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NEW YORK JEWISH WEEK

in
the

Mixed
Welcome

A Modern Orthodox maverick,
Rabbi Asher Lopatin faces
Orthodox disdain — and support.

JULIE EDGAR CONTRIBUTING WRITER

TOP: Rabbi Asher Lopatin will lead the new
Modern Orthodox Kehillat Etz Chayim started
by a group of families in Huntington Woods.

D

etroit’s Modern Orthodox com-
munity is about to welcome a
controversial but beloved rabbi
into its fold.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin has made a name
for himself as a maverick, a spiritual lead-
er who is unafraid to stake unpopular hal-
achic (legal) positions on women’s roles in
the synagogue, gay marriage, conversion
and other hot-button topics that have put
him in the crosshairs of the Orthodox rab-
binate.
His imminent arrival has stirred dis-
quiet among many local Orthodox rabbis,
who have made no secret of their disdain
for his halachic interpretations.
Lopatin, 53, has been hired to lead a
new Modern Orthodox congregation,
Kehillat Etz Chayim, started by a group
of families in Huntington Woods. His
first Shabbat service will be on Friday,
Aug. 10. The group will hold Friday night
services at a private home in Huntington
Woods and Shabbat morning services in
the small chapel at Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park.
Lopatin is passionate about making
connections between Jews at his Shabbat

table and beyond. Along with serving on
the pulpit, he plans to start the Detroit
Center for Civil Discourse, a not-for-
profit program that will train college-level
Fellows to work hand-in-hand with people
unlike themselves on civic projects and to
promote respectful debate.
Howard Lupovitch, Ph.D., director
of the Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic
Studies and associate professor of his-
tory at Wayne State University, is helping
Lopatin to establish the program and says
he’s optimistic the university will welcome
another place to encourage peaceful dia-
logue. WSU also has the Center for Peace
and Conflict Studies and the Center for
Citizenship Studies . Lopatin said he is
working to secure local financial support
for the effort.
“I love change and growth; I love to be
part of a transformation of a city,” Lopatin
said. “For me, the fact that there’s a large
Arab and Muslim and Chaldean popula-
tion is so exciting. I’m also interested in
race in America — how we move forward;
how those populations can work together.”
He says he hopes the program will
spread to universities in the area.

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June 21 • 2018

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