Rabbi Adler (far right) with SZ President David Miro (far left) and then-Michigan

Rabbi Groner with Jewish leader and philanthropist Max Fisher of Franklin

Gov. George Romney in 1964

"Staying together spiritually for so
many generations has enabled most of us
to survive the tragic times and the good
times," said Judith Levin Cantor of West
Bloomfield, a third-generation member.
"Shaarey Zedek became a beacon of
Judaism worldwide. Despite our ups and
downs over the years, we've survived to
be a strong force in Jewish life. It's really
amazing that we've been able to maintain a
minyan every evening for 147 years!'
Leonard Baruch, 85, of Southfield, a
66-year Shaarey Zedek member, considers
Rabbi Adler's presence at the Southfield
location, even for only four years, as a
major highlight of the synagogue's 46
years in the city. "With or without the title,

"Rabbi Adler always said the synagogue should
be a family center, and he was right; that's what
- Harold Berry
we've become. ”

he was the chief rabbi of Michigan, and
had a dominant influence over the Jewish
community and the Conservative move-
ment in the United States:' said Baruch.
"Rabbi Groner then took over and became
an inspirational leader, very instrumental
in developing multi-generational member-
ships through the years!"
Since 1962, Baruch served two terms
on the synagogue's board of trustees, two

stints as Shaarey Zedek executive direc-
tor, executive secretary of Clover Hill Park
Cemetery in Birmingham, Men's Club
president, youth director and a teacher.
He still works daily in a private business.
"Shaarey Zedek always has been an impor-
tant congregation in the community:' he
said. "The Jewish people still are in awe of
our congregation and our physical loca-
tion!'

Strong Heritage
Shaarey Zedek is well known for produc-
ing many local, national and interna-
tional leaders, covering business, indus-
try, finance and politics. They include
Bill Davidson, Al Taubman, Eugene
Applebaum, the late Max Fisher and David
Hermelin, Judges Hilda Gage, Avern Cohn,
Paul D. Borman, David and Amy Groner
and others
"Shaarey Zedek has an incredible
heritage, and the changes we've made in
recent years will insure an even brighter
future declared Dottie Wagner of West
Bloomfield, a 32-year member, who at
the end of the 20th century became the
synagogue's only woman president. With

Shaarey Zedek on page A24

Shaarey Zedek's Darkest Day

Bill Carroll
Special to the Jewish News

I

t was a seemingly normal, uneventful Shabbat
service at Congregation Shaarey in its 4-year-
old home in Southfield. But when it was over, it
would become the darkest day in the history of the
synagogue and the Detroit Jewish community.
The day was Feb.12,1966 — Lincoln's birthday, 42
years ago — when Rabbi Morris Adler, 60, Shaarey
Zedek's beloved, longtime spiritual leader and one
of the best-known religious figures in the nation,
was gunned down on the bimah by a troubled young
synagogue member. The young man, who had been
counseled by the rabbi for months before, rushed
onto the bimah as the bar mitzvah boy, Steven
Frank, son of Robert and Bryna Frank, finished his
part of the service.
"He fired a shot into the ceiling and gave a
long, rambling speech at the podium; something
about the large synagogues making a mockery of
Judaism," recalled Bryna Frank of Farmington Hills.
"When Rabbi Adler tried to get him to leave, he shot

the rabbi in the arm, then in the back of the head,
then shot himself. It sounded like firecrackers.
"Before the last shot, the rabbi waved my son off
of the bimah, to be with us safely in the first row.
Many in the congregation ran to help the rabbi. No
one attended to the young man. There was a ter-
rible commotion; people were crying and anguished
and pulling at their hair. Only our family came into
the Kiddush. We had to walk past the body of the
attacker, who was put in the hallway by police. My
father [jeweler Morris Lewis] recited the prayer and
he reminded us that a simchah always must con-
tinue."
Rabbi Adler lingered in the hospital for a month,
before passing away on March 11. Thousands attend-
ed his funeral in the main sanctuary. Frank, now 55,
is a retired teacher, married with a daughter and a
grandchild. He moved to Oregon after attending the
University of Michigan and now is running for the
state senate. "He went through counseling after the
incident, but everything turned out well," said Bryna
Frank. "But the only time he entered a synagogue
after that was for one other family simchah. The

whole thing was just a terrible experience. Goldie
Adler, who went to her husband's side, told us that
Rabbi Adler's last words, were: 'Is Bryna's boy
alive'?"
The Franks are still members of Shaarey Zedek.
Associate Rabbi Irwin Groner, then in his mid-
30s, who had joined Shaarey Zedek in 1959, was at
Camp Tamarack with a youth group that day and
returned to comfort the Adler family and congre-
gants. He officiated at the gunman's funeral — "I
did what had to be done," he reflected years later
— then went about the task of unifying the stunned
congregation. "I also had counseled the young man,
but no one sensed he would ever do a thing like
that," intoned Rabbi Groner, who now has emeritus
status.
Current Shaarey Zedek Rabbi Joseph Krakoff said,
"It seems that not a day goes by that someone in
our congregation doesn't reminisce to me about
Rabbi Adler; they remember him when they joined
the synagogue, what he said in a certain sermon,
how much of an impact he had on their lives. Rabbi
Adler remains alive in everyone's memory."

April 24 • 2008

A23