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Synagogue Listings • .62

Torah Portion

Examining

iorities

Rabbi Yedwab takes over

Rabbi Nevins as Michigan Board

of Rabbis president.

Rabbi Paul Yedwab

Rabbi Daniel Nevins

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

binate and to use this forum to help
us all to do a better job of bringing
Jews to Judaism," he says.
Rabbi Yedwab praises Rabbi
Dannel Schwartz of Temple Shir
Shalom, immediate past president
on the previous MBOR executive
committee, "for his extraordinary
vision and his energy in meeting his
goal" and Rabbi Daniel Nevins of
Adat Shalom Synagogue, the outgo-
ing president, "for his remarkable
sensitivity to the Jewish tradition
and to individuals as well."
Moving up from the post of vice
president, Rabbi Yedwab says his
"perfect attendance record" kept him
on top of matters and concerns to
the MBOR overt qe past two years.
The new MBOR board, corn-
prised of rabbis from the
Conservative, Humanistic,
Orthodox, Reconstructionist and
Reform movements, also includes
Rabbi Elliot Pachter of
Congregation B'nai Moshe as vice
president and Rabbi Arnie
Sleutelberg of Congregation Shir
Tikvah as treasurer.
The group's administrator is the
Jewish Community Council of

Staff Writer

T

he newly installed presi-
dent of the Michigan"
Board of Rabbis
(MBOR), Rabbi Paul
Yedwab of Temple Israel, recently
reflected on his leadership role and
the group's future.
.
While his original course of
action was to spend the first half of
his two-year term focusing on inter-
nal issues, he is changing the plan.
"It has become clear to me that
our first priority must now be to
help our community galvanize sup-
port for both Israel and America in
our mutual war against terrorism,"
says Rabbi Yedwab, who began his
presidency June 12 at a MBOR
meeting at Adat Shalom Synagogue.
His hope, he says, is that "with
God's help, the world situation will
change and we will be able to spend
my second year as president on the
internal issues of being a rabbi here
in Michigan.
"I want the MBOR to be a cata-
lyst for some personal soul-searching
for us as a Detroit metropolitan rab-

6/21
2002

58

Metropolitan Detroit. Until Ji.ine 14,
the executive director of the MBOR
had been Rabbi Marla Feldman,
JCCouncil assistant director for
domestic concerns, now starting an
Aug. 1 job in New York City as
director of the commission on social
action for the Reform movement's
Union of American Hebrew
Congregations.

Rabbi Nevins' Record

The Temple Israel rabbi says he was
present during each of the initiatives
Rabbi Nevins put in place in his
two-year term of office, including
the institution of a dvar Torah
(Torah lesson) at the start of each
meeting and a dialogue with funeral
home directors.
The April 15 chartered flights to
the Stand With Israel rally in
Washington, D.C., filled largely
with Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit (JAMD) par-
ticipants, was arranged through the
MBOR. The group also has worked
diligently to generate support for the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit's Israel Emergency
Campaign and the American Israel

Public Affairs Committee.
Rabbi Nevins also instituted a
new program, inviting local cantors
to join in special annual gatherings.
"The meetings with the cantors have
been wonderful and will definitely
continue," Rabbi Yedwab says.
Several community statements
were created with the cantors,
including the positively received
b'nai mitzvah guidelines that stress a
return to greater Jewish substance.
Overall, during his term, Rabbi
Nevins says, "We tried hard to make
a safe space for discussing substan-
tive issues and allowing our entire
gamut of rabbis — from Orthodox
to Humanistic — to participate.
Mostly we learned from each other,
and 'expressed our mutual apprecia-
tion."
Recalling the presidency of Rabbi
Schwartz before him, Rabbi Nevins
says, "Rabbi Schwartz's tenure was
marked by several dramatic develop-
ments, which we continued."
He says they include "sponsorship
of a Jewish Clinical Pastoral
Education course, continuing educa-
tion for clergy on crisis response and
an upgrading of our budget to