Special Report
A NEW HOME / ON THE COVER
both of West Bloomfield, carry
Torahs in the processional to
B nansrael congregantys crrre a nw spiritual home.
B'nai Israel's new home.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer
W
ith the sound of the shofar on
Saturday evening came a final
look at a sanctuary that for
decades surrounded congregants in times
of celebration and prayer.
With the blowing of the final note that
ended Yom Kippur, Congregation Shaarey
Zedek's (CSZ) B'nai Israel Center was
officially closed. The synagogue's board
of trustees voted in July to consolidate
operations of its two facilities into their
Southfield campus at the end of the High
Holidays. A decision was made that the
synagogue is stronger together financially
and programmatically than it is apart.
Some who attended the Yom Kippur
service this year will stay on at CSZ. For
others, it marked a time of departure.
Some 150 members have expressed
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September 23 • 2010
interest in joining the newly created
Conservative B'nai Israel Synagogue of
West Bloomfield. And 12 hours after the
end of Yom Kippur, 53 participants attend-
ed the first service at the synagogue's new
home inside the Reform Temple Kol Ami
building in West Bloomfield, less than a
mile down the road from the old facility.
"It may be difficult to leave, but it's
not the bricks and mortar that made our
home; it is the people said Frank Ellias of
Farmington Hills, spokesman for a group
of 30 individuals who worked to establish
the new synagogue.
The move into the Kol Ami building
does not involve a merger of the two
institutions. "B'nai Israel and Kol Ami
will remain separate congregations with
separate identities:' said Ellias, a former
CSZ board member and former longtime
learner's minyan leader there. "We will be
entering into an operation agreement that
allows B'nai Israel shared use of the build-
ing, which is owned by Kol Ami." The plan
is for the new location to be the perma-
nent home of the new synagogue.
An offer has been made by the Mesivta
of Toledo Orthodox boys' high school
to purchase the CSZ B'nai Israel Center
building. A meeting of the congregation
has been called for Tuesday, Sept. 28, to
vote to authorize its sale.
"After the difficult decision was made
to close our West Bloomfield campus, we
reached out to our entire congregation and
reinforced our desire to bring us all back
together in one home said CSZ President
Brian Hermelin."After 20 years, we antici-
pated that some of our members who had
stopped coming to Southfield years ago
might not return.
'As this new congregation forms from
these members, we wish them well. We
are all members of the same Jewish com-
munity and will continue to interact
and share so many experiences together.
We are happy that the group in West
Bloomfield was able to find a way to con-
gregate and are excited at the energy and
focus that is going on at Shaarey Zedek
with members who have been Southfield-
based and many members who used to
primarily attend West Bloomfield."
Pulling Up Roots
For some with deeper, longer ties to CSZ,
the move is more difficult than for others.
Ellias's family has belonged there since
1938. He came to the B'nai Israel Center in
search of a more traditional service. His
immediate family will join the new syna-
gogue, but some of his extended family
will remain at CSZ.
Dr. Jeffrey Eisman may not have left the
synagogue where he grew up on a high
note, but he left on a long one. "I was given