WALK page 3
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Don and Janice Scharg moved from Farmington Hills to West Bloomfield to be able to walk to shul.
largest congregation (nearly 150
families), there are now two more
shuts, Ohel Moed Shomrey Emu-
nab. and Young Israel of West
Bloomfield (YIWB).
YIWB does not have a rabbi,
but the congregation has been
around for eight years, says Rita
Morse. The congregation recent-
ly purchased and refurbished a
house on Maple Road, west of
Farmington Road. The congrega-
tion has approximately 24 in-
volved families.
The Morse family moved to the
area from Southfield 2 1/2 years
ago. With five children, they were
outgrowing their home near Bell
Road and wanted to build anew.
They chose to live in Maple-
woods V subdivision "because it is
walking distance to three Ortho-
dox shuts. In Southfield, there was
only one," Young Israel, Mrs.
Morse says.
Don and Janice Scharg moved
only a couple miles from Farm-
ington Hills to West Bloomfield to
be within walking distance of Ohel
Moed.
"We were not shomer Shabbat
at first ... but that was our inten-
tion," says Mrs. Scharg. Coming
from Conservative backgrounds,
the Schargs don't like to say
they're Orthodox. "We don't like
to give ourselves a label because
Conservative people also keep
Shabbos."
About 75 families are involved
with Ohel Moed, says Rabbi Eli
M. Jundef. But regardless of af-
filiation, Mrs. Scharg says, the ob-
servant Jews in the area all know
each other.
One unifying factor is that
many of the Orthodox women
in West Bloomfield use the mik-
vah at Bais Chabad, says Mrs.
Morse. Bais Chabad recently
hired Rachel Crockett to run the
mikvah full-time.
Mrs. Scharg says, "People are
very surprised when they find out
that we keep Shabbos. People
have said to us, 'Oh you don't look
Orthodox.' They have this pre-
conceived notion of how you're sup-
posed to look if you keep Shabbos."
Which captures the essence of
West Bloomfield's frum commu-
nity — more modern. Oak Park
has traditionally been a commu-
nity with a high density of obser-
vant, working class Jews. The
houses and lots are smaller than
in West Bloomfield, although
many Oak Park families have
added-on and renovated.
West Bloomfield is a more af-
fluent, spacious suburb, but some
observant Jews who live there say
Oak Park is a warmer communi-
ty, due to its tight-knit nature and
smaller radius.
Rabbi Jundef came to West
Bloomfield in 1986. He routinely
goes knocking on doors, introduc-
ing himself and the message of ob-
servance.
The idea of establishing Ohel
Moed in a then-90 percent Jew-
ish, but not observant, area came
from Rabbi Jundefs father-in-law,
Rabbi Shaiall Zachariash of
Southfield's Shomrey Emunah.
The Jundef family lives in South-
field but spends Shabbat and hol-
idays in West Bloomfield, in a
house on shul property. The syn-
agogue opened in 1988.
Although P.J. Cherrin lives
with his family three miles from
Ohel Moed, he walks to shul every
Shabbat. It's "tothlly different than
Oak Park —more spread out. You
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