area for likely sites, even plac-
ing letters into the mailboxes 
of area residents, asking if they 
were interested in selling their 
homes. Fortunately, a home-
owner at 11 Mile and Bell 
roads, across the street from 
Congregation Shaarey Zedek, 
was interested in selling. 
Once the sale was complete, 
the next hurdle was rezoning 
for the property since it is on 
a residential street. Although 
the rezoning process took a 
year, “The city of Southfield 
is excited at the investment in 
the community,
” Levi says.
DiClemente Siegel Design, 
an architectural firm in 
Southfield, began working on 
the project with halachic input 
from Rabbi Zeev Rothschild, 
a specialist in mikvah design. 
Sadly, Rabbi Rothschild died 
of COVID. Levi says that the 
mikvah committee was for-
tunate to connect with Rabbi 
Yitzchok Trieger of New 
Jersey, who has worked on 
mikvahs for 30 years, includ-
ing the mikvah in Oak Park, to 
assist with the building design. 
Levi visited two mikvaot that 
Trieger worked on in New 
Jersey.
Levi explains that guidelines 
for mikvah construction and 
operation are contained with-
in the Gemara — part of the 
Talmud. These specifications 
include the source and collec-
tion method of the water used 
in the mikvah, the location of 
cisterns, the size and place-
ment of pipes, water heating 

method and the height of steps 
to the actual pool of water. 
DiClemente Siegel is working 
with Trieger to ensure that all 
design elements follow rabbin-
ic rules for mikvahs. 
The mikvah will be 1,400 
square feet in size and the 
building will be accessible 
for those with disabilities. 
According to the Lahser Road 
Mikvah website, the mikvah 
will have a spa-like atmosphere 
and be “spiritually and physi-
cally rejuvenating for all sects 
of the Jewish community.
”

FUNDRAISING EFFORTS
Fundraising is well underway 
with $450,000 raised from the 
YIS community alone — more 
than $303,000 in collected 
donations and the remainder 
in pledges over five years. The 
original fundraising goal is $1 
million for construction and 
ongoing operations, as individ-
ual mikvah usage fees will not 
cover all costs. Final construc-
tion specifications will be com-
pleted soon so that contrac-
tors’ bids can be obtained. Due 
to COVID-related increases in 
building material costs, project 
costs may be higher than the 
initial estimate.
Levi said that initial fund-
raising was focused on the 
Orthodox community with a 
plan to expand to the larger 
Jewish community once the 
property was purchased and 
demolition complete. For 
more information, visit www.
lahsermikvah.org. 

The mikvah’s fundraising 
goal is $1 million.
S

hoshana Leah Greenberg, 
originally from Brooklyn, 
N.Y., moved to Michigan 
to be near family. Greenberg 
works with people with “special 
gifts,
” as she calls them, as she 
believes people with special 
needs bring spiritual gifts into 
the world. She works to help peo-
ple understand them.
As a direct support profession-
al, she is a private teacher and 
a friend to the individuals she 
works with.
Greenberg listens to her cli-
ents’ needs and figures out how 
to get through to them. For 
example, a client needed to learn 
to wash netilat yadayim — a rit-
ual handwashing before eating 
bread — and she used a song by 
Jewish group Uncle Moishy and 
the Mitzvah Men to teach it in a 
fun way.
Her other main goal is to inte-
grate her clients into the commu-
nity with activities like shopping 
— something she feels is lacking.
Greenberg didn’t plan to work 
with people with special gifts. 
While working as a cashier, 
a friend told her she thought 
she would be good at the job. 
With little knowledge of the 
field, she hesitated. A coworker 
helped ease her into the field by 
reminding her that people with 
special needs are just people with 
feelings who want to talk and 
be heard. They, like all of us, are 
normal and different at the same 
time.
At the first home she worked, 
some women were higher func-
tioning and some needed more 
attention and care. The job 
included trips, doing dishes and 
chatting, arts and crafts, laundry, 
yoga and even drumming. Before 

this, Greenberg planned to study 
music therapy; however, she fell 
in love with the day program and 
switched courses at college. 
Greenberg said what she loves 
the most is that “they are living 
with their heart. They are always 
shining; they are always in their 
light; they are always feeling 
their neshamah, they are always 
focused on Hashem.
”

SEEING BEYOND
Greenberg is also an intuitive 
healer and counselor. “I feel 
beyond what is seen on the out-
side in people, in circumstances. 
I see behind the curtain,
” she 
said. 
 When someone comes to her 
with a problem, she opens her 
clients’ eyes to who they are as 
a soul. Her goal is to “help peo-
ple feel good and better about 
this world and themselves, thus 
transforming their lives,
” she 
said. 
 Greenberg is in the process of 
moving back to New York where 
she will continue working in the 
field. 
Her dream is to create a home 
for frum men and women with 
special gifts. 

PEOPLE WE KNOW 
& STORIES WE DON’T:
SHOSHANA LEAH 
GREENBERG

DOVID NISSAN ROETTER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Shoshana Leah Greenberg

JULY 15 • 2021 | 19

