Community Profile

SPECIAL REPORT

Reuben and Jason Levy

work and live in Novi

Outside The Core from page 49

"I get up every day and its like I'm
up north, but I'm only a mile away from
the insanity of Twelve Oaks [Mall] and
Fountain Walk."
He says the city felt much smaller and
quieter a decade ago. "Now the city has
good restaurants, nice nightlife and great
shopping."
Levy and his wife, Jill, are expecting
their third child in January. He says Novi
is a good place to raise a young family and
he's glad that the Jewish community is
becoming more visible.
"When I moved out here, I wasn't really
thinking much about it. But getting older
and having children, you want the asso-
ciation with other Jews as a community:'
Levy says. "We've been finding more peo-
ple around our age with children our age.
There's more people close by, and if they're
not in Novi, they're in West Bloomfield or
Farmington Hills."
Levy learned about Rabbi Susskind
when his "Rabbis in Training',' teenagers
spending their summers assisting Chabad
programs around the world, came to his
door looking for Jews.
"It was really neat having those guys
knock on the door at your office and say,
`Where are the Jews?' It catches you off
guard right off the bar,' Levy says.
Levy and his older brother, Jason, who
works with him and also lives on Walled
Lake, had lunch with Rabbi Susskind and
decided to invite others. The monthly
Lunch and Learn was born.
"It keeps you focused on remembering
about being a Jew. With today's business
and the American lifestyle, some of those
things can pull away from you:' says Levy.

Rick Halberg

Chuck Keys

"It reminds me not to lose touch and helps
me from an identity standpoint, personal
standpoint and spiritual standpoint. It's
especially important with our younger
generation."

Neighboring Northville
"I've got nothing but good things to say
about Northville," says Rick Halberg, who
in 1994 opened Emily's, a well-regarded
French and Mediterranean-influenced res-
taurant in an old house on North Center
Street, which is now a neighbor with a
newly remodeled Hiller's market.
"I was looking for a place like this in
a small town but close to a metropolitan
area. Northville was perfect for it:' Halberg
says of the restaurant he named for his
daughter.
His clientele is made up of locals, people
connected to Ford Motor Company's
Wixom Plant — though he sees less of
them these days — and people for whom
the restaurant is a destination. "We've got
a very active Chamber of Commerce who
know how to bring people to the city:' he
says. "They love parades here — high
school, homecoming, Fourth of July
— just name it."
He says the city is changing but retains
its small-town character and charm.
"There are lots of upwardly mobile young
people moving in. People are -buying up
small homes and putting up big footprint
homes:'
"This place is growing like crazy:' agrees
Chuck Keys, owner of an insurance com-
pany in Novi, who moved to Northville
Township in 1986 and loves the small-
town feel.
He's a regular at Rabbi Susskind's Lunch
and Learn and likes the opportunity to get
together with other Jews to talk.
"The historic district in Northville is
like the old Jewish neighborhoods with-
out the Jews:' he says, noting an influx of
people of Indian, Asian and Arab descent.
"The kids play together, it's very safe,
affordable and the schools are great. There
are a lot of nice people:"
A well-known area Jewish business is
Weinstein Jewelers of Novi on Grand River
Avenue. Gary Weinstein is rebuilding fol-
lowing a fire, and plans to be back in his
original building in time to celebrate his
19-year anniversary in December.
Weinstein says it was a dream to be in
Novi. Literally.
"I was looking a several different areas
back in 1987, and my mother had a dream
and said, `I was dreaming of Weinstein's
of Novi," Weinstein explained. "I saw this
little village and it reminded me of some-
thing right out of Camden, Maine:'
"I consider myself a neighborhood
jeweler," Weinstein says, explaining why he
is rebuilding in the same spot. "There is a
clientele here that wants good jewelry. It's
been a very good community and we've
done well over the years:'
Weinstein lost his wife and two young
sons last year when their car was hit by

Gary
Weinstein:

mother's
dream

a speeding drunk driver in Farmington
Hills.

Easy Access
Everyone raves about the easy access to
the highways in the area, but maybe no
one more than Harvey Gutman, 46, of
West Bloomfield, who is the operations
manager of the Rock Financial Showplace
on Novi Road.
Gutman says the easy access to 1-275
makes the area 30 minutes from the
airport, I-96 makes it convenient from
Lansing and 1-696 connects it to all the
other major expressways. He also is a fan
of the city services, including the fire and
police departments.
The Showplace brings 2 million people
a year to Novi for a wide range of events,
but it also can accommodate smaller gath-
erings in style. "I've already booked the
dates for the bat mitzvah party of my 11-
year-old twins, Marni and Alana," he says.
Older daughter Jessica, 13, had her bat

Outside The Core on page 52

August 17 • 2006

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