Hi h Holida s
>> on the cover
Everyone Is Family
Small-town shul opens once a year for Detroiter-led High Holiday service.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman I Contributing Writer
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Eastman's roommate at the time,
Heather Goldstein, had told her that she
grew up in St. Louis, but that her family
observed the holiday with relatives on her
mom's side from various cities at Shari
Tzedek in Spring Valley, 105 miles south-
west of Chicago.
Formed as an Orthodox synagogue in
a coal mining town in 1910, at its height
there were 50 families affiliated with Shari
Tzedek, with a kosher butcher and bakery
nearby.
"Now, there are only a handful of Jewish
families living in the town, and the shul is
closed for most of the year:' Parker said.
There haven't been enough congregants
to continue weekly Shabbat services since
the 1960s. These days, the doors remain
locked and the building unused, except for
two days each September.
"The shul opens on Rosh Hashanah
because my family makes a minyan there
for the holiday every year:' Goldstein said.
Her parents now live in Baltimore and
travel from there.
With no rabbi at Shari Tzedek since the
1950s, for the 45 years before Parker was
solicited, the High Holiday service had
been led by the late Allan Goodkind, who
started as a teenager, and traveled yearly
from Chicago, but was unable to continue
after a 2005 move to Pittsburgh.
"Uncle Charley"
The first thing Parker did to prepare
for his time in Spring Valley was to call
Heather's great-uncle, Charley Steinberg.
"He was born, bred and still lives in
Spring Valley," Parker said. "He is largely
responsible for what goes on in the shul,
makes it his job to maintain the building
and makes sure there is a minyan every
year to run services. They would open for
Yom Kippur, but it is hard to get everyone
together twice in two weeks:'
When Steinberg got the call from Parker,
he was delighted. He had been planning
to call the Jewish Theological Seminary
in New York to see if a rabbinical student
could lead the service.
"Mitch came with a great reference
from my cousin, Dr. Jerry Buckman, a
retired internist, who grew up in Spring
Valley," Steinberg said. "His son, Rabbi Lee
Buckman, (founding rabbi of the Frankel
Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
and now head of Tenenbaum Community
Hebrew Academy of Toronto), has been to
42
September 17 • 2015
Alyse and Joshua Ruda at their 2012
b'nai mitzvah, with their parents, Tony
and Leslie Ruda, and grandparents, Ann
Ruda of LaSalle, Ill., and Charlene and
Charley Steinberg, outside Shari Tzedek.
—
I
services at our shul:'
The entire Rosh Hashanah congregation
consists of Steinberg relatives. And that,
says Steinberg, includes the Parkers.
"We have adopted them as our family:'
he said. In turn, Parker refers to Steinberg
as "Uncle Charley"
Parker has a humorous take on the
group's yearly visits.
"I look at it as a sort of Brigadoon," he
said. "The shul 'descends' once a year,
the people reappear. It is the only place I
know of where everyone comes to daven
in the same space, from ultra-Orthodox to
Reform, and gets along for 48-72 hours:'
Parker leads services for about 30 con-
gregants each day of Rosh Hashanah.
"I do most of the davening, but mem-
bers read Torah, give divrei Torah and
blow shofar," he said. "I give the sermon
one day and a congregant does the other.
I sometimes teach a Torah class during
down time:'
Goldstein, who now lives in Pittsburgh,
has attended Parker's service three or
four times, including once with her hus-
band, former Detroiter David Chudnow,
who grew up across the street from the
Parkers. The couple and Eastman attended
University of Michigan together in Ann
Arbor.
Strong Roots
Charley Steinberg is the grandson of
I.L. Steinberg, founder of the more than
100-year-old Shari Tzedek. It is the only
synagogue in Spring Valley, a town with a
population of fewer than 6,000, including
only three Jewish families.
"There are my wife and I, our daugh-
ter Leslie (Steinberg Ruda) and Jerry
Buckman's brother, George Steinberg
said.
The Steinbergs also run a longtime
business in nearby Peru, Ill.: Steinberg's
Furniture, also founded by I.L. Steinberg,
in 1888.
"After him, my dad and my uncle took
over, and then me for 60 years:' Charley
Steinberg said:' The store is now run by
Charley's children, Steinberg Ruda and
Bruce Steinberg.
"The Steinbergs are an essential part of
their small community:' Parker said. "I am
always struck by how many people stop to
talk with Charley while we are walking to
Charley Steinberg puts tefillin on his
grandson Joshua Ruda at his 2012 bar
mitzvah at Shari Tzedek.
shul just to say hello and wish him a good
holiday:'
Shari Tzedek's 60-seat sanctuary was
constructed for exactly what it is used for
today: for congregants from nearby towns
to have room to have services for the holi-
days:'
On each visit to Spring Valley, Parker is
accompanied by his wife, Cheryl. The first
year, and on a few subsequent trips, Ilana
also joined them. "She and her husband,
Ben, will be coming this year from their
home in Silver Spring, Md.; Ben for the
first time Parker said.
"Everyone in the minyan has all major