Photo by Krista Husa
about retiring there. She is heartened
by the fact that her two oldest chil-
dren have settled there. Her oldest son
served in the Israel Defense Forces,
and her younger son is talking about
it, too.
"When our kids were growing up, I
always told them I'd like to live there
and I shlepped the kids there all the
time. I pretty much brainwashed
them," she laughs.
Lake Kinneret
In West
Bloomfield
A
mnon and Naomi Reiter
usually speak Hebrew
together, even though
Naomi's native tongue is
English.
The two met in 1958 at Kibbutz
Ein Hashofet, where Naomi was a
volunteer and Amnon a kibbutznik.
They married, had two children and
lived together in Israel for almost a
decade. Then Naomi's father in
Detroit fell ill.
When she went home to care for
him, Naomi realized how much she
had missed home. "I wrote `to
Amnon, asking him to come for two
years until we made some money,"
recalls Naomi, now a kindergarten
teacher at Hillel Day School. "At the
time, the economy was bad in Israel
and we thought we could save some
money. Ten years later, we realized we
were staying."
Despite the fact that he spoke •
almost no English and came with no
money, Amnon quickly established his
own business, the Oakland Salvage
scrapyard in Pontiac, and it has done
well.
Now the Reiters are completing
renovations to their new home on
West Bloomfield's Hammond Lake, a
site that is becoming a magnet for
Israelis.
"We know of about four Israeli
families living there," says Amnon.
"One day we'll call it Agam Kinneret
(the Sea of Galilee)."
In recent years, says Naomi, the
two have become somewhat more reli-
gious, hosting weekly Shabbat dinners
for their children and grandchildren,
joining Adat Shalom and sending
their youngest child (born in Detroit)
to Hillel Day School.
"She's the religious one. I just fol-
low," says Amnon, who grew up com-
pletely secular and confesses that —
although they officially keep kosher —
he sometimes cheats a little when
Naomi's not looking.
send them to Jewish day schools.
Twenty years ago, when she and her
husband, Benny, first came to the
United States, Reichman was interest-
ed in exposing her children to a diver-
sity of people and experiences. Now,
she's troubled by intermarriage, even
though "so far, so good," her daugh-
ters — both graduate students in
American universities — have dated
only Jews.
Since 1976, the Reichmans have
seen more of the United States than
most Americans: They have lived in
Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and twice
in the Detroit area. Benny's job as a
research scientist has spurred the
moves, but Erella says they've enjoyed
the constant change of scenery "It's
broadened our horizons, and it helps
you grow."
A social worker for Jewish Family
Service, Erella says she's become less
judgmental and more Jewishly com-
mitted over the years. "Living in the
Diaspora made me aware of being
Jewish. You can't just be Israeli and
take care of it," she says.
She and her husband would like to
join a synagogue, but have not found
one to their liking."Even though we
were raised secular, we prefer the tradi-
tional rituals, but it seems like there's
no happy medium," she says.
The Reichmans used to visit Israel
annually, but -since Erella's.parents
died, they've gone less. "It was home,
but now we're more like visitors," she
says. "The country's changed. Our
friends there are feeling a sense of
hopelessness, demoralized. I guess part
of it is normalcy of growing up. It's
like Israel is going through a mid-life
crisis." ❑
0
O
Jews
On the Move
E
rella Reichman sent her two
daughters to Birmingham
public schools, but if she
were to do it over, she'd
Amnon and Naomi
Reiter in front of their
Hammond Lake home.
5/1
1998
23