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Cantor To Leave

BAHM affirms

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contract repeal.

JULIE WIENER
StaffWriter

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Beth Abraham Hillel Moses congregants
last week voted to endorse a decision not
to rehire their cantor and educational
director, Ben-Zion Lanxner.
At a meeting open only to congre-
gants, approximately 250 members of
the West Bloomfield shul took turns
expressing their feelings about the
board's April 21 decision to rescind a
one-year contract offered to Lanxner, a
synagogue employee for 16 years, said
Executive Director Elliot Burns.
Although declining to elaborate fur-
ther, Burns said "definitely a majority of
members voted at the end of the meet-
ing to support the board's actions." The
cantor's contract expires on June 30, and
a search committee is forming to deter-
mine how to replace him, said Burns.
Lanxner could not be reached for
comment.
According to an April 29 letter that
President Henry Lonnerstater sent to
congregants, Lanxner's contract had
been renewed for one year in February
— despite recommendations by the
executive and personnel committees
opposing renewal.
Lonnerstater wrote that the board
voted to rescind Lanxner's contract on
April 21, even though the issue was not
on the meeting agenda. He declined to
discuss the reasons for the action.
His April 29 letter stated, "the board
feels strongly that our clergy must set an
example with regard to abiding by stan-
dards of ethical and moral behavior."
It is unclear what impact Lanxner's
departure will have on the synagogue,
which has 573 membership units and
115 children in its religious school.
Longtime teacher Nira Alphont told
The Jewish News she will not continue
teaching at BAHM next year unless the
cantor stays. "I thought he did a great
job," she said.
Gail Zemach, the mother of a third-
grader and a BAHM nursery school stu-
dent, said her family will follow the can-
tor should he get another job at a local
Conservative synagogue. "It was a won-
derful school and my kids loved it," she
said. "Any school that is fortunate
enough to hire the cantor will be so
lucky. It's sad to me that this has come
about and I have to think of something
else for next year."

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