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Community
Spirituality
Building A
Jewish Home
Construction under way for The Shul
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SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StagWriter
Itty and Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov and Martin L. Abel from West Bloomfield take a
look at the first stage of The Shul construction.
JAMIE ROSEN
College Intern
N
ine years after the first
mention of the Chabad-
Lubavitch Synagogue
Campus of Living Judaism,
construction is under way for the first
of four projects of the multi-million
dollar, 40-acre educational and reli-
gious complex in West Bloomfield.
Celebrating completion of the first
level of the 18,000-square-foot syna-
gogue, with an expected opening in
July, The Shul will hold a 1:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 7, event at its future
home.
The event will be held in conjunc-
tion with a Sukkot celebration with
music, refreshments and a children's
program. A tour of the campus will
also be available.
The synagogue, led by Rabbi Kasriel
Shemtov and his wife, Itty, holds
Shabbat and holiday services and runs
a youth club, classes and monthly
Friday night dinners in a temporary
West Bloomfield location, with
involvement of some 150 families.
"We're going to have a home so that
people will have a place where they can
10/5
2001
54
come at any time," says Itty Shemtov.
"We will have the opportunity to offer
much more for anyone who is looking
for anything Jewish. People tell us that
when they are here, they feel in touch
with their Judaism. They feel accepted
as they are."
In June, The Shul moved up the
date of groundbreaking for the build-
ing, in tribute to Rabbi Yitschak
Kagan, director of development for the
campus, as well as associate director of
the Lubavitch Foundation of
Michigan, who died that month.
The campus will eventually also
include the Michigan Jewish Institute,
a four-year accredited senior college
currently meeting in Oak Park; the
West Bloomfield-based Meer Family
Friendship Center, serving children
with special needs; and the new Emma
Lazaroff Schaver Judaica Library. ❑
The 1:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 7,
building celebration and Sukkah
party will be held at 6890 Maple
Road in West Bloomfield. For
information, call The Shul, call
(248) 788-7131. There is no
charge.
❑
A
group of children, parents
and volunteers learned how
to go beyond merely tasting
honey to sweeten their New
Year.
They created their own.
Nearly 100 guests attended two
Sweet Things to Come workshops on
Sept. 16 sponsored by the West
Bloomfield-based Chabad Lubavitch
Friendship Circle, which serves chil-
dren with special needs. Participants
joined Rabbi Levi and Bassie Shemtov
in visiting with a beekeeper, viewing a
contained beehive and trying out an
extractor to remove honey from the
hive.
While his wife, dressed in a bee-
keeper's safety uniform, helped the
kids, Rabbi Shemtov taught about
holiday customs. He says the hope of
the workshop was to provide "an
interactive and fun atmosphere for
participants to learn about the reli-
gious significance of Rosh Hashanah."
The workshop, co-sponsored by
the Congregation Shaarey Zedek
Men's Club, took place at the syna-
gogue's Irving and Beverly Laker
Education and Youth Complex in
West Bloomfield.
The group also made their own
candles from the golden beeswax
and, following the tradition of eat-
ing something sweet on Rosh
Hashanah, they shared apples and
freshly made honey. ❑
Top: Rabbi Levi Shemtov demon-
strates how to blow the shofar.
Above: Beekeeper Joel Letvin teach-
es the group about bees and honey.