The
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iri
Rabbi Simkha Weintraub
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
ven in death, the memory of family physi-
cian Dr. Fred Benderoff continues to
inspire healing.
Understanding how meaningful attend-
ing Adat Shalom healing services had been to him
during his 1999 terminal illness, his family sought a
way to share the benefit he reaped with others, insti-
tuting the Dr. Fred Benderoff Memorial Healing
Lecture.
The first of what is to be an annual program will
take place 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 28, at the
Farmington Hills synagogue, where the doctor's fam-
ily has been involved for 50 years.
Generally a traditionalist when it came to medical
treatment, Dr. Benderoff's daughter, Gayle Benderoff
Israel of Fairfield, Conn., says her father, a Hazel
Park-based family physican, "was immediately drawn
into the service" after being diagnosed with metastat-
ic stomach cancer in February 1999.
"He found it moving and therapeutic and dis-
covered solidarity with others facing serious illness
and other life challenges," she says. "He was able
to give of himself in a way that brought out his
years of expertise as a physician and his newfound
About the speaker: page 48
Related commentary: page 5
Of
Adat Shalom lecture series
established in memory of long-time
member Dr. Fred Benderoff
Dr. Fred Benderoff
awareness as a patient."
Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, a clinical social
worker who counsels, teaches, writes and lectures on
Jewish spiritual resources in confronting illness, will
lead the first program.
The lecture series is sponsored by Dr. Benderoff's
wife Ann of Farmington Hills; children Gayle and Sy
Israel of Fairfield, Conn., Paula and Howard Donsky
of Rochester, N.Y., Ilene and Bruce Kovan and Bruce
and Carol Benderoff, all of Bloomfield Hills; Brian
Benderoff of Southfield and 12 grandchildren.
Dr Beneroff's children all attended and worked at
Tamarack Camps where Dr. Benderoff seved as camp
physician for several summers.
The hope of the family, says Gayle Benderoff
Israel, is for the lecture to "be useful not only to peo-
ple in crisis, but to all people in the community, by
raising consciousness of the importance of spiritual
healing and strength in combating illness and diffi-
cult times."
It is with this sentiment that the healing services
at Adat Shalom began three years ago. "The services
are not only for physical healing," says Rabbi
Herbert Yoskowitz, who conducts the services five
times a year with Cantor Howard Glantz.
"They are for anyone going through challenges of
life or feelings of emptiness. But they are also helpful
for those who come before death, like Fred did," he
says of Dr. Benderoff.
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Rabbi Herbert Yoskowitz
Those Who Care
The services were begun in conjunction with the estab-
lishment of the Adat Shalom Caring Community,
chaired by Diane Howitt of Farmington Hills and
Susie Graham of West Bloomfield, who also co-chair
this first lecture.
"The Caring Community is formed of very special
people who assist and frame the healing service," Rabbi
Yoskowitz says.
The group also visits chronically ill patients from
among Adat Shalom membership in their homes or
nursing facilities. The members are trained by social
worker Ruby Kushner of Farmington Hills and Rabbi
Yoskowitz, who holds a master's degree in clinical psy ,.
chology.
Gayle Benderoff Israel says her family looks toward
a continuing annual program that "may offer discus-
sions by important physicians, researchers, writers and
others who will look at the subject of healing from
diverse perspectives."
Rabbi Yoskowitz describes Adat Shalom as "possibly
the first congregation with an endowed healing annual
lecture program anywhere in the country."
He sees it as a viable and significant expansion of
the benefits received by those in the synagogue's heal-
ing services. He says, "We are aiming at those who are
looking for spirituality, which I call giving meaning
and purpose in life, during a time when they need
healing." El
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