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On The Move
Rabbi Popkys announced departure from Beth Ahm is the latest Conservative clergy shift.
T
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
Imes are a bit bittersweet at Congregation
Beth Ahm.
There is anticipation and excitement in
the air regarding tomorrow's unveiling of a
new Shabbat morning service and prayer book. [See
related story, page 14.]
Yet, there is also a sense of loss as Charles Popky,
the West Bloomfield synagogue's rabbi for the past 3 1/2
years has announced
that he is leaving.
Rabbi Popky sees
the time as right for
him to move on. In
a Nov. 21 letter to
the membership, he
said, [while] "this is
a great, warm com-
munity where I am
blessed \Nrith a won-
derful congregation
and fantastic col-
leagues, I am look-
ing for different
spiritual and profes-
sional challenges."
Rabbi Popky
With two pre-
school children,
moving his family would be an easier endeavor now
than in the future, he said.
"While most likely I will seek out a pulpit, there
are so many opportunities around now that weren't
available when I graduated 15 years ago," he said. "I
am keeping myself open to a number of pulpit and
non-pulpit possibilities."
"We treasure — and will continue to do so — the
many relationships that we have created here," Rabbi
Popky's letter read. "We are blessed in that Beth Ahm
is not merely a place of work; it is a place of friendship
and camaraderie."
In a letter sent to the congregation, synagogue
President Sidney Blackman wrote, "Rabbi Popky is
exercising the option under his contract ... [and] he
has chosen to explore other professional opportunities.
"We are grateful for his dedication to Beth Ahm ...
[and] wish Rabbi Popky the very best in his future
endeavors."
Blackman wrote that the congregation will "be
affording [the rabbi] the opportunity to conduct his
search [for a new position] as necessary. In turn, he
will be supportive of the congregation's efforts and
needs in the search for his successor."
Rabbi Popky, who arrived at the synagogue in 2000
— after Rabbi Aaron Bergman left to become director
of Jewish studies at the Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit (JAMD) — will leave the con-
gregation when his contract expires June 30, 2004.
Search Committee
During his tenure, Rabbi Popky has seen the
Conservative congregation go through several transi-
tions, including the departure of its cantor, David
Montefiore (who is currently at Temple Beth El), and
the incorporation of its religious school into the Beth
Achim Religious School at Adat Shalom Synagogue.
"With 85 percent of our congregation's children
attending Hillel Day School [in Farmington Hills], it
was not financially viable for us to hold classes for the
small percentage of those who would go to our reli-
gious school," said Tessa Goldberg, executive director
of Beth Ahm.
On the other hand, the congregation's Samantha
Erin Rosen Nursery School is going strong, says
Goldberg. Beth Ahm has initiated a new Shabbat
morning service and made several capital improve-
ments to its building.
"We have recently renovated our chapel, our
memorial room, our preschool classes and our play-
ground — and we've hired a new preschool director,
Cathy Rozenberg," Rabbi Popky said. "Even though I
made the decision to move on, as long as I'm here I
will keep moving forward with the synagogue."
While the board of the 400-family-member Beth
Ahm has decided not to hire a cantor, a rabbinic
search committee was immediately established to fill
the position to be left by Rabbi Popky. The commit-
tee, formed by President Blackman, will be chaired by
members Leonard Farber, Irving Nusbaum and
George Vine.
"We are continuing to move forward and looking
to a positive bright future, making positive changes,
Goldberg said.
In his letter to the congregation, Rabbi Popky wrote:
"I am deeply grateful for the privilege of having served
the congregation, and for the warmth that you have
extended in welcoming our family into the community"
"
Changes Abound
Beth Ahm is not the only place where Conservative
clergy changes have taken place in the past three years.
More than half of Detroit's suburban Conservative
congregations and several agencies employing
Conservative rabbis have made staff changes.
For most, Detroit was a much-appreciated stepping-
stone to advanced out-of-state job opportunities.
"It is natural for some rabbis early in their careers to
move on after a few years," said Rabbi Daniel Nevins
of Adat Shalom Synagogue. "This was the case with
the `UJ4,'" he said, referring to Rabbis Amy and Scott
Bolton, Hal Greenwald and Jay Strear, who arrived
together in Detroit, following their 2000 rabbinic ordi-
nation at the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies at the
University of Judaism (UJ) in Los Angeles. Within
three years, all had moved out of Michigan.
Rabbi Strear took a position at UJ, where last
month he became the senior director of development.
"While he made great contributions at Adat Shalom,
his heart was in Southern California," Rabbi Nevins
said. "We are happy he is thriving there and continue
to cherish his friendship."
The other three left community-based positions.
Rabbi Greenwald left his
post as director of Jewish
education at the Jewish
, Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit for a
position as rabbi-in-residence
at the Abraham Joshua
Heschel Day School in
Northridge, Calif. Rabbi
Amy Bolton, who was direc-
tor of outreach and educa-
tion at the Jewish Hospice
and Chaplaincy Network in
Rabbi Nevins
Southfield, and her husband,
Rabbi Scott Bolton, moved
to New Jersey. Rabbi Scott Bolton, who taught Bible
and rabbinics at JAMD, worked as rabbi-educator at
Congregation Shaarey Zedek and served as community
educator at Hillel, now is head of school at the
Solomon Schechter Day School of Raritan County
N.J.
"This is a time for great mobility in the rabbinate,"
Rabbi Popky said, citing Rabbi Lee Buckman's move
from a pulpit rabbi to head of school at JAMD and
Rabbi Strear's move to an administrative position.
12/12
2003
65