Rabbi Spectre points to programming and education as the denominator for Adat Shalom. Its United Hebrew Schools branch is the largest in the_ system with nearly 600 students, and its nurs- ery school has been a magnet for young Jewish families seeking synagogue affiliation. The rabbi admits that "location has not hurt us, but some people go great distances — passing other synagogues — to bring their children here . . . We have some three-times-per-year Jews, too, but not too many." Asked about low atten- dance at the UHS branch, Rabbi Spectre says his syn- agogue works with the school to develop standards "Sometimes people have problems with carpools, sometimes people think they have muscle and believe the standards don't apply to them. But there are none `more equal than others' at Adat Shalom and, if anything, people see that it works here." At Beth Abraham Hillel Moses, Rabbi A. Irving Schnipper has seen a steady membership between 650- 700 families. Things might have been different, he be- lieves, if the synagogue — the first to move to West Bloomfield — had had strong youth and school programs from the beginning. Rabbi Schnipper believes his young members are dedicated to the synagogue. On the more traditional scale, he has not had much pressure for a larger role for women. But he is concerned about the future of Conser- vative Jewry because of a change in commitment by its members. "The amount of ritual observance is a far cry from what it was when all these institutions were estab- lished," he says. "We don't have the same fervor of observance." He remembers as a youth when adults worked six days . 28 FRIDAY, MAY 8, 1992 SYNAGOGUE MEMBERSHIP 1992 1988 ORTHODOX a week and spent the Sabbath in the synagogue. "We didn't have people com- plaining then about the length of the service or 'How do we shorten it?' "It's convenience, not commitment. With inter- marriage being what it is, the non-Jewish mate will be as Jewish as the Jewish mate, and that's not too Jew- ish." The Conservative move- ment allowed people to drive to the synagogue on Shabbat and go home and put the car away. "But what has happened?" he asks. "They drive and do other things. "There's no ruach, no spirit of Shabbat. How many even observe the Shabbat? How do you get the spirit of a Shabbat or yom toy if you're doing all the mundane things you do on regular days? "In the home, is there a Jewish spirit? I don't get that sense. "I'm very, very pessimistic when it comes to obser- vance," he says. "People are not committed to the ideol- ogy of Conservative Judaism. It is one thing to modify and another thing to abrogate." For all these reasons, Rabbi Schnipper is pes- simistic about the future of the Conservative movement. "If this is all just from the heart, and no observance is needed, then what do we need a shul for?" he asks. "Is it the edifice that makes us religious?" "If we don't educate ourselves to a certain level, we beCome religious secularists. Our kids can marry Jewish kids, but is that the extent of Jewish life? We can be biological Jews, lacking the theology that goes along with it." Rabbi Schnipper believes that changing ritual for the sake of gaining adherents "is just a numbers game. If people come regularly to they share the shul, camaraderie, the intimacy, the religiosity of being Jew- ish." Rabbi Spectre is not as pessimistic as his colleague, and takes a wait-and-see ap- proach. He says, "I was a rabbi for four or five years when the hippie generation came along. Now there is another change: Jewish con- sciousness, militant Or- thodoxy, chavurot. We too are looking and evolving." He says there is better at- tendance at Adat Shalom's college campus programs, at adult education classes, in Israel programs. "We're raising a more- informed laity, a very good group who will lead. There's a great unwashed mass out there, too, who will be at- tracted by what we have to offer." ❑ Bais Chabad of Birmingham / Bloomfield Hills Bais Chabad of Farmington Hills Bais Chabad of N. Oak Park — F.R.E.E. Bais Chabad of West Bloomfield Bais Moshe Downtown Synagogue Huntington Woods Minyan Young Israel of Greenfield Young Israel of Oak Woods 6 35 na 80 na 85 na 30 12 135 150 107 100 350 400 1208 1150 680 72 480 648 75 340 450 1900 650 70 600 600 na 400 500 1800 125 1351 29 700 2400 455 590 172 1650 na 700 2000 350 327 115 TRADITIONAL Binai David CONSERVATIVE Adat Shalom Beth Abraham Hillel Moses Beit. Kodesh Beth Achim Beth Shalom Beth Tephilath Moses B'nai Moshe Downtown Synagogue Shaarey Zedek (including B'nai Israel) REFORM Beth El Beth Isaac Emanu-El Temple Israel Kol Ami Shir Shalom Shir Tikvah HUMANISTIC Birmingham Temple 425 RECONSTRUCTIONIST T'Chiyah 51 SEPHARDIC Sephardic Community of Greater Detroit 83 na Orthodox congregations not listed did not respond to The Jewish News survey. na = not available = not in existence