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Images & Imagination
"This is really a neighborhood," he
Celebrating Diversity
says. It has "a Jewish bookstore, kosher Lowell and Jennifer Friedman never
bakery, kosher butchers, there's life.
thought they'd live in Oak Park.
This is the old neighborhood."
However, the twentysomething pair
When 1-696 was built and
— B'nai Moshe members — bought a
Congregation B'nai Moshe moved to
house on Manhattan about two years
West Bloomfield, Rabbi Nelson never
ago because it was the place to be.
contemplated moving Beth Shalom.
"We liked smaller communities, but
"There are plenty of fine congrega-
we wanted it to be Jewish," Jennifer
tions there; we had a niche here," he
says. "We also like that it's not too
says. "If you rebuild it, they will come."
suburban."
Although Rabbi Nelson lives in
After growing up in Miami and
Southfield, he likes the "quality of life" Southfield, she was attracted to Oak
in Oak Park. "Everybody gets along,"
Park's diverse population, including
he says
Russian Jews, gentiles and African-
For example, when Beth Shalom
Americans who live within a square mile.
needed an easement to build, an
Before they found their bungalow,
Orthodox leader spoke on its behalf at a
Lowell thought Oak Park "seemed old."
city council meeting, Rabbi Nelson says.
Now, he likes the homes, the people
"The whole Jewish world should get
and the convenience to highways. "It's
along as well as we do in Oak Park."
getting younger with people like us
When the I-696 hoopla descent !
moving out here," he says.
Jews across all streams of Judaism came
Their next-door neighbor, Elayne
together. The freew,ly took 30 years to
Gross, grew up near Nine Mile and
complete because every community
Coolidge. After living away for about
along its route was concerned about
a decade, Gross, a photographer, came
potential damage, according to Marion
back.
Freedman, director of the Jewish
"I love the diversity of the neighbor-
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
hood," she says. "It's a place that I'm
Neighborhood Project, which makes
really comfortable with."
interest-free incentive loans to home
Although she has never affiliated
buyers and renovators in some areas of with a synagogue, Gross likes the
Oak Park and Southfield.
Jcwish flavor of Oak Park. She is
At first, there were no plans for
proud that the Jews have not only
pedestrian decks or bridges. That
stayed, but thrived.
would've decimated Oak Park's
She cites the example of St.
Orthodox community, as the highway
Timothy's Baptist Church on
cuts a swath from 10 Mile to 11 Mile,
Coolidge becoming the Lubavitch-run
dividing the city in half. Today, land-
Michigan Jewish Institute. And
scaped pedestrian decks, playgrounds
Federation edged out a church by buy-
and walkways bridge the thoroughfare,
ing the B'nai Moshe building on 10
with sturdy brick walls muffling the
Mile; Yeshiva Beth Yehudah turned it
sound of traffic.
into the Beth Jacob School; the girls'
Those decks "retained the integrity
school was previously at 14 Mile and
of the community,"says Freedma7.
Lahser, a far commute for students.
"When they were finished, we did a
The school recommitted to the
ribbon-tying cerem .)ny, not ribbon-
neighborhood by moving, says Rabbi
cutting, because the community was
E.B. (Bunny) Freedman, a longtime
being tied together."
Oak Park activist and director of the
Housed in the Jimmy Prentis Morris Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy
Building of the Jewish Community
Network. His Oak Park house has
Center on 10 Mile Road, the
tripled in value since he bought it 22
Neighborhood ProjeCt not only offers
years ago.
incentive loans to Jews living in party
Ilene and Marty Abrin also are corn-
of Oak Park and Southfield, but also
. mitted to Oak Park. The Conservative
plans programs to bring Jews together.
couple moved in six months after they
The Jewish Federation established the
married in 1982, and recently built a
program "to retain the infrastructure
home significantly larger than others
of this Jewish community."
on their block. They regularly socialize
Since 1986, the Project has loaned
with neighbors and sit on the porch
monies to 1,143 families buying hous-
late at night.
es. In 1997, it established a home
"It's very down-to-earth. Half the
improvement program, providing funds people you don't know but you don't
to 104 families. The loans are not need- hesitate to say hello," Ilene Abrin says.
based; it's merely "an incentive" to live
"What made us stay was the values
in the area. Of a $1.4 million pool,
of people. Jewish or gentile, black or
$1.3 million are currently out in loans.
white, it's a mixing pot." ❑
.
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