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

