PHOTOS BY BARBARA LEWIS
jews in the d
Filling the Gap
Beth Shalom rents, gives space to help groups stay afl oat after JCC’s closure.
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
C
ongregation Beth Shalom has
become a de facto community
hub since the Jewish Community
Center closed its Oak Park branch in
2015.
Detroit Chesed Project’s The Spot pro-
gram (“The spot for special children”)
has been at Beth Shalom for more than
two years. The program provides respite
services for families with special-needs
children from 3-7 p.m. Sunday through
Thursday, using several classrooms in
the synagogue’s school wing.
The JCC’s Institute for Retired
Professionals (IRP) knew it would
lose many participants from southern
Oakland County if it relocated its Oak
Park activities to the main center in
West Bloomfield. IRP rents space from
Beth Shalom for a variety of discussion
groups and speaker events. In return,
Beth Shalom members can attend pro-
grams usually open only to IRP mem-
bers.
“The Jewish Community Center is
thrilled to collaborate with community
partners such as Beth Shalom to fulfill
our mission to build a dynamic Jewish
community,” said Heidi Budaj, JCC assis-
tant executive director, noting that the
JCC partners with many other commu-
nity organizations as well.
The Farber Adult Art Class set up
a studio in a room formerly used by
Beth Shalom’s nursery school. Harriet
Gelfond has run the program for more
14
December 20 • 2018
jn
ABOVE: Instructor Harriet Gelfond gives direction to Tamar Dvir of West Bloomfield. TOP: Knitters
Lori Bolkosky, Oak Park; Vicki Salinger, Southfield; Liz Kannon, Ferndale; Gila Gelfond, Southfield;
and Judy Domstein, West Bloomfield
than 50 years, starting when the JCC
was in Northwest Detroit. It relocated to
Oak Park when the main center moved
to West Bloomfield in 1976. The studio
is open from 9-11:30 a.m. Monday,
Wednesday and Friday, and charges $60
for 10 classes, including all supplies.
Gelfond says she now has 20 students,
more than she had at the JCC. “Beth
Shalom has been wonderful to us,” she
said.
Down the hall from the art studio
is the Beis Chaya Mushka Girls High
School run by Chabad/Lubavitch, which
relocated to Beth Shalom in 2014. The
school, with 58 students, rents eight
classrooms, the library and the youth
lounge on weekdays.
“We have been very happy with
our arrangement with Beth Shalom
and think it’s a great space,” said Bayla
Blumstein, school principal.
A knitting group that formerly met
at the Oak Park JCC moved to Beth
Shalom when the center closed. It’s a
small drop-in group of people who
like company while they work on their
personal projects, said Liz Kannon of
Ferndale, a longtime participant. One
individual makes lap quilts for cancer
patients; others knit hats for American
and Israeli soldiers. The group meets
Monday evenings from 7-9 p.m. and
new members are welcome.
Kannon said they are happy although
they miss the social connection with
non-knitters who would stop in to
schmooze as they went to or from other
activities at the JCC. The congregation
doesn’t charge them because the build-
ing is open for other activities and “all
we need is a table and some chairs,”
Kannon said.
One of those other Monday activities
is the biweekly board meetings of the
Ideal Detroit Loan Corporation, a sav-
ings and loan society established by local
tradesmen in the 1920s (Go to djnfoun-
dation.org for an archived story on Ideal,
Nov. 12, 2015). The group previously
met at the JCC.
Since last summer, Kehillat Etz Chaim,
a new Modern Orthodox congregation,
has been renting space to hold Sabbath
and holiday services in Beth Shalom’s
chapel.
Several community organizations
use Beth Shalom for annual events,
including the Bel Canto choir, which
holds its spring concert there, and the
Tri-Community Coalition, which is
dedicated to substance abuse prevention
and mental health wellness in Oak Park,
Huntington Woods and Berkley. For the
past several years, the coalition has held
its annual Dialogue Day for teens at Beth
Shalom.
“Beth Shalom has been exceedingly
generous,” said Judy Rubin, the coali-
tion’s executive director. “We love the
venue and hope to continue using it for
many years to come.”
Beth Shalom’s Rabbi Robert Gamer
said he and other congregation leaders
suggested using the building when news
broke about the closure of the JCC.
“We are happy to have the building
more utilized and also happy that these
groups, which may have folded, continue
to exist,” he said. “We do charge nominal
fees to cover our costs, but it’s much less
than renting commercial real estate.”
Congregation President Gretchen
Weiner said Beth Shalom has always
placed a high value on community. “We
are blessed to be able to accommodate
a variety of groups and activities to pro-
mote continuity and stability in our local
Jewish community,” she said. ■