IDITors MCI

A Feeling Of Community

"Behold, how good and how pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in
unity!"
— Psalms 133:1

shul, their neighborhood could
remain visually pleasing and older
folks who were the soul of the com-
munity could stay put.
We were considered rabble-
igh humidity
rousers at the time," Freed-
made the 92-
man said. "We were told
degree tempera-
that the highway's coming
tures feel like a
through, so let it be."
Today, north Oak Park
sauna. But I was bound to
ripples with Jewish identity,
do this year's Walk for Israel.
thanks to the overpasses and
And I'm glad I did.
The two-mile trek
the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's spon-
through the heartland of
sorship of senior housing
north Oak Park, a largely
arising from a landmark
Orthodox area, proved to be
ROBERT A.
"mitigation" deal cut by the
far more energizing than
SKLAR
activists with the Carter
draining.
Editor
administration.
For what I saw was a
Federation also was key in
vibrant Jewish neighborhood
two important conversions. The
that had been left for dead just a few
Jimmy Prentis Morris Building, for-
years before.
merly a JCC branch, became a full-
The walk was stunning in more
service facility that includes a pool and
ways than one — 1950s ranches in
health club. The former Congregation
the shadows of double-lot mansions,
B'nai Moshe property became the
black-hat Jews living amid young
Sally Allan Alexander Beth Jacob
Reform and Conservative families,
School for Girls.
New Americans mingling with unaffil-
North Oak Park ... secure, neigh-
iated Jews who have moved back from
borly, a Jewish melting pot.
Novi and Troy, parkland spanning
Temple Emanu-El, a Reform syna-
freeway overpasses.
gogue, and Congregation Beth
Last week, I revisited the area to
Shalom, a Conservative synagogue,
reinforce earlier impressions shaped by
thrive amid the Orthodox shuls and
a conversation with Rabbi E.B.
day schools.
"Bunny" Freedman on the Walk for
The Jewish Community Center,
Israel. He and his wife, Shaindy, have
the Kollel Institute, the Workmen's
raised seven children during their 23
Circle Educational Center, Boren-
years as Oak Parkers.
stein's Book & Music Store, Machon
Freedman's passion for the city was
L'Torah, A Taste of Israel, Bagels
a refreshing antidote to the walk's
Plus, Unique Kosher Carry Out,
sweltering conditions.
New York Pizza World ... all sign-
"Fifteen years ago," said the Hos-
posts of a robust Jewish community.
pice of Michigan's Jewish services
There's even a kosher Slurpee maker
director during the June 6 trek, "the
at 7-Eleven.
thought of a Walk for Israel in this
On the investment side, Jews are
neighborhood was inconceivable."
among the bottom-line-oriented,
Back then, the specter of the 1-696
civic-minded entrepreneurs responsi-
freeway threatened the well-kept
ble for bringing to the neighborhood a
streets of predominantly observant
business infrastructure that provides
Jews in the two-square-mile area
basic goods and services.
bounded by Nine Mile, Coolidge, 11
It's a community with countless
Mile and Greenfield.
examples of Jews helping Jews, with
The fear was that the freeway, so
little, infighting. Orthodox Jews ral-
desperately needed as an east-west
lying behind Beth Shalom congre-
thoroughfare, would divide and ulti-
gants seeking zoning approval to
mately kill the plucky Orthodox com-
expand their school is but one exam-
munity that had made Oak Park the
ple.
most enduring of all metro-Detroit
From what I can see, the great sta-
Jewish neighborhoods.
bilizer behind north Oak Park's stay-
But an unlikely coalition embrac-
ing power as a hotspot for Jewish life
ing neighborhood shuls and activists
is the Neighborhood Project. The 11-
convinced highway officials to build
year-old project, supported by the
three overpass parks and contribute
United Jewish Foundation of Metro-
toward new housing for uprooted
politan Detroit, offers interest-free
seniors. The byproduct was that
incentive loans to homebuyers and
observant Jews could walk safely to

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Yehudis Tawil, 10, Layah Rosenzweig, 10, and Nechama Tawil, 7, enjoy a bike ride
near the Sally Allan Alexander Beth Jacob School for Girls in north Oak Park.

renovators in the area.
For if Detroit Jews are known for
anything, it's our relentless northwest-
erly march away from the ghetto that
was Hastings Street in 1910. Nowhere
have Jews stayed as long as they have
in Oak Park — which Jews first called
home in the 1950s.
"Simply put," said Freedman,
"there's an appreciation for the com-
munity that is Oak Park."
He's right.
I grew up in northwest Detroit, just
across Eight Mile Road from Oak
Park. So I've been around for many of
the city's incarnations.
And the one thing it has never .
lacked, even in the dark clays before
the overpasses spurred a neighbor-
hood revival, is a feeling of commu-
nity.
I sensed that while aboard the rides
at the old Kiddieland on Eight Mile,
visiting relatives near Katz's Deli on
Nine Mile and, in later years, enjoying
Oak Park Park (Shepherd Park) with
my family.
A feeling of community .. .
How else would you explain more
than 1,000 homebuyers, a third of
whom are Orthodox, taking advantage
of Neighborhood Project loans to live
in the city?
Or the approval of 24 loans total-
ing $112,000 last year to fix up Oak
Park homes?
Or wealthy Orthodox Jews, who
could afford the opulence of West
Bloomfield or Bloomfield Hills, build-

ing 4,000-square-foot homes in Oak
Park, instantly boosting surrounding
property values?
Or Temple Emanu-El, Congrega-
tion Beth Shalom and Young Israel of
Oak Park all renovating rather than
relocating?
Or the popularity of the summer
concert series, kosher food fair and
inter-stream synagogue events?
Oak Park isn't utopia. Some mer-
chants have found it hard to make
ends meet. The public schools don't
benefit from the top-notch Orthodox
students who are day-school bound.
Sit-down kosher restaurants haven't
flourished. And more neighborhood
retail services are needed.
Still, north Oak Park is a micro-
cosm of what many American Jews
envision for the Jewish homeland
6,000 miles away.
As Rabbi Freedman put it: "In this
neighborhood, in our little corner of
the world, what's only dreamed about
for Israel, in terms of solidarity among
Jews, is alive and well.
"What we've learned is that the dif-
ferent kinds of Yiddishkeit don't really
matter as long as there's a sense of
unity."

❑

To leave a message for Robert
Sklar, please call (248) 354-6060,
ext. 258, or e-mail
rsidar@theiewishnews.com

7/9

1999

Detroit Jewish News

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