In Memory Of A Friend
Community pays tribute to Rabbi Yitschak Meir Kagan.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
ou only had to meet him once and he was
your friend," said Jack Shenkman of
Rabbi Yitschak Meir Kagan. A look
around at those who came to pay tribute
to the rabbi showed the sentiment was matched by
the 900 in attendance.
For many whose lives were touched by the rabbi,
the June 3 memorial service in
Southfield, chaired by
Shenkman of Farmington
Hills, was the first opportunity
to pay respects to Rabbi
Kagan. Most had been unable
to travel to his funeral, held in
New York hours after he died
tragically in an automot
Rabbi Kagan
crash there on May 13.
As assocl:..te director of the
Lubavitch Foundation of
Michigan for the last 35 years, Rabbi Kagan's teach-
ings and non-judgmental respect made an impact
on countless individuals in communities far from
his Oak Park home.
In a program of video clips and touching stories, the
crowd was offered a glimpse c r the man who made a
life-changing, unique and personal impact on many in
the room.
From the college student who each Shabbat uses
candlesticks given to her by the rabbi when she became
a bat mitzvah to families torn apart by intermarriage,
they shared their stories, privately at luncheon tables
adorned with small replicas of Rabbi Kagan's books,
and publicly from the double-tiered dais.
y
The Rabbi's Impact
Dr. Jerome Kasle spoke of Rabbi Kagan's outreach
work as founder of Chabad houses in many cities,
including Kasle's hornet , 'n of Flint, where the
rabbi inspired a transformation in the religious
observance J f his family.
The rabbi's brother, Dr. David Kagan, spoke
about family ties and lessons of tolerance and
integrity learned as a child.
Related editorial.• page 35
6/8
2001
18
Rabbi Kagan's son, Rabbi Chanoch Kagan, led a
completion of the reading of the Mishnah (com-
mentary on the Torah), which in past weeks was
studied in its entirety by rabbinical students at
Yeshiva Menachem Mendel Lubavitch in Oak Park
in the rabbi's honor. The memorial service was actu-
ally a seudat mitzvah, a meal of celebration, held
upon the completion.
"It is customary to merit a soul by learning the
Mishnah, a word with the same Hebrew letters as
neshamah, meaning soul," explains Rabbi Kasriel
Shemtov who, with his wife Itty, coordinated the service.
A variety of speakers honored the rabbi in various ways.
The group heard the words of Sen. Carl Levin,
D-Mich. as recorded in a recent Congressional •
Record statement and nodded their heads in agree-
ment as U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn told of
Rabbi Kagan, the no-pressure fund-raiser who relat-
ed to people from all walks of life.
An account of Dr. George Dean's extraordinary
relationship with Rabbi Kagan brought applause
from the crowd when he described how the rabbi
counseled and taught Dr. Dean's son, who had been
all-but-lost from Judaism. His son is now a rabbi in
Continuing A Dream
Lubavitch Synagogue campus of Living Judaism
prepares to break ground.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StaffWriter
half-mile west of the West Bloomfield
Jewish Community Center, in the midst
of a forest of trees and untouched vvet-
lands, lies a paved, marked, multimillion
dollar, 40-acre dream about to be realized.
In the planning stages since 1991, the vision of
Rabbi Yitschak Meir Kagan is about to become reali-
ty in the educational and religious complex named
the Synagogue Campus of Living Judaism.
He was at the forefront of the dream," says Rabbi
Kasriel Shemtov, vice president of the Michigan Jewish
Institute, a college that will be housed on the new cam-
pus. "He was instrumental in its progress," Rabbi
Sherntov- says of the rabbi who was director of develop-
ment for the campus in addition to his role as associate
director of the Lubavitch Foundation of Michigan.
"The dream was to start four institutions, all projects
of the Lubavitch Foundation," Rabbi Shemtov says.
There will be a college, synagogue, library and the
Friendship Circle. The Meer Family Friendship Center
of Friendship Circle will be comprised of the Ferber-
Kaufman Lifetown, serving children with special needs;
the Daniel B. Sobel Friendship House, a substance
abuse and isolation counseling center for adults and
teens; and the Morrie and Sybil Fenkell Volunteer Club.
A
All but the library were established in other loca-
tions, with the plan for them to soon come together
to share the campus land. In 1994, the Friendship
Circle and Michigan Jewish Institute, whose presi-
dent is Rabbi Kagan's brother, Dr. David Kagan,
were formed. MJI, a four-year accredited college in
Oak Park, had 240 students in its classes this year.
The school offers courses toward bachelor of
applied science degrees in computer information sys-
tems and business information systems and a certifi-
cate in talmudic law. Also available are dual high
school-college enrollment courses for public high
school students, based at Bloomfield Hills' Andover
High School, and a study-in-Israel program.
In September 1998, the Shill began to hold
Shabbat and holiday services. It now boasts a youth
club, classes and monthly Friday night dinners in a
temporary West Bloomfield location. Some 150
families are involved in the activities of the syna-
gogue, led by Rabbi Shemtov and his wife Itty. It
also will be utilized by students of the college.
The Emma Lazaroff Schaver Judaica Library, still
to be developed, will be built on the campus with
community use in mind.
Sitting alone on the vast area, campus offices are
housed in two trailers that Rabbi Kagan once said were
placed there for staff to feel the presence on the land.
"We are ready to fulfill the dream of a home for these