Torah Portion
Synagogues
The Thunderous Quiet
Of God's Presence
SYNAGOGUE from page 53
CONGREGATION BETH EL
2525 Mark Ave., Windsor; (519) 969-2422. Rabbi:
Jeffrey Ableser. Cantor: Marci Shulman. Services:
5:45 p.m. the first and last Friday of the month; 8
p.m. intermediate Fridays.
TEMPLE BETH EL
7400 Telegraph, Bloomfield Township, 48301, (248)
851-1100. Rabbis: Daniel B. Syme, David Scott
Castiglione. Cantor: David Montefiore. Services: Friday
7:30 p.m. Saturday 10:30 a.m. Sunday 9:40 a.m.
Glazer Institute weekend, Rabbi David Saperstein,
speaker. Saturday Tot Shabbat at 9:15 a.m.
TEMPLE BETH EL (FLINT)
5150 Calkins, Flint, 48532, (810) 720-9494. Rabbi:
Karen Companez. Cantorial soloist: Aleksander
Chernyak. Services: First Friday of the month 6:15
p.m.; second Friday 8 p.m.; all other Fridays 8 p.m.
TEMPLE BETH EL (MIDLAND)
2505 Bay City Road, Midland, 48642, (517) 835-
4822. Guest teacher: Hal Greenwald. President: Stuart
J. Bergstein. Services: Friday 8 p.m. once a month.
Regularly scheduled High Holiday services for the tri-
city area.
TEMPLE BETH EMETH
2309 Packard, Ann Arbor, 48104, (734) 665-4744.
Rabbi: Robert D. Levy. Chazzan: Ann Zibelman Rose.
Services: Friday 8 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. Family
service once a month at 7:30 p.m. replaces 8 p.m.
Friday service; call for specific dates.
BETH ISAAC SYNAGOGUE
2730 Edsel Dr., Trenton, 48183, (734) 675-0355.
Services: Friday 7:30 p.m. Congregational leaders
conduct services throughout the year.
TEMPLE BETH ISRAEL
801 W. Michigan Ave., Jackson 49202; (517) 784-
3862. Rabbi: Jonathan V. Plaut. Rabbi emeritus: Alan
Ponn. Cantorial soloist: Clara Silver. President: Dr.
Cathy Glick. Services: Friday 8 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m.
the first Saturday of the month.
CONGREGATION CHAYE OLAM
4875 W. Maple Road, Bloomfield Twp. 48301-2805,
(248) 851-7485. Cantor: Stephen L. Dubov. Services:
Friday 7:30 p.m.
TEMPLE EMANU-EL
14450 W. 10 Mile, Oak Park, 48237, (248) 967-4020.
Rabbi: Joseph P. Klein. Cantor emeritus: Norman
Rose. Services: Friday 8 p.m. Saturday 10:30 a.m.
TEMPLE ISRAEL
5725 Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield, 48323, (248)
661-5700. Rabbis: Harold S. Loss, Paul M. Yedwab,
Joshua L. Bennett, Marla Hornsten. Cantor: Lori
Corrsin. Cantorial soloist: Neil Michaels. Rabbinic
intern: Jennifer Tisdale-Kroll. Services: Friday 7:30
p.m. Saturday 10:30 a.m. Friday wedding blessing of
Amy Woronoff and Jay Greenberg.
TEMPLE KOL AMI
5085 Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield, 48323, (248)
661-0040. Rabbi: Norman T. Roman. Rabbi emeritus:
Ernst J. Conrad. Cantorial soloist: Susan Greener.
Services: Friday 8 p.m. Saturday 10:30 a.m.
CONGREGATION SHAAREY
ZEDEK
1924 Coolidge, East Lansing 48823, (517) 351-3570.
Rabbi Emeritus: Morton Hoffman. Rabbi: Richard
Baroff. Cantor: Pamela Jordan Schiffer. Services:
Friday 8 p.m. Saturday 9 a.m.
TEMPLE SHIR SHALOM
3999 Walnut Lake, West Bloomfield, 48323, (248)
737-8700. Rabbis: Dannel Schwartz, Michael L.
Moskowitz. Cantorial soloist: Penny Steyer. Services:
Friday 8 p.m., Saturday 11 a.m.
2/13
2004
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REFORM/RENEWAL
CONGREGATION SHIR TIKVAH
3900 Northfield Parkway, Troy, 48084, (248) 649-
4418. Rabbi: Arnie Sleutelberg. Services: Friday 6:30
p.m., 7:45 p.m. Saturday 10 a.m.
SECULAR
HUMANISTIC
THE BIRMINGHAM TEMPLE
28611 W. 12 Mile, Farmington Hills, 48334, (248)
477-1410. Rabbis: Tamara Kolton, Adam Chalom.
Founding rabbi: Sherwin T. Wine. Services: Friday 8
p.m. Service for singles and non-singles.
JEWISH CULTURAL SOCIETY
2935 Birch Hollow Drive, Ann Arbor, 48108-2301,
(734) 975-9872. Board president: Karla Rice. School
principal: Ramona Brand. Shabbat services first
Friday of every month 7:30 p.m.; cultural Jewish cel-
ebrations, secular bar/bat mitzvah programming, cul-
tural Sunday school.
JEWISH PARENTS INSTITUTE
JCC, 6600 W. Maple, West Bloomfield, 48322, (248)
661-1000. Director: Marilyn Wolfe. Alternative cultural
Jewish celebrations; secular bar/bat mitzvah cere-
monies; adult programming; cultural Sunday school
from nursery through teen.
SHOLEM ALEICHEM INSTITUTE
28690 Southfield, Suite 293, Lathrup Village, 48076,
(248) 423-4406. Co-presidents: Alva Dworkin, May
Moskowitz. Holiday observances; Friday night oneg
Shabbat; cultural events.
WORKMEN'S CIRCLE ARBETER
RING
26341 Coolidge, Oak Park, 48237, (248) 545-0985.
Chair: Arlene Frank._Michigan district director: Ellen
R. Bates-Brackett. Year round holiday observances,
Nokh Shabbes Havdalah once a month; secular
bar/bat mitzvah; Sunday school.
SEPHARDIC
KETER TORAH SYNAGOGUE
5480 Orchard Lake Road, West Bloomfield, (248)
681-3665. Rabbi: Michael Cohen. Services: Friday at
candlelighting time; Saturday 9 a.m., Minchah 1 1/4
hours before the end of Shabbat; Sunday 9 a.m.;
Monday 7 a.m.; Wednesday 9 p.m., Thursday 7 a.m.,
9 p.m.
TRADITIONAL
B'NAI DAVID
6346 Orchard Lake Road, Suite 100, West Bloomfield,
48322, (248) 855-5007. Cantor: Ben-Zion Lanxner.
Services: Saturday 9 a.m. Haftorah, Marvin Kief.
thunder? Perhaps in a quiet so pro-
found, so filled with the Divine
Presence, one's senses are completely
inverted.
Quiet is so hard to come by these
days. We are constantly surrounded
by the chime of timers, the whirr of
his week's Torah portion
faxes; by CD's, Walkmen and IPods.
is filled with cacophony.
Our cell phones are equipped with
On the third day, the
dozens of ring tones. Even as I write
day that God has called
in the quiet of my house, it is noisy:
for all the people to assemble at the
The keyboard clatters beneath my
base of Mount Sinai, morning
fingers; dogs bark their canine con-
dawns amidst thunder, lightning
versations three streets over; a clock
and loud blasts of a horn. In
ticks resolutely two feet
Chapter 19, verse 19, we
away.
read, "The blare of the
One might examine the
horn grew louder and
Ten Commandments
louder. As Moses spoke,
through the lens of quiet
God answered him in
(now that's a mixed
thunder."
metaphor for you!). Yitro
And then in the very
teaches us to quiet the ego
next chapter, (20:1) the
in order to hear, "I am the
Torah tells us, "God spoke
Lord ..." We must strive
all these words, saying."
to silence the call to the
Not, God thundered his
false idols of work and
DEBRA B.
commandments or shouted
acquisition and mute the
DARVICK
his utterances or words;
tendency to shade truth.
Special to the
but He spoke. The
The Sabbath observant
Jewish News
moment has come and all
are ahead of the game
is still. There is no longer
when it comes to silencing
any reference to horn or thunder. In
the electronics; but who of us
the stillness of the moment, the
couldn't benefit from retreating into
most profound of messages is spo-
silence even for a few minutes each
ken.
week? And what of honoring par-
Reading this portion, I recalled
ents within the context of quiet?
experiencing a silence so complete it For some it might be lowering the
was palpable. I was in Israel, of
bass on the boom box; for others
course. Our tour was visiting Timna
it's quieting unrealistic expectations
and the desert area of Solomon's
of those who have raised us.
mines. The rest of the group had
Commandments six through 10
already headed back to the bus,
demand absolute silencing of the
some grumbling about the heat,
yitser hara, the inclination towards
others about their thirst or the
evil urges that will lead us to ruin.
cumbersome climb through the
Thus, by infusing our lives with
coppery rock. My son and I hung
proper silence, we might, in the
back and just took in the moment.
void of our day-to-day static, find
We had never felt such stillness.
God.
Not a truck motor hummed, not a
Yitro trumpets a symphony of
leaf rustled on the few sparse trees
messages and events this week, not
nearby. The silence was deafening,
the least of which is that silence is
overwhelming. More than any time
Divine.
in my life, God's presence was
unmistakable. My senses were out
of whack. How was it that we were
experiencing silence as thunder?
The answer might lie in chapter
Can you recall a time when you
20, verse 15. God has spoken. The
experienced an inversion of sens-
last of the commandments has been
es? How can you resolve to bring
uttered and we read that, "All the
quiet into your life? Are some
people saw the thunder and light-
messages better spoken than
ning, the blare of the horn ..." How
shouted?
Must others be shouted
does one see the sound of horn and
to be heard?
Shabbat Yitro:
Exodus 18:1-20:23;
Isaiah 6:1-7:6; 9:5-6
T
.
❑
MINYANS
FLEISCHMAN RESIDENCE
6710 W. Maple, West Bloomfield, 48322, (248) 661-
2999. Rabbi: Avie Shapiro. Services: Saturday and
Sunday 9:15 a.m. Minchah Monday-Friday 4:30 p.m.;
Saturday 1:30 p.m. Maariv Monday-Saturday 5:30
p.m.
YES H IVAT AKIVA
21100 W. 12 Mile, Southfield, 48076 (248) 386-1625.
Services: During the school year, morning services at
7:30 a.m.; afternoon services at 2:40 p.m. The com-
munity is invited.
Conversations
Debra B. Darvick of Birmingham is
the author of "This Jewish Life: Stories
of Discovery, Connection and Joy."