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This Week's Top Stories
Avoiding The Attention
Federation President Robert H. Naftaly doesn't want the limelight.
He just wants to get the work done.
Sinai Sale
Talks Continue
PHIL JACOBS EDITOR
PHIL JACOBS EDITOR
ob Naftaly sits leaning
back a little on a brown,
wooden restaurant chair.
He's trying to relax as the
breakfast clientele gets its day
started with plenty of chatter and
clatter. There's almost the sense
that Mr. Naftaly really doesn't
want to do this.
Flashback. Back row of an
Egged tour bus in Israel. It's Mir-
acle Mission I. Bob Naftaly is
stretched out in the back of the
bus schmoozing. The writer is the
same; a notebook is open. There's
a beautiful Israel spring sun
warming the bus. Mr. Naftaly is
taking in the noise of the people
B
around him in the bus and look-
ing through the windows at the
Hebrew signs and buildings we
pass.
The chatter seems to bring
him back.
Bob Naftaly is known through-
out Detroit as the chief operating
officer of Blue Cross and Blue
Shield of Michigan. There per-
haps isn't a time when he's not
on the phone with executives
from the corporate world, state
government and other walks of
life. It's clear, though, that it's his
other "full-time job" that shares
his day with Blue Cross and Blue
Shield that really captures this
Just One
Of The
Guys
BAHM board votes
to allow women equal
participation in worship.
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN STAFF WRITER
Terri Stearns:
At home in the
synagogue.
man's heart. It's also clear that
he'd rather be in the back of an
Egged bus than in any sort of
limelight.
Flashback again. Last sum-
mer at Metro Airport's Interna-
tional Terminal, some 240
Detroit teens took off for a mem-
orable five-week journey to Is-
rael. It was an example of a teen
trip that the entire nation stud-
ied. There were balloons, cere-
monies, excitement and plenty
of energy. There was Mr. Naf-
taly, talking to some of the kids,
some of whom he didn't even
know. There was Mr. Naftaly, by
S
inai wasn't sold, affiliat-
ed or anything else you
want to call it as of Jew-
ish News press time
Tuesday.
Talks between Sinai and its
unconfirmed buyer, the Detroit
Medical Center, will continue,
according to Sinai Board Chair-
man Mark Schlussel.
"Any relationship Sinai will
establish which will preserve
the qualities of and the Jewish
values of Sinai is necessarily
a complex undertaking," said
Mr. Schlussel, "Everyone in-
volved in the process is pro-
ceeding with deliberate speed
NAFTALY page 6
M
uch to the delight of the
majority of the member-
ship — and to the dis-
may of some — the
board of trustees at Congregation
Beth Abraham Hillel Moses vot-
ed last week to afford women full
participation in religious services.
Effective Jan. 24, 1997, the
Shabbat closest to Tu B'Shevat,
female members of BAHM will
be able to read from the Torah,
lead services, receive aliyot and
be counted in a minyan. The
board voted 23-2 in favor of egal-
itarianism.
While the motion received full
support from BAHM's Rabbi
Aaron Bergman and the majori-
ty of congregants, a staunch mi-
nority of worshipers opposed the
move. A few said they would
leave for Orthodox synagogues.
Terri Stearn, a new BAHM
member, delivered a passionate
plea in favor of the motion. "I've
never been discriminated against
anywhere except in my syna-
gogue — where I should feel most
at home," she said.
Jerry Katzman, another con-
gregant, urged the board to use
caution regarding the vote. He
recommended "look[ing] back at
the creation story to understand
a woman's place: Those with
higher status were created lat-
er."
He also quoted Blu Greenberg,
a leading Orthodox Jewish fem-
inist, saying "change must be
consistent with Jewish law."
- Until now, women were not al-
lowed to receive aliyot at BAH NI
and did not count in a minyan.
Those in opposition to making
the change expressed concern
that the proposal was prompt-
ed by a desire to boost the syna-
gogue's financial status or the
result of peer pressure to go along
with the majority of the Conser-
to ensure that the ultimate af-
filiation arrangement ensures
those values for which Sinai
stands."
Though he couldn't specify,
Mr. Schlussel said that there
were loose ends that needed
further talks.
The proceeds of the sale of
Detroit's only Jewish hospital
is said to number in the tens of
millions of dollars.
Proceeds will go toward the
establishment of a foundation
called the Jewish Fund, which
will help the health and social
needs of the Jewish communi-
u
vative movement. Those in favor
of equal worship rights detailed
feelings of exclusion for them-
selves or their daughters.
While the idea of including
women in worship at BAHM had
been bandied about for six or sev-
en years, Rabbi Bergman for-
mally put it on the table two
years ago in a Rosh Hashanah
sermon. The motivation behind
his proposal "was that it's the
right thing to do. But I also be-
lieve benefits come with doing
the right thing," such as in-
creases in membership, he says.
About 80 congregants and
board members turned out for
the Dec. 18 board meeting, after
a letter from the rabbi proposing
egalitarian worship went out to
the entire 650-family member-
ship.
Some members felt the vote
came too quickly and requested
that it be tabled until a general
membership meeting in May.
The board rejected the request.
"It's quite possible we will lose
some members, and I would be
sad if we did," the rabbi says.
"But if you do what you think is
the right thing, ultimately you
will grow the shut"
Rabbi Bergman says he has "a
very good relationship with most
of the people who are opposed [to
egalitarianism], so hopefully we
can work it out."
In its decision, BAHM joins a
trend by most area Conservative
synagogues nationwide during
the past two decades.
Except for Beth Achim, all
Conservative synagogues in
metro Detroit allow women to
BAHM page 20