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Spirituality

s.

Crowning
Moment

Sephardic congregants begin
construction on permanent new
home in West Bloomfield.

SUSAN TAWIL
Special to the Jewish News

A

fuer 10 years of planning, Detroit Jewry's
Sephardic congregation broke ground on Sept.
16 for a new synagogue in West Bloomfield.
The 65-family congregation, Keter Torah
(Crown of Torah), is on the northwest corner of Walnut
Lake and Orchard Lake roads, two miles from its tempo-
rary home in a strip mall at Walnut Lake and Drake
roads.
If construction proceeds as planned, Keter Torah will
hold High Holiday services next year in the new 5,500-
square-foot facility.
In addition to the sanctuary, the building will include a
library, -a kitchen and office space. A mikvah (ritual bath)
will be added later.
Services at Keter Torah follow Sephardic Orthodox
practice, with traditional melodic singing accompanying
the Hebrew prayers. But President Eli Shalom said all
Jews are welcome, not only Sephardim, Jews primarily of
Spanish and Middle East descent.
Over the years, the congregation was comprised of var-
ious Jewish immigrant groups fleeing lands of persecu-
tion: Turkey, Egypt, Iran, Morocco and occupied Greece.
Most of the shul's newer members are Israeli.
At the groundbreaking, Shalom praised members Avie
Benederet of West Bloomfield, president of Crystal
Homes, and Eli Rashty of Bloomfield Township, presi-
dent of Eli's Construction, for volunteering time and
labor.
Rabbis Avraham Cohen, Yigal Tsaidi and Milton Arm
gave words of blessing.
Shirley Behar of Southfield, whose parents, Judith and
Jacob Chicorel, founded Detroit's Sephardic minyan in
1917, also spoke. West Bloomfield resident Sam Papo
expressed delight in having a permanent spiritual home
after 65 years of membership.
Most of the speakers urged congregants to grow strong
together in light of the attack on America and to dedicate
their new building, and themselves, to kedushah — holi-
ness.
Rabbi Tsaidi recited, responsively in Hebrew with con-
gregants, the talmudic phrase: "May the year with its
curses end, and may a year of blessings begin." ❑

From the top:
Rabbi Avraham
Cohen and President
Eli Shalom aboard the
steam shovel.

Sam Papo has been
affiliated with the
Sephardic Community
of Greater Detroit for
65 years.

The builders are Avi
Benaderet and Eli
Rashty.

Rabbi Tsaidi poses
inside the steam shovel.

9/28

2001

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