do we have? I didn't become
Conservative to build up Or-
thodox and Reform."
t Beth Achim, Rabbi
Martin Berman is
facing a more im-
mediate issue — sur-
vival.
The congregation has
dropped from 600 families to
470 in the last four years.
Merger discussions with
B'nai Moshe, B'nai David,
Shaarey Zedek and others
have led to two votes by the
congregation in the last two
years to go it alone, in
Southfield.
"Now," the rabbi says,
"the people within the con-
gregation who. wanted to
merge see the desire of the
members to remain in-
dependent and have worked
to make the synagogue
better. And the people who
felt the synagogue should
stay here have had to take
on responsibilities."
Beth Achim is trying to
lure young families with its
youth programming, in-
cluding Cub Scout and Boy
Scout troops, and educa-
tional dinners and programs
with J.E.F.F. (Jewish Expe-
riences For Families). It has
changed its ritual practice to
allow bat mitzvahs to chant
the haftorah.
"We want to be open and
accepting," Rabbi Berman
says, "but there have to be
certain boundaries between
someone who is Jewish and
someone who is not Jewish.
With the number of inter-
marriages, we must try to
reach out and make those
barriers as minimal as
possible.
"We're also an older con-
gregation, which is why our
efforts are toward kids and
families. With so many
families today involving
single parents and divorces,
we have to reach out to peo-
ple who haven't felt comfor-
table in a traditional syn-
agogue structure."
The rabbi agrees the Con-
servative movement has lost
members to Reform and Or-
A
"We have to stretch, but how
much stretch do we have?"
Rabbi Nelson
thodoxy. Reform's approach
to intermarriage and the
predominance of English in
religious services has at-
tracted some. At the same
time, he says, Reform is
readopting traditional forms
such as kippot and increased
Hebrew in the service.
Orthodoxy, lie believes,
sells itself to the Jewish
community as the only
authentic faction, "and some
who want to become more
traditional see this as the
only way. So we've suffered
some erosion on the edges."
Rabbi Berman feels
smaller synagogues give
their members and clergy
greater intimacy, while
larger congregations offer
more programming. But, he
warns, it is becoming finan-
cially more difficult for con-
gregations of even 500
members to afford rabbis,
cantors, office support, social
and educational facilities.
"The non-member com-
munity turns to synagogues
when they need them —for
rites of passage, community
stability, education. If they
don't start supporting the
synagogues, they'll discover
they are not there when they
need them."
Last year, he says, a
woman called him to com-
plain when Beth Achim was
considering merger and
leaving Southfield. "But she
was not a Beth Achim mem-
ber, nor even a member of
another synagogue," he
says.
haarey Zedek has a
reputation of being
wealthy. It has a num-
ber of high-profile
members who helped
retire the synagogue's mort-
gage a few years ago. It will
dedicate its new $3.5 million
family education center in
West Bloomfield in August.
It has an $8.2 million en-
dowmentfund. And it has a
budget deficit.
For synagogue member
and executive director
Leonard Baruch, juggling
these realities, and public
perceptions, is an endless
task.
Like its fellow congrega-
tions that believe they have
been successful, Shaarey
Zedek members point to
quality leadership, pro-
gramming and facilities. It
has a history of hosting and
supporting communal
S
events and its senior rabbi,
Irwin Groner, is national
president of the Rabbinical
Assembly.
The new family center in
West Bloomfield continues a
Shaarey Zedek tradition of
establishing satellite
facilities in the newer Jew-
ish areas while maintaining
the synagogue in an older
community.
With the family center and
Beth Hayeled program in
West Bloomfield, Shaarey
Zedek will continue Beth
Hayeled classes at its
Southfield site, afternoon
Hebrew school classes at
Hillel Day School in Farm-
ington Hills, and all Sunday
classes in Southfield.
It instituted a free-tuition
program for children of
members in kindergarten
through 5th grade, helping
to bring in 91 new syn-
agogue members in the last
year. Mr. Baruch sees the
family center as a place to
relieve tired parents, in a
Jewish environment.
"Years ago when you had
a problem, you could go see
the rabbi," Mr. Baruch says.
"Jewish people got away
from that. We're trying to
refocus the synagogue as the
place to go for help."
Shaarey Zedek's large size
allows its members
unlimited. choices, Mr.
Baruch says. "If you don't do
anything creative, you won't
touch people.' If we answer
people's needs, they'll be
here."
The synagogue has a
reputation of wealth, but
Mr. Baruch dismisses it.
"I have members walking
in here or calling with very
difficult problems — I can't
tell them that I have my
own." To help, he serves as a
go-between, keeping donors
and needy members' iden-
tities secret.
"I think we are very com-
munity-oriented here. We
have to be. There is an
equality at Shaarey Zedek.
The inequality is in the
minds of people outside the
structure. There's no re-
served seats here."
Despite an $8.2 million
endowment fund which con-
tributed $600,000 to this
year's synagogue budget,
Mr. Baruch is juggling fi-
nancial figures.
"It is going to be increas-
ingly difficult to have high
levels of programming as
costs escalate," he says.
"Our stability is in our en-
dowment fund," which has
accrued 165 pledges totall-
ing $10 million since 1979.
Despite this support, Mr.
Baruch expects that he will
have to borrow from the
bank to cover this year's
deficit.
'nai Moshe is taking
the opposite ap-
proach to Shaarey
Zedek, believing that
smaller will be beau-
tiful. While its former
building in Oak Park had
more than 800 seats in the
sanctuary, the new B'nai
Moshe will have 550 perma-
nent seats, with none more
than 11 rows from the
bimah.
The congregation, before
and during the transition of
B