4111.110111111110111101111110111111111111110.110MMIMPIMINOW BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND! DON'T MISS OUT @kJ THE FUN! summer Openings still Available! 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." ❑ . A New Approach to Creativity WhereYour Child Is Only Limited By His/Her Imagination! xci le __,< itiq DIFFERENT W vI NAT WELCOME to the world of Images and Imagination, fabulous enrichment class- es for children 3 1/2 to 6 years of age. A world where every we tek you see and experience different things. In a warm, nurturing and stimulating setting, children will learn through the use of art, music, drama and science...enjoying and discovering the magic of life. "Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert Einstein •At Images we encourage both! 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