THE JEWISH NEWS

UP FRONT

This Week's Top Stories

Three-Peat!

Dues And Don'ts

Few area congregations agree to provide their
membership fees.

The teen-age JCC Macdabi Games are coming back to Detroit
in the summer of 1998.

MARA REINSTEIN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

T

he assignment: Call the
synagogues and temples
listed in The Jewish News,
ask them to fax over their
membership fee structures and
then publish them in an infor-
mational article as a service to
the Jewish community.
But out of the 47 congrega-
tions in metro Detroit, only sev-
en provided membership fee
structures (in addition to one
listed over the World Wide
Web). Eleven congregations nev-
er returned phone calls and six
didn't supply any information.
The range of annual fees fol-
lows, with a caveat: Each con-
gregation noted that its
membership dues are not
"carved in stone."

ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR

I

Beth Abraham Hillel Moses,
West Bloomfield: Family

member fees range from $550-
$1,100. Single member fees
range from $275-$550. Fees
vary according to age.

Beth Achim, Southfield:

Family membership fee is $940.
Single member fee is $630. Re-
duced rates for members under
35. Special for new members:
two years for the price of one,
plus $100.

PHOTO BY GLENN TRIE

Birmingham Temple, Farm-
ington Hills. Fees for members

Above: Warming up for
Maccabi gymnastics.

Left: Opening ceremonies
in Baltimore, 1992.

PHOTO BY C RAIG TER KOWITZ

he Detroit Jewish
community has been
chosen to restage its
largest Jewish com-
munal event of the 1990s —
the Jewish Community
Centers North American
Maccabi Youth Games —in
August 1998.
The event will build on
Detroit's experience in Au-
gust 1990, when the Jewish
community hosted 2,200
teen-aged Jewish athletes
from around the world. The
awarding of the games to
Detroit marks the first time
in the 15-year history of the
JCC Maccabi Games that a
city has hosted the bienni-
al North American event
three times. Detroit also
hosted in 1984.
In 1990, Detroit placed
the visiting teen-agers in
1,000 Jewish homes, and
thousands of volunteers
helped the Detroit Maccabi
Club and the Jewish Com-
munity Center sponsor ath-
letic competitions in 16
sports, as well as nightly so-
cial and cultural events for
the visitors.
Detroit JCC Executive
Director David Sorkin said
many of the leaders of the
1990 event have volun-
teered for the 1998 games.
Maccabi Club and JCC
board member Jay Robin-
son and Maccabi Club Pres-
ident Dr. Alan Horowitz
will be general chairs in '98.
Both played major roles in 1990
and 1984.
Honorary chairs for the event
will be Bill Davidson, Robert Sos-
nick, David Hermelin and Sam
Frankel, with the Davidson-Sos-
nick-Hermelin-owned Palace of
Auburn Hills already slated for
the Maccabi Games opening cer-
emonies Aug. 17, 1998.
While the games are 20
months away, the JCC is hoping
to open a Maccabi Games office
by the end of January. "It takes
time," said the JCC's Mr. Sorkin,
"to find the venues, the hotel
space, the sponsorships."
Mr. Robinson estimates De-
troit could host 2,700-3,000 ath-
MACCABI page 20

over 31 range from $200-$1,085.
Fees for members under 31
range from $220-$325. The fee
for students under 25 is $65.

Congregation Shir Tikvah,
Troy: Couples fee (where the

home contains two adults with
at least one between age 30-65)
is $840. Singles fee for members
over 30 is $580. The fee for mem-
bers under 30 is $265 (single)
and $390 (couple). If married,
both must be under 30. The se-
niors fee for members over 65 is
$490 (couple) and $360 (single).

Regular membership fee scale
is $300 per year.

Adat Shalom Synagogue,

Farmington Hills. The fees for
members aged 32 and over is
$1,100. The fee for members un-
der 32 is $550.

The following congregations ex-
plained why they declined to
have their fees published:

Congregation Shaarey

Zedek, Southfield: 'This [list-
ing the fees] isn't the way to ap-
proach it because it doesn't give
an understanding of what we
offer. Our costs are much more
extensive because of extra ser-
vices."
— Leonard Baruch,
executive director.

Temple Israel, West Bloom-
field: "We have 250 different

fees. It's all based on fair share,
so whatever they can afford,
they pay."
— Sara Goldberg,
bookkeeper.

Temple Beth meth, Arm Ar-
bor: "It's a 2-percent fair share,

so the fees depend on the income
of the family."
— Ronnie Simon,
executive administrator.

Bais Chabad of Farmington
Hills: "We have a very loose fee

structure. Nobody has ever been
turned away for financial rea-
sons. "
— Rabbi Chaim Bergstein.

Machon L'Torah, Oak Park:

"We are a learning center insti-
tution that survives on contri-
butions and fund-raisers. No
members donate a specific fee."
— Dr. Edward Hurvitz,
Gabbai.

Young Israel of Oak Park:

Regular fees for all ages range
from $133-$453. The first year
new member fee is $148 (single)
and $278 (family).

Or Chadash, Oak Park: "We
have no membership fees, be-
cause when there are fees, it's
inevitable that people who give
more money get more respect."
— Ed Codish,
husband of Or Chadash
President Susann Codish.

Isaac Agree Downtown Syn-
agogue, Detroit: Regular

Shaar Hashomayim, Oak
Park: 'We ask everybody to as-

membership fees range from
$60-$100.

Huntington Woods Minyan:

sess themselves. Usually we ex-
pect 1-10 percent of their gross
income, but it varies."
— Betzalel Folk, rabbi.

❑