COMMUNITY

JEWFRO

Detroit's Griswold Family
And Their Local Lampoonery

nder the closing credits of
Wall-e, Pixar's 2008 epic
robot love story, interstellar
computer-generated images
give way to the tale of a people,
returning to their home planet
after 700 years and rediscovering
plant life and fire and agriculture
and irrigation and architecture —
in illustrations that evolve from
cave painting to hieroglyphics to
Pointillism to
Impressionism,
all to the
sweet sounds
of Peter
Gabriel.
That's what I
feel like when
I go to the
Isaac Agree
Downtown
Synagogue. In
the absence
of either
self-aware
machines or a congregational
rabbi to lead the way, there is a
magical sense of rediscovering
weekly something that is at once
buried deep within us and on
the tip of our tongues: clumsy
and graceful, often off-key and
sometimes on-key, peppered
with awkward silences and
spontaneous dancing.
So I gave them $18. I was one
of more than 700 donors totaling
$165,000. My gift put me in good
company with the 120 donors
who gave chai or double-chai
dollars. Ultimately, the campaign
was not about the money (except
to the extent that it really was
about the money and the critical
improvements that said money
will pay for) but rather capturing
and captivating the spirit and
stakeholders of the synagogue.
The campaign received
remarkable media coverage,
largely focused on their futuristic
online crowd-funding approach.
But the real story is rooted in
its history. A Jewish News article
from Nov. 4, 1960* — appearing
alongside a rhyming, all-caps
advertisement imploring readers
to "Make it emphatic, vote straight
Democraticrwith JFK at the top of
the ticket — tells of the transition:
"Downtown Synagogue No Longer
Privately Sponsored by Family ...
"At an organizational meeting
on Oct. 27, plans for a membership
driver were formulated and a $15

U

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minimum yearly membership fee
was set.
"The synagogue will not sell
seats for holidays, but will be
maintained as a free synagogue
sustained by donations and funds
raised in membership drives.
"The synagogue welcomes
Orthodox, Conservative and
Reform Jews, especially out-of-
town travelers who may need a
synagogue for Kaddish or Yahrzeit.
"It will hold its first open
meeting, in the form of a brunch
(emphasis emphatically added) to
be served at noon Sunday, at the
synagogue, 1442 Griswold. All are
invited:'

Related Notes!

Urban Bean Co. is open for
business. The uber-modern, two-
story coffee shop's orange facade
is carved out of the Griswold
Parking Structure at the south end
of the Downtown Synagogue's
block. You can order the 313 (a
small drip coffee and Dutch Girl
Donut) and watch H BO's The
Wire on Tuesday nights at 8. Very
important: The Grind, across the
street, is not a coffee shop.
Eden Gardens Block Club,
which has a deep and dynamic
partnership with Downtown
Synagogue, has been much more
active than nearby City Airport of
late. Eden Gardens garnered the
most votes of the environment-
themed finalists for the Do it
for Detroit Fund micro-grant
competition and took home
$3,000 to support their efforts.
Related, in that Cafe D'Mongo's
Speakeasy is next door to the
Downtown Synagogue, and
Ryan Gosling has, on at least one
occasion, been present at Cafe
D'Mongo's Speakeasy next door to
the Downtown Synagogue: I am
hopeful that Ryan Gosling will cast
my son in his upcoming film How

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to Catch a Monster.

Judah was born to play the
role of Frankie, "a feral-like boy
who's always getting in trouble
for trying to run away from
home and school ... a quiet boy
with an expressive face and the
imagination to create a make-
believe world."Just saying.

* Soon everyone, irrespective of fewfroishness,
will have online access to 70 years of RV archives.
More on that soon.

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RED TIMID I

May 2013 37