The new home of B'nai Moshe, on Drake Road in West Bloomfield, is scheduled to open next month.

onservative Judaism
calls itself evolu-
tionary Judaism —
changing within the
confines of Halachah
(Jewish law).
In the Detroit area, the
face of Conservative Jewry
is changing —fighting to re-
tain its base of committed,
observant Jews while battl-
ing the inroads of Reform
and Orthodoxy. The move-
ment here is also fighting
the costs of maintaining
quality educational systems
and large, full-service con-
gregations.
How the congregations ad-
dress these issues may de-

C

termine the movement's
survival in the 21st century.
Congregations B'nai
Moshe and B'nai David have
lost membership in recent
years and have opted to
revitalize themselves in
West Bloomfield. Congrega-
tion Beth Achim has voted to
stay in Southfield, and now
must reinvigorate its pro-
grams and its membership
to succeed.
But location, location,
location is not the ultimate
answer to Conservative
problems, according to some
of the movement's Detroit
area leaders. Congregation
Beth Shalom has gained a
few members since the

departure of B'nai Moshe
from Oak Park, but at-
tributes its health to its pro-
gramming and religious
school. In Farmington Hills
and West Bloomfield,
leaders of Adat Shalom and
Beth Abraham Hillel Moses
point to the same stability
and rationale.
The flagship of the Con-
servative synagogues in
Southfield, Congregation
Shaarey Zedek points to its
1,900 members, its facilities,
its educational and other
programs — and its six-
figure budget deficit.
What do Conservative
families want? Warmth and
meaning, says Rabbi David

Nelson at Beth Shalom.
"People" are looking for
spirituality. The young
families linger here on
Shabbat with self-started
study groups." The rabbi
says the synagogue can be so
crowded, he sometimes finds
unscheduled meetings
taking place in his office,
with young people "spending
time here when they could
be somewhere else."
Rabbi Nelson sees the
Reform and the Orthodox
winning some converts from
Conservative Jewry. "If
someone leaves my United
Synagogue Youth and
becomes traditional, I'll take
the credit," he says, but he

bemoans the loss to his con-
gregation. He sees the
Reform Movement doing a
better job than Conservative
congregations at reaching
out to the family and the
intermarried.
"We're not as welcoming
as we could be. It is the func-
tion of the synagogue to ex-
plore our Jewishness and to
focus on family unity," he
says. He believes his con-
gregation can invite an
intermarried family up to
the bimah during bar mitz-
vah or baby naming and let
the Jewish parent recite the
blessing.
"We have to stretch," he
says, "but how much stretch

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