Judith Cantor
Interviewed by Sharon Alterman
September 23, 2004
Max M. Fisher Federation Building
Judith Cantor
Video 01:24:28
Judith Cantor
Audio 01:24:28
Abstract
The interview begins with a history of Judith Cantor’s family, starting with the Keiden family on her maternal side and her father’s father, Rabbi Judah Levin. She speaks about Rabbi Levin coming to Detroit, leading a march to help fund a Jewish hospital and convening the first meeting of American Orthodox rabbis.
She also talks about other members of her family. Cantor reflects on growing up in Detroit, her schooling, and memories of Congregation Shaarey Zedek.
Cantor speaks about moving to Washington for a time to work as a teacher and meeting her husband, Bernard “Bernie” Cantor. They, along with their five children, eventually moved back to Detroit. Cantor started a business selling a planning book called The Coordinator. She also created a family tree chart.
Cantor speaks about her children and then how she became an archivist, author, lecturer and exhibit curator.
History of Narrator
Judith Levin Cantor was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1928. She is a historian, author, archivist and exhibit curator dedicated to promoting Michigan’s history and to furthering awareness of the state’s significant Jewish heritage. She wrote a “Letter from the Jewish Community” which was included in the Detroit 300 Tricentennial Time Capsule in 2001 and the 2009 “Michigan Jewry” entry in the Encyclopedia Judaica. She is the author of Jews in Michigan.
Cantor was a driving force in the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan where she served as the organization’s president, journal editor, and endowment chair. She also served on the boards of Preservation Wayne, the Historical Society of Michigan, and the Michigan Women’s Historical Center and Hall of Fame (MWHOF), as well as a committee for the Detroit Historical Society.
Cantor served as the archivist of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield. She created several exhibits on Jewish history, including Becoming American Women in Michigan: The Jewish Immigrant Experience, and was instrumental in bringing the exhibit From Haven to Home: 350 Years of Jewish Life in America to the Detroit Historical Museum in 2009.
Transcript
Important Subjects
Important Names
Credit as: Leonard N. Simons Jewish Community Archives. Judith Cantor Oral History Interview, September 23, 2004.