 OCTOBER 17 • 2019 | 17

2001 from the International 
Institute for Secular 
Humanistic Judaism in 
Farmington Hills, where she 
now teaches. She also has mas-
ter’
s degrees in Near Eastern 
studies from U-M and in 
psychology from the Michigan 
School of Psychology, and a 
doctorate in Jewish studies 
from Union Institute.

Dan Horwitz, 35, 
directs The Well, 
a communi-
ty-building, edu-
cation and spiri-
tuality outreach 
initiative geared to the needs 
of young adults and families. 
Horwitz grew up in West 
Bloomfield, attended Hillel 
Day School and West 
Bloomfield High, and has a 
string of college degrees, 
including master’
s degrees in 
politics, Jewish studies and 
sport management, as well as a 
law degree. He was ordained at 
Mesifta Adas Wolkowisk. 
He and his wife, Miriam, 
moved to Huntington Woods 
from Washington, D.C., in 
2014 and have three young 
children. The tight-knit layout 
of the community is a defi-
nite asset, Horwitz said, and 
Huntington Woods offers a 
“critical mass” of young Jewish 
families. “Judaism is meant to 
be practiced in community, so 
having community just out-
side your front door is quite 
special.
”

Asher Lopatin, 
55, who was 
recently named 
executive director 
of the JCRC/AJC, 
has long been 
fond of Detroit, his wife 
Rachel’
s hometown. He moved 
here in 2018 to become the 
spiritual leader of Kehillat Etz 

Chayim, a new Modern 
Orthodox congregation. He 
also founded the Detroit 
Center for Civil Discourse at 
Wayne State University. 
“Jews should live in a place 
where they come into physical 
interaction with their neigh-
bors and where they can also 
reach out and help neighbor-
ing communities,
” he said. He 
invited his Christian neighbors 
to a meal in his sukkah and 
they reciprocated with an invi-
tation to see their Christmas 
tree — and they served kosher 
cookies from Zeman’
s. 
He works with many of the 
other rabbis in the community 
on programs ranging from 
prayer services to interfaith 
picnics and the national 
conference for JPro, an orga-
nization of Jewish communal 
professionals, held in Detroit 
in August.

Yudi Mann, 
development 
director for The 
Shul in West 
Bloomfield, grew 
up in Oak Park, 
where his parents still live, 
but moved to Huntington 
Woods in 2011 because 
that’
s where the Jewish fami-
lies are, especially the 
younger ones. The question 
isn’
t why Jews live in 
Huntington Woods but why 
the first Jews moved there, 
he said. “Once there are Jews 
in a community, it automati-
cally attracts other Jews.” 
As part of the Chabad 
movement, Mann, 43, said 
he and his wife, Rivki, try to 
reach out to the Jews around 
them, especially those who 
are less involved communal-
ly. He hosts large Chanukah 
and Sukkot gatherings for his 
neighbors as well as frequent 

continued on page 18

COURTESY YUDI MANN

