OAK PARK page 3
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"Oak Park used to be cheap-
er than Southfield, but now it's
just as expensive," Mrs. Levi said.
This can extend to areas that are
not dominated by the Orthodox
and do not include the Berkley
School District.
"Both sides of Ten Mile in Oak
Park have appreciated in value,"
Mrs. Levi said. "I just sold one
house in south Oak Park —1,100
square feet with three tiny bed-
rooms — for $87,500."
Ten Mile is the borderline be-
tween north and south Oak Park
and the address of many of the
city's Jewish institutions, in-
cluding Temple Emanu-El,
Young Israel of Oak Woods and
Bais Yaakov.
A number of residents point to
the Jewish Federation's 1989 de-
cision to buy the Congregation
B'nai Moshe building (now Bais
Yaakov) as key to Oak Park's sta-
bility. It was no secret at the time
that the facility was about to go
up for sale, and that churches
were interested.
"It was a great investment,"
said Federation Executive Vice
President Robert Aronson.
`There were a lot of people at the
time who criticized the decision
to purchase B'nai Moshe and put
that kind of capital development
dollars in the area. But time has
proven it was absolutely the right
decision, and the leadership then
really deserves a lot of credit for
standing firm."
Today, Bais Yaakov is hardly
recognizable as the former B'nai
Moshe. It has undergone exten-
sive renovations, including the
addition of six classrooms fin-
ished just as school began earli-
er this month.
Bais Yaakov also will complete
this month a new office complex
for school administrators and is
in the midst of adding a science
lab for students in the high
school.
Across the street from Bais
Yaakov is Temple Emanu-El,
which draws about one-third of
its membership from the Oak
Park-Southfield area, with an-
other third from Huntington
Woods and a final group from
other suburbs.
The only Reform temple in
southern Oakland County,
Emanu-El recently began a
"Fund for Life" campaign to raise
$2 million. It has more than
passed the halfway mark.
Plans for the new and im-
proved Temple Emanu-El, which
was built in 1952, include en-
larging the foyer, renovating the
education center and social hall,
expanding the kitchen and li-
brary, building a new chapel and
conference room, creating a Jew-
ish educational media center and
an administrative center, and
making the building more hand-
icapped accessible.
Extensive renovations also are
set for Congregation Beth
Shalom, a Conservative syna-
gogue planning to add 14 new
classrooms (for a total of 17) and
update its existing facilities. The
congregation already has secured
more than $1.25 million in
pledges toward a $2.5 million
goal. A symbolic groundbreaking
will be held Oct. 27.
Beth Shalom is not building a
future on mere hopes.
The synagogue's Hebrew
school students have been meet-
ing, until now, at Berkley schools.
Yet the lack of on-site classrooms
has not hindered student popu-
lation growth; the number of stu-
dents at Beth Shalom has
increased from 150 in 1992 to 260
today.
There's talk of building a nurs-
ery and day-care center at the
newly renovated Beth Shalom.
With parents throughout the
area facing waiting lists of at
least several years at pre-exist-
ing Jewish facilities, it's a plan
that has piqued the interest of
numerous parents, regardless of
their religious affiliation.
Barry Judelman, of Innovative
Development Services in New
York, is a professional fund-rais-
er who is just completing work
with Emanu-El and beginning
with Beth Shalom. He is im-
pressed by what he has seen.
The decision by both syna-
gogues to renovate signals "a re-
vitalization, a kind of rebirth of
the congregations, and indeed of
the community," he said.
A vast majority of those do-
nating to the temple are young
families committed to the con-
gregation despite its rocky road
of recent months. Longtime rab-
bi Lane Steinger left and was re-
placed by an interim rabbi who
doesn't live here. The temple's ed-
ucation director also decided not
to stay.
"For any temple, that would be
tough, and you would expect peo-
ple to be leaving in droves," he
said. But that hasn't been the
case.
"There's a real affinity for the
temple," he said. "There's a
unique feel —'unpretentious' and
`low-key' are words I hear a lot —
that congregants feel they can-
not find anywhere else."
Mr. Judelman has solicited
many temple members himself.
Not one expressed concern about
Emanu-El's decision to remain
in the area. Not one said he
would have preferred that the
temple build elsewhere or merge
with another congregation in a
different suburb. A third con-
gregation, Young Israel of Oak
Park, is planning to completely
renovate its sanctuary and social
hall, allowing each to accommo-
date at least 500 persons. The
projected cost: $1.5 million. A
groundbreaking is planned for
spring 1997.
The bricks and wood already
are up at a fifth Jewish institu-
tion, the Kollel on Lincoln Road.
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