Anchored For Now
Sephardim find a temporary home at Congregation Beth Achim.
It
RUTH LITTNIANN STAFF WRITER
Sasson Natan and Shirley Behar of the Sephardic Community.
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14
fter 75 years of home-
lessness, the Sephardic
Community of Greater
Detroit continues its
hunt for a place to call its own,
but members may have found
a stable, yet temporary, home
at Congregation Beth Achim.
"Up until now, we were like
wandering Jews," said Sasson
Natan, who serves as the
Sephardic Community's first
paid chazzan and spiritual
leader.
"I want people to know that
this is our place right now. The
next step will be to have our
own synagogue," he said.
Sephardim are Jews whose
ancestors were forced out of
Spain and Portugal at the end
of the 15th century. These ex-
iled Jews relocated to places like
North Africa, Greece, Turkey,
South America and Israel.
Locally, Sephardim hope to
carve out a niche for themselves
by signing a month-to-month
lease that would allow them to
use a chapel, hallway and class-
room at Beth Achim, the Con-
servative synagogue on 12 Mile
Road.
Previously, the Sephardic
Community has rented rooms
in the Oak Park Jewish Com-
munity Center and other Jew-
ish facilities. Members are
weary of schedule conflicts.
They say they desperately want
a place to call their own.
For now, Beth Achim's
Southfield location is ideal, Mr.
Natan said. Local Sephardim
live in West Bloomfield, Farm-
ington, Oak Park and other sur-
rounding suburbs. Beth Achim,
though not within walking dis-
tance for some Sephardi Or-
thodox congregants, is at least
central.
The chapel affords congre-
gants with environs conducive
to prayer. A carved wooden arc
and
eter-
nal light
bedeck the
bimah .
Stained
glass win-
dows allow some light to
shine in.
"When you come into shul,
you don't want to sit in a class-
room," said Mr. Natan, refer-
ring to previous prayer sites.
"It's beautiful at Beth Achim.
The minute you enter, you feel
like you're in a synagogue."
Aura is especially important
to the Sephardic Community
these days. The congregation is
trying to build its membership
by creating a sense of commu-
nity, Sephardic style. Mr. Natan
holds Torah classes before Sun-
day morning services. He also
teaches members traditional
Sephardic songs and prayers.
During services, which are
held Saturday and Sunday
mornings, he encourages con-
gregants to participate. The
chanting bounces from man to
man, each wearing tefillin, each
draped in a tallit. A mechitzah ,
made of white gauze, separates
the men from the women.
Mr. Natan predicts his con-
gregation will stay at Beth
Achim for a year, during which
he hopes to recruit between 25
and 50 devoted families. He be-
lieves many local Sephardim
have lost their culture and have
assimilated with other denom-
inations. 'We're trying to bring
them back, through song,
through services, through the
parties. Whatever it takes. We
want tokeep the tradition alive,"
he said.
In the upcoming 18 months,
the Sephardic Community will
continue its search for a plot of
land on which to build a syna-
gogue. Members have targeted
locations in Farmington and
"We want to keep
the tradition alive."
— Sasson Natan
West Bloomfield. But some say
their hearts are set on a half-
acre of land on Lahser Road, be-
tween 11 and 12 Mile roads.
The location, next door to
Young Israel of Southfield, is up
for sale. Members of the
Sephardic Community say their
congregation's bank account is
big enough to pay for it..But le-
gal procedings have hampered
them from securing a purchase
agreement.
"We will definitely have our
own synagogue in about two
years," Mr. Natan said. "Right
now, the main question is
where to put it." 11]