•

Uil:Ti)

COLORWORKS STUDIO
OF INTERIOR DESIGN

Ll

1 : 0 0 1 j

GUARD from proceding page

Stacie Fine, 33

Robert Stewart Photography

You've said we're in a class by ourselves & we thank you for the compliment!
Complete interior design services from blue print review & construction specifications,
to furniture selection & custom fabrication; from windows & walls to the last scented soap...
These are the services that set us apart. We're so glad you noticed the difference.

32506 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills, MI • (248) 851-7540

It is unusual for a person who has
a "strong connection to God" and
whose grandfather was an Orthodox
mashgiach (kosher supervisor) to
become a Humanistic rabbi. Meet
Stacie Fine.
Grounded in Reform Judaism
through Temple Israel, Fine, 33, has
known since age 4 that one day she
wanted to be a rabbi. Back then, in
the late 1960s when women were not

■

Factory Direct Furniture

We are the Factory - There is No Middleman

Choice of 10 Styles & 20 finishes

WALL UNITS
BEDROOMS
HOME THEATRE
HOME OFFICE
BARSTOOLS
CHAIRS

MORE

'188

1951
S.
Tel
e
gr
a
ph
OPTIONS

Suggested Retail s 295

12 Mile North of Square Lk. Road

I Bloomfield Hills

Sale ends
Sept. 20

Stacie Fine wanted a career with spiri-
tuality center.

248-332-8855

STRESS • BUSINESS • FAMILY HISTORY

Causing you health ailments?
National pharmaceutical company has

THE ANSWER

PATENTED F.D.A. APPROVED

ALL NATURAL HEALTHCARE ALTERNATIVES FOR:

• SYRUM CHOLESTEROL

• ALLERGIES/ASTHMA/A. D.D.

• BLOOD SUGAR

• PROSTATE

• STRESS/INSOMNIA

• WEIGHT MANAGEMENT

• HEART DISEASE

•

• P.M.S.

1997

9/12

10

QUIT SMOKING

AND MANY MORE

FOR MORE INFORMATION CALL

248 - 865'9980

ordained, it never occurred to Fine
that she couldn't do it.
Now, "I get to do all the things I
love to do — study, buy lots of
books, teach, be with people at the
most important times in their lives,"
she says. "And I really love being
Jewish."
Once, as a child, Fine's parents
dropped her off for a bar mitzvah at
the Birmingham Temple. "Be care-
ful," they warned her.
A University of Michigan gradu-
ate, Fine was accepted at the Reform
movement's Hebrew Union College.
But when she went for an interview,

she "wasn't ready to make a commit-
ment to that school." So she enrolled
for a year at the Reconstructionist
Rabbinical College in Wyncote, Pa.
After a year, she returned to

Michigan for personal reasons and
turned to the Birmingham Temple,
Michigan's only option for women
who want to become rabbis.
"I really struggled at the time of
the interview," Fine recalls. "I wasn't
sure I fit well into Humanistic
Judaism, someone with spirituality
and connection to Jewish roots."
Fine brings a more traditional
Jewish approach to the temple than
her counterparts. She's
the one fighting for some
kind of Simchat Torah
observance and to find a
way to modify traditional
Hebrew prayers for
Humanistic purposes.
"There are a lot more
voices in Humanistic
Judaism than people see
at first blush," insists the
assistant rabbi and devel-
opmental director for the
Society for Humanistic
Judaism.
Currently working on a
Ph.D. in Judaic studies
and pastoral care at the
Union Institute in
Cincinnati (she'll finish
in December of 1998),
Fine and her husband
Tom — "an incredibly
()Teat rebbetzin" — live
year-round in Traverse
City.
"I wanted a career where
my spirituality was at the center of
my life, [where] the day-to-day busi-
ness was pondering the big ques-
tions," she says.
Fine is intent on truly learning the
congregation's response to the leader-
ship she, Chalom and Kolton can
offer. "The first six months of this
year will tell a lot. I foresee certainly
all three of us continuing to be
involved in the movement. It's hard
to predict" what will happen when
Rabbi Wine retires.
"One of the things I really respect
about the temple is [members are]
open to creative ways of dealing with
a situation. Humanists are adventur-
ers. Part of establishing a movement
is like being a teenager, distinguish-
ing yourself from where you came
from. The future of the movement
will be ... dialogue with the Jewish
community and Jewish roots within

the congregation."

