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Thriving community
radiates Jewish
diversity, fellowship.
LYNNE MEREDITH SCHREIBER
Special to the Jewish News
W
hen Rabbi E.B. "Bunny" Freedman
bought his house on Sherwood Court
27 years ago, he struck up a conversa-
tion with some neighbors about how long he'd live
there.
"We figured if we lasted five years, it would be
worth buying a house," says Rabbi Freedman,
who has since made three additions to that house.
"I grew up in Detroit; neighborhoods don't last
Enjoying the afternoon are neighbors JoAnn Drasnin with Yehoshua, 3, and Chana Rochel, 10, and Ida and Nathaniel
long around here. You buy a house, and you move
Warshay with Anna, 4, Madeleine, 10, and David, 7, all of Oak Park.
on. I expected to do that."
.
That he's still there can be attributed, in part, to
Helping Hands
mix of Jews, mostly Jewish Russian immigrants,
Rabbi Freedman's own
August 2003. The biggest power outage in the histo- African-Americans and Arabs.
efforts at creating and
"My sense is our Jewish community has been
ry of the country started late on a Thursday after-
maintaining a Jewishly
strengthening [for the city of Oak Park]," Rulkowski
noon, sending Detroit's suburbs into a tailspin. It
diverse, vibrant commu-
said. "I work with our zoning board of appeals, and
was a hot, humid, blustery day and no one knew
nity in Oak Park and the when the power would return. Stocked refrigerators
we're having more and more people enlarging their
parts of Southfield that
homes.
started to thaw. People threw open windows to cool
border it. There is a spe-
"According to the most recent census
stuffy homes. Evening fell, bringing
cial flavor to this neigh-
numbers, cities like Oak Park, which are
absolute silence.
borhood, despite the
"the entering suburbs of Detroit are basi-
In Oak Park, Rabbi Freedman started
intrusion of Interstate
cally built out," he said. "There's no room
knocking on doors. "The most critical
696, which physically
to grow for new housing," and all of these
place in our town was Federation
divided the enclave. It
communities, including Oak Park, have
Apartments," he says. "Hospitals have gen-
also survived the depar-
experienced population decline. But while
erators. The apartments were completely
ture of Congregation
cities like Ferndale reported nearly 9 per-
vulnerable. People could not flush toilets.
B'nai Moshe and many
Rabbi Freedman
cent of a population decline, Oak Park's
They had no lights, no water. People were
local families after the
was only 2 percent, he noted. People aren't leaving;
frightened."
highway came in more
their household size is diminishing, which is a
The lights were still out on Friday. When it start-
than a decade ago, and it remains a Jewishly
national trend.
ed getting dark around 8 p.m., able-bodied Jews
diverse place despite a rapid influx of Orthodox
"I'm no expert, but I have a feeling that one of the
arrived at the apartment's carrying Shabbat meals
residents.
reasons our population decline is so small is that we
and bringing comfort to residents.
Oak Park is an anomaly, an inspiring story of
have such a strong Orthodox Jewish community
"[People came out] because they lived nearby,"
camaraderie among Jews from all streams.
[where people have larger families]," he said.
says Rabbi Freedman. "There was the soul of Oak
The secret to this success, those who live and
In her 1955 book, History of Oak Park, Bernadine
Park. People felt a responsibility when, nowadays,
work in the area say, comes down to four things: the
Schoults described the community as "a lazy, quiet
neighborhoods don't exist. There's a sense of neigh-
former Neighborhood Project, cross-denominational
little village with a few scattered homes and acres of
borhood here, a sense of loyalty."
rabbinic efforts, sidewalks and the presence of an
fields and woods." She mentioned back yards full of
Oak Park City Planner Kevin Rulkowski says
anchoring Jewish Community Center.
30,865 people live in Oak Park. The population is a pheasants, quail and garter snakes.
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