DETROIT

Several Rabbis To Particpate
In Detroit Area Pulpit Exchange

AMY J. MEHLER

Staff Writer

hen members of
Congregation Shir
Tikvah of Troy look
to the pulpit next month,
they won't see the familiar
face of Rabbi Arnold
Sleutelberg.
But congregants at the
Plymouth United Church of
Christ will.
Rabbi Sleutelberg, a
Reform rabbi, is exchanging
pulpits on Sunday, Oct. 13,
with Rev. Nicholas Hood III,
pastor of the Plymouth
Church in Detroit. Friday,
Oct. 18, Rev. Hood will trade
places with Rabbi
Sleutelberg.
"We're reaching out to the
wider religious community,"
said Rabbi Sleutelberg.
"This is an important ele-
ment of being Jewish. We've
recently seen in Crown
Heights the consequences of
not reaching out."
Other exchanges next
month are slated between
the rabbis of Congregation
Beth Shalom and Temple
Emanu-El in Oak Park with
the pastors of Westminister
Presbyterian Church of
Detroit and Bethel AME
Church.

W

Ben Wold and Linda Rains compare their Chai Run loot.

An Athletic Mixture
At Chai Fun Run

NOAM M.M. NEUSNER

Staff Writer

t was a seasonable day for
spectating, but pity the
350 or so runners and
walkers in the Jewish Com-
munity Center's 14th an-
nual Chai fun run. Runners
young and old participated
in the sometimes grueling
run s, which varied in
distance from one to 18
miles. The course for the
runs wound around the dus-
ty hills near the JCC.
Some chose to cross-train
by starting the day in the
JCC pool for the Chai swim,
and then participating in the
run.
Others chose a less
strenuous route — walking.
"I figured I'd walk
someplace today," said
George Schoen of Plymouth.
"Why not here?"
Mark Tate of Southfield
crossed the finish line first
in the three mile run, about
eight minutes ahead of his
closest competitor. While the
Chai Run admires strong
finishes, it does not offer
prizes to winners.

i

'

A father-daughter-son team
finished together, fulfilling
some family expectations. Ed-
win Malkin, with children
Carrie and Ryan, crossed the
finish line, a goal which
father and son had trained
for.
Meanwhile, about 80
runners participated in the
18-mile run, which for many
is a warm-up race for the fall
marathon season. ❑

Beth Shalom Closes
WB Hebrew School

KIMBERLY LIFTON

Staff Writer

C

Center Hosts
Lecture Series

The Center for Peace and
Conflict Studies will host a
lecture in the series Great
Decisions '91, "The New
Europe: What Role for the
U.S.?" 7:15-8:45 p.m. Oct. 7 at
the Southfield Public Library.
There is a charge. The lec-
turer will be Maurice Waters,
department of political
science, Wayne State
University.
For information, call
577-3453; or 577-3468.

14

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 1991

Participating clergy are
part of an inter-faith city
and suburban pulpit
exchange program spon-
sored through City For
Youth, a partnership to de-
velop and support inner-city
youth programs. Pulpit
exchanges, the weekends of
Oct. 18-20 and Oct. 25-27,
involve Christian, Jewish
and Moslem clergy.
City For Youth, a coalition
of WTVS-Channel 56 and
youth, religious and educa-
tional agencies, is a month-
long commitment to profil-
ing at risk youth, youth pro-
grams that work, mentoring
opportunities and race rela-
tions.
WTVS will produce and air
a series of four, 90-minute
televised forums with mem-
bers of the community to
discuss the roles that spiri-
tual, business and educa-
tional leaders • can play. In
addition, 100 view-and-talk
sites, one of which is to be
Temple Beth El, will be
organized throughout
Detroit. People can go and
discuss the issues raised in
the televised program spe-
cials, as well as discuss the
needs of young people in
their own neighborhoods.
"We Jews and blacks

Janet Kilmer finishes the 12 mile
run.

ongregation Beth
Shalom has closed its
afternoon Hebrew
school in West Bloomfield,
four years after launching
the pilot program.
"We have reached a con-
sensus that the West Bloom-
field program is not viable at
this time," said Beth Shalom
President Gloria Ellis.
"That does not mean we will
not have the program in the
future."
Fewer than 20 pupils per
year have enrolled in the
West Bloomfield section.
Last year, 15 students
enrolled, Mrs. Ellis said.
Total enrollment last year
for the Beth Shalom Hebrew
school, for the main Oak
Park section and the West
Bloomfield branch at Doher-
ty School, was 174.
Mrs. Ellis said some of the
West Bloomfield students
transferred to the Oak Park

branch, but she did not know
how many. Attempts to
reach officials from the
school branch were unsuc-
cessful.
The congregation opted to
open a West Bloomfield
branch after several mem-
bers created a fund to test
the feasibility of the area.
For the first three years,
classes were held at the
Maple-Drake Jewish Com-
munity Center.
Beth Shalom has done
some demographic studies,
showing that half of its
membership resides in Oak
Park, Huntington Woods
and the southern part of
Southfield, Mrs. Ellis said.
The other half of its mem-
bers live in Farmington
Hills, West Bloomfield and
Bloomfield Hills, she said.
Meanwhile, membership
at the congregation has been
steadily climbing, she said.
Last year, Beth Shalom
gained 40 new families,
boosting its membership to
649 families. ❑

share a common religious
heritage," said Rev. Hood,
pastor of Plymouth Church.
"I would hope that by conti-
nuing exchanges like these,
there will be a greater ap-
preciation of not only diff-
erent religions, but also
racially, between blacks and
Jews."
Rabbi Sleutelberg and
Rev. Hood have been work-
ing together, building
bridges the last two years.
"This is more like a con-
tinuation of the work we've
been doing between our two
congregations," Rabbi
Sleutelberg said.
Collaboration between
Shir Tikvah and Plymouth
Church began a couple of
years ago when a member of
Shir Tikvah was invited to
attend a Christmas Eve ser-
vice.
"Since then, Rev. Hood
and I have met regularly
and our congregations have
celebrated Rev. Martin
Luther King Day together,"
Rabbi Sleutelberg said.
"He's invited us to a seder
and we've invited him to one
of ours."
Rabbi Sleutelberg, beginn-
ing his fourth year at Shir
Tikvah, intends to deliver a
universal message.
"It will be Jewish in
essence and in foundation,
but we will both respect
where we are and before
whom we are speaking," he
said.
Rabbi David Nelson of
Congregation Beth Shalom
has been involved in similar
exchanges for 20 years. His
first pulpit in 1968 was in
Rio de Janeiro where he
spent much time reaching
out to the Jewish and non-
Jewish community.
"In the early days, the
1960s and 1970s, the mes-
sage was usually about what
every Jew should know
about Christianity and vice
versa," Rabbi Nelson said.
"But, I think we have a
higher level of understan-
ding and education today."
According to City For
Youth, Rabbi Nelson is to
switch pulpits with Rev.
William J. Fuerstenau of
Westminister Presbyterian
Church.
"They are an urban con-
gregation and we are a
suburban congregation,"
said Rabbi Nelson, a regular
participant of a round table
discussion group between
Christians, Jews and
Moslems. "What we say to
each other must be a corn-