Andrew Louis Serlin

BRIT MILAN

December 16, 1997

BLESSED

BY

Rabbis David Nelson,
Efry Spectre,
Michelle Faudern,
Stephen Weiss and
Greta Bernard Brown.

Above: Miry and Dan Serlin with Andrew.

mw. wm intimm o

Right: The rabbis on hand give their blessing.

A half-minyan of clergy makes
for a very special bris.

LONNY GOLDSMITH
Sta Writer

fter their son's birth, Miry
Bernard Serlin and Dan Ser-
lin planned a regular brit
milah, hiring Cantor Samuel
Greenbaum to perform the circumci-
sion.
They got much more than they
expected.
Rabbis David Nelson, Efry Spectre,
Michelle Faudem, Stephen Weiss and
Greta Bernard Brown were all on hand
to bless Andrew with the Birchat HaCo-
hanim.
"We were looking at the list of peo-
ple we had to invite, and those names

A

came up," said Miry, a social worker at
the Prentis Federation Apartments in
Oak Park. "They all were at the house,
and it just happened. This was not a
planned event."
The Serlins have known Spectre •
since the couple's days together in Unit-
ed Synagogue Youth; Brown is Miry's
sister; Faudem is a long-time friend of
the family; Miry's parents are members
of Beth Shalom and Nelson has known
the family for many years; Weiss was
present because a relative of Dan and
Miry works at Shaarey Zedek, which
the Serlins plan to join.
More than 100 people packed the
Serlins' Southfield home for the brit.
"It was great to walk downstairs with

all the people
in the house, and
carry my son through
them," Miry said.
Said Dan, an attorney at Jaffe, Raitt,
Heuer_and Weiss in Detroit, "I was
mystified by the event to start with, and
I was so overwhelmed emotionally. It
was neat to have all the rabbis huddled
over him, especially because we know
and are friendly with all of them."
Even Cantor Greenbaum was
amazed. "I've been a mohel for 24 years
and never seen a situation where all the
rabbis came together like that," he said.
The Birchat HaCohanim is the
blessing generally said by the mohel at
the end of the ceremony. "It's not

unusual that
a rabbi would
have that honor,"
Greenbaum said. "In this
case, Rabbi Nelson had the honor but
invited his colleagues to join in."
The event, while spontaneous in
orchestration, was put together by Nel-
son.
"I could've done it myself, but all the
clergy there are very close to the family,"
he said. "I was very honored to be
there, although Cantor Greenbaum's
presence is more important that mine."
Said Miry, "If we have another boy,
we will definitely do the bris like this
one." El

3/13
1998

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