Spirituality

ON THE COVER

Can't Stop Ushering

Mike Judikovic in the Adat Shalom sanctuary

ne of the first things Mike
Judikovic did after joining
Adat Shalom Synagogue in
Farmington Hills 25 years ago was to
become part of the Shabbat morning
Usher Corps.
In time, he was heading the group who
shushed and guided the congregation,
soon adding head volunteer High Holiday
usher to his resume as well.
A few years ago, Judikovic tried to
"retire" from his station, but was able to
give up only the Shabbat post, remaining
in charge of the 30 or so members who
gather each High Holiday to help maintain
the dignity and decorum of the service,
standing at each aisle of the sanctuary and
social hall where services are held.
"Pinned to the label of the jacket I wear
on the holidays is a tag that says,cchair-
man; said Judikovic of Farmington Hills.
Along with answering questions, direct-
ing congregants to their seats and helping
them find prayer books, "ushers have to
know when people need to stay in the
back and not walk or speak, like during

certain prayers or the rabbis' sermons."
A Holocaust survivor, Judikovic spent
two years in a labor camp and fought with
the partisan resistance movement against
the Nazis. He now is a volunteer speaker
at the Holocaust Memorial Center in
Farmington Hills, where his oral history is
filed in the library.
Judikovic first came to Adat Shalom in
1982 as a guest at the wedding of a friend's
son. He met the synagogue's cantor, Larry
Veider, and they spoke in Yiddish, one of
Judikovic's six languages.
"We discovered we were both from
Czechoslovakia and that I studied for my
bar mitzvah in 1932 with his father's cous-
in, who was also a cantor': Judikovic said.
Soon after, Judikovic became a member
of Adat Shalom, where on Saturday, Sept.
29, he will read the haftorah in honor of
the 75th anniversary of his bar mitzvah.
Judikovic hardly volunteers for acco-
lades, but still treasures a letter of grati-
tude sent several years ago by the syna-
gogue's clergy and administration. 11

A Service Of
Great Convenience

F

or residents of one area senior
facility, attending Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur services this
year will involve only getting dressed and
going downstairs.
After nearly a year of organizing and
leading monthly Friday night Shabbat ser-
vices in the chapel at the Norma Jean and
Edward Meer Jewish Apartments in West
Bloomfield, Cindy Bolokofsky will do the
same for the High Holidays.
Bolokofsky, who sings in the choir at
Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township,
learned the prayers for the Shabbat service
from the late Cantor Stephen Dubov when
she served as president and worked in
the office and religious school of his now-
closed synagogue, Congregation Chaye
Olam.
"When Chaye Olam was open [in
Bloomfield Township], some of the Meer
residents came to services together by bus
every Friday," said Bolokofsky of Rochester

70

September 13 2007

Hills. "After the synagogue closed, one of
the residents asked if I would come to
Meer to run services once a month."
She converted to Judaism 15 years ago
and she spent time practicing the prayers
before leading the group. She also enlisted
the help of two of her former Chaye Olam
religious school students, Laura Williams,
14, of Huntington Woods and Allie Fox, 16,
of Bloomfield Hills, an aspiring cantor.
Bolokofsky created pamphlets with
Shabbat prayers for the residents, includ-
ing one in large print for a participant who
is legally blind.
Meer resident Allan Rosenberg, who
is in charge of religious programming,
asked Bolokofsky to lead High Holiday
services as well. So, this year she will
run the services on both Rosh Hashanah
and Yom Kippur, along with Williams
and Fox. Bolokofsky's daughters, Melissa
Bolokofsky, 27, of Jenison, Mich., and
Carrie McClure, 25, and her husband

At the Meer Apartments, Allie Fox, Cindy Bolokofsky and Laura Williams prepare for

High Holiday services.

Shane, 27, of Rochester Hills, will read
Torah. And Allie's dad, Larry Fox, will blow
the shofar.
"Marsha Rofel, a cantorial soloist,
spent many hours with me going over
the service order, singing songs, getting
the music together and making tapes so

I could learn the tunes," Bolokofsky said.
"For the finishing touches, I met with Beth
El's cantorial soloist, Rachel Gottlieb."
The Reform Gates of Repentance High
Holiday prayer books are on loan from the
B'nai B'rith Great Lakes Region as part of
its community outreach program. II