111111 MI III III 11 ► 11111
Hi... it's just me.
Remember
September 13th?
Not Congregants, -tf
But Where To Put Them
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STEPHEN SAGNER SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
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o one can say why Ann Ar- ilies and shares its building with
bor synagogue member- St. Clares of Assisi Episcopal
ship has grown so rapidly Church in a relationship known
as Genesis.
over the past decade.
A process that began seven
Rabbi Robert Dobrusin of
Beth Israel Congregation says years ago, Beth Emeth's expan-
that while the city always has sion started with "TBE 2000," a
had an active Jewish communi- plan by which temple members
ty, Ann Arbor has increased "the chose to stay with Genesis and
diversity of its programming expand the existing, shared struc-
more than ever" in recent years. ture. By keeping Genesis, the
Alan Cotzin, an administrator temple agreed to continue shar-
at the University of Michigan ing maintenance costs and over-
Hospital and co-chair of Temple head with the church on an equal
Beth Emeth's building commit- basis, while consenting to pay for
tee, believes the expansion of the the expansion in proportion to its
affiliated Jewish population sim- respective size (the temple is
ply reflects the expansion of Ann twice as large as the church).
During a two-year process, mem-
Arbor.
He points out several factors bers of both congregations dis-
for his temple's explosive growth: cussed their differences of vision
the work of the rabbi and the and sought a consensus.
"We never took a vote," Mr.
board; the quality of the religious
and Hebrew schools; the phe- Cotzin says. "We worked through
nomenon of young families, old- the issues that we needed to work
er parents of temple members, through."
N
7 =11111111=1- 11=1
I really shouldn't say
anything, but... it's
THE PARTY!
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7 ___=TRTEEELEall
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Soon, I promise.
WI
It'll
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011
DETROIT CHAPTER
AMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETY - ISRAEL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
29645 W FOURTEEN MILE ROAD • FARMINGTON HILLS. MI • 810 737-1990
JAMES A. SAFFIRH, President
LAWRENCE R. BERRY, Chairman of the Board
ISAAC LIMIT?, Executiue Director
w
LU
H-
CC
UJ
LU
14
A new look to Temple Beth Emeth.
and retirees simultaneously re-
locating to Ann Arbor; and the
fact that longtime Ann Arbor res-
idents have finally joined after
years without Jewish affiliation.
Temple Beth Emeth Director
of Education Sandra F. Raben
sees "more Jewish affiliation in
Ann Arbor than there was five
years ago."
Whatever the reasons, the
numbers speak for themselves.
In 15 years, Beth Israel has
grown 50 percent; in a decade,
Beth Emeth has expanded 110
percent.
Both congregations are in the
midst of building programs to
meet their future needs and keep
up with this increase in Ann Ar-
bor synagogue membership.
Beth Emeth is engaged in the
larger, more ambitious of the two
projects. Founded in 1966, the
temple now has almost 425 fam-
The result was a plan endorsed
by both congregants and staff.
For Education Director Sandy
Raben, the expansion was par-
ticularly welcome. The temple re-
ligious school has 330 students,
70 more than five years ago. The
Hebrew school has expanded
from 70 to 150.
I'm definitely in favor of this,"
Ms. Raben says. "In fact, rve been
looking forward to it."
The Detroit architectural firm
of John Hilberry and Associates
designed a structure with a sanc-
tuary that can seat 600; a chapel
for 35 to 50 — the first, dedicat-
ed Jewish space that Beth Emeth
will have in the history of the Gen-
esis relationship, a social hall with
a capacity of 250, and a full corn-
mercial kitchen. The expanded so-
cial hall is particularly important
to temple members: "We hope that
families will have all of their life-