Spirituality

FJA Talk Examines
Partnership Minyan

R

abbi Martin Lockshin of
Toronto's York University
will be the guest speaker at
a Lunch and Learn at Frankel Jewish
Academy in West Bloomfield at 11:55
a.m. Monday, April 4. The event is open
to the community free of charge.
Lockshin will dis-
cuss the phenomenon
of the partnership
minyan, indepen-
dent congregations
whose members
worship according
to Orthodox practice
Rabbi
and are also com-
Lockshin
mitted to including
women in ritual
leadership roles to the fullest extent
possible within the boundaries of
Jewish law
"It's a matter of congregational
dignity,' Lockshin said. "Some years
ago, a very modest rabbi wrote an
article that has become the intellec-
tual underpinning of the partnership
minyan movement. In the article,
Rabbi Mendel Shapiro, [a practicing
attorney in Jerusalem], recounted
his analysis of a text written 1,500
to 1,800 years ago that stated it was
`against human dignity for a woman
to read from the Torah.'
"Based on very careful analysis,
Rabbi Shapiro argued convincingly
that over time the ideas of communal
dignity do indeed change and that a
congregation has the right to define its
own communal dignity'
In the 11 years since publication,
between 20 and 30 minyanim have
been formed where it is deemed
within community dignity and Jewish
law for women to chant from the Torah
and recite the blessings before and
after the Torah reading.
Lockshin, a founding member of the
Toronto Partnership Minyan, acknowl-
edges "gigantic changes" within the
Orthodox movement.
"Today, the idea of not marking the
12th birthday of a daughter is unthink-
able. There might be discussion about
what, but it is expected that, 'Of course,
that rite of passage will be marked in
the same way a bar mitzvah is marked.
The partnership minyan is still on the
periphery but, as so often happens,
the periphery has influence upon the
mainstream."
Space is limited for the Lunch and
Learn. E-mail Annie Chi (achi@fran-
kelja.org) or call (248) 592-5263, ext
235 by April 1 to reserve a place.

The Write Stuff!

David Sachs
Senior Copy Editor

T

hree longtime local journalists will
be cited with lifetime achievement
awards by the Detroit Chapter
of the Society of Professional Journalists
(SPJ).
Maynard "Mac" Gordon of Farmington
Hills, a 67-year automotive writer, will be
honored as the dean of Detroit automobile
industry writers.
Robert Sklar, editor of the Detroit Jewish
News for the past 13 years will be recog-
nized for his 38 years in community jour-
nalism.
And Charles R. Eisendrath, a former for-
eign correspondent for Time magazine and
a journalism professor and director of the
Knight-Wallace Fellowship at the University
of Michigan, will be feted for his reporting
and contributions to the education of gen-
erations of writers.
The three will receive their awards at the
SPJ banquet, 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, at

the San Marino Club on Big Beaver
Robert
Charles
Mac
east of Rochester Road in Troy.
Sklar
Eisendrath
Gordon
Tickets are $55 and a buffet dinner
will be served.
serving in Birmingham, Rochester, Livonia
Mac Gordon entered Wayne University in and Farmington. He worked his way up
Detroit in the 1940s and became editor of
from sports writer to community editor to
the Collegian. He got a job right off the bat
assistant managing editor and to Oakland
with Automotive News, part-time at first
County managing editor. In 1998, he began
because he was only 16 years old. One of
his career as the second-longest editor of
his first assignments was reporting on the
the Jewish News (next to Phil Slomovitz),
first Ford auto to roll off the assembly line
stepping down on March 4, but continuing
at the Rouge plant after the war in 1945.
to contribute opinion pieces and editorial
Gordon purchased his own dealer
comment to the N.
newsletter Motor News Analysis in 1962,
After reporting for the St. Louis Post-
writing and publishing on his own for 25
Dispatch and Baltimore Evening Sun,
years until he entered the freelance writ-
Eisendrath joined Time, which posted him
ing arena as a contributor to Auto Age,
in Washington, London, Paris and Buenos
now called Ward's Dealer Business. He
Aires, where as bureau chief he was respon-
is author of the 1985 book The Iacocca
sible for all news operations in Hispanic
Management Technique. Co founder and
South America. He moved to the U-M facul-
former president of Detroit's Automotive
ty in 1975, directing a master's program that
Press Association, he has been with
placed journalists in internships or jobs.
AutomotiveDigest.com since 2000.
Tickets for the awards banquet can be
Sklar began his 25-year tenure at the
purchased online at www.spjdetroit.org or
Observer & Eccentric Newspapers in 1973,
by calling (586) 306-2035. I I

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March 24 • 2011

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