Triple Sinichah

Congregants of three movements share the joy of Torah along Walnut Lake Road.

the Conservative movement] and
we were so glad so many joined us
from [Reform] Shir Shalom, con-
sidering their celebration of the
holiday was actually the night
before," he said.
A lively march up Walnut Lake
Road — accompanied by the horn
honking of passersby and the voic-
es of the participants raised in
songs like, "Torah, Torah, Torah"
— brought the two congregations
to the Shaarey Zedek B'nai Israel
Center.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff Writer

W

ho would have believed we
could shut down a busy West
Bloomfield intersection to
dance in the street with the Torah!"
exclaimed Rena Meyers of Southfield
amid the roar of 600-700 participants
of an outdoor Simchat Torah celebra-
tion Thursday night, Oct 7.
Meyers was part of a group who
marched from Congregation Shaarey
Zedek B'nai Israel Center to meet up
with a delegation from Temple Shir
Shalom down the block, to celebrate
together the holiday of completing —
and beginning — the reading of the
Torah.
"When we saw them walking toward
us, it was really so exciting and so emo-
tional," said Stacy Brodsky of West
Bloomfield, a Shaarey Zedek member.
"I was so honored to be carrying one
of the Shir Shalom Torahs," said Eileen
Terman of Bingham Farms. "I felt so
blessed to be asked. I told them I'd be
honored, but I asked them to give me
the little one.
"To me, there was also a special sig-
nificance to be carrying the Torah and
being able to celebrate the holiday here
on day of tragedy in Egypt [where 32
Israelis and others were killed in terror-
ist bombings at Red Sea resort hotels],"
she said.
Shaarey Zedek Rabbi Eric Yanoff
was astounded at the huge crowd.
"This was our Simchat Torah night [in

The Next Stop

Top left: Shir Shalom members clap and sing as they cross the street to join the
Shaarey Zedek B'nai Israel group.
Top right: Eileen Terman of Bingham Farms, Rabbi Michael Moskowitz and
Stuart Bas ofWest Bloomfield lead the Shir Shalom group.

Above: Taking a break from the fistivities are front row: Rachel Goodman, 13,
ofWest Bloomfield, Jacob Edelson, 5, and Daniel Edelson, 13, both of Franklin.
Back row: Brad Schleifer, Rachel Belsky and Danielle Brodsky, all 13, all ofWest
Bloomfield

"After a good amount of dancing,
both inside the building and in
the parking lot, we danced our
way — with our Torahs — to
Keter Torah Synagogue, which is
between our two synagogues,"
Rabbi Yanoff said. "Keter Torah
invited us in to visit and were so
welcoming."
"We were so pleased to have
them in our shul," said Rabbi
Michael Cohen of Keter Torah.
"We discussed first the impor-
tance of keeping the traditions
and laws of our [Orthodox,
Sephardic] synagogue which are
different than those the others
were coming from. They definite-
ly respected our wishes."
Rabbi Yanoff said, "Whenever
we come together from different
vantage points, we are constantly

TRIPLE TORAH on page 88

JR'

10/15
2004

87