Metro
Economic Realities
Shaarey Zedek discusses closing B'nai Israel Center in West Bloomfield.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer
W
ith an operating deficit of
hundreds of thousands of
dollars, Congregation Shaarey
Zedek (CSZ) may soon be closing its West
Bloomfield-based B'nai Israel Center.
A June 15 board of directors vote will
determine the fate of the facility, where
religious services, simchahs, programs
and classes take place.
Almost immediately after a May 4 meet-
ing where a proposal was made to con-
solidate the synagogue into the Southfield
location, members began to express con-
cerns about what will happen to congre-
gants who regularly attend services there.
"The discussion that took place at the
meeting was very painful," said CSZ Rabbi
Joseph Krakoff. "I know some of the initial
reaction is that people are upset; they are
angry; they are frustrated."
Krakoff said the deficit is present even
after a seven-figure cut in spending was
made over the last several years.
"Sadly, because of the economic reality
of Detroit, people moving out of town and
the fact that vast numbers of our congre-
gants pay much less than full dues, we still
have an operating deficit:' he wrote in a
May 5 group e-mail.
He said the proposal was made to
expand the use of the Southfield build-
ing over the West Bloomfield building
"because of size and ability to accommo-
date our congregants in various venues as
well as the community."
CSZ President Brian
Hermelin said, "Our
board explained that the
synagogue would have
a six-figure savings plus
we would not have to
put hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars into
Brian
capital maintenance."
Hermelin
Krakoff added, "We
are the only congregation in the country
doing two of everything in two locations and,
unfortunately, we no longer have that luxury''
The B'nai Israel Center was formed
in the early 1990s following the merger
of CSZ and B'nai Israel, a congregation
originally in Pontiac. The building is used
mainly for morning minyan and Shabbat
services. After the end of this school year,
the synagogue's Beth Hayeled early child-
14
May 13 • 2010
"We are one extended family, not two.
We are interested in finding a way to
preserve everything that is exciting,
participatory and communal about
B'nai Israel."
— Rabbi Joseph Krakoff
hood education program will no longer
hold classes at either facility, instead par-
ticipating in a consolidation with Hillel
Day School of Metropolitan Detroit's new
Early Childhood Center.
"By integrating our program — and our
teachers — with them, we can continue to
offer preschool classes for our members
while still offering tuition assistance and
member discounts:' Hermelin said.
More Meetings
Prior to the June 15 vote, an additional
board meeting will be held. The board
and clergy will hold group and individual
meetings with interested members as well
as a 7 p.m., Monday, May 17, Town Hall
meeting at B'nai Israel to hear the ideas
and concerns of members and the corn-
munity. A group of B'nai Israel attendees
also will gather to discuss concerns in
advance of the Town Hall meeting.
"The wording for the motion to be voted
on has not yet been written because by the
time of the vote there may be options we
don't have now:' Krakoff said. "Nothing is
done yet. We are using the next five weeks
to hear from our congregants and to
review every option available'
Concerns already have been expressed.
Susan Knoppow of Huntington Woods,
who has attended services at B'nai Israel
since the building opened, wrote a letter to
synagogue President Brian Hermelin.
"It is not convenient to travel across town
nearly every Shabbat and on holidays, but it
is worth the trip to be part of such a unique
spiritual community," she wrote.
"Please recognize that it is hard to
sustain a strong community amidst
uncertainty. Will we still have a building
next year? Will we hire a new rabbi (after
Rabbi Eric Yanoff leaves for a post in
Philadelphia next month)?
"Will our B'nai Israel friends disperse
and join other congregations?
"Many of us are deeply committed to
one another as a congregation. I suspect
that our community will survive in some
form or another. I am not as sure that we
will survive as part of Shaarey Zedek, a
possibility that I find disheartening."
What If?
Should the vote determine the B'nai Israel
building will close, Krakoff hopes mem-
bers will attend services in Southfield.
"B'nai Israel is a very cherished com-
munity within the Shaarey Zedek
he said. "We feel very proud of what we
created. We will do everything in our
power to preserve the beauty of the West
Bloomfield service'
Those who attend the more traditional
services at B'nai Israel do so in a smaller
setting than in Southfield and utilize lay
leaders with no cantor or choir.
"This is not about taking everybody and
putting them in the Southfield sanctuary
and saying, 'This is your service:" Krakoff
said. "Most Conservative congregations
offer multiple types of services on Shabbat
and holidays and throughout the year, and
we will do this also.
"We are not turning our back on those
who participate there. This is not personal.
There is no question that if we had the
resources we would continue with what
has been created at B'nai Israel.
"We are one extended family, not two.
And we are interested in finding a way
to preserve everything that is exciting,
participatory and communal about West
Bloomfield;' he wrote in his group e-mail.
CSZ was the first Conservative congre-
gation in the Detroit area and will cel-
ebrate its 150th anniversary in 2011.
"One of the hardest pieces of this is
what will happen to members who walk to
services in West Bloomfield:' Krakoff said.
Among them is Fred Shuback of
West Bloomfield. Feeling abandoned,
he said, "I'm not sure what part of
shomer Shabbat (strict observance) is
unclear. Perhaps it is the thought that
Conservative Jews are 'allowed' to drive
to shul on Shabbat. Many observant
Conservative Jews, including us and most
of the clergy of Shaarey Zedek, do not
drive to shul, even with this 'allowance:"
To walk the eight miles from his home
to the Southfield synagogue location he
said would take two and a half hours.
Shuback is involved in a monthly
Shaarey Zedek affiliated minyan, held six
times a year at participants' homes and six
times a year at the B'nai Israel building.
"We expect to continue this minyan in
one form or another, either at the houses of
participants or at some other site he said.
Numbers
Because CSZ members attend services
and programs at both the Southfield
and West Bloomfield locations, an exact
number of those who attend B'nai Israel
is not available. But on a typical Shabbat,
when no b'nai mitzvah or other function
is taking place, approximately 120 mem-
bers attend. Approximately 1,500-1,600
families are members of Shaarey Zedek.
"In light of the synagogue's financial
situation, the congregation needs to
review its revenues and expenditures
carefully in order to determine what steps
are necessary to improve the bottom line
Shuback said.
"Interested B'nai Israel regulars are
looking to work with the synagogue to
review the B'nai Israel-related revenues
and expenditures to see what improve-
ments can be made.
"However, an outreach should have
been made prior to this now-crisis situ-
ation. People with a vested interest in
keeping B'nai Israel as a going concern
would have stepped up on a proactive, as
opposed to a reactive, basis to participate
in the process had we known that there
would be such a quick push to take action
to close the facility."
Said Hermelin, "Our focus is on our
member families, all of them. By address-
ing our financial situation directly now, we
are able to focus on the long-term needs
of our congregation: having the finest reli-
gious school, providing a spiritual home
for the largest Conservative congregation
in Michigan and providing members with
diversity in Jewish programming and
activities. We are one family and we need
to come together as one' El