the last few years, lost mena-
/-bers. From a peak of 750
families in the 1960s, it hit a
low of 300 families last year.
But President Michael
Grand believes the tran-
sition period, and the
absence of a rabbi for the
last 18 months, has made
the congregation stronger:
members stepped forward to
lead services, fund-raise for
the new building and reac-
tivate synagogue affiliates.
The proposed merger with
/ `-Beth Achim, which was
overwhelmingly vetoed by
both congregations, may
have been a blessing in
disguise for B'nai Moshe,
Mr. Grand says.
"We didn't have to give up
anything ritually as far as
the women's issue is con-
-cerned. We didn't have to go
through a period of incor-
porating. Mergers take a ge-
neration, if you look around
this city, before you over-
( come the `we/they' syn-
drome. No matter your in-
\_ tentions, there is tension."
The major positive, Mr.
Grand feels, is that B'nai
1 Moshe "is going to be suc-
cessful" without the merger.
The synagogue's member-

"Our kids can marry Jewish
kids, but is that the extent
of Jewish life?"

Rabbi Schnipper

ship has jumped 10 percent
in the last year (to 340). It is
planning a new educational
concept to begin in the fall —
a Shabbat-plus-one after-
noon Hebrew school and a
kindergarten-through-
second grade Shabbat class.

A DIFFERENT
TRADITION

41 01$1411101. 11/11M1 1
. ,Will,

The school will stress family
attendance at Shabbat ser-
vices and at four or five Sun-
day retreats and workshops
through the year.
With the opening of the
new building in the coming
months and the naming of

Adat Shalom's Elliot
Pachter as B'nai Moshe
rabbi, Mr. Grand believes
B'nai Moshe has turned the
corner.
"We have a service that is
so congregant-participatory
. . . We discussed this with

ongregation B'nai
David is marking
its 100th anniver-
sary with an eye to the
future, not the past.
One of about 50 U.S.
synagogues which
belongs to the Federation
of Traditional Congrega-
tions — religiously bet-
ween Orthodox and Con-
servative —B'nai David
plans to continue its tra-
dition in a new home in
West Bloomfield.
B'nai David has sold its
building on Southfield
Road to the City of
Southfield and has until
March 1994 to move. It

has presented plans for its
proposed structure on
Maple Road to West
Bloomfield Township. The
congregation has main-
tained a Sunday school
class of 10-12 children at
the Maple-Drake Jewish
Community Center. And
it plans to revitalize.
The April 30 - May 3
anniversary events
helped invigorate the
membership, said Alex
Blumenberg, who is com-
pleting three years as
B'nai David president.
Rabbi Morton Yolkut
called the anniversary "a
springboard to another

C

Rabbi Pachter and we will
continue to nurture that as
we grow. I don't kid myself,
however. As we get bigger, it
will become harder.
"But I think there is a
place in the community for a
synagogue that emphasizes
the lay-rabbinic partnership.
The school concept follows
that idea (of family in-
volvement). If it is suc-
cessful, it will more than
compensate for cutting a day
off" the recent afternoon
Hebrew school norm of three
days (six hours) a week.
dat Shalom Syna-
gogue had to recover

A

from near bankrupt-
cy after it built its
facilities on Mid-
dlebelt Road. Since that
time, the synagogue has
doubled its membership
during the tenure of Rabbi
Efry Spectre. Three miles
away, Beth Abraham Hillel .
Moses has also had to over-
come adversity — a deva-
stating fire in 1983.
Both synagogues have
been successful, if success is
measured by the number of
members.

chapter."
Mr. Blumenberg and
Rabbi Yolkut said B'nai
David will need 400
families to support its
proposed West Bloomfield
facility. The congregation
now has 350 families,
down from 15-20 years
ago when it had 600 chil-
dren in its own Hebrew
school and was the largest
member of the Union of
Orthodox Jewish Con-
gregations of America.
It parted with the OU
approximately 10 years
ago because the national
organization wanted all

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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