Torah Portion .. .

BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News

aarey

Rabbi Irwin

Groner's

career spans

43 years filled

with adversity,

*Nsvw,v -k

I

t was a bright winter morning, and a seem-
ingly uneventful Shabbat service was going
on at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in
Southfield. But before it was over, it would
become the darkest day in the history of the syna-
gogue and the Detroit Jewish community.
The fateful day also would create one of the
greatest challenges in the career of Irwin Groner,
then the young assistant rabbi who would unite
and galvanize the congregation and, thus, shape a
rabbinical career that has made a lasting mark in
Judaism nationwide.
The day was Feb. 12, 1966. Rabbi Morris
Adler, Shaarey Zedek's beloved longtime spiritual
leader, was gunned down on the bimah by
Richard Wishnetsky, a troubled young member of
the synagogue.
Rabbi Adler, 60, one of the best-known reli-
gious leaders in the country, first was shot in the
arm. He found the strength to push the bar mitz-
vah boy out of the way. A second shot hit him in
the back of the head. Wishnetsky then shot him-
self and died. Rabbi Adler lingered for a month
before passing away.
Rabbi Groner was at Tamarack Camps in
northern Oaldand County with a youth group
that day. He rushed back after sundown to com-
fort the Adler family and congregants who wit-
nessed the incident. He also officiated at
Wishnetsky's funeral.
"I did what had to be done," he said simply.
Then he went about the task of unifying the
stunned congregation.
Both rabbis had counseled Wishnetsky in the
months leading up to the shooting,-"but we never
sensed he would do a thing like that," Rabbi
Groner recalled. "It was a great tragedy and we

A Lifetime

Of Leadership