A Trip Down
Memory Lane
■ ∎ \
Shaarey Zedek members take
historical Detroit tour to explore
the congregation's deep roots.
Ruthe Goldstein
Special to the Jewish News
0
n the beautiful, sunny Sunday, Oct. 23,
three buses filled with Congregation
Shaarey Zedek members and guests
traced the roots of the congregation over the
past 150 years.
Highlights included visiting the markers
denoting the landing of the first Jewish fur
trader, Chapman Abraham, in Detroit in 1762;
the participation of 181 Michigan Jewish men
and boys in the Civil War; and the site of the
first minyan of the Beth El Society in the city in
1850.
Shaarey Zedek was formed in 1861 when 17
men broke away from Beth El over religious
practices. The five former sites of Shaarey
Zedek in Detroit were included in the tour.
The major areas of Jewish settlement, Lower
and Upper Hastings, were traversed as well
as visiting newer Jewish contributions to the
city. At Moishe House on Ferry Street, Arianna
Morrison, a resident of the house, and Allison
Shipper of Federation's CommunityNEXT, told
the group of the newest efforts to encourage
young Jewish people to return to Detroit.
Budding Writers
embers on the tour gather
.31
fo
r a
photo
on the steps of the former home of f , . )
Shaarey Zedek on Chicago Boulevard.
Beth Olam, the cemetery in the General
Motors parking lot established by Shaarey
Zedek in 1862, was a special attraction.
The final stop on the tour was 2900 W.
Chicago Blvd., the former home of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek that was designed by Albert
Kahn. The group was warmly greeted by mem-
bers of the Clinton Street Greater Bethlehem
Temple Church and welcomed by their pastor,
Bishop Shedrick Clark. Rabbi Joseph Krakoff
then thanked the church and the bishop for
their hospitality. A gift of an original Albert
Kahn architectural rendering of the building
was presented to the church.
Some Shaarey Zedek members, with tears in
their eyes, sat in the seats they had shared with
their families as young people. Many individu-
als spoke of their life experiences in this edifice.
The event concluded with Krakoff requesting all
who celebrated bar mitzvah, consecration or a
wedding in the sanctuary to rise. He was joined
by Cantor Meir Finkelstein, who sang Birkat
HaCohanim, the priestly blessing in Hebrew.
The final piece was taking a portrait of the par-
ticipants posing on the front steps of this build-
ing, the fifth home of Congregation Shaarey
Zedek.
Above: Shaarey Zedek members at a historical marker in Detroit
commemorating Jewish Civil War soldiers.
Right: Rabbi Joseph
Krakoff, Bishop
Shedrick Clark
and Cantor Meir
Finkelstein at the
former Shaarey Zedek
building on Chicago
Boulevard, which is
now Clinton Street
Greater Bethlehem
Temple Church.
Book Fair event allows
children to experience the whole author experience.
S
ome of the authors at this year's
Jewish Community Center
Jewish Book Fair were very
young — they participated in the event's
second Kids Can Be Authors, Too session
on Sunday, Nov. 6, at the JCC in Oak Park.
Students received guidelines from
Book Fair during the last academic year
and worked hard to produce their works,
many of them self-published. Their
entries were judged by educators and
Book Fair volunteers.
Entries came from students at Akiva
Hebrew Day School in Southfield, Hillel
Day School in Farmington Hills and
from two secular school students, Max
Wittenberg, who attends West Hills Middle
School, and Gabrielle Feber, a student at
Cranbrook Kingswood Middle School.
Before the event, students were given
cards they could send out to promote
their Book Fair appearance. It must have
worked because more than 250 people
attended the event where students were
given time to present their books before
being interviewed by local author and
WDIV-TV meteorologist Paul Gross.
Afterward, the authors signed autographs.
"The experience teaches children
things they can use in life — the whole
experience of promoting, presentation,
follow-through, learning to speak before
an audience," said Miriam Ciesla, coordi-
nator of Book Fair in Oak Park. "It show-
cases kids' talents and makes them feel
good about themselves, and it helps them
become part of Book Fair. They could
become published authors and come back
to Book Fair in their 20s."
t
From Avika: Eitan Shere, Jonah Gilan, Jeremy Morgan, teacher Yehudit Jubas, Aviva
Levi, Sarni Lofman, Eden Gilan, Shira Schon and Principal Teri Giannetti. (Not shown:
Rachel Shulkin, Atara Kresch, Dani Lerman, Zoe Korelitz and Avraham Benjamin.)
Max Wittenberg of West Bloomfield
displays his sports novel.
Gabrielle Feber of Huntington Woods stands in front of the young authors' rack at
Book Fair.
November 17 2011
29