JULY 15 • 2021 | 17

accessible with the addition of 
ramps and a working elevator 
at the cost of around $350,000.
“It’s been heartbreaking over 
the years to see some members 
struggle with the stairs,
” said 
IADS board member Emily 
Levine, a mother of two chil-
dren under age five. “When 
renovations are complete, the entire build-
ing will be more accessible and welcoming. 
“I am excited about the flexible space for 
education and young families. When the 
completed building opens once again, there 
will be a space for little kids to run around. 
One day, we will need a teen room. It’s great 
that we are going to have a space that is 
flexible to change with our needs.
”

CONSTRUCTION PLANS
During renovations, the congregation will 
continue programming on Zoom and is 
also planning makeshift arrangements for 
temporary spaces around town 
for in-person programming, 
services and religious school 
activities as pandemic restric-
tions ease. 
Noah Resnick, associ-
ate dean of architecture at 
University of Detroit Mercy 

and a designer with Laavu studio in Detroit, 
said all interior design efforts will take into 
consideration the historic landmark nature 
of the building. Through a procession of 
interior design elements, Resnick said vis-
itors of the building will first experience a 
welcoming foyer space and then move up 
either with the stairs or the elevator to the 
sanctuary. 
“
At the core of all of our interior design 
concepts and aesthetics will be the bimah 
and the ark,
” said Resnick, who has volun-
teered at IADS and helped design the syna-
gogue’s sukkah design concepts for Detroit’s 
2018 Sukkah X Project competition. “This 
is such an iconic building known for those 
colored squares of stained glass. All ele-
ments of the design will be created with a 
celebration keeping in mind the building’s 
historical significance.
”

A REVIVED COMMUNITY
Before its current location, IADS survived 
as a “nomadic shul” in the 
1940s and 1950s, a place where 
Jewish workers gathered in 
various apartment buildings 
for a Downtown minyan, said 
Avshalumov. Just as it seemed 
on the brink of closing, a new 
population shift happened. 

 Beginning in the early 2000s, new Jewish 
singles and families began to move into the 
city, and membership has increased in the 
last 12 years. IADS now has a staff of six, 
membership has grown from 100 to 300 
families, and its budget grew from $40,000 
to $600,000 annually. 
IADS member Martin Herman, 91, 
began his connection to the synagogue in 
the 1960s but became active when he need-
ed a place Downtown to say Kaddish for his 
parents in 1989. That began a decades-long 
affiliation with IADS that included serving 
on the board, being synagogue president, 
leading services as a gabbi, and seeking and 
writing grant proposals to keep the syna-
gogue afloat and functioning even as the 
city’s Jewish population declined. 
He said that since 2015, there has been 
an upswing in activity and community at 
IADS, giving him hope for future genera-
tions.
“I am in awe by the zeal and success of 
the young people who have invested their 
energy into the Downtown Synagogue,
” 
Herman said. “Though I do not agree with 
them about everything, I am close with 
many of them. The changes coming to 
IADS serve as a rallying point for the Jewish 
community in the city. 
“We’ve come a long way.
” 

Emily 
Levine

Martin 
Herman

Noah 
Resnick

JOHN HARDWICK

A bird’s eye view of the rooftop

RENDERINGS FROM LAAVU DESIGN OF DETROIT

