rosh hashanah

Rabbi Jeffrey Falick leads a service at the Birmingham Temple in Farmington Hills.

Secular Traditions

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Groups usher in
5778 in varied and
meaningful ways.

Laurie Brown

SHOLEM ALEICHEM
INSTITUTE

P.O. Box 251564
West Bloomfield, MI 48325
www.secularsaimichigan.org

R

egulars attending the secular High
Holiday observances sponsored
by Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter
Ring (WC/AR) look forward every year
to Laurie Brown’s dramatic re-telling of
“Jonah and the Whale” on Yom Kippur.
Brown, a communications skills
speaker and trainer for Laurie Brown
Communications, has voiced the parts
of the narrator and God for at least 25
years. She’s well-suited, having started
her career as a professional actor.
“I really do love the Jonah story,” Brown
said. “It has an important message, and
we have fun with it.”
Going to the WC/AR assemblies each
year “is getting to be with chosen fam-
ily,” said Brown, referring to the people
“we used to see all the time when our
kids were in shule.” She and her husband,
graphic designer Eric Keller, started with
Workmen’s Circle in 1989, when their
son Daniel was 3 and needed a nursery
school.
“I love that Workmen’s Circle stands
for social justice,” she said. “They are a
group of people who share my value sys-
tem.”
Just like their co-religionists in the
Orthodox, Conservative, Reform,
Renewal and Reconstructionist move-
ments, secular and Humanistic Jews are
looking forward to welcoming the Jewish
new year. The non-observant won’t

be found worshiping for hours in shul
or making entreaties to God. Instead,
groups serving this segment have created
meaningful ways to identify as proud
members of the Jewish people.
In addition to WC/AR, local secular
or Humanistic Jewish organizations
that will offer High Holiday services are
Sholem Aleichem Institute in Commerce
Township, Jewish Cultural Society in
Ann Arbor and Birmingham Temple in
Farmington Hills.
Like Jews everywhere, these organiza-
tions have differences in their philoso-
phies and the programming/services
they offer.

SHOLEM ALEICHEM INSTITUTE

The High Holiday assemblies (not servic-
es) hosted by Sholem Aleichem Institute
(SAI) of West Bloomfield fill a need for
many unaffiliated, secular Jews.
SAI is a cultural organization inter-
ested in preserving Yiddish language and
culture. After generations of moving ever
westward from Detroit, the assemblies
have been held since 2014 in Commerce
Township.
Under the direction of the late SAI
founder Moishe Haar, the organization
began collecting songs and poems that
characterize the Jewish people in its
many struggles and successes.
“We will continue the combination of

readings and music in English, Hebrew
and Yiddish, underlining the cultural and
spiritual significance of the new year to
secular Jews,” said Margaret Winters, SAI
co-president with Caleb Simon.
Community singing is encouraged
during the programs, while soprano
Shirley Benyas is the featured soloist
among the chorus members. Davis Gloff
again will provide piano accompani-
ment and vocals. Cellist David Peshlakai
will contribute his music on Kol Nidre.
Distinguished attorney Eugene Driker
will deliver timely remarks.
The Sholem Aleichem service differs
from those of Birmingham Temple and
Workmen’s Circle in that the SAI machzor
(the Yiddish word for its program book)
includes references to God and spiritual
psalms. Still, no prayers are offered.
The literary works read each year are
meant to inspire faith in humanity and
hopes for a more peaceful existence for
everyone.
“We welcome people of all persuasions,
though we are not political or religious,”
Simon said. •

Sholem Aleichem Institute (SAI) will hold High
Holiday assemblies at the Steinway Piano
Gallery Recital Hall, 2700 E. West Maple Road in
Commerce Township. The schedule this year is
Rosh Hashanah, 10 a.m. Sept. 21; Kol Nidre, 8
p.m. Sept. 29; and Yom Kippur, 10 a.m. Sept. 30.
Donations are encouraged.

continued on page 80

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September 14 • 2017

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