20 | FEBRUARY 20 • 2020
Jews in the D
HUES from page 18
it at the time. For exam-
ple, mixing milk and meat
always bothered him, and
on Saturdays he felt a strong
desire to rest and abstain from
things like listening to music.
“
Are you sure you’
re not
Jewish,” a Jewish friend and
client once asked him. His
response: “I think I have a
Jewish soul.”
Rickman, who is 15 years
sober, expressed an interest
in Judaism to his Alcoholics
Anonymous sponsee, who was
Jewish and offered to take him
to services for the first time.
The same person helped him
learn to read after he received
what is known as the “Big
Book” at an AA meeting and
was told his salvation was
contained within its pages.
The book is considered the
basic text for AA because of
its message of recovery.
“I thought it was a sick joke
HaShem was playing on me,”
Rickman says. “How could
a book be my salvation if I
couldn’
t read? But all the time
HaShem was saying, ‘
I’
ll be
with you,’
and I was able to
do it.”
Rickman later started a
weekly AA meeting at Adat
Shalom.
When he signed up for the
adult b’
nai mitzvah classes at
Adat Shalom in Farmington
Hills, he was still struggling to
read English — and suddenly
he was also trying to learn the
Hebrew alphabet and Torah
tropes. Ultimately, he ended
up reading the longest hafto-
rah part in his class.
MARRIAGE & RELATIONSHIPS
At a Jewish function or kosher
restaurant, it’
s hard for Aliza
Klein to ignore the occasion-
al stares and gossip directed
toward her and her husband,
and they’
ll just be friendly to you, and
it’
s constant. My wife has enjoyed the
same kind of exposure and experience
there, and we’
re going on four full
years of being members.”
Soon after landing at Temple Beth
El, Jones and his wife, Gar, moved
from their Arden Park mansion in
2015 to a West Bloomfield condo —
one he discovered in an issue of the
Jewish News.
At age 92, Jones converted and, soon
after, became a bar mitzvah.“I found
the satisfaction that I wanted to in
Judaism,” Jones said. “It was like com-
ing home.”
Temple Beth El’
s Rabbi Mark Miller
and Rabbi Dorit Edut, among many
others, have been integral in Jones’
conversion journey.
“I believe Dr. Jones has provided
a unique sense of inspiration to our
Temple Beth El community — not
simply because of his incredible wealth
of experience, but also because of the
joy and seriousness he brings to the
endeavor of living a Jewish life,” Miller
said. “Personally, I love the opportunity
to learn from both his wisdom and his
spirit every single week.”
While exploring Judaism, Jones held
teaching positions and was a principal
in Detroit Public Schools for 40 years.
Even after retiring, he was a principal
at several Roman Catholic schools,
taught at Wayne State University in the
College of Education and was the prin-
cipal at Ecorse High School, where he
taught Introduction to Religion.
“I invited a minister, an imam and
a rabbi, and I got Rabbi Dorit Edut,”
Jones recalls. “When Rabbi Dorit
finished, the young ladies in the class
wrote a letter to her saying they would
like to become a rabbi. Mind you, we
had three Hispanic kids — the rest
were black kids and two white kids.”
JERRY ZOLYNSKY
JERRY ZOLYNSKY
Re’
uvein Rickman in his usual
seat at Adat Shalom — the
seventh row on the aisle
continued on page 22
continued on page 22
JOURNEY from page 19