An Enduring Institution
SHUL IN THE CM' from page 7
Today, membership dues do exist
but are a modest $60 per year. While
those who can afford to give more are
encouraged to do so, the dues are
quickly lowered for anyone who says
he or she cannot afford them.
"If you have the means you give
more and if you don't, at least you
can say you're a member of a syna-
gogue," said Felsot, the synagogue
president. Its nice to say you
belong and if you have a death in
the family or simcha in the family,
you can call on the rabbi or can-
tor and feel no hesitation."
For the High Holidays, the
synagogue draws more than 500
people to its services at the
Millennium Theater, near the
Northland Mall in Southfield.
Contributions are requested, but
not required, and no one collects
tickets at the door.
It was the High Holiday ser-
vices that initially attracted Felsot,
56, a salesman, to the synagogue
seven years ago. He and his wife
had just moved back to Detroit
after years in other cities and they
did not have time to look for a
synagogue to join before the holi-
days. When they heard the
Downtown Synagogue didn't
require tickets, they checked it
out and liked the mix of people
there. Soon, Felsot was attending
more regularly, even though he
could have afforded the
Conservative congregations closer
to his home in Farmington Hills.
"When I was a kid growing
up, my parents never had the
resources to join a synagogue," he
said. "It seemed to me at the time
that you had to have a certain income
to afford the luxury of joining a syna-
gogue, and that places weren't inter-
ested in encouraging membership of
people who couldn't contribute to the
building fund.
"So when I attended services at the
Downtown Synagogue and saw a lot of
Jews there who didn't look like they
would belong in West Bloomfield, I
thought it was great there was a place
like this that people could go to and
not be intimidated by fur coats and
fancy cars.
Like Felsot, Dr. Martin Herman
could easily join a suburban syna-
gogue. In fact, the retired Wayne
State University professor was a long-
time member of Adat Shalom
Synagogue.
But when his parents died 10 years
ago, the resident of the Curtis-Livernois
section of Detroit (he remembers when
)3
4/2
1999
10 Detroit Jewish News
there were six synagogues within walk-
ing distance of his home) found it
impossible to make it to suburban syna-
gogues each day to say kaddish.
"I felt that because the Downtown
Synagogue was there when I needed
it, I should become involved and be
helpful," he said.
Each week Herman gives a ride
home to Julius Garber, a somewhat
Louis Nino said it was "beshert"
when he got a job working on the
Detroit trolley, just around the corner
from the Downtown Synagogue.
cantankerous 90-year-old who insists
he attends services regularly only to
make sure there's a minyan. A Dublin
native with a distinct Irish brogue,
Garber "got talked into coming" to
Detroit in 1950 and then ended up
staying. Now the diminutive, blue-
eyed man lives a few blocks from the
synagogue, in a small apartment with
no telephone or television.
He spends most of his time read-
ing James Joyce novels and taking
long walks around the city. On nice
days, he can wander as much as 10
miles, along the riverfront and to a
thrift shop where "sometimes I get
one hell of a bargain," Garber said.
"I don't always feel safe, but I keep
my head up as if I'm a busy man," he
said of his journeys on foot.
Garber is pleased the congregation
encourages him to do things like
open the Ark and take out the Torah.
But he frequently complains about
the melodies the congregation uses,
Money raised will enable the syna-
gogue to invest in its building, says
Felsot, who would like to see the eleva-
tor fixed and the top two floors —
long unused — converted into study
space or even an apartment for people
who don't want to travel on Shabbat.
The fundraiser may also heighten
the visibility of the shul, which has
been all but forgotten by many in
the suburbs.
Board member Cynthia Leven,
who lives in Huntington Woods
but prefers the "camaraderie" of
the Downtown Synagogue to its
suburban counterparts, wants to
lure more suburbanites down-
town. To that end, the board is
trying to reach out more to the
once-a-year worshippers and is
thinking of organizing special
Shabbat events — such as a
group trip to the Detroit Institute
of Arts — to encourage more reg-
ular attendance.
Leaders are also hoping
Detroit's long-awaited casinos
At the synagogue's Purim party, eight-year-old
and new stadium will bring
Yahcub McGee checks out the refreshments
more Jews into the city, and are
while his dad, Jimmy, talks to Sylvia Idelsohn.
even talking about eventually
setting up some sort of "Jewish c_ \
club" where gamblers or sports fans
year-old chazzan, who often sports a
might stop in first for a meal, shmooz-
necktie with the names of famous opera
ing or a holiday service.
composers, performed in choirs and
" Once they build the ballparks and
operas before joining the Downtown
casinos, it will bring more Jewish
Synagogue 18 years ago. Asked what
people back — not just on Shabbat
changes the Southfield resident has seen
but during the week, too," said
in his years at the synagogue, he says
Gamze. "I just hope it happens while
sadly, "a lot of people have died."
I'm still young enough to enjoy it."
The Future Gamble
Richard Agree, Isaac Agree's great-
Despite losing members to cemeteries
grandson and the last remaining
and the suburbs, the Downtown
Agree descendant on the synagogue
Synagogue's leadership is mobilizing
board, is rooting for the family shul,
to reverse the trend.
where he remembers his grandfather
They are organizing the congrega-
Nathan spending morning and night.
tion's first fundraiser in over 30 years, a
His hope is that "anything that
June 27 dinner at Congregation Beth
helps downtown will bring people to
Shalom honoring Gamze and Idelsohn.
the synagogue." 17
which are different from the "classics"
he heard as a child in Ireland.
To demonstrate, Garber belts out a
few operatic-sounding lines, but then
declares, "Not here! You might as well
be talking to the table. The melodies
are upside down here."
Garber's objections aside, most con-
gregants seem pleased with Cantor
Idelsohn's traditional melodies. The 84-
Cover Photos: clockwise from
upper left-hand corner
A The doors of the synagogue.
Dr. Bruce Friedman and Rabbi
B Noah Gamze roll up the Torah.
Martin Herman and Nubia Pelaez
C
at the congregation's Purim party.
Sylvia Idelsohn, wife of Cantor Israel
D Idelsohn, talks with David Powell.
E Nubia Pelaez talks with Ann
Gamze, wife of Rabbi Noah Gamze.
Jimmy McGee and his
F
eight-year-old son, Yahcub.
G Julius Garber examines
the picture of a former. congregant.
Outside the synagogue.