Heartland":
Health Care Center
Comprehensive skilled nursing
and rehabilitation services,
Experience Makes a Difference.
12 locations in Metro Detroit
Allen Park
Bloomfield Hills
Canton
Dearborn Heights
Grosse Pointe Woods
Livonia
Livonia NE
Oakland
Plymouth Court
Sterling Heights
West Bloomfield
Marvin and Betty Danto
Health Care Center
800.800.CARE
IChooseHeartland.com
16 experience a one-of-a-kind Jewish Youth
community. Camp Tavor programming allows
campers to build strong relationships while
learning about leadership, social justice and
metro
Chai Life
Beth Shalom celebration to honor
Cantor Sam and Mona Greenbaum.
Barbara Lewis
Special to the Jewish News
y
ou don't have to be a member
of Congregation Beth Shalom
to know Sam Greenbaum.
As the only Conservative mohel (ritual
circumciser) in Metro Detroit for more
than 40 years, he estimates he has cir-
cumcised more than 10,000 Jewish baby
boys. He bestows on all his clients a tiny
T-shirt that says "I'm perfect — now!"
Some of those baby boys, now
grown, as well as hundreds of others
whose lives Greenbaum has touched
will gather at Beth Shalom on Sunday,
Oct. 13, to honor the cantor and his
wife, Mona, at the annual Chai Life
Celebration. The event, which starts at
5 p.m., includes a silent auction, stroll-
ing dinner and entertainment by mem-
bers of the Detroit Cantors Assembly.
Greenbaum received his bach-
elor's degree in sacred music and a
diploma as a cantor from the Jewish
Theological Seminary (JTS) in 1967.
(He received an honorary doctorate
from the seminary in 2007.)
He also became a mohel while he
was at JTS. He studied with Rabbi
Harry Bronsteen, the inventor of the
clamp now used by most mohelim, and
observed britei milah (ritual circum-
cisions) for more than a year before
starting out on his own.
After he retires as cantor at Beth
Shalom at the end of this year,
Greenbaum will continue working as a
mohel and training bar and bat mitz-
vah students.
Getting Started
Early bird discounts now through
10/31/2013.
First-time campers may be eligible
for up to $1000 off of camp tuition.
"The values that are lived daily are outstanding and the children have a wonderful sum-
mer in so many ways."-Camp Parent
28
September 5 • 2013
After graduating from JTS, Greenbaum
served a congregation in Union, N.J.
There he met Mona at the bar mitzvah
of one of her cousins. Her aunt and
uncle arranged for her to sit next to
Greenbaum at the oneg.
After two years in Union, the
Greenbaums moved to Portland, where
he was the only mohel in Oregon. The
Greenbaums came to Detroit in 1973
after four years in Portland. He weighed
an offer from West Palm Beach, Fla.
— much closer to his hometown of
Jacksonville — but was more attracted
by an offer from a young, innovative
congregation named Beth Shalom.
The Detroit community felt vibrant-
ly Jewish, Greenbaum said. "There
were great cantors here. It was easy to
be a Conservative Jew. I liked that Beth
Shalom was on the cutting edge; they
were considering becoming egalitar-
Cantor Sam and Mona Greenbaum
ian even then. (Beth Shalom was the
first local Conservative congregation to
become fully egalitarian.)
"Beth Shalom had a large choir that
sang every Friday night:' Greenbaum
said. "The school had 600 students,
and we had bar and bat mitzvahs every
week, often more than one. I really
enjoyed working with Rabbi [David]
Nelson [now rabbi emeritus], who was
so creative and got the young people
involver
Mona Greenbaum, a native of
Newark, N.J., graduated magna cum
laude from Kean College of New Jersey
with a major in elementary education.
She studied mathematics at Portland
State University, then enrolled in
an M.B.A. program at Wayne State
University and earned a secondary
teaching certificate from Mercy College.
She taught at Akiva Hebrew Day
School for seven years, and taught ele-
mentary and high school mathemat-
ics in the Berkley School District for
more than 12 years. She also piloted an
elementary math specialists program.
After retiring from Berkley in 1997,
Mona taught part time at Hillel Day
School in Farmington Hills, where she
created a math enrichment program.
She continues to teach in her home.
Greenbaum says wherever he travels
— even on a cruise — people come up to
him and say, "You did my bar mitzvah'
or "You did my son's bris." He knows of at
least one family where he officiated at a
bar mitzvah, and later did the bris of the
celebrant's son and grandson.
He says the best part of his career
has been "being with families at
moments of joy:'
The Greenbaums have three chil-
dren, Rabbi Alex (married to Rabbi
Amy Greenbaum) of Pittsburgh; Shiri
Gordinier, D.O., (married to Jerry
Gordinier) of West Bloomfield; and
Ilana of Farmington Hills as well as
seven grandchildren.
❑
Tickets to the Chai Life Celebration are
$150. Call Beth Shalom at (248) 547-7970.