Academy of Metropolitan Detroit to step in to help.
"I knew he couldn't be here every Shabbat, but on
the weeks when we had a bar or bat mitzvah and we
needed a rabbinic presence during services, I hoped it
would be his," Steingold said.
"I was happy to step in and do whatever I could"
for the congregation," said Rabbi Bergman.
About once a month since last May, the entire
Bergman family has moved into a synagogue-owned
house nearby for Shabbat. They will continue until
Rabbi Rubenstein arrives. When called upon, Rabbi
Bergman also meets with b'nai mitzvah students and
their families, officiates at funerals and has acted as
an adviser to some of the synagogue's ritual commit-
tee meetings.
"There have been so many complications during
the years since I left Beth Ahm, but a lot of really
nice people there are working very hard at doing a
good.job of keeping things together," he said. "I
wanted to do whatever I could to help that process.
There is a lot of reason to be positive about Beth
Ahm's future, especially now with Rabbi Rubenstein
on board."

Implementing Service Change

During the last 18 months, major changes to the
Shabbat services at Beth Ahm included the imple-
mentation of a new siddur (prayer book) and a
change in the Torah reading to a triennial cycle, with
the entire Torah read during the course of three years
instead of one.
"We are also now beginning Shabbat morning
with a Parshah HaShavuah class," Dr. Lupovitch said.
"From 9 to 9:30, we have a discussion of the week's
Torah portion before services."
An idea initiated by Beth Ahm's third vice presi-
dent, Dr. Margo Woll of West Bloomfield, ensures
participation in weekday services. "She created min-
yan [prayer quorum] captains," Steingold said.
"Members of the board each have days when they are
responsible to be at services and to call other congre-
,gants to make sure there is a minyan."

School Days

Who's Leading Services?

Right about the same time Rabbi Bergman returned,
so did Dr. Howard Lupovitch, a native Detroiter
with strong connections to Beth Ahm.
Dr. Lupovitch already had proven himself more
than capable of reading Torah and leading services
while serving the synagogue three years ago during a
sabbatical taken from his position as Pulver Family
Assistant Professor of Jewish Studies at Colby College
in Waterville, Maine. So when he and his wife, Marni
Foster, decided to spend his current research leave in
Detroit, he resumed his position as resident scholar
with his synagogue.
"This is where we wanted to be," Dr. Lupovitch
said. "I love our services. And the synagogue is the
most warm and welcoming place
we could bring our daughters,
Dahvi, 4, and Hanna, 2.
"The sanctuary is designed with
space in the back where families
with little kids can sit and no one
hushes the children. I even once
read Torah with one of my daugh-
ters up on the bimah hugging my
Howard
leg,
and no one cared. And the
Lupovitch
older kids are encouraged to be
part of the service."
Dr. Lupovitch leads Shabbat services and reads
Torah each week, and when Rabbi Bergman isn't
there, he gives the sermon. "It was pure coincidence
that Howie came back to town right when we needed
him," Steingold said. "It was beshert. Howie is a great,
steady influence. He and Rabbi Bergman are a great
team."
This has been inspiring to longtime member
Barbara Nusbaum of Franklin.
"Finding a way for us to continue our services
with no rabbi or cantor shows what an integral part
of the synagogue everyone is," she said. "We are such
a family-oriented congregation. Often, when Howie
leads services, his brother-in-law Ronn [Nadis of
Farmington Hills] leads with him. And so do Ronn's

Having fun on the Beth Ahm playground are: back
row, Jayne Bender, 5, of Farmington Hills, nursery
school director Cathy Rozenberg next to Zachary
Bodnick, 5, of West Bloomfield, front row, Dylan
Backalar, 5, and Jessica Burk, 5, both of Farmington
Hills, Nicole Kahan, 5, of Bloomfield Hills, and
Lillian Soble, 5, of Farmington Hills.

daughters [Emily and Rebecca, both 17] ."
Both Nadis and Dr. Howard Lupovitch's brother,
Dr. Jeffrey Lupovitch of West Bloomfield, help lead
High Holiday services.
Dr. Howard Lupovitch will retain his position at
Beth Ahm through the next school year while he
teaches at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
before returning to Maine.
But even in a congregation with a strong, capable
core of lay leaders and the dedication of Rabbi
Bergman, having no full-time rabbi has been an
obstacle.
"We lacked a rabbi who could be there for funerals
and weddings," Steingold said. While the congrega-
tion worked closely with other community rabbis
who "jumped in to help," they needed a full-time
rabbi of their own.
Dr. Lupovitch looks forward to continuing his role
when Rabbi Rubenstein arrives. "The synagogue real-
ly waited patiently for the right person," he said.
"The chemistry is there."
Steingold said: "All of us on the rabbinic search
committee knew at the same time: Rabbi Rubenstein
would be our new rabbi. And we're thrilled. We are
extremely happy and lucky to have him here."
Steingold said the hiring of a cantor "is not high
on our list right now We need to let the rabbi get set
up and comfortable and later move onto that step,
with the input and approval of the rabbi."

With a decrease in membership came a decrease in
school-age members. And with that came the 2002
closing of Beth Ahm's religious school.
Since that time, students have been referred to the
Beth Achim Religious School at Adat Shalom
Synagogue in Farmington Hills. But this year, the
decision was made to re-establish an on-site program.
A suggestion by Beth Ahm's first vice president
Marilyn Rice of Farmington Hills, who oversees the
education committee, sparked plans for hiring a
director and re-opening the school, hopefully this fall.
"We have internal funding earmarked for educa-
tion in general and for. the religious school, which
will help us to start it up again," Executive Director
Goldberg said.
The tentative plan is for a component of the reli-
gious school to be run as a family program on
Saturdays for kids of all ages and would include
Shabbat services held concurrent to the main service.
"From there, the hope is to start a junior congre-
gation," Goldberg said. "We just want to get the kids
back into the building."
Beth Ahm has continued to provide both adult
education and nursery school classes.
The Shabbat Limud program,
overseen by board member Pat
Sachs of Southfield, hosts a
monthly Shabbat program for
families. The next will be this
Friday, May 27, and will feature a
performer portraying Zionist
founder Theodor Herzl.
For the younger members, the
Samantha Erin Rosen Nursery
Tessa Goldberg
School has undergone a major
change.
"We are using an emergent curriculum," said nurs-
ery school director, Cathy Rozenberg. "It is based on
the developmental needs and gifts of the individual
kids in the class. We are a learning community. If
someone finds a caterpillar, we may turn our day into
one where we study caterpillars. There is so much
hands-on learning that goes on here."
And that's evident just by entering the classrooms,

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