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Part Of The Family

Longtime non-Jewish staffers help make their synagogues special.

Stacy Gittleman | Contributing Writer

T

hey are often the first to open up
the building in the morning and
the last ones to lock up at night.
They work hard to make sure the furnace
runs in the winter and the air condition-
ing is cool — but not too cold — in the
summer. Because of them, the floors
shine and the carpets are fresh right
before the High Holidays and the start of
Hebrew school.
Their years connected to a congrega-
tion often outlast many Jewish members
and even the clergy, making the syna-
gogue or temple custodian not only the
caretaker of our holy Jewish spaces, but a
congregation’s unofficial historian.
Many of Detroit’s synagogues and
temples owe much gratitude to the
dedication of their custodians, who take
much joy in watching Jewish preschool-
ers grow into young men and women
and return to synagogue with their own
children. When they fall ill, they receive
visits from congregation members and
congregational clergy. For that, they say,
working as a synagogue custodian is like
being part of a big extended family.
Murphy Ealy, 67, of Oak Park, worked
in a scrap metal recycling facility when,
in 1999, he got a call from an employ-
ment agency about a custodial position
at Congregation Beth Ahm in West
Bloomfield. His work at the recycling
yard was “grimy.” Ealy loves to clean, so
he said he was “strongly encouraged” to
take on the new opportunity.
Seventeen years later, he still loves his
job of preparing the building for servic-
es, meals and other programs throughout
the Jewish calendar cycle.
“The favorite part of my job is wel-
coming in the congregants when they
come for Rosh Hashanah and Yom
Kippur,” Ealy said. “I watch the kids grow
older every year, and a lot I’ve known
since they were preschoolers are now
coming back married with their own
kids. I have both celebrated and at times
mourned together with the families
here.”
Ealy arrives at Beth Ahm most days
at 5:30 a.m. to open up the building for
minyan. He then spends the rest of the
morning cleaning and setting up for the
week’s programs or services until his
shift ends at noon. Many times, he will
return to the building for evening func-
tions and is especially instrumental dur-

Charles Criss keeps Temple Emanu-El is
in top shape.

Murphy Ealy shines the brass on the bimah at Congregation Beth Ahm.

Vasile Havrisciuc, maintenance manager,
spruces up the Beth Shalom sign.

ing special occasions such as building the
sukkah and helping the congregation’s
sisterhood during its annual rummage
sale.
As Ealy polished the brass railings of
the bimah in the sanctuary on a recent
morning, he considered the holiness of
his work.
“For six days, I spend most of my time
in a Jewish house of worship,” he said.
“There is certainly something special
about doing my work inside a synagogue.
When I’m in here and it is peaceful and
quiet, I feel safe.”
As keeper of the synagogue’s keys,
a custodian is also on call for various
emergency circumstances, like respond-
ing to an emergency alarm or a power
outage. But it is not often that a custodi-
an is called upon to determine the results
of a local election.
Beth Ahm serves as a polling loca-
tion for Precincts 9 and 10 in Oakland
County. One election night, Ealy

a background in electrical, plumbing
and HVAC skills and is “constantly find-
ing ways to save the synagogue money,”
according to building committee chair
Allen Wolf of Bloomfield Township.
Non-Jewish custodians of synagogues
take on unique job responsibilities such
as learning about Jewish laws and obser-
vances surrounding Shabbat, kashrut and
other customs.
According to Wolf, Havrisciuc is a
devout Catholic who knows more about
Judaism than most Jews do.
“When Pesach comes around, no
one needs to tell Vasile how to kasher
the kitchen,” he said. “When the High
Holidays approach, he knows how to re-
arrange the shul and pull out the appro-
priate machzorim. On Shabbat, he knows
we can’t turn on ovens or lights, so he
makes sure these things are handled.
“Congregation Beth Shalom is a very
heimishe [down-to-earth] shul and
Vasile is an important part of that. He is

returned home after work only to receive
an urgent phone call from a local gov-
ernment official. The polling workers
left the voting sheets in the locked syna-
gogue, and they could not call the elec-
tion until Ealy opened the building to
count the votes.
“He is a one-man show who knows us
all and knows the inner workings and
routine of our congregation and can
anticipate what needs to be done without
even asking,” said Beth Ahm Executive
Director David Goodman. “He is here for
us all and is an integral part of our suc-
cess.”

‘AS IMPORTANT AS THE RABBI’
On the other side of town, Beth Shalom
of Oak Park loves to brag about its
“one-man maintenance team,” Vasile
Havrisciuc.
For 11 years, Romanian-born
Havrisciuc has worked as the syna-
gogue’s maintenance manager. He has

continued on page 12

10 March 17 • 2016

