14 | OCTOBER 21 • 2021
OUR COMMUNITY
Shaarey Zedek Assistant
Cantor Leonard Gutman
retires after 21 years.
A
fter 21 years, Assistant
Cantor Leonard
Gutman has retired
from Congregation Shaarey
Zedek.
Gutman touched many
lives in the Detroit Jewish
community through the
performance of weddings,
b’nai mitzvah, baby namings,
funerals, High Holiday and
weekly services.
A native Detroiter, Gutman
was with CSZ as an assistant
cantor since August 2000 but
began attending the shul when
the congregation was housed
on Chicago Boulevard. He
prides himself on taking a
hobby and making it into a full-
time career.
As assistant cantor, Gutman
led CSZ morning and evening
services and read Torah at
minyan as well as on Shabbat
and on holidays. He also
helped guide CSZ b’nai mitzvah
students and led shivah
minyans.
Gutman had been thinking
about retirement for about a
year.
“It was time to turn the reins
over to someone else,
” he said.
“But I will be always grateful
to Rabbi Irwin Groner and
Congregational Past President
Larry Berry who hired me, as
well as having the counsel of
the past presidents of Shaarey
Zedek, who guided me along
this extraordinary life path.
”
Gutman received his Jewish
education at Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah and graduated from
Wayne State University in 1972
with a B.A. in history. He had
the benefit of being under the
tutelage of several chazzanim
in the Detroit area: Simon
Bermanis, Max Shimansky,
Chaim Najman and Meir
Finkelstein, with Hazzan David
Propis, as well as Rev. Joseph
Baras, who expertly taught him
to read Torah.
“I had great mentors. They
were all very instrumental in
my growth. I will always be
grateful because each one took
me to another level,
” Gutman
said.
It was the Torah reading
that really got him started,
reading at various synagogues
throughout the community
while he made his living
elsewhere. Then came the
opening at Shaarey Zedek when
Cantor Sidney Rube retired.
One of Gutman’s greatest
efforts was making time for all
CSZ staff and congregants.
“I made sure I always talked
to all the employees. whether
it would be a rabbi, a cantor,
a hazzan or the maintenance
person,
” Gutman said.
“It was always nice to talk to
them and get to know them.
“I loved having relationships
with the congregants, too,
” he
added. “Taking care of their
concerns, it was very gratifying
for me.
”
Gutman prided himself on
knowing everybody’s Hebrew
name by heart, one of many
ways he connected himself
to the congregation and
community.
A PROUD TEACHER
Gutman said he enjoyed
teaching the kids their lessons,
teaching them how to daven
and getting them through
their bar and bat mitzvahs and
then seeing them grow up and
become productive members of
society.
“It touched my heart. They
knew they could count on me.
I made sure they had someone
at the synagogue to call all
the time, day or night. Seeing
how families grew, it was really
wonderful to see.
”
Over the past 21 years
at Shaarey Zedek, Gutman
estimates he supported the b’nai
mitzvah preparation for more
than 1,000 kids.
“I felt it was really important
to be consistent, to be who I
am, and to answer congregants’
A Cantor
and a
Mensch
Cantor
Leonard
Gutman
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER