CUSTOM CABINETRY

And Then
There Was One

T'chiyah's departure leaves one full-time
synagogue in Detroit.

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ongregation T'chiyah in
Detroit soon will shift its
weekly services to Royal
Oak, leaving one fill-time
congregation in a city once teem-
ing with Jewish spiritual life.
Nathaniel Warshay, Tchiyah's
vice president, said the move is
temporary and that T'chiyah
eventually may return to Detroit
if a suitable location is found. But
he also conceded the congregation
has not ruled out a permanent
move to south Oakland County.
Tchiyah's exit, said Universi-
ty of Michigan-Dearborn Profes-
sor Sidney Bolkosky, an expert on
Jewish history in Detroit, "is sym-
bolic, I guess. But in terms of re-
ality, it's been a long time since
there was a strong Jewish pres-
ence in downtown Detroit."
Professor Bolkosky said the an-
nouncement reminded him of
what one historian said of Rome:
that when it fell, nobody heard it
. because it really had fallen many
years earlier.
"There has really not been any
Jewish communal life in Detroit
since the late 1950s or 1960s," the
professor said.
Tchiyah's move leaves a Con-
servative congregation, the Down-
town Synagogue on Griswold, the
only fill-fledged synagogue in De-
troit.
An Orthodox group, Bais
Moshe Downtown Synagogue on
East Jefferson, holds minyans
four days a week. But with 15
members, it is not a full-service
congregation. This group, too,
soon will move. In June, it will
shift to West Fort Street in De-
troit.
T'chiyah, the only Reconstruc-
tionist synagogue in metro De-
troit, was founded in 1977 by a
small but influential group of Jew-
ish professionals living in the
Lafayette Park section of down-
town Detroit.
At a time when the vast ma-
jority ofJewish Detroiters already
had left the city, the congrega-
tion's founders — who included
U.S. Sen. Carl Levin — saw
T'chiyah as a way to keep Jews
connected to Detroit and its even-
tual rebirth. Indeed, the congre-
gation's name means renaissance.
In the years since, it has held
services and religious classes in a
one-room sanctuary and class-
room at St. Mary's Community
Center in Greektown. With its
wood-paneled floors, stained glass
and high-beamed ceiling, the

space was a charmer.
Unfortunately, it was also a
money pit. In its short history, the
congregation faced both fire and
floods, as fixtures in the 168-year-
old building crackled and
snapped.
In 1994, pipes connected to a
heating and air-conditioning unit
froze and burst, causing $15,000
in damages — a minor nuisance
to a large, established synagogue,
but a financial burden for a mod-
est congregation of just over 100
members.
With more costly repairs slat-
ed for the building, members met
on March 24 and, in an emotion-
al vote, agreed to leave St. Mary's
for sturdier ground.
Until it finds a permanent site,
the congregation will hold its reg-
ular Shabbat services at the Roy-
al Oak Women's Club, at 404
Pleasant in Royal Oak, beginning
in the summer.
The members will continue to
maintain some ties to Detroit,
holding a monthly service at the
First Unitarian Universalist
Church near the Wayne State
University campus, Mr. Warshay
said.

For more information re-
garding Congregation Tchiyah
and its move, contact Alan
Schenk, (313) 577-3946. U

Health Clinic
For Children

Crescent Shrine Club is co-spon-
soring a free clinic on Saturday,
April 27, for children in Wayne,
Oakland and Macomb counties
who have orthopedic or burn
problems.
The clinic will determine eligi-
bility for free medical care at a
Shrine hospital. It will be held
from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday
at the LTFCW Retail Clerks Hall,
876 Horace Brown Dr., Madison
Heights.
The event is sponsored by Cres-
cent Shrine Club, North Wood-
ward Slain Club and Royal Oak
Lodge 464 FAA/.
Parents or guardians must
bring the child's birth certificate,
immunization records and social
security number, custody papers
if applicable and the adult's W-2
or last filed tax form.
For information, call Murray
Statfield, (810) 354-5626, or Del
Glanz, (810) 280-1849.

