Spirituality

An Ins "ration

Becoming a bat mitzvah
is just another move forward
for Marsha Kowal.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

st4-Writer

A

Beth Shalom "family" joins together to
celebrate special member's milestone.

s an adult, there were perhaps more steps
leading up to Marsha Kowal's Sept. 9 bat
mitzvah service than for most, and possi-
bly more time and determination in its
preparation, but the pride it brought to her was
immeasurable.
Kowal, an independent-living services client of
the Jewish Association for Residential Care in
Southfield, has attended the b'nai mitzvah of
many other congregants at Congregation Beth
Shalom. She's been a Beth Shalom member for
much of her adult life.
"For 16 years, every Saturday, I always see a bar
or bat mitzvah," says Kowal. "I said to myself 1
think I can do this.' I asked
the cantor and he said I
could."
For a year, she studied the
Torah blessings and Torah
portion with Cantor Samuel
Greenbaum, practiced them
with her friend Vicki Berg
and met weekly with
Rabbi Debrah Cohen, JARC
chaplain. "She had an aliyah
[call to the Torah], chanted
three verses from the Torah
and gave a Aar Torah [Torah
lesson] that she wrote," Rabbi
Cohen says.
When the time came for
Kowal to be called to the
Torah, "the congregation was
in tears," says Rabbi David
Nelson of Beth Shalom. "It was a spiritual hap-
pening."
With her that day were her mother and stepfa-
ther, Sylvia and Alex Kraft; her sisters and brother-
in-law, Bonnie Kowal and Brenda and Skip
Kovinsky; and nephews, Matthew Kovinsky,
Milton Kovinsky and his fiancee Cheryl
Boykansky.

"I really hoped to do this when my father was
alive. We always talked about it," says Kowal of
her father, the late Meyer Kowal. "But the rabbi
and the cantor said he was there in spirit. And I
wore his tallit [prayer shawl] during my bat mitz-
vah."
To look around the synagogue, Kowal may
have appeared to have been surrounded largely by
congregants and guests, but Rabbi Nelson says all
those who attended are her family. "Her sister
Brenda said Marsha wanted to invite her family
to a luncheon, which she said meant inviting the
whole congregation, because they are her family,"
he says.
Kowal attends synagogue regularly, and also
assists in the preparation of the Shabbat kiddush
[repast following morning service] each week.
"She worked for us with full heart and devotion
for 16 years, making sure the kiddush was always
ready, and always with a smile," Rabbi Nelson
says.
Additionally, for the last 16 years, Kowal has
worked as an administrative assistant at the
Zionist Organization of the American-Michigan
Region in Southfield. She scheduled her lessons
with Cantor Greenbaum secretly, without letting
co-workers know what she was planning. "I always
told everybody at work that I have an appoint-
ment, when I was really meeting with the cantor,"
Kowal says. "I never told them I was going to have
my bat mitzvah. When they got my invitation,
they were all surprised."
"She has a very difficult and challenging
job," Rabbi Cohen says. "She is an inspiration
to others. I've tutored a lot of bar and bat mitz-
vah students and I think she showed more com-
mitment and discipline than most. She listened
to her tapes from the cantor so often that they
would break."
"Marsha's bat mitzvah was a very sacred experi-
ence for everybody who was present in the congre-
gation," Rabbi Nelson says. "We love her so much
and she loves us — and it was a mutual expression
of great, remarkable love. It was something unique
for us, and we're grateful for her."

❑

10/6

2000

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