News 5 anchor:
Jennifer Levine.

Living outside the
metropolitan Detroit area
has its ups and downs.

JENNIFER FINER STAFF WRITER

Out Of The Lot)

Jason Goldsmith grew up in Grand Rapids with his parents Stephanie and Larry Goldsmith.

Cr)

LLJ

CC

LJJ

CI]

LL,

80

ason Goldsmith, a
Grand Rapids resi-
dent since the age of
5, always was intro-
duced as "Jason, my
Jewish friend."
"Growing up Jew-
ish here (in Grand Rapids) real-
ly sets you apart," said Mr.
Goldsmith, who graduated this
year from the University of
Michigan. "It becomes your iden-
tity. ,
It also becomes a source of con-
versation with other Jews, espe-
cially those who live in the
Detroit area.
"The standard comment I get is:
`I didn't know there was a Jewish
population in Grand Rapids.' "
There is. Seventeen hundred
Jewish residents call the western
part of the state home. But few,
like Mr. Goldsmith, are young
and single, a scenario duplicated
in cities and smaller towns across
the state.
Alicia Erlich, 25, lives and works
in Saginaw. She has been there for
13 months. Every weekend she re-
turns to her parents' Oak Park
home to be with family and friends.

Jennifer Levine, a 26-year-old
television news reporter in Grand
Blanc (just outside Flint), said
she feels like she lives a double
life because she returns home to
West Bloomfield when she has
time off from work.
Ms. Erlich said members of the
Saginaw Jewish community have
invited her to dinner and left av-
enues open for her to get involved.
"I'm an hour-and-a-half away
from where I grew up," Ms. Erlich
said. "I have no desire to join a thin-
ple here when mine is still close. If
my family were not so close, I would
spend more time in Saginaw. Then
I would be forced to take advantage
of what's up here."
Neil Baron, a 29-year-old East
Lansing native, does not under-
stand why everyone makes a big
deal about living outside metro
Detroit. He spent less than a year
in the Detroit suburbs, attended
Indiana University, and prefers
life in East Lansing.
"This is a great place to live
and raise a family," he said. "I ap-
preciate the quality of life here
and I think it will be beneficial
for my family.

"There is a Jewish presence
here. It's not like in the larger
cities, but the Jewish communi-
ty makes its own marks."
Mr. Baron and his wife, Elsy,
who is originally from West
Bloomfield, joined a chavurah to
be around other young Jewish

especially for Jewish singles, the
sheer numbers were not there.
Out of college I was dating Michi-
gan State University students,
and it was not unusual to go to
Detroit for a date."
Unlike Mr. Baron, who grew
up and chose to stay in his home-
town, Mr. Goldsmith will join his
older brother in Los Angeles at
the end of the summer.
"People who live
While the lack of Jewish peers
is not the only reason Mr. Gold-
in the Detroit area smith has taken a job as a per-
sonal trainer in an L.A. club, he
have an avenue
said it was a factor in his decision
to maintain their
to leave Grand Rapids, the sec-
largest city in Michigan. He
Jewish continuity." ond
also said he is looking forward to
living in an area where there is
Jason Goldsmith
an abundance of kosher butchers
and delis. Kosher meat in Grand
Rapids is available only through
couples. In addition to meeting the synagogue or in prepackaged
on a monthly basis, this group of Empire chicken at the grocery
about 20 also has formed a soft- store.
ball team.
While Mr. Baron and Mr.
"If you're young and single, it's Goldsmith grew up in the cities
probably harder to live in Lans- where they now live, Ms. Erlich
ing," said Mr. Baron, who met his and Ms. Levine reside where they
wife through a mutual friend. do for employment purposes only.
"When I was single and looking,
"Saginaw was definitely a ca-

reer move," said Ms. Erlich, who
works as a human resource su-
perviser for Eaton Corp., a large
manufacturing company.
"Living here is a trade-off. I
moved here for my career and it
is a good job, but socially it's not
happening for me. The next time
I move, my social life will be an
important consideration."
Ms. Levine, whose first re-
porting job was in Terre Haute,
Ind., does not know where she
will live next. What she does
know is that the move will be dic-
tated by a suitable job offer.
"Part of me is scared I won't be
surrounded by Jewish people be-
cause I don't know where my
next job will take me," Ms. Levine
said. "I would love to be in the De-
troit area. When I tell people that,
they look at me and cringe."
"People who live in the Detroit
area have an avenue to maintain'
their Jewish continuity that
should not be taken for granted,"
Mr. Goldsmith said. "I'm not say-
ing we are repressed or deprived.
It's just that not every city has
the Jewish community like the
Detroit area." ❑

