Co moult

Mazel Toy!

Changeots

i'VA6M 't\-: U

A the age of 80, Ed Cardiff made
a major change in his life.

SHARON LUCKERMAN

Editorial Assistant

E

Szy.

6/23
2000

52

ighty-year-old Ed Cardiff
made a big decision last year.
"I've been with my wife
Marion for 38 years," he
says, "and I wanted to be with her for
the rest of my life." He wanted to share
his wife's Jewish religion and be buried
beside her. But he was a Unitarian.
He decided to convert, and earlier
this month Cardiff became a Jew.
"It's monotheistic," he says about
Unitarianism in his characteristic
directness, "and not a big step to
Judaism." •
Though he suffered three strokes
and is hard of hearing, Cardiff attended
services at Congregation B'nai Moshe
in West Bloomfield for a year before he
converted. When asked how he is
doing with Hebrew, he snaps, "It's all

Greek to me." He does, however, know
the Shema and other Hebrew prayers.
"His preparation for conversion," says
Rabbi Elliot Pachter, "was not difficult
since Ed was knowledgeable about
Jewish traditions, and he already lived
.in a traditional Jewish home."
Rabbi Pachter on several occasions
visited with Cardiff at his home in
West Bloomfield to discuss Judaism
and his intentions to convert.
Cardiff has come a long way from
his Eagle Scout days in Hoopeston,
Ill., 100 miles south of Chicago.
While young, he dreamed of flying,
and he became a Navy pilot during
World War II, earning an air medal
for bravery in combat.
Cardiff returned to school after the
war and graduated from the University
of Illinois in industrial design in 1949.
Eventually he became a partner in the
design firm Pellegrin and Cardiff

Marion Cardiff, 69, recalls her first
date with her future husband. "Ed had
a Jewish neshama, a Jewish soul." Both
had been married before, and each
had two children. Together they have
four grandchildren.
Though his daughter Ann, 50, from
Pleasant Hill, Calif., had never been in
a synagogue before, she wheeled her
handicapped father during his conver-
sion ceremony.
"I never had a conversion like this,"
says Rabbi Pachter. At the ceremony at
Temple Israel, the rabbi had to roll up
his pants to help Cardiff to the mikva
before Cardiff went the rest of the way
on his own.
A little leery about that "other" ritu-
al for men, Cardiff, Rabbi Pachter
notes, had a great sense of humor.
When the mohel, Cantor Samuel
Greenbaum of Congregation Beth
Shalom, ceremonially pricked Cardiff's

skin, the rabbi says, "Ed winced [Mrs.
Cardiff remembers a yelp], and
exclaimed, 'It wasn't this difficult
becoming a Unitarian!'"
Since his conversion, Cardiff has
gone to services weekly. "I don't think
I'll go every Shabbat," he says.
However, there is a Jewish gathering he
attends "religiously" three times a week
at Fleischman Residence in West
Bloomfield, where he was highlighted
last January in their newsletter.
"The real story here," says Rabbi
Pachter, "is the two of them —
Marion and Ed — having their spiri-
tual paths come together at this stage
of their lives."
"What was most touching to me,"
says Marion, "is after the [rituals] were
over, the rabbi recited from the Book
of Ruth — 'Wherever though goest, I
will go.' And Ed took his vows and I
just cried." ❑

