INSIDE: Community Calendar 41 Mazel Toy! 44 Bedecking The Bri The Bridal Canopy makes it possible to borrow the dream wedding gown. ESTHER ALLWEISS TSCHIRHART Special to the Jewish News I nstead of spending hundreds of dollars on her dress, Randi Barken of Ann Arbor, a self- described "bride on a budget," will walk down the aisle this summer in a fashionable gown from the Bridal Canopy, Leah Tolwin's charitable lending closet in Southfield. "You want the bride to look her loveliest, but a wed- ding gown is a great expense for one evening," said Chaya Leah Rothstein of Oak Park, another satisfied customer. She and daughter Channa Gittel visited the Bridal Canopy to peruse its new or nearly new dresses as well as other wedding finery before the young woman mar- ried Yosef Leib Rakow on Feb. 5: Parents of 11, Rothstein and her husband, Benjamin, have five more prospective weddings to finance. "It's a great favor she does for the community," Rothstein says of Tolwin's endeavor. The Bridal Canopy is a gemach — an acronym for gemilut chasidim (dispensing of kindness) — a fund that lends money, services or products to Jews in need. A gemach makes no charge other than what's needed to cover expenses. Thousands of gemachim exist in religious Jewish communities throughout the world, said Tolwin, whose husband Rabbi Alon Tolwin directs the Jewish outreach group Aish HaTorah in Birmingham. In Oak Park, for example, the 5-year-old Zichron Foundation collects donations so needy families can make a wed- ding. Other local gemachim offer such items as mater- nity and children's clothing and semi-custom sheitlach . (wigs) for married women. Tolwin's choice of gemach, offering wedding cloth- ing and more, evolved when she sought to donate "the perfect bubbie dress, suitable for a grandmother of the bride" from her late grandmother's belongings. Community Support "I knew several cities that have bridal gemachim, but there was no group here," Tolwin said, happily realiz- ing she could fill that need. "A wedding is the bride's day, when she is bedecked like a princess," she said. "Today, this dressing has become prohibitive without the support of our com- munity." Now with the Bridal Canopy, a nonprofit program registered through Aish HaTorah, she assists all Jews, including the non-affiliated, with clothing and education about weddings. Tolwin spent her own money on dress racks and five new gowns to open the gemach last September. She currently has a selection of 95 dresses in sizes 0-22, about 60 percent of them new Among her benefactors, "Roma Sposa in Birmingham donated four beautiful dresses — $20,000 worth of dresses," Tolwin said, and 10 more came from the New York corporate offices of David's Bridal, locally in Madison Heights. The lending closet is resplendent with other choices, too, such as mother-of-the-bride gowns from a Tennessee manufacturer, bridal bags from a company in New York and veils and acces- sories valued at $5,000 donated by the Wedding Shop in Royal Oak. "Between September and December, $92,000 worth of goods were given to me," Tolwin said. "I have far surpassed that in the first few months since January." Among the businesses offering discounts for her Leah Tolwin models a wedding dress at the Roma Sposa bridal shop in customers are LuLu's Lingerie in Bloomfield Hills, Birmingham. The shop has donated several gowns toTolwin's nonprofit Bridal Canopy program. Tapper's Diamonds and Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield and Birmingham's Stewart Fabrics and Some customers borrow Made in Heaven, a Jewish Peggendott Originals (dress alterations). Tolwin even wedding guide by Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan. found "women in the community who do facials and Barken of Ann Arbor will marry Scott Sonenshein [hair] up-dos." in July in her hometown of San Diego. She was The Bridal Canopy requires a nominal donation to impressed by the "incredible variety of offerings" when borrow a garment and a professional cleaning after the she looked for a wedding gown at the gemach in wedding. Euro Cleaners in Southfield will clean a February gown for Tolwin's customers at half price — $75. "They're high-quality, beautiful dresses, and almost - The shop is located in Tolwin's home and she sees every one is made out of silk," she said. "Everything I clients by appointment only. would have seen in a bridal shop I saw through Leah. "We have given 13 gowns out; tonight should be You pick a dress and it's given in the same garment No. 14," Tolwin said recently. "Everyone who has bag that a bridal shop would give you." come has taken something, maybe shoes or a slip." Tolwin "has the bride's best interest in mind," Rothstein said. When they changed their minds about a dress they'd taken home, Tolwin worked with the A Jewish Experience Rothsteins until the right gown was located. Visiting the Bridal Canopy is a Jewish experience. As a lending closet borrower, Barken said Tolwin 3 Rothstein, who heard about the gemach through her "didn't make me feel like she was doing me a favor." colleague at Beth Jacob School for Girls in Oak Park, Rather, "she made me feel the incredible experience of says, "Leah made a l'chaim [a toast with wine] and getting married." wished Channa Gittel all her best for her future mar- riage." To donate or borrow a wedding gown, call the Tolwin also presents flowers to the bride-to-be and Bridal Canopy, (248) 424-9244. touches upon a Torah-related passage. "Then, they go look," usually trying on between three to 15 gowns. ‘1•ZkVa.4,.\%. 3/14 2003 37