance from his colleagues at Stanford’s Virology Clinical Lab, helped the team develop and gain FDA approval for one of the country’s first COVID-19 detection tests.

“We were pretty early on this,” he said. “I saw what was

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

going on in China in January.

The first [COVID-19 genome] sequences came out in January.

“My lab adapted [a World Health Organization test] to the instruments we had available in our clinical laboratory. We had the test up and running in early February,” he added.

The Stanford test gained FDA approval on March 4. The Stanford lab, under Pinsky’s direction, tested thousands of people in the San Francisco Bay area.

Pinsky, who also holds the title of associate director of clinical pathology for COVID19 testing at Stanford, said they are down to testing about 1,000 people each day. However, the lab is ramping up to test around 6,000 people each day as the influenza season begins and schools and businesses reopen.

Stanford’s test is a nasal swab test, which can detect the virus in less than 24 hours, although Pinsky said turnaround time varies depending on test volume and patient population. For patients from the emergency room who are being admitted to the hospital and are exhibiting signs of the coronavirus, the need for results is more urgent.

“We’d like to test people as quickly as possible,” he said.

PRIOR TO THE PANDEMIC Pinsky said his residency training at Stanford Hospital during the H1N1 virus, a swine flu

pandemic that emerged in 2009, prepared him to develop a test to detect the current coronavirus.

“H1N1 was as widespread but not as devastating as the number of people who have died because of COVID-19,” he said.

“That prepared me for this. I’m not surprised that this [current pandemic] would occur sometime in my lifetime. I’m glad I had the experience with the H1N1 flu.”

In addition to his and his team’s work in developing and administering the coronavirus test, they have published about 15 articles in scientific journals about their work studying the new virus.

“We’re trying to contribute to the literature and our knowledge of the infection,” he said, adding that most of the lab’s work has been in diagnostic development.

Additionally, the team published findings on the markers of COVID-19 disease severity, as well as newer work they’ve done on novel diagnostic and prognostic information from patients with COVID-19.

Although scientists have the original SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) viruses to consider when approaching the study of

COVID-19, what makes this novel coronavirus so devastating is that it is more transmissible to humans than SARS or MERS, according to Pinsky.

“The other coronaviruses had very high mortality but fewer cases,” he said. “That’s something that’s really new … It can go through a population and cause such devastation. It’s a generation-defining event.”

Pinsky, who lives in San Francisco, has family who live in the Metro Detroit area. His parents, Stuart, a retired attorney, and mother Roberta, live in Farmington Hills and his paternal grandmother, Bernice, is still going strong at 94.

Pinsky grew up as a member of Congregation Beth Ahm. Dad Stuart Pinsky speaks about his son’s accomplishments with tremendous pride, including Benjamin’s work in South America and Africa in treating individuals, including orphans in Zimbabwe, who had acquired viruses.

Stuart also mentioned his son’s patent for methods in detecting dengue, a mosquito-borne viral disease.

“We’re two very proud parents in Farmington Hills,” said his mom and dad.

Meanwhile, Pinsky said his clinical laboratory functions 24/7 to continue research and testing services. He added that the scientific community and the general population can take away lessons from the current pandemic, namely that all people need to be mindful of how viruses evolve, how quickly they can be transmitted from person to person, how they affect health detrimentally, and how they can jump from animals to humans.

“There will be a lot of lessons learned on how to handle future pandemics,” Pinsky said.

LANGWALD FAMILY

a medical reason. Langwald now had no prospective donors and didn’t want to be put on an organ transplant waiting list, which can see people waiting upwards of five-10 years for the right match.

“I hadn’t started kidney dialysis yet, and that was my biggest fear,” Langwald said. “As a kid, I hated every second. It was a nightmare.”

He was in bad shape between his earlier dialysis hospital stays.

The idea of potentially facing that experience again was terrifying to Langwald and his family, who had been by his side to help him through medical stays, often sleeping in his hospital room so he wouldn’t be alone.

mother posted about the need for a donor, Rockoff had sent her a friend request. She responded immediately and offered to be tested as a match for Langwald when she realized she had the same blood type.

Even though Rockoff had children, was married and had a career in front of her, she put everything on hold to undergo testing. “She had a whole life,” Langwald said, “and this woman stepped up.” Rockoff turned out to be a perfect match and the donation was scheduled. She flew to Michigan, quarantined for two weeks due to COVID and underwent surgery to donate a kidney. The Langwalds

“IT WAS A MIRACLE.” The Langwald family. Andy is in the middle.

Kidney Donor Found on Facebook “How can you thank someone like that?” he asks.

ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

A

ndy Langwald was in need of a kidney donor when he found an unexpected match on Facebook.

The 53-year-old West Bloomfield man, who had developed kidney failure at the age of 12 and received a kidney from his mother, Annette LangwaldKozin, a perfect match, now had a blockage in his ureter that was causing health concerns. He was told by his doctors, after a round of unsuccessful procedures to fix the issue, that it would eventually cause his kidneys to no longer work.

His brother Michael and sis-

ter Sheri both tested as perfect matches to donate a kidney.

Sheri would be the one to make the donation, the family decided.

The Langwalds were ecstatic at the idea, then faced a devastating blow: about a week before the transplant was scheduled, Andy Langwald was diagnosed with colon cancer.

The transplant would have to wait, doctors advised, until the cancer was removed, and his body had healed. But while waiting, his sister developed a health condition that would rule her out as a potential donor. Then his brother was also rejected for

— ANDY’S MOM, ANNETTE LANGWALD-KOZIN “Two live donors who are perfect matches — the odds of that are astronomical,” Langwald said. He grappled with the issue of what to do next. Then his mother Annette had what he called “the most amazing idea” and turned to social media.

“I’m just going to put something out there,” she told her son.

Langwald, who didn’t use Facebook, was skeptical at first.

His mother wanted to write a post to see if anyone in her network would be interested in being tested as a potential match or knew of anyone who would try. She wrote about Langwald’s journey and shared it publicly.

DISTANT COUSIN VOLUNTEERS First came an offer from Langwald’s stepfather’s son. But it was an offer from a distant cousin, Jenni Newman Rockoff, who lived in Tucson, Ariz., that changed Langwald’s life forever.

“The last time I spoke to her was when we were students at Hillel,” Langwald recalls.

Ironically, a year before his

took care of her accommodations and set her up with an apartment in West Bloomfield during her stay.

Langwald had his transplant and is currently on the road to recovery. He hopes to soon be able to travel to his favorite destination, Boca Raton, Fla. “She gave me my life back,” he said.

“She was virtually a stranger in the sense that I hadn’t talked to her in forever, and she was willing to do this.”

While Rockoff faced initial pain and discomfort after the surgery, she is also doing well and recovering. Now, Langwald’s mother and Rockoff talk almost every day and have a new friendship born from the gift.

“It was a miracle,” Annette Langwald-Kozin said. “She gave up a month of her life for this.

She canceled her family’s vacation. She just made up her mind that she was going to do this.”

To the Langwalds, Rockoff is “an angel” who was set on saving Andy’s life. “How can you thank someone like that?” he says. “I’m very blessed.”

OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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the exchange

COMMUNITY

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Each Thanksgiving kit contains a 12- to 14-pound turkey, A Head Start student stuffing, Michigan who benefits from potatoes, yams, all Higher Hopes! of the ingredients for green bean casserole, chicken broth, Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix, cranberry sauce, apples, spices and Coca Cola products, all topped off with Cooper Street Cookies for dessert and much more.

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“This has definitely been an interesting year — quite different than what we’ve ever experienced,” Birndorf said in a press release. “There are 1.4 million people in Michigan who struggle with hunger and food insecurities, 356,930 of whom are children. That number is rising. With many schools on virtual instruction, children that rely on getting two of their three meals at school continue to be at risk.”

Higher Hopes! is beginning a fundraising campaign to support November’s Thanksgiving event and monthly food pass outs for 2021. Goal: $100,000.

Corporate and individual contributions can be made at www.higherhopesdetroit.org or at the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/HigherHopes/351220508366604.

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39

SOUL OF BLESSED MEMORY

LARRY BERMAN, 74, of Southfield, died Oct. 17, 2020.

He is survived by his wife, Mary Berman; his children, Andrea Berman and her partner, Christy Wegener, and Franklin Berman; sister-in-law, Marilyn Berman.

Mr. Berman was the devoted son of the late Clara and the late Frank Berman; the loving brother of the late Jack Berman; and the special uncle of the late Stuart Berman.

Interment was at Machpelah Cemetery. Contributions may be made to American Heart Association, 27777 Franklin Road, Suite 1150, Southfield, MI 48034, heart. org/en/affiliates/michigan/ detroit; or American Diabetes Association-Local Chapter, 20700 Civic Center Drive, Southfield, MI 48076, diabetes.org. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

BYNA CAMDEN, 90, of Rochester Hills, died Oct. 14, 2020.

She is survived by her loving companion and c. 1970 best friend, Mike Regan; brother and sisterin-law, Andrew and Gayle Camden; sister-in-law, Lili Ann Camden; nephews, Todd Camden and Adam Camden.

Ms. Camden was the devoted daughter of the late Joseph and the late Florence Camden; the loving sister of the late Howard Camden.

Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Detroit Institute of Arts, 5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit,

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

MI 48202, dia.org; Michigan Humane Society, 30300 Telegraph Road, Suite 220, Bingham Farms, MI 48025, michiganhumane.org/tributes; Holocaust Memorial Center, 28123 Orchard Lake Road, Farmington Hills, MI 48334, holocaustcenter.org; or Old Newsboys’ Goodfellows Fund of Detroit, P.O. Box 44444, Detroit, MI 48244-0444, detroitgoodfellows.org/shop/ donate-2020. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

DONNA GOREN, 86, of West Bloomfield, died Oct. 22, 2020.

She is survived by her daughter, Marla Goren Zack; son and daughter-in-law, Steven Goren and Hilary Haber; grandchildren, Danny and Michele Zack, Blake Zack, Josh Zack and Sam Zack; great-granddaughter, Layla Zack; many loving nieces, nephews, cousins and a world of friends.

Mrs. Goren was the beloved wife of the late Irwin Goren; the dear mother-in-law of the late Steven Zack; the devoted daughter of the late Hyman and the late Eva Reider; the loving sister of the late Shirley and the late Earl Weingarden.

Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, the Steven E. Zack Fund, 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 260, P.O. Box 2030, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303, jewishdetroit.org/send-atribute; or American Heart Association, 27777 Franklin Road, Suite 1150, Southfield, MI 48034, heart.org/en/ affiliates/michigan/detroit.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

NORMAN LETZER, 89, of Boynton Beach, Fla., died Oct. 19, 2020.

He is survived by his beloved wife, Ruth Letzer; sons and daughtersin-law, Dr. David and Dianne Letzer, Dr. Jeffrey and Meredith Letzer; grandchildren, Hannah Letzer, Benjamin Letzer and Sasha Letzer; many other loving family members and friends.

Interment took place at Clover Hill Park Cemetery in Birmingham. Contributions may be made to the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. Arrangements by Dorfman Chapel.

STEPHEN JOEL MARX, a resident of Odenton, Md., suddenly passed away on Oct. 19, 2020.

He was born on May 5, 1950, in Detroit, son of Herman Marx and Carolyn (Meehan) Marx.

Stephen taught for five years after graduating Michigan State University. He worked for U.S. Customs for 26 years as special agent and resident in charge.

Upon retiring, he began work at DEA as a computer forensic examiner. After his second retirement, he developed a police computer forensics lab in Ludington, which he ran until 2017. Everything he did was for family and community.

Mr. Marx is survived by his beloved wife of 47 years, Janet; two loving sons, Adam (Melanie) and Jordan (Jessica) of Maryland; two cherished

grandchildren, Calvin and Rayna; two devoted brothers, Alan (Cindy) of Michigan and Greg (Bridget) of Florida; in-laws, Tom (Ann) Selby of Michigan, Peg (Bill) Pearson of the Dominican Republic, Dave (Deb) Selby of Omaha, Neb; and many nieces, nephews and cousins.

Contributions may be made to Ludington Police Dept., Digital Forensics Lab, 408 Harrison St., Ludington, MI 49431.

SIMON MORRELL, 92, of West Bloomfield, died Oct. 21, 2020.

He is survived by his daughters and sons-in-law, Andrea and Andrew Feuereisen of West Bloomfield, Wendy and Marc Kippelman of Bloomfield Hills; grandchildren, Stephanie Heller, Jackie and Marc Issner, Nikki and Steve Steinberg, Stacy Feuereisen and Jon Miller, Jeffrey and Ashley Feuereisen, Ricki Feuereisen; great-grandchildren, Micah Issner, Hudson Issner, Charlotte Miller, Delilah Miller, Ryan Feuereisen.

Mr. Morrell was the beloved husband of the late Claire Jean Morrell; dear brother of the late Gerald Morrell and the late Pearl Goodman.

Contributions may be made to Bais Chabad of West Bloomfield, 5595 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322; or Jewish Senior Life, 6710 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322. A graveside service was held at Oakview Cemetery in Royal Oak. Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

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She also had a mid-life career as a journalist and wrote hundreds of articles for the Oakland Press, Michigan Woman, Monthly Detroit and the Detroit Jewish News, among others.

She is survived by her children and their spouses, Rachel Portnoy and Adam Eichner, and Eddy Portnoy and Mira Blushtein; her grandchildren, Kobi and Jonah Eichner, and Ben and Luli Portnoy. (She really loved those kids).

Mrs. Portnoy was the wife of the late Robert G. Portnoy; the daughter of the late Arnold E. Frank and the late Edith Selker Frank; and the sister of the late Richard S. Frank.

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During the coming week, Kaddish will be said for these departed souls during the daily minyan at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. Your support of the Torah learning of our children and our Kollel’s Torah Scholars brings immeasurable heavenly merit. Please call us at 248-557-6750 for more information.

14 Cheshvan Nov. 1, 2020

Sam Cohen Helen Cohn Naomi Ellias Dallen Mason Gantz Leah Lakritz Jacob Levin Ben Matz Mitchell Stein

15 Cheshvan Nov. 2, 2020

Joseph Burstein Annie Citrin Irwin I. Cohn Abraham Diem Norman George Feingold David Goldberg Gloria Lea Phillip Lewis Frieda Lux Helen Mertz Marietta Moscovici Pearl Ruffsky Joseph Wexler Fannie Zingeser &KHVKYDQ 1RY

Benjamin Apt Bertha Apt Hugo Apt Abraham Louis Bresoff Moses Philip Ellenson

William Finnk Abraham Freed Rose Katz Julius Portnoy Joseph Rabinowitz Henry Rosenmund Harold Sherr Mollie Stein

17 Cheshvan Nov. 4, 2020

Esther Averbach Riva Boesky Bertha Corn Esther Domnitch Joseph Frenkel Sophie Lerman Esther Mindlin Samuel Revzin Lena Rosenbaum Sally Sherman Ethel Shorr Esther Singer Harry Stein Jack Stein Lena Zager

18 Cheshvan Nov. 5, 2020

Alter Farber David Feldstein Lillian Fink Celia Frank-Eckert Jacob Lesser

Sarah Miller Dr. Leo Orecklin Leo Rosen Ida Rothenberg Norma Weinger

19 Cheshvan Nov. 6, 2020

Luba Becker Morris Binder Harry Cohen Helen Glazer Flora S Hoffman Bessie Horwitz Eva Nachman Mary Mendelsohn Sherman

David Sirota Harry David Switzer

20 Cheshvan Nov. 7, 2020

Cy Aaron Martin Amhowitz Lillian Cahn Isadore L. Delin Ray Gellman Arthur Jaffin Jules Kamen Samuel J. Maxman Ida Miller Morris Rosenthal Martin Segal Albert Vexler

School for Boys • Beth Jacob School for Girls • Bais Yehudah Preschool Weiss Family Partners Detroit • Kollel Bais Yehudah • Maalot Detroit P.O. Box 2044 • 6RXWKoHOG 0, • 248-557-6750 • www.YBY.org

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

STUART RICE, 78, of Farmington Hills, died Oct. 18, 2020. He is survived by his beloved wife, Laura Rice; son and daughter-inlaw, David Rice and Noreen Bucknum; grandchild, Maggie Bucknum-Rice; sister, Susan Rice; many loving cousins, nieces, nephews, other family members and friends.

Mr. Rice was the brother of the late Stephen (late Ellen) Rice.

Interment took place at Beth El Memorial Park Cemetery in Livonia. Contributions may be made to the Birmingham Temple or to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements

by Dorfman Chapel.

MICHAEL ROSEN, 71, of West Bloomfield, died Oct. 15, 2020.

He worked for Pepsi for many years and he would always tell his family that “I am a Pepsi Man, even though I drink a Coke once in a while.� A JARC participant, he loved the Katzman House.

Mr. Rosen is survived by his brother, Nathan Rosen; sister-in-law, Iris Rosen; nieces and nephews, Karyn and Barry Shatzman, Mark and Ann Rosen, David and Miriam Rosen, Linda and Jim Hill, Alan Schwartzberg, Peter and Michelle Rosen, Michelle and Henry Scharg, Keith and Erin Rosen; many dear great-nieces and great-nephews; a loving extended family at the

Katzman House, especially Lisa Green.

He was the loving son of the late Celia and the late Kopel Rosen; dear brother and brother-in-law of the late Leo Rosen, the late Mary and the late Zenek Schwartzberg, the late Irene Rosen.

Contributions may be made to JARC, the Katzman House, 6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 100, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301. A graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park.

Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

HAROLD SCHREIBER, 75, of Franklin, died Oct. 18, 2020.

He is survived by his wife of 46 years, Dr. Susan Harold; his children, Reese Schreiber and Alison Tracy, and Nicole Schreiber; brother and sisterin-law, Kenneth and Judith Schreiber.

Mr. Schreiber was the devoted son of the late Joel and the late Helen Schreiber; the dear son-in-law of the late Martin and the late Anita Harold.

Contributions may be made to a charity of one’s choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

ALICE SHCOLNEK, 100, of West Bloomfield, died Oct. 20, 2020.

She is survived by her son, Richard Shcolnek; daughter and sonin-law, Laurie and Dr. Jerome Rosenthal; grandchildren, Eryn Rosenthal, and Dr. Julie Rosenthal and John Stanczak;

brother, Martin Figlen. She is also survived by her devoted caregivers, Josephine and Lola, and the caring staff at Fleischman.

Mrs. Shcolnek was the beloved wife of the late Saul Shcolnek; the devoted daughter of the late Louis and the late Sarah Figlen; and the dear sister-in-law of the late Anita Figlen.

Interment was at Clover Hill Park Cemetery. Contributions may be made to American Heart Association, 27777 Franklin Road, Suite 1150, Southfield, MI 48034, heart. org.en/affiliates/michigan/ detroit; Jewish Senior Life, Attn: Jo Rosen, 6710 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, jslmi.org;or Friendship

Circle, 6892 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322, friendshipcircle.org/donate.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

MOLLIE SINKOFF, 93, of West Bloomfield, died Oct. 15, 2020.

She was born April 26,1927, in Detroit, the child of Polish refugees.

She attended Central High School and earned a teaching degree from Wayne State University. In 1950, Mollie married Aaron Sinkoff.

Dedicated to her family, she was also active with the Jewish Community Center and senior activities.

Mrs. Sinkoff is survived by her sons and daughter-in-law, Brandy Sinco of Ann Arbor, Gordon and Elizabeth Sinkoff of Solana Beach, Calif., Barry Sinkoff of North Las Vegas, Nev.; grandchildren, Jason Sinkoff, Adam and Natalie Sinkoff; brother and sister-inlaw, Harvey and Phen Price.

She was the beloved wife of the late Aaron Sinkoff; loving sister of the late Norman Price.

Contributions may be made to Sholem Aleichem Institute, secularsaimichigan. org; or Jewish Community Center, 6600 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 48322.

A graveside service was held at Hebrew Memorial Park.

Arrangements by Hebrew Memorial Chapel.

WILLIAM ZUCKER, 95, of Novi, died Oct. 22, 2020.

He was a proud WWII Navy combat veteran.

Mr. Zucker is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Leonard and Nancy Zucker; daughters and sons-in-law, Karen and Craig Casman, and Debbie and Robb Lippitt; grandchildren, Noah, Eli and Ari Zucker, Sarah and Seth Strasberger, Ryan Casman, Molly Lippitt and Eryn Lippitt; sisters-in-law and brotherin-law, Mitzie Zucker, Lenore Klein, and Sonia and Stewart Aron; many loving nieces and nephews. continued on page 44

WE ARE THE COMMUNITY FUNERAL HOME Death is not a business – It is a time for understanding your needs

ENTERING OUR SECOND CENTURY OF CARING AND RESPECTFUL SERVICE HebrewMemorial.org | 248.543.1622 | 800.736.5033 | 26640 Greenfield Rd, Oak Park, MI 48237

OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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SOUL

KRISTALLNACHT MEMORIAL

OF BLESSED MEMORY continued from page 43

Mr. Zucker was the beloved husband for 58 years of the late Geraldine Zucker; the

OBITUARY CHARGES The processing fee for obituaries is: $125 for up to 100 words; $1 per word thereafter. A photo counts as 15 words. There is no charge for a Holocaust survivor icon.

The JN reserves the right to edit wording to conform to its style considerations. For information, have your funeral director call the JN or you may call Sy Manello, editorial assistant, at (248) 351-5147 or email him at smanello@ renmedia.us.

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loving brother of the late Lou (the late Diane and the late Marilyn) Zucker, the late Harry and the late Leah Zucker, the late Morrie Zucker, and the late Sylvia and the late David Cooperman; the dear brother-in-law of the late Donald Klein and the late James Sniderman.

Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park. Contributions may be made to Jewish Family Service, 6555 W. Maple Road, West Bloomfield, MI 487322, jfsdetroit.org; or Gleaners Community Food Bank, Oakland Distribution Center, P.O. Box 33321, Detroit, MI 48232-5321, gcfb.org.

Arrangements by Ira Kaufman Chapel.

On Nov. 9, 1938, a two-day pogrom began during which the Nazis burned more than 1,400 synagogues and Jewish institutions in Germany and Austria on Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass), a critical moment in the chain of events that led to the Holocaust.

On Nov. 9, 2020, March of the Living will mark Kristallnacht with a message of unity and hope, through a unique international campaign. Titled “Let There Be Light,” March of the Living invites individuals, institutions and houses of worship across the world to keep their lights on during the night of Nov. 9, as a symbol of solidarity and mutual commitment in the shared battle against antisemitism, racism, hatred and intolerance.

People from all over the world will be able to add their voice to the campaign. Individuals of all religions and backgrounds are invited to write personal messages of hope in their own words at the campaign website, motl.org/let-there-be-light.

The main synagogue in Frankfurt (one of the few not destroyed on Kristallnacht) will be illuminated as well as other places of religious and spiritual significance across the world.

Personal messages and prayers from the virtual campaign will be projected on the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem.

RASKIN

A Tribute to Berman’s Chop House

T

he walls were paneled in heavy wood … The chairs and bar stools comfortable … the steaks and chops generous.

The crowds of people who came to Berman’s Chop House were bigtime athletes, newspaper men and women, visDanny Raskin iting celebrities Senior Columnist and many salesmen … A sort of New York’s Toots Shor’s.

Through the years, Berman’s had built a national reputation on steaks and chops, which were about 85 percent of the business.

At one time, it had two coolers filled with about 10,000 pounds of aging U.S. prime beef … Its strip sirloins and tenderloins were cut after 14 to 18 days.

Berman’s steaks came in six convenient sizes … A large sirloin and a big tenderloin, a

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bigger sirloin and tenderloin, a club steak and a ground sirloin steak.

Its lamb chops averaged three ribs each and were almost as thick … It also featured thick cuts of roast prime ribs, trout, whitefish and frog legs … The cottage-fried potatoes were particularly good.

The kitchen at Berman’s was another point of interest … During the dinner hour, there were at least seven men in the tiny open kitchen …

It was a lesson in efficiency to watch them work … They hardly had room to turn around, but they got everything done.

Plus the food … especially the steaks … a sort of floor show went on … Folks laughed at the fellow chopping cottage fries from an above site … as a cigarette dangled from his mouth with the long ash never falling on the dishes.

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When Harry Berman originally owned it, the consideration was only that his restaurant was just another good steak house … But after being bought by Ben Kasle, whose family owned Kasle Steel, those words were changed considerably … Legend has it that Ben discovered the corners of the steaks were being cut and tossed away … He is said to have immediately brought in a large cutter/chopper and began saving those corners … which caused a dining sensation when placed on the menu as Chopped Sirloins … coupled with an ultra-array of very thin cottage-fried potatoes … Talk was of changing the name from Berman’s to Benny’s, but that was short-lived and Berman’s stayed in all its glory …

Between its wonderful steaks, lamb chops, chopped sirloins and fantastic cottage fries, among a luscious array of food, it became a big favorite.

There never again was

another Berman’s.

DID YOU KNOW DEPT. … That there still is a Ginopolis’ Bar-BQ even though the one on 12 Mile in Farmington Hills is closed? …It was opened by one of the two brothers … Peter is serving them at his Ginopolis’ in nearby Brighton.

OLDIE BUT GOODIES SHORTIES … Patient: “I have a ringing in my ears” …

Doctor, “Don’t answer!” … Q: Why don’t some Jewish mothers drink? … A: Alcohol interferes with their suffering.

CONGRATS …… To Amy Wechsler on her birthday … To Jeanette Olson on her birthday … To Melissa Litvin on her birthday … To Jerry Olson on his 85th birthday … To Herb and Audrey Saperstein on their 64th anniversary.

Danny’s email address is dannyraskin2132@gmail.com.

@] pfl Xi\ efk n\Xi`e^ `k¿ j\cc `k %%% fi 9FIIFN fe `k Pfl can’t enjoy jewelry if it’s sitting in your safe

deposit box. Sell or borrow on it for immediate cash.

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248-644-8565

OCTOBER 29 • 2020

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Looking Back From the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History accessible at www.djnfoundation.org

A Tribute to the Peace Corps

O

ne of the most successful service programs in American history debuted 60 years ago on Oct. 14, 1960. Sen. John F. Kennedy, candidate for president of the United States, stood on the steps of the Michigan Union on the campus of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and spoke to a crowd of 10,000 college students.

He asked: “How many of you who are going to be doctors are willing to spend your days in Ghana? … On your willMike Smith ingness to contribute part of Alene and Graham Landau your life to this country [the Archivist Chair U.S.], I think, the answer will depend whether a free society can compete.”

Kennedy’s impromptu speech is considered the birth of the Peace Corps. As president, he signed an executive order on March 19, 1961, that created this agency; Congress passed the Peace Corps Act in September.

Author Jeff Greenfield observed that this also marked an era when public service became an exciting option for young people, a signature accomplishment of President Kennedy.

Volunteers for the Peace Corps are American citizens. After training, they work overseas for two years, teaching about and developing projects for community health and education, business, information technology, agriculture and other areas. More than 200,000 Americans have served in 141 countries since 1961.

There are 429 pages in the William Davidson Digital Archive of Jewish Detroit History that mention the Peace Corps. They provide great insight into the long relationship between the Peace Corps and Detroit’s Jewish community. Philip Slomovitz endorsed the Peace Corps in the March 10, 1961, issue of the JN, also noting that it would benefit Israel and Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. BBYO was an early sup-

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OCTOBER 29 • 2020

porter of the Peace Corps, and the national Hillel organization agreed that its 217 university chapters would operate as information centers for the Peace Corps.

The Peace Corps also inspired the creation of many related service programs.

Domestic organizations included “Teach for America” and “AmeriCorps VISTA” (Volunteers in Service to America). It also o inspired Jewish-centric programs such as the “Jewish Volunteer Corps” of the American Jewish World Service in 1993 and “Project Otzma,” a joint project with ORT in 1985.

The JN is full of stories and notes aboutt the impressive number of young Jewish men and women from Detroit and Michigan igan who served in the Peace Corps. For exammple, see the story about Eeta Freeman, onee of the Peace Corps’ first volunteers, upon her er return home from Pakistan (July 31, 1964).

4).

The husband and wife team, Norman D. and Gloria (Burns) Levin, joined and went to Korea (Oct. 10, 1968). Or, see the stories about Rebecca Riseman (Aug. 9, 1991); Meredith Perish (Sept. 6, 1996); Lauren Fink (June 24, 2010): Sara Goodman (July 19, 2012; and a front page and feature story with Perry Teicher, Nov. 11, 2010).

I could list dozens of additional names of Peace Corps volunteers that I found in the JN. And, with great pride, I cannot nnot resist tell telling you that my niece, Kimmie, e, was a Peace Corps volunteer in Belize.

The volunteers who served in the Peace Corps deserve ourr respect. They should be celebrated for their contributions to o our nation and their willingness ss to work in very tough environments to help those in need.

Want to learn more? Go to the DJN Foundation archives, available for free ee at www.djnfoundation.org.

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RELATIONSHIPS FORGED IN OUR COMMUNITY I am a fierce ally of the Jewish community and am honored to have the endorsement of the Jewish Democratic Caucus. I was raised as a Unitarian Universalist, where we believe in the free and responsible search for truth and meaning. Through this, I’ve built many interfaith relationships and coalitions.

Throughout my life — as a nurse, as a mother, as a community member — I’ve demonstrated a history of values that align with many Jewish voters in this district, particularly concerning public health and education.

I hope to earn your vote on Tuesday, November 3rd.

LEARN MORE WWW.JULIAPULVER.COM \

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PROUDLY ENDORSED

JULIA

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FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE

VOTE AT HOME OR AT THE POLLS

BY NOVEMBER 3RD PAID FOR BY JULIA PULVER FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE / 6710 BUCKLAND AVENUE / WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI 48324