I Spirituality

Torah Alive! from page A25

ored to be able to help with this project.
The Torah belongs to the Jewish people,
and we are just in custody of it. Our five
children all wrote a letter in the Torah and
they will never forget that."

Congregational Family
While Taylor Friedman was writing the
304,805 letters of the Torah for the past
year, Yerman was helping CST congregants
and family members write a parchment
from the Song of the Sea portion of Exodus
through the "Two on a Quill" program. The
CST parchment replaces the same page
Friedman wrote in the new Torah.
"More than 540 of us wrote letters," said
Peresman. "That represents 218 of our 340
families, or 65 percent of our congrega-
tion. Neil said in all his working years with
`Two on a Quill, he's never seen even 50
percent participation."
More than 60 percent of CST mem-
bers have donated to the Torah Alive!
Campaign, Peresman said at the gala
party. "A fundraising professional will tell

Sacred Gift

New bimah adds
spiritual dimension.

Susan B. Tauber

Special to the Jewish News

R

abbi Arnie Sleutelberg
considers the new bimah
furnishings at Congregation
Shir Tikvah "a sacred gift" and its
benefactors "angels."
The bimah, with its custom-designed
Aron HaKodesh (Holy Ark), hand-
crafted ner tamid (eternal light), new
Torah covers, refurbished reader's
table and reupholstered benches, was
consecrated Dec.13 along with the
Troy congregation's new Sefer Torah at
a Havdalah service and gala.
"This beautiful bimah will inspire us
by raising our spirits in prayer, con-
necting us to Torah, guiding us to our
traditions and binding us together as a
community," Sleutelberg said.
Major contributors are Art and Marla
Scafe of Oakland Township for the new
Ark, Cary and JoAnne Levy of Troy for
the ner tamid, Paul and Phyllis Wenig
of Troy for the bimah enhancements,
and Marie Littman of Oak Park for the
reader's table.
"When we first started building the
shul, we set up funds for different
parts of the building," explained Naomi
Choinard, chairwoman of the Arts and

A26

January 1 g 2009

you that you have a successful campaign if
you get 35 percent participation:' she said.
"I'm not surprised at what this congrega-
tion has achieved. Look at the history of
CST. It was started by two women, Phyllis
Wenig and Pam Spitzer, with no funding,
no rabbi, no building, no experience run-
ning a shul, in 1983, during a recession.
Twenty-five years later, here we are in an
overflowing sanctuary with a new Torah,
a new bimah and the joy and cooperative
spirit of Pam and Phyllis' vision:'

Giving Of A Torah
This vision took another step a few months
ago when Sleutelberg began questioning
whether or not CST needed its three Torahs
because it was getting a new one.
"We got the idea that it would be won-
derful to pass on the Beth Jacob Torah to
a congregation in need;' said Silverstein.
In fact, Temple Beth Jacob gave CST that
Torah when the Pontiac temple disbanded
in1991.
So Eileen Nowikowski of Huntington

Acquisitions Committee. "Since we had
money in these funds, we decided to
redo our bimah in honor of our 25th
anniversary, which ends this year.
"We wanted to turn our bimah into
something beautiful and sacred, and
translate the congregation's vision
for it. We wanted it to be very spe-
cial, very heimish, and to reflect what
Congregation Shir Tikvah is — a com-
munity that is inclusive, traditional,
warm and inviting."
"We have these beautiful floor-to-
ceiling windows surrounding the bimah
that look over our outdoor, wooded
sanctuary. Those were our inspiration,"
said Choinard of Troy.
The bimah was completed with the
help and talent of Christopher Wilson
of Distinctive Custom Furniture in
Ferndale; artist Michelle Sider of
Huntington Woods; Claude Riedel
of Claude Riedel Light Eternal of
Minneapolis; Israeli artists Yehuda and
Miriam Aranne from Moshav Gimso;
Darlene Doctor of Macomb Township;
Guaranteed Furniture Services of
Berkley; and Seymour Mendshein and
Lisa Martin of Maple Leather Company
in Rosemont, N.J.
"It took us 140 hours to build the
ark, but many more sleepless nights
thinking about it," Wilson said at the
dedication. "Seeing it with the other
furnishings at this event is so touch-
ing. I've never built anything as mean-
ingful as this before."
The design for the Ark mosaics
is based partially on the portion of

Shir Tikvah members usher in the new Torah under the chuppah.

Woods and the Beth Jacob Torah Donation
Committee put an application online and
received nine requests from around the
world. The CST board of trustees chose
Ohel HaChidusch, a Berlin congregation
with about 50 members and no temple,
much as CST was in the beginning.
"We are so proud to share our good for-
tune by passing on our Beth Jacob Torah
to a deserving, viable and egalitarian
congregation that is welcoming of inter-
married couples; that 60 years after the
Holocaust is attempting to reconnect with
Judaism; that is welcoming of the lesbian,
gay, bisexual and transgender community
and to a resurgence of Jews coming into

Eastern Europe who want to make a con-
nection," Nowikowski said.
Cantor Jalda Rebling, spiritual leader
of Ohel HaChidusch, traveled to Troy on
behalf of her congregation to accept the
Beth Jacob Torah at the Dec. 13 festivities.
In an emotional ceremony, CST mem-
bers and Holocaust survivors Edith
Bernstein of Rochester Hills, John Kovacs
of Bloomfield Hills and Wolf Gruca and
Edith Sleutelberg (Rabbi Sleutelberg's
mother), both of Southfield, passed the
Beth Jacob Torah from one another until it
found its resting place in Rebling's arms.
"I'm standing here crying, to thank you
in the name of our small group:' she said

Rabbi Sleutelberg stands in front of the new Ark, adorned with a mosaic depicting
the Sea of Reeds.

the Torah the congregation wrote on
parchment for its new Blumenstein
Family Torah.
"The section we wrote is 'Song of
the Sea,' where the Israelites fled
Egypt and came to the Sea of Reeds.
God split the sea for us to get through
on dry land," Sleutelberg said. "It's
an appropriate section for us because
our name, Congregation Shir Tikvah,
means Song of Hope and music is such
an integral part of our congregation."
Sider created an illusion of the
waters of the Sea of Reeds at the bot-
tom of the Ark's doors. "Each time the

doors of the Ark are opened and our
precious Torah is retrieved or placed
back inside, the Red Sea will be split or
joined," she said.
She included additional Jewish sym-
bolism that represents CST.
"I think the bimah is spectacular,"
said CST co-founder and first presi-
dent Phyllis Wenig. "It's not overdone
in any way.
"it really reflects our shul's inner
and outer beauty. The workmanship
is incredible. Everything was so care-
fully thought out."
Past president Marla Scafe said her