6 | OCTOBER 21 • 2021 

1942 - 2021

Covering and Connecting 
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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in the news
Students’ Minyan 
Looks at Increase 
in Participation
G

rowing up, Reena 
Zuckerman, class 
of ’23, loved to read 
from the Torah, the first five 
books of the Hebrew Bible. 
She did it the 
first time at her 
bat mitzvah and 
continues still 
today.
At Brandeis, 
Zuckerman 
joined Shira 
Chadasha 
(“new song” 
in Hebrew). The student-led 
community at Hillel is 
Orthodox, but unlike standard 
Orthodox congregations, it 
permits women to read from 

the Torah scroll during ser-
vices and lead parts of religious 
services. 
“I’m definitely part of a gen-
eration of women who are able 
to do more during davening 
[praying] than in other genera-
tions,” Zuckerman said. 
Students started Shira 
Chadasha in partnership with 
Brandeis Hillel in 2004. They 
were inspired by two similar 
congregations founded only 
a few years before, one in 
Jerusalem, the other in New 
York City. 
They are all part of a loose 
network of what are referred 
to as partnership minyans, 
Orthodox worship commu-

nities that welcome a more 
expansive role for women than 
in standard Orthodox Judaism, 
which follows the proscriptions 
against female participation in 
services laid out in Jewish law. 
Today, there are more 
than 80 partnership minyans 
around the world, including 
the one Zuckerman attended 
in Cambridge, Mass., growing 
up, Minyan Tehillah.
In addition to hosting 
Shira Chadasha, Brandeis 

Hillel also hosts services for 
Reform, Conservative and 
Reconstructionist Judaism, all 
of which are egalitarian. There 
is also a standard Orthodox 
service at Hillel, where Jewish 
law is followed more strictly, 
and women’s roles are more 
limited. 
Shira Chadasha offers Friday 
night and Shabbat afternoon or 
evening services once a month. 
In addition to reading from 
the Torah and reciting the 

Penny 
Schwartz
Brandeis 
University

Edward Friedman Class of ’22, Matt Shapiro ’24 and Reena 
Zuckerman ’23

MIKE LOVETT

PURELY COMMENTARY

continued on page 9

Robert & Nancy, David & Elise and Mark & Lillian Schostak Continue 
the Family’s Legacy of Support Through the Centennial Fund

Robert, David and Mark Schostak often share a 
recollection about their grandfather, Louis, who arrived in 
Detroit over 100 years ago. “In those days, the local rabbis 
used to come to his office, and they never left without a 
check or some other sort of tzedakah.” That tradition was 
carried on by their father, Jerry, and his wife, Elyse, who were 
also extremely philanthropic and had a particular focus on 
Jewish education. As the third generation of Schostaks, 
the brothers—together with their wives Nancy, Elise and 
Lillian—remain committed to maintaining the family’s 
close connection to Jewish Detroit, instilling it in their 
children, grandchildren and future generations. “Our family 
has a saying that charity begins at home,
” they say, “and 
home means the Jewish community. This community has 
been very good to us, and we want to do everything that 
we can to support it.”

The Schostaks continue their family’s long history of 
support with a commitment to the Centennial Fund, the 
central endowment vehicle for the community’s future. 
They are directing their gift toward PACE (Perpetual Annual 
Campaign Endowment), which will grow the family PACE 
Fund established with their father and Elyse. “We recognize 
that the needs and objectives will change over time,
” they 
say, “whether it be in support for the elderly, food insecurity 
or other areas. This Fund will allow future leaders to have 
the resources they need to take care of the community.” 
As a family with five generations of Jewish Detroiters, the 
Schostaks remain believers in a strong, tightknit community. 
“We’re committed to Jewish values, customs and traditions, 
and we know that the Centennial Fund will help ensure the 
strength of Jewish Detroit long into the future.”

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