Spirituality

Destination Southfield

Synagogue members open their homes to potential new neighbors.

Adina Morris of Southfield at a 2007 Young Family Social Committee event, with
children, Ezra, now 4, Meira, 3, and Dovid, 6.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Senior Writer

W

hat began as a weekend
Shabbaton to showcase the
Young Israel of Southfield (YIS)
young adult community last summer has
turned into ongoing introductions to poten-
tial new neighbors.
Not only did some of the dozen family
participants — from New York, New Jersey,
West Bloomfield, Oak Park and Huntington
Woods — return for additional visits, but
families unable to attend the Shabbaton
came later to tour and learn about the syna-
gogue and the area.
One family already has purchased a
home in the YIS neighborhood and will be
moving from West Hempstead, N.Y., this
summer. Another family that attended the
Shabbaton also moved to Michigan, but not
to Southfield. And two Midwest families are
planning to visit in coming weeks.
The second annual Young Adult
Shabbaton will take place at YIS, Friday,
June 13, to Sunday, June 15. The program
is chaired by the synagogue's rabbi, Yechiel
Morris, Dr. Howard and Michal Korman and
Monica and Ari Fischman, who came up
with the idea for the Shabbaton after mov-
ing from New Jersey to Southfield, where
Monica grew up. The Kormans came to

ASouthfield in 2003 from West Bloomfield
to be near YIS and Yesliivat Akiva, where
their children are students, closer to major
expressways and for "the great housing close
to the shul," Dr. Korman said.

So Much To See

Shabbaton participants will be hosted in
the homes of YIS members. They will learn
about almost anything they would need to
know when deciding to make a move.
In addition to attending Shabbat services,
social programming and meals at YIS and
in host homes, the group will take a walk-
ing tour of the area and attend a program
that will include information on the syna-
gogueit will be highlighted by a talk on the
benefits of the community by YIS member
Rabbi Eric Grossman, head of the Bible and
Rabbinics departments at the Frankel Jewish
Academy in West Bloomfield.
Information also will be shared about
the synagogue's 100-member youth depart-
ment, active sisterhood, ongoing educa-
tional programs, committees and services.
Fundraising toward construction of an
expansion at the 120-family YIS has reached
the halfway mark and will include youth
rooms, an enlarged social hall and library,
an outside deck and playground and beit
midrash (house of learning) for a learners'
minyan.

Current Akiva President Mark Nadel of Southfield is flanked by sons Cobi, left, a fifth-
grader, and Yossi, a second-grader, as they study together.

An outreach and young family social
committee, created by Howard Korman, are
active.
Young families who join YIS will be
offered scaled dues based on age.
Shabbaton participants will receive a
listing of area job opportunities as well as
a package describing available homes pre-
pared by Ruth Levi of Century 21 Today.
"Arrangements for school tours will be
made as needed:' said Korman, who is the
incoming president of Yeshivat Akiva.
Rabbi Yigal Tsaidi, Akiva's educational
director, will also be at the Shabbaton. "We
have Frankel Jewish Academy families and
teachers in our neighborhood as well as Bais
Yaakov and Yeshiva Beth Yehudah families:'
he said.
Last year, Korman, along with YIS mem-
bers, Bob Weiss and Eli Halpern, established
a loan program, raising $30,000 from YIS
congregants to help with home purchases.
"The loan money was donated to the shul
and designed to be a self-perpetuating fund

for loans as they are paid back," he said.
"Each family will receive $7,200 to be used
toward their mortgage, to be paid back to
the synagogue over five years, in equal pay-
ments, without interest."
The group, he said, is also working on a
"subprime mortgage relief program to help
families sell their homes so they can move to
Southfield."
Monica Fischman reflected on her experi-
ence and said, "The location of our area of
Southfield is amazing, in close proximity to
the mikvah and great parks, and both Oak
Park and West Bloomfield, since 1-696 and
the Lodge are less than half a mile away.
The neighborhoods on both sides of Lahser,
where YIS is, are beautiful and well kept.
"The people of YIS have been amaz-
ing, extremely welcoming and just overall
friendly. Before we even make it to the park
— which is at the end of our block — we
have three families with swing sets in their
back yards that have been opened up to us.
Its just a very warm community'

❑

For information on the Young Israel of Southfield Young Adult Shabbaton, con-
tact Ari or Monica Fischman at monicafischman@gmail.com or (201) 966-1591,
or Dr. Howard and Michal Korman at hkorman@comcast.net or (248) 358-0748.
For information on YIS, access the Web site: at yisouthfield.org or call (248)
358-0154. There is no charge for attending the Shabbaton.

May 22 2008 Cl