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about Shabbat, Hebrew, Torah and Israeli
current events to about 23 curious stu-
dents. Her 17-year-old daughter, Leah,
tutors bar and bat mitzvah students.
Classes are taught at three age levels,
starting with kindergarten; adult
Hebrew lessons also are offered.
The GPJC has had similar luck in
finding other pieces to complete the
mosaic that defines its community.

Search For Leadership

For the first seven years, "rent-a-rab-
bis" led the congregation during the
High Holy Days and b'nai mitzvah,
joked Amy Moulton, GPJC board
president since 1998.
But another piece of the mosaic fell
into place when Nicolas Behrmann,
part-time rabbi and fulltime computer
whiz, followed his wife, Joan, to the
Detroit area when she was hired by
the Detroit News. It was another bless-
ing, Moulton said.
Behrmann took a job managing the
global messaging systems for General
Motors and they moved to Grosse
Pointe because it was close to their
jobs.
Formerly a congregational rabbi in
California and Massachusetts,

3/9

2001

16

Behrmann began doing work in the
computer-consulting field. But he
always remained involved in Jewish
education.
Looking for a nearby Jewish com-
munity to join, Behrmann was sur-
prised to find one so close to home.
And Moulton was surprised to get a
call from a rabbi without a flock.
"We interviewed the rabbi at Uncle
Harry's Deli on Mack Avenue, the
only deli on the east side," she said.
Soon after, "Rabbi Nick" became the
rabbi-in-residence.
The rabbi-in-residence role stresses
informality rather than politics, and
that's a main attraction, said
Behrmann.
For years, the GPJC got by with a
"-quasi-choir" made up of members,
But magic struck again in 1999, when
thi e GPJC went searching for a cantor.
Talk among attorneys, one of them a
GPJC member, led to a phone call to
Bryant M. Frank, a business attorney
and part-time cantorial soloist at
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. He
was retained on the spot.
Frank said he's intrigued by the ded-
ication of the group.
"For those of us who affiliate in a
large congregation like Temple Israel,

everything is there for you to do as
you desire," said Frank, who also is a
founding member of Jewish Ensemble
Theatre in West Bloomfield.
"In Grosse Pointe, nothing happens
unless a significant contingent comes
together and makes the services happen."

Keeping Busy

Throughout the years, the GPJC has
been blessed by help from a significant
contingent of hard-working members.
Religious life-cycle events and cele-
brations generally take place once a
month, and it's always taken a lot of
work to put it all together, Jeff
Weingarten said.
Just to hold a service, for example,
takes some serious maneuvering. The
GPJC has an agreernent to use the
chapel of Grosse Pointe United
Church on Chalfonte Avenue in
Grosse Pointe Farms for occasional
services.
For a b'nai mitzvah — the GPJC
has held about 16 so far — 10 volun-
teers are needed to set up the ark and
take it down.
"We have to get the ark out of the
closet, set up the church, put up the
ark, plug in the lights and get the

Torahs (they have two) out of the safe
in someone's house," Weingarten said.
Another group of volunteers
arranges food on Kiddush tables.
Often, 30 percent of the households
are involved.
Besides the monthly board meetings
and religious services about six times a
year, Moulton says the group always
has something going on.
More than 175 people have been
known to attend the GPJC's "second
night" Passover seder. The women
occasionally hold a book club meeting,
while the men play low-stakes poker
on Boys Club night, where even the
rabbi is a regular.
"My rabbinical training does not
give me any particular advantage,"
Behrmann said of his bluffing skills,
"but I've learned to have more of a
poker face."
There have been organized trips to
Detroit's Comerica Park, a summer
picnic, teacher appreciation nights for
public school teachers, progressive din-
ners and road rallies, Moulton said.
Events sometimes extend to the
entire community.
For example, the GPJC hosted a
health care symposium in November
at the Grosse Pointe Woods