metro >> photo essay
B'Darren Payne of the Downtown Synagogue
recently underwent a conversion ceremony led
by Rabbi Dorit Edut and held at Temple Israel in
West Bloomfield, where there is a mikvah.
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The Jewish Community:
Detroit, Oak Park and Southfield
Meet B'Daren Payne
Karpov the Wrecked Train
Contributing Photographer
M
eet B'Daren Payne, a filmmaker liv-
ing in Detroit's Eastern Market area
who belongs to Isaac Agree Downtown
Synagogue. In his own words:
"Before the mikvah, I was nervous. I was about
to marry an entire nation of people and a God
I had been reintroduced to. All in all, it was heavy.
God was there, most definitely. I could feel His
presence deep within in the recess of my soul.
"I went under the first time, and I heard just
the rushing of the water against my eardrums and
my breath leave my body. That first silence, to me,
was me hearing God listen. I'd come up, say the
blessing and go back down, and God and I would
continue our wordless conversation. I thought
when I was under, 'This is what it feels like to be
in your mother's womb, warm and safe: I was in
God's womb, so to speak. I thought about floating
through space, my family, my life — everyone and
everything. I came up the last time, said the last
blessing, went under and stayed under as long as I
could — God and I finished our wordless conver-
sation, I came up and out a brand new man.
"I felt charged, and warm, like I had just been
in the presence of the burning bush:'
❑
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March 21 • 2013