Lubavitch will convert an old church into its girls
school.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN STAFF WRITER

T

he Lutheran church on the
corner of Coolidge and Bal-
four, on the border of Oak
Park and Huntington
Woods, soon will have new ten-
ants.
But don't look for typical
church-goers. Instead, the church
will be literally converted into an
Orthodox girls school and offices
for the Lubavitch Foundation of
Michigan and the Michigan Jew-
ish Institute, the state's only four-
year Jewish college.
Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, the in-
stitute's vice president, says class-
es for the college will be held in the
new building until the final move
to the West Bloomfield campus.
Rabbi Yitschak Kagan, asso-
ciate director of the Lubavitch
Foundation, says the organization
is "in the process of buying" the
building for use as a girls school.
"Our offer was accepted, closing
has not taken place yet," he said.
The Bais Chaya Mushka Girls
High School and the girls division

of the Lubavitch Cheder Day
School have been searching for a
permanent home for some time.
The six-year-old high school has
been meeting for a year in the
Zionist Organization of America
building on 10 Mile between
Southfield and Evergreen, while
the younger girls have been meet-
ing at Congregation Dovid Ben
Nuchim in Oak Park.
Until the last year, both schools
had been operating out of the
Lubavitch building in Farming-
ton Hills, on Middlebelt Road be-
tween 12 Mile and 13 Mile. But
the students live mostly near the
new location, says Rabbi Kagan,
and had to be bussed to the pre-
vious facilities.
"The timing is sort of Godly," he
says; by August, the Lubavitch
Foundation has to vacate the
Farmington Hills building, which
has been sold.
The new Campus of Living Ju-
daism will not be ready for an-
other year, Rabbi Kagan says, so

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the offices of the foun-
dation and the Institute
will be in the new build-
ing until the campus
opens.
Rabbi Kagan declined
to say how much the
Lubavitchers paid for
the 11,000-square-foot
church.
The facility is divided
into two parts, a class-
room block and a sanc-
tuary/social hall area;
part of the sanctuary
and social hall may be
converted into addition-
al classrooms.
The school likely will
become a magnet for
Lubavitch functions.
"We have the feeling
that it'll probably serve
some more communal This Lutheran Church on Coolidge will be the future home of the Lubavitch girls' schools.
functions," perhaps as a
synagogue for the Hunt-
While both schools need a per- "I'm sure the girls will feel settled.
ington Woods Minyan, he sug- manent place to learn, Rabbi Stein It's a good building, good location,
gested. "It's going to be a very says the high school needs it more. it will be nice for them."
intensely used community build- "The high school is expanding
The Lubavitchers had been
ing! ,
quite a bit because at that age, looking for a permanent site for a
Rabbi Bentzion Stein, director they are getting numerous kids while, "desperately," Rabbi Kagan
of the 30-year-old Cheder School, from out of town," he explains.
says. "The area is perfect — it's
says about 60 girls, ages 5 to 12,
Itty Shemtov, principal of Jew- the eastern edge of the Jewish
will be moving into the new build- ish studies for the high school, neighborhood; within a few blocks
ing. The boys division meets at the thinks the girls will be thrilled to west of there, there's a pretty
Lubavitch center on west 9 Mile have a permanent facility.
heavy concentration of Jewish
Road, between Coolidge and
"It's always nice to know that families. That's what makes it im-
Greenfield.
you finally have a home," she says. portant." 0