To Life!
Special Report
ON THE UPSWING from page 53
the junior board had one, with money raised going to
their group."
The hope, said Steingold, is that the junior board
will be the start of the re-creation the Beth Ahm's
USY chapter.
Steingold also wants new members to feel includ-
ed.
"At Beth Ahm, you can't be on the board if you
haven't been a member of the synagogue for two
years," he said. "So I created an advisory board of
new members who can be non-voting seat members
of the board."
Steingold sees the struggles and the solutions of
Beth Ahm's recent years "as ways that have helped us
all come together strongly as a group. It all continued
to remind us that we would survive — and we did,"
he said.
"Our members are incredibly supportive of all the
new innovations," Goldberg said. "It shows we -
already knew how great we were. Now it's time to
show others, who may have forgotten." ❑
filled with plants, fish, guinea pigs and child-painted
murals.
A permanent staff of six teachers and assistant
teachers oversee the 35 students in the program.
"We also have others who come into the class-
room, like an Israeli teacher who teaches Hebrew
immersion and a special education consultant,"
Rozenberg said. "And we offer enrichment classes
every day after the regular program as well as early
care and extended hours."
An immediate plan for the school is a develop-
mental kindergarten, set to open this fall.
"There are many children with late birthdays or
with developmental reasons why a typical kinder-
garten would be particularly challenging," Rozenberg
said. "We want to be there to give them that extra
year to bloom and grow."
Come On Inside
On the top of Steingold's list as president is to bring
back the youth lost with the closing of the religious
school and disbanding of Beth Ahm's United
Synagogue Youth (USY) group.
He began by forming a junior board of directors
so younger members can take part in decision mak-
ing.
"We were always talking about what do we have
for the kids; what do we need for them," he said. "So
I thought, why not just ask them."
Rebecca Zwick!, 18, of Southfield is a- member of
the junior board and was the only teen on the rab-
binic search committee. "I felt I could bring a differ-
ent perspective to the committee, and that it was
important that the rabbi we hire be able to relate to
kids and teenagers," she said.
Emily Nadis, 17, of Farmington Hills is a junior
board member who sits on the board of trustees. The
New Beginnings
After nearly a year without a
rabbi, Beth Ahm welcomes its
new spiritual leader.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
R
abbi Steven Rubenstein doesn't begin his
new position at Congregation Beth Ahm
until Aug. 1, but he's already been an inte-
gral part of the synagogue.
He is still based at Kansas City's Congregation
Beth Shalom, but has been here three times and will
return again this weekend with his family to spend
time with the congregation.
"He's been so accessible and helpful already," said
Tessa Goldberg, Beth Ahm's executive director. "Even
from a distance, he has been incredibly supportive
and insightful. I don't hesitate to call on him as he is
able to see our situation and give us direction. He is
already a part of what we're doing here."
And that's evident in the way Rabbi Rubenstein
uses the term "we" when referring to those at
5/26
2005
52
Rabbi Steven Rubenstein helps the Salesin family,
Brian and sons Blake, 4, and Emma, 7, of Bloomfield .
Hills, paint a matzah cover.
teens also help with programming.
"There are about a dozen kids who regularly come
to teen functions," Goldberg said. "This year, they
ran a Purim carnival, which for the last two years had
been run along with the students from Temple Kol
Ami's religious school, which rents space in our
building. This year Kol Ami had its own carnival, so
Beth Ahm.
The search for the new rabbi — with a committee
headed by Irving Nusbaum of Franklin and Leonard
Farber and George Vine, both of West Bloomfield —
began after Rabbi Charles Popky announced he
would be leaving in the summer of 2004.
"We went through 32 candidates," said Robert
Steingold, synagogue president. "There are plenty of
good rabbis around, but we needed somebody special
we could fall in love with and visa versa. And we
found him. He just wowed everybody."
Rabbi Rubenstein also feels wowed. "I am really
excited to be part of Beth Ahm," said the rabbi, who
will move to West Bloomfield with his wife, Robin,
and their son Ari, 4, and daughter Tali, 1. Rabbi
Rubenstein has served at Beth Shalom, a 1,000-
member family congregation, since he was ordained
from the Jewish Theological Seminary's Rabbinical
School in New York in 2000.
Hardly a stranger to the Detroit area rabbinic
community, the rabbi's fellow JTS friends include
Rabbi Daniel Nevins of Adat Shalom Synagogue;
Rabbi Jason Miller, assistant director of the
University of Michigan Hillel in Ann Arbor; and
Congregation Shaarey Zedek's Rabbis Jonathan and
Lauren Berkun, Joseph Krakoff and Eric Yanoff.
His wife is a friend of Susan Krakoff.
Rabbi Steven Rubenstein and his family will
be at Beth Ahm for this weekend.
The rabbi will participate in the 6 p.m.
Friday, May 27, Shabbat Limud musical
Kabbalat Shabbat family service. The service
will be followed by dinner and "An Evening
with Theodor Herzl," a presentation on the
life and times of Herzl performed by Nate
Arnold of Cleveland. For information, call
(248) 851-6880.
There will be a parallel youth program. There
is a charge for the dinner.
While a rabbinic student, he led services at
Shaarey Zedek one year during the High Holidays.
"I get a real positive feeling from Beth Ahm," he
said. "One thing that made it so attractive is that the
congregation and lay leadership are really looking for-
ward. There are a lot of strengths here already, from
the nursery school to the leadership to plans for a
religious school. I am really happy to be in a place
where we see good things happening."
❑
Rabbi Steven Rubenstein talks to members of Beth
Ahm at a pre-Passover program.