To Life!

Common
Bonds

Oak Park Tri-Synagogue event
brings women together
to share.

Lynne Meredith Schreiber
Special to the Jewish News

D

oris Schey has attended
every Tri-Synagogue -
women's program in Oak
Park since they began in the
1990s, and the sixth annual
Women's Night Out in Septem-
ber was no exception.
She smiled from her seat at
the cloth-covered round table
she shared with women from
her synagogue — Congregation
Beth Shalom — and also from
Temple Emanu-El and Young
Israel of Oak Park.
"What's nice about this is that
everybody from different
denominations is sitting at the
same table said Schey of
Huntington Woods. "It's one of
the few times we have the
chance to sit and talk, exchange
ideas, and see that we're not so
different. We need to do this
more."
The joint event was an off-
shoot of the Neighborhood
Project, a Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit-sponsored
effort to stem the tide of Jewish
migration and keep Jews in Oak
Park and parts of Southfield.
After achieving its mission,
the project closed in 2003, end-
ing innovative programs that
brought Jews together across
denominational lines.
"We thought it would be fun
to revive it:' said Jodee Fishman
Raines, a member of the Oak
Park-based Jewish Community

20

Center's JPM committee, which
spearheaded the women's event.
"I think this turnout shows
that we love being women, we
love being Jewish and we love
our neighborhood:' she told the
audience of about 100 women.
On the tables, wicker baskets
held canned food items donated
by the audience to Yad Ezra, the
Berkley-based kosher food
pantry. Women ate from a vege-
tarian falafel buffet, then lis-
tened to speakers from each
synagogue as well as Marion
Freedman, Neighborhood
Project's last director. Then they
enjoyed a yoga demonstration
by Dalia Rogers.
Participants of all ages came
almost evenly from the three
synagogues and women from
congregations outside Oak Park
attended as well.

Rebuild Community

Freedman, who still works for
Federation, gave a chronology
of the Neighborhood Project.
"It really made a difference in
this city and this community,"
she said. "I grew up in a Jewish
neighborhood my children
never saw, and my mother grew
up in a Jewish neighborhood
that I never saw:' said
Freedman, explaining that
Jewish Detroit neighborhoods
have a history of migrating
every 20 years.
"Every time a neighborhood
is abandoned, you have to

rebuild the community:' she
said.
The Oak Park JCC was dedi-
cated in 1956, Freedman said,
and the community is still
going strong, beating the migra-
tion trend.
Although the Project's main
purpose was to provide loans to
Jewish residents, it branched
out into cross-denominational
programming to strengthen the
community. Women's Night Out
programs were the most suc-
cessful of the outreach efforts,
Freedman said.
"Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform women recognized
there was so much that we
share," she said. "We need to
look for what we share rather
than what keeps us apart."
Almost every speaker who
followed echoed those words.
Elaine Driker of Temple
Emanu-El spoke about the con-
cept of community from her
personal life, including family,
friendships, the urban land-
scape and religion. A Detroit
resident, Driker urged attendees
to get involved in rebuilding the
city of Detroit and providing a
Jewish presence there.
Nancy Glen of Huntington
Woods, representing Beth
Shalom, said, "The places we go
and the people with whom we
interact is community. Creating
community is opening our per-
sonal space to others. They give
me security and a sense of who
I am."

Bellischa Mendelsohn of
Young Israel of Oak Park said, "I
am overwhelmed by how great
this community is. I didn't
know a soul, but for the first six
months we were here [from San
Diego], we didn't spend a
Shabbat alone. That's so telling
of the warmth and generosity of
this community."
Mendelsohn mentioned the
matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca and
Rachel as models of Jewish
womanhood. She made a plea to
withstand material societal
pressures and follow those
Torah examples.
Finally, the lights were
dimmed and Dalia Rogers
urged everyone to stand up and
do some yoga. Dressed in every-
thing from fancy skirts to khaki
pants, the women bent and
stretched for a mellow ending
to the night.
"Being here, hearing every
single woman moved me said
Dolores Galea of Detroit, a
Temple Emanu-El member. "It's
a wonderful event. Having 100
women from all different syna-
gogues is just wonderful."
The event was planned by a
committee of women from the
three synagogues: Beth
Applebaum, Miriam Ciesla,
Rena Friedberg, Margery
Klausner, Leslee Magidson,
Jodee Fishman Raines, Esther
Sherizen, Michelle Sider, Debra
Silver, Julie Edgar Sklar, Malke
Torgow, Freya Weberman,
Margie Yaker and Lisa Yufit.

Bellischa Mendelsohn of Young
Israel of Oak Park, Elaine Driker

of Temple Emanu-El, Nancy Glen

of Congregation Beth Shalom

and Marion Freedman, who head-

ed Federation's Neighborhood

Project, all spoke at the sixth

annual Tri-Synagogue Women's

Project dinner.

❑

October 13 2005

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