East Side Jews don't
want to be forgotten by
the larger West Side
community
U
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Phoco by Karen Feldman
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0
Above: Rabbi Nicholas Behrmann and
GPJC co-founder JeffWeingarten.
Left: Wendy Neuman, a Hebrew school
teacher, explains Purim at a party at the
Unitarian church in Grosse Pointe.
a
LONNY GOLDSMITH
Staff Writer
rosse Pointe's Jewish com-
munity came together 11
years ago when newcomers
to town hosted a
Chanukah party for 123 others in
their living room. Now, the Grosse
Pointe Jewish Council begins its
ninth year, dispelling the longstand-
ing myth that Jews aren't welcome
and don't live in the affluent East
Side community.
"I've lived here 15 years and it's
not hard to be Jewish and I've never
found Grosse Pointe unwelcoming,"
said Doug Camitta, immediate past
president of the GPJC. "Those are
all stereotypes.
But, members said this week, they
3/12
1999
10 Detroit Jewish News
wouldn't mind being a little bit more
closely connected with the main core
of Jews who live in southern
Oakland County, particularly if that
meant more accessible services from
communal agencies.
"We want to interact with the
West Side, but would like them to
come out here," Amy Moulton told
a Town Hall meeting sponsored by
the Jewish Community Council of
Metropolitan Detroit and The Jewish
News. "We are a big community."
The March 4 meeting at the
Grosse Pointe War Memorial drew
40 residents, a larger attendance than
two previous meetings, in Commerce
Township and Royal Oak, both of
which are closer to the major Jewish
population centers.
Janet Braunstein, GPJC board sec-
retary, noted that "geography is the
big deal. We chose this area because
it's a town and not a bedroom com-
munity, but it doesn't mean we don't
want to be a part of the bigger
Jewish picture in Detroit."
At the meeting and in subsequent
interviews, Grosse Pointe residents
noted they are 40-minute drives
from the Jewish Community Centers
in Oak Park and West Bloomfield.
Most Jewish Grosse Pointers are
Reform, but the nearest Reform con-
gregation, Temple Emanu-El, is 20
miles away.
According to Moulton, the presi-
dent of the Grosse Pointe Jewish
Council, 180 families are members
of the GPJC, and the community is
made up of natives, those new to the
area and mixed-marriage families.
Council members live in Detroit's
Indian Village, Harper Woods, St.
Clair Shores and Mt. Clemens, in
addition to the Grosse Pointes.
Distance has forced these East
Siders to be innovative and a bit
freewheeling, they said.
Jeff Weingarten, who hosted the
first Chanukah party with his wife
Janet, said the first shofar blower for
Rosh Hashanah services was chosen
at the "boy's club" during a card
game when one of the players men-
tioned he had a shofar. The group's
first ark for the Torah was built by
hand by some of the members.
Braunstein, a free-lance automo-
tive writer who's lived in Grosse
Pointe Park for six years, said she
likes the element of being Jewish in a
smaller community.