Services Under The Sky

Shir Shalom members bring prayer to Relay for Life.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
St4ffWriter

A

section of the West Bloomfield
High School athletic track will
be turned into a synagogue of
sorts next weekend when Temple Shir
Shalom moves in — complete with
congregants and rabbi.
At 9:30 p.m. Saturday, June 12, par-
ticipants and guests of the 24-hour
American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay
for Life of West Bloomfield will be able
to join the group for a Havdalah serv-
ice. The relay runs from 10 a.m.
Saturday to 10 a.m. Sunday.
"We started to meet for Havdalah at
the relay three years ago at the sugges-
tion of one of our members, Eileen
Terman [of Bingham Farms], who is
captain of the Temple Shir Shalom
relay team," said Rabbi Michael
Moskowitz.
"We started small the first - year, with
40 or 50 people attending. But then
other groups started to join us, and
those who were at the relay learned
they could come over to the Shir
Shalom tent on Saturday night for
Havdalah."
Rabbi Moskowitz sees the relay as "a
natural place for the wonderful memo-
ry-triggering service. Many families
pause at home for Havdalah to have a
peaceful, spiritual moment before
beginning their week, and we like to
think those at the relay can still have
that connection," he said.
The service takes place just before
the relay's luminaria ceremony, when
names of patients, survivors and those
who have lost their battle with cancer
are placed on candles and set around
the track, where they remain illuminat-
ed throughout the night.
Florence Paterni of West Bloomfield,
one of last year's Havdalah attendees,
found the service touching and mean-
ingful. "We passed around the candle
and spices," she said. "It was incredible.
We gathered around Rabbi Mike and
sang songs.

Sunday Morning Minyan

After a night of rounding the track,
socializing and enjoying outdoor music,

6/ 4
2004

54

Above: Talking about Shir Shalom's
upcoming outdoor services at the
Relay for Life are Rabbi Dannel
Schwartz, Florence Paterni of Wiest
Bloomfield, Leonard and Eileen
Terman ofBingham Farms, Mary-
Sue Munter of Farmington, Merryl
Schwartz of West Bloomfield and Art
Fishman of Oak Park.

Right: The 2003 Havdalah service

Shir Shalom members will begin
Sunday, June 13, with a 9:30 a.m.
minyan service.
Inviting anyone at the relay to join
them at the Shir Shalom tent, the
minyan is actually the synagogue's
regular Sunday service, but with a
change of venue.
And the tent should be easy to find.
"This year we are doing an Elvis Presley
theme," Terman said. "We will have a
backdrop on the tent which will say, Jail
House Rock Gift Shop." With the pur-
pose of the event being to celebrate .sur-

vivorship and to raise money for ACS
research and programs, the team will
also sell Elvis-related gift items, donat-
ing all profits.
The plan to move Shir Shalom's
Sunday minyan to the high school was

Paterni's. "I wanted anyone who was
saying Kaddish to be able to have a
place to say it at the relay," she said.
"She asked if we could have our
morning minyan at the walk to accom-
modate people who wished to partici-