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 54 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."