ME - - - - - - MI - - - NM NE U OM =I NM MI MI MI • MN MN • =M OM MI NM UM NM I - I= MN ME MI The LOBBYISTS hey were an unlikely group of rebels. In- stead of slicked-back, James Dean-style hair they wore kipot. In place of leather jackets they donned suits. And rather than a pack of cigarettes rolled up in a T-shirt sleeve, they carried plans and reports and schedules in black briefcases. Rabbi E. B. Freed- man, Rabbi Feivel Wagner, formerly of Young Israel of Greenfield, and com- munity activist Max Zentman were rebels with a cause: tackling 1-696. To some, the proposed new highway con- stituted a vital east-west link in suburban Detroit. To these three and other Orthodox Jews, it • meant the disappearance of A small group of Orthodox Jews were rebels with a cause. THE ORTHODOX COALITION WENT TO WORK IN 1 979 . synagogues and temples, construction work disrupting Shabbat, paths used by the elderly replaced with concrete slabs and bulldozers, and hopes where Jews had resided for decades ripped down in a single blast. "Everyone had worked very hard to establish this neighborhood," Rabbi Freedman, then studying at the Kollel, recalls. "I thought of all the institu- tions that would just have to pick up and move, and there was no way the Jewish community could support that." In short, the men concluded the new highway would mean the beginning of the end of the Jewish community that included the Jimmy Prentis Morris Jewish Community Center, numerous synagogues and temples, day schools, kosher butchers, the mikvah, Jewish bookstores and homes for the elderly. They decided to take action. The Orthodox coalition went to work in 1979. Zentman, Rabbis Freedman and Wagner met with an Orthodox Jew who worked at General Motors and had intimate knowledge of federal highway con- struction regulations. The man suggested they make use of a law requiring an environmen- tal impact study of how a new highway will af- ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM Features Editor SUSAN WEISS, 38, Southfield, speech and language teacher: "We moved from 10 Mile and Greenfield to 111/2 and Lahser seven yedrs ago because- we knew the property values would go down" 1969 28 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1989 m m -- ""IRASTr k- WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY? Jewish community, though they doubted any would attend, Rabbi Freedman says. "So there we were at Young Israel of Greenfield, about to hold this meeting," he says. "And all these politicians — both local and from Farmington — start arriving. We see one come in his black limousine and then another and they just keep coming. "That's what tipped us off that they were listening to us. When we saw them coming to the meeting, that's when we really went to bat." At the meeting, the coalition leadership pro- duced - maps and drawings and discussed at length "why it was essential to the de- velopment of Jewish life in. Detroit to keep this neighborhood stabilized," Rabbi Freedman says. Later, they would take highway represen- tatives to areas that would be affected by 1-696. Rabbi Freedman remembers showing Michigan State University sociologist Dr. Harry Perlstadt, whom the State Highway Department commissioned to do a study about I-696's impact on the Jewish community, around Oak Park one Shabbat. "I had him walking to every kiddush, to every simchah, to a bris, to every youth group activity that day. I wanted him to see exactly what walking an extra four blocks (because of highway construction and re-routing) just for one event would mean." But Rabbi Friedman believes the officials' interest was ultimately due to the fact that "we had a heck of a potential lawsuit. The bottom line is that we were serious and we showed every intention of taking this all the way to the end." In 1980, Perlstadt completed his report. The 32-page document marked the first time the state acknowledged the probable effects of I- 696 on the Jewish community. This report would later serve as the basis for the provi- Congress enacted the National Environmental Protection Act, setting stiff requirements for highway development. First man walks on the moon m fect sociological and cultural aspects in the area. Knowing a study had not been conducted for 1-696, the men realized they had a hook. Enlisting the support of area synagogues and Jewish groups, the three organized a letter- writing campaign to local, state and federal of- ficials. They cited the necessity of conducting an environmental impact study and made it clear that "you can't ignore us or we'll sue you," according to Rabbi Freedman. They also invited the officials to a meeting to discuss 1-696 and the EN EN mo m= m um mil ow =I 1969 RABBI E. B. FREEDMAN: . "You can't ignore us or we'll sue you," Yom Kippur War. m =I mmo 1973 im m