AUGUST 27 • 2020 | 5
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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