Community
Calendar

page 48

Mazel
Toy! . . . . ..

page 54

The nS0
We
Learn

And

Way..

The Rabbi
Milton Rosenbaum
Education Wing at
Temple Rnanu-El
is dedicated.

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Rabbi Joseph D. Klein, Temple
Emanu-El rabbi since 1997,
opens the dedication ceremony.

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A beloved rabbi lives on in the

minds, hearts and voices of chil-

Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum, Aaron
Rosenbaum and Dr. Daniel
Rosenbaum, with their mother, Thelma
Rosenbaum, at the dedication.

dren he once taught.

DIANA LIEBERMAN
Staff Writer

ir

he First Chanukah," a
choral blockbuster that
debuted at Temple
Emanu-El 40 years ago,
came back by special request on
Aug. 27.
It was performed by 20 mem-
bers of the original cast and con-
ducted by the original conductor,
who also composed the music.
The performers were only 9
and 10 years old when they first
sang as members of the Oak Park
temple's junior choir. All of them
are a little taller than they were
back then. Their voices have
roughened and deepened. Some

have more girth and others con-
siderably less hair.
This summer's performance
took place at the dedication of
Temple Emanu-El's education
wing in memory of the late Rabbi
Milton Rosenbaum, whose
involvement in the activities of
the temple, Hebrew school and
larger community remains vivid
in the minds of his congregants.
Rabbi Rosenbaum, who creat-
ed the lyrics for the cantata, died
in February at age 85. Rabbi at
Temple Emanu-El from 1956-
1981, he remained an active rabbi
emeritus.
"Even when he retired, he con-
tinued to lead services, make hos-
pital calls, and conduct weddings

and funerals," said Judy
Greenwald of Royal Oak. "People
came to Temple Emanu-El, not
because it was a holiday, but
because Rabbi Milton
Rosenbaum was here."
Herman Fox of Bloomfield
Hills first met Rabbi Rosenbaum
during World War II, when the
rabbi was a combat chaplain in
the Pacific Theater and Fox was
stationed in the Gilbert Islands.
When Fox and his wife,
Lillian, settled in the Detroit
area, they were pleased to see
Rabbi Rosenbaum here as well.
"He was a good man," Lillian
said. "He affected everybody."
The three sections of the can-
tata performed by the former

youth choir members included
the death of Mattathius, patriarch
of the Maccabees. It includes the
lines: "I go to join my fathers
soon. They live in me, as I in
you."
These words were especially
meaningful to Rabbi Rosenbaum's
three sons, Rabbi Jonathan
Rosenbaum of Pennsylvania,
Aaron Rosenbaum of Virginia
and Dr. Daniel Rosenbaum of
Southfield, as well as to their
mother, Thelma Rosenbaum.
Rabbi Jonathan Rosenbaum,
president of Gratz College in
Philadelphia, told the congrega-
tion that his father was "well wor-
thy of this honor, because he
honored all of God's creatures.

9/8
2000

41

