 AUGUST 27 • 2020 | 5

Views

for openers
Men at Work

letters

A 

few years ago, when my friend 
Shayna was going on a cruise, she 
asked me what kind of souvenir 
she should get for me. I jokingly told her 
to just take lots of pictures of all those 
dashing men in uniform. 
So, Shayna spent her 
entire trip texting me pics 
of construction workers in 
their orange jackets. Not 
exactly what I had in mind!
Although I’
ve got to 
admit, there’
s nothing like 
construction. If you’
ve got 
little ones, you know construction can be 
thrilling. A site to behold. Loud noises! 
Big wheels! Best excitement ever!
For the last few months, we’
ve had con-
struction on our street. I wouldn’
t have a 
clue what they’
re doing, but the neighbor-
hood kids love it. All those big trucks and 
that bone-rattling drilling right outside 
your bedroom window at 7 a.m. Those 
piles of rocks and sand that the kids hap-
pily scale when the workers are gone for 
the day. 
Pulling out of the driveway has become 
a whole drama. Then you reach the end 
of the street and you’
ve got to wait while 
the big trucks move the rocks from one 
side of the street to the next (or whatever 
they’
re doing) while the drivers studiously 
ignore you for a full 10 minutes. 

By now we know to park on a different 
street … which is totally fine until we go 
grocery shopping. Then there you are 
carrying bulging grocery bags in each 
hand and praying you won’
t drop the eggs 
as you walk carefully, carefully home on 
the sandy sidewalk. 
Because yes, every outdoor item is cov-
ered with a thick layer of sand and dust 
from the construction. The bikes. Stroller. 
Even the mailbox. I hope this is not what’
s 
happening to our lungs.
We always talk about taking the car for 
a car wash, but what a waste of time and 
money! It will just take one drive home 
to look like we’
re returning from racing 
across sand dunes. Its’
s kind of like shov-
eling while it’
s still snowing. Why bother? 
But there are some perks to the con-
struction. One is the huge cloud of dust 
that goes swirling with every single car 
that drives by. It makes such a statement. 
A few weeks ago, it was my daughter’
s 
17th birthday, so I decided to make her a 
surprise drive-by socially distanced birth-
day party. 
The surprise part didn’
t work at all — 

apparently 6-year-olds aren’
t the greatest 
secret keepers. My little one told her 
sister, “Whatever you do, don’
t look in 
Mommy’
s bedroom!” which of course 
made the birthday girl have a peek and 
that’
s when she saw her secret birthday 
balloons. 
My 6-year-old tried to look on the 
bright side and said, “
At least you don’
t 
know about the surprise party!” 
Oh well! We gave the birthday girl 
Italian ices to hand out and pretty soon, 
cars came honking up our street in this 
massive cloud of dust, which I must say 
really added to the drama and suspense of 
who was coming next.
And every single person who came 
asked: “What on earth are they doing to 
your street?” So it turns out construction 
is also a great conversation starter. 
It’
s also a fantastic photo op. It’
s not like 
we’
re going to be driving through the des-
ert or climbing Mt. Everest any time soon, 
so we might as well make do with what 
we have in our own backyard.
And if some dashing men in uniform 
get in the pics, all the better. 

The Future of Shul
On Aug. 13, the Jewish News ran a cover 
story on the future of shul, discussing 
declining synagogue membership among 
younger Jews. We asked the community 
for feedback. Here to kick us off is Rabbi 
Mitch Parker of the Conservative B’
nai 
Israel Synagogue of West Bloomfield.
Appreciating attendance at a traditional 
synagogue service is an acquired taste. 
The vast majority of young adults whose 
parents belonged to Conservative or 
Reform Synagogues attended synagogues 

only sporadically as children, have a min-
imal understanding of Hebrew and view 
the synagogue service as a largely mean-
ingless alien experience. 
Their families never gave them posi-
tive, feel-good synagogue experiences, so 
it is not surprising they have no interest 
in going. On top of that, young Jewish 
adults today have less of a need to affiliate 
Jewishly than their parents and grandpar-
ents. Some young adults affiliate to join 
the synagogue their parents belong to. 
That is not the case with my synagogue, 

B’
nai Israel, because the vast majority of 
our second generation have moved to 
Chicago or Washington, D.C.
 I believe the best way to attract anyone 
to a synagogue initially is through social 
contact. They will attend because their 
friends attend or because their children 
will have the opportunity to play togeth-
er. That is why a good synagogue-affili-
ated preschool can be an excellent feeder 
to synagogue membership. Of course, 
the social activities must be something of 
interest to the 20-40-year-olds. 

continued on page 6

Rochel 
Burstyn

ROCHEL BURSTYN

