Metro

Room For Everyone

10

Unique relationship buds between synagogues over Laker building.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer

0

n Aug. 27, Congregation Shaarey
Zedek (CSZ) members voted
overwhelmingly to approve
the sale of the Irving and Beverly Laker
Education and Youth Complex to Temple
Shir Shalom at a purchase price of $2.5
million.
The Laker building and Shir Shalom are
less than two miles from one another on
Walnut Lake Road in West Bloomfield.
"Shir Shalom has a 120-day period to
do due diligence, and we anticipate the
closing to occur in January 2008," said
Janet Pont, CSZ executive director.
But even then, the Oakland County-
based synagogue's religious school will
continue to use the building near Inkster
Road for the next seven years, holding
classes on different days than Shir Shalom.
"This is about our two congregations
working together," said Andre Douville,
executive director of the Reform Shir
Shalom, about Conservative CSZ. "It is
very important to our rabbis and our
boards to work together in sharing the
building. It was also very important to
keep the building within the Jewish com-
munity."
The $2.5 million will be achieved
through fundraising efforts; there is no
single major donor, according to Douville.
In addition to the religious school, the
Laker complex houses CSZ youth activi-
ties, informal, congregational educational
programming and special family events,
some of which will still be held there.
Other events will be moved to CSZ's
Southfield and West Bloomfield synagogue
locations.
"The reason we are selling the building
is that during the last few years, its usage
was less than in previous years, primarily
due to the fact that we reduced our educa-
tional requirements for attendance by one
day:' Pont said.
And some of the classes previously held
at the Laker building were moved to the
synagogue's Southfield location. "We were
not able to use it during the day hours as
much as we had originally hoped, and that
prompted the sale:' Pont said.
Class sizes have not decreased, with all
of the school's 21 classrooms being used
for Tuesday night students and 16 for high
schoolers on Mondays. General member-

Laker Complex

ship, too, she said is
"doing very nicely. We
have gotten many new
members this holiday
season."
For the past
three years as well
as this school year
Rabbi Dannel
a small portion of
Schwartz
the Laker facility
has been rented to
the Learning Circle
Academy, a school for
children with learn-
ing disabilities."They
will continue to be
in the building for
the remainder of
Janet Pont
the school year; this
was the agreement
between them, CSZ and Shir Shalom," Pont
said.

Short Distance, Big Move
Shir Shalom will use the Laker Building
the next two weeks for High Holiday fam-
ily services. They replace a youth service
held annually at Shir Shalom in addition
to the regular service.
The more than 400 students who attend
Shir Shalom's religious school at the
temple's Orchard Lake Road/Walnut Lake
Road campus will begin to attend classes
in the new building in fall 2008. For the
past six years, Shir Shalom has rented

space at Doherty Elementary School in
West Bloomfield for its K-3 grade classes,
with grades 4-12 meeting at Shir Shalom.
But beyond the religious school, Shir
Shalom has more plans for the 38,000-
square-foot facility that could include
remodeling and possible expansion. "We
have exciting ideas for the future use of
the building, for both our congregation
and for the community:' Douville said.
Those plans are highlighted by what
Shir Shalom Rabbi Dannel Schwartz calls
"changing the paradigm of what syna-
gogues do. We are ready to interface and
create a bridge bringing our two congrega-
tions together:' he said. "And that will give
us four rabbis instead of two."
Calling it a significant initiative, he
said, "The whole concept of the building
is synergy. We will begin with an adult
education program for both congregations
next month. And it has been proposed that
our religious school kids do programming
together as well."
Enthused by the upcoming efforts of the
two congregations, CSZ Rabbi Eric Yanoff
maintains that although there will be com-
bined programming between members
of both synagogues, there is absolutely no
talk of merging CSZ and Shur Shalom.
"We are making good use of the synergy
and the great personal relationship of the
rabbis of both congregations',' he said. We
are already taking advantage of the close
proximity of our synagogues [just a few

buildings apart in West Bloomfield], hold-
ing our Simchat Torah dancing in the street
together every year."
The Laker building, owned by CSZ for
the past 10 years, was formerly Walnut
Lake Elementary School. It has a gymna-
sium, a playground, tennis and basketball
courts and a baseball field, and was pur-
chased from Birmingham Public Schools
for $1.5 million.
CSZ members Irving and Beverly Laker
made a significant contribution to start a
campaign to raise funds for the purchase
of the facility 10 years ago "to create an
education and youth center:' Pont said.
"The Lakers are very supportive of the
sale of the building at this time."
According to Douville, the Laker name
will not remain on the building, "but an
appropriate recognition of the Laker fam-
ily and the fact that the building was once
named in their honor will be made within
the confines of the building."
Said Pont, "The relationship that CSZ
and Shir Shalom have is one of mutual
respect and cooperation. The clergy,
professional and lay leaders of both CSZ
and Shir Shalom have worked together to
make this arrangement a win-win situ-
ation for both, and we look forward to
a continued wonderful relationship. We
are working together to make this a great
example of how a synagogue and temple
can work together for the betterment of
both!' E

iN

September 13 - 2007

17

