Synagogues
62
Torah Portion
64
A Voice
For Justice
Coalition for Human Rights honors
lifetime activist Rabbi Ernst Conrad.
human rights evaporate in his
native Germany. He was in the
audience at the state opera in Berlin
Gov. Jennifer Granholm was present to congratulate Rabbi Conrad on his on Nov. 9, 1938, the eve of
Lifetime Commitment Award.
Kristallnacht, the Night of the
Broken Glass, when Nazi hoodlums
DIANA LIEBERMAN
looted Jewish stores and synagogues.
Staff Writer
Also in the audience was Hermann Goering,
Hider's second-in-command.
s the United States began sending troops to
The 17-year-old Ernst escaped to the United States
Iraq and armed conflict seemed inevitable,
in 1939, where he lived with relatives in Cincinnati.
one — and only one — Detroit-area rabbi
His mother, grandmother and many other relatives
went on record as opposing a war.
were killed in the Shoah.
That lone anti-war voice was the soft-spoken Rabbi
"I have never been back to Berlin," Rabbi Conrad
Ernst Conrad, founder and rabbi emeritus of West
says. "I have no desire to."
Bloomfield's Temple Kol Ami.
But Rabbi Conrad, 82, says he's "not a super-paci-
A Man Of Principles
fist."
In the words of Pirke Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers), "The
"There are some times when war is justified," he
world
is established on three principles: truth, justice
says. "This was not one."
and peace," said MCHR executive board member
The Berlin-born rabbi's stand against the war in
Charles Rooney.
Iraq is just the latest act in a lifetime of working for
And Rabbi Conrad has spent his life actively pursu-
causes he sees as benefiting the whole of humanity,
ing all three.
from school integration to homosexual rights.
The two first met when Rabbi Conrad was spiritual
"He has been a consistent voice for justice, for all
leader
at Congregation Beth Jacob in Pontiac. Rooney
kinds of human rights causes, for his entire career,"
had
studied
Hebrew as a Catholic seminarian and was
says friend and colleague Rudy Simons of Southfield.
looking for a way to improve his Hebrew skills.
Simons is an executive board member of the
"Ernst has a passion for justice," Rooney says. "He
Michigan Coalition for Human Rights (MCHR),
never avoided the difficult things that most people shy
which presented Rabbi Conrad with its highest honor,
away from."
the Lifetime Commitment Award. Gov . Jennifer
Rabbi Conrad's passion for justice led to his leaving
Granholm was the keynote speaker for the May 18
the Pontiac congregation in 1963.
event, which took place at the Ward Conference
"In June 1963, Martin Luther King led a march in
Center of the University of Detroit Mercy.
Detroit
for equal rights and integration of the schools,"
Founded in 1980, the MCHR is an interfaith,
Rabbi Conrad recalls. "So about 50 of us marched
multi-racial network of humanitarian, religious, civic,
down Huron Street [one of Pontiac's main thorough-
labor and business groups working primarily with the
fares]. A number of congregants weren't very happy
religious community to promote justice and peace.
about that."
Among the other honorees at the organization's May
Along with eight Beth Jacob families, Rabbi Conrad
18 event was Motown singer-songwriter Marvin Gaye,
and his wife, Nathalie, founded a new Reform congre-
who was given a posthumous human rights award.
gation. Until buying the land in West Bloomfield
As a young man, Rabbi Conrad saw respect for
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where Kol Ami now stands, the group met at the
Birmingham Unitarian Church on Woodward Avenue.
"A very wise congregant suggested we locate no
more than five miles away from the intersection of
Maple and Orchard Lake," Rabbi Conrad says. "At
that time, it was a veritable wilderness."
In the congregation's new home, Rabbi Conrad
soon became involved with the West Bloomfield
Schools, helping to found the district's interracial and
interfaith committee, a group that is still unique to
West Bloomfield.
As a congregation, Kol Ami collects food every Yom
Kippur and clothing every Thanksgiving for the needy,
and periodically opens its doors as a shelter for the
homeless. Kol Ami volunteers work at a Pontiac home-
less shelter and tutor elementary school students
through the Jewish Coalition for Literacy.
Rabbi Conrad has continued his work with numer-
ous community organizations, including the MCHR,
the National Conference for Community and Justice
(NCCJ) Michigan Region, the American Arab and
Jewish Friends, the Michigan Coalition for Abortion
Rights and the Interfaith Coalition on Workers' Issues.
Presenting Rabbi Conrad with the Lifetime
Commitment Award was the Rt. Rev. H. Coleman
McGehee, retired bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of
Detroit. For more than 20 years, Bishop McGehee has
joined the Kol Ami rabbi in marches and demonstra-
tions. Most recently, the pair spoke at a Detroit rally
opposing the war with Iraq, then linked arms for a
protest march down Seven Mile Road.
"Everything Ernst does stands in the tradition of the
prophets of Israel," Bishop McGehee says. "He speaks
openly and publicly, opposing the civil rulers when
they put their trust in force."
In accepting his award, Rabbi Conrad recognized
the many friendships he has made in the pursuit of jus-
tice.
"I thanked them all for the joy I have experienced,
and continue to experience, working in the area of
human rights." ❑