NOVEMBER 11 • 2021 | 11

O

n a recent Shabbat morning, the 
chanting of Barechu, Shemah and 
Aleinu emanated from the 270-
seat chapel at Allegria Village, a large retire-
ment community located in Dearborn. 
Two of its residents, Roger Skully, an 
80-year-old cantor, and his wife, Sydney, 
planned the service and think it may have 
been the first organized Jewish gathering in 
a city that boasts the largest Arab popula-
tion in the United States.
The service was the first of what will start 
out as monthly Shabbat gatherings, with 
future ones planned for Nov. 20 and Dec. 
18. In 2022, they hope to increase the fre-
quency to biweekly services. 
Pre-COVID, the couple regularly wor-
shiped at Kehillat Etz Chayim in Oak Park. 
However, during the height of the pandem-
ic, they watched on Zoom, and that, they 
said, was not fulfilling. 
“We need to see our friends and sing 
together. Roger and I were longing for a 
‘real’ service because we rarely leave our 
senior community. We want to have a 
Jewish presence here in Dearborn,
” Sydney 
Skully said to the participants before chant-
ing the haftorah. 

Cantor Skully, who has worked at sever-
al synagogues, most recently Isaac Agree 
Downtown Synagogue, said the idea to 
start a congregation in Dearborn arose 
from his desire to keep singing and the 
need for an organized Jewish presence in 
the area. 
The couple estimates that there are six 
Jewish residents at Allegria and many more 
in the area who do not 
have a place to worship 
because the Downriver 
congregations no longer 
exist. 

A DIVERSE GROUP
Fifty people attended the 
90-minute service on 
Oct. 30. Cantor Skully 
estimated 15 of those 
participants were Jewish. 
The rest, he said, were 
residents of Allegria Village or members of 
an organization called the Detroit Interfaith 
Outreach Network (DION), a group the 
couple is actively involved with. 
Rabbi Dorit Edut, head of DION, helped 
publicize it, brought a Torah to the service 

and read the weekly Torah portion. Also 
participating in the service was Chaplain 
Yvonne Fant-Moore, also known to the 
Skullys through DION. 
“In our retirement community, which is 
going to be the home of this congregation, 
I think the only way it’s going to survive is 
if we’re able to bring in people of all faiths. 
My vision is that we have a Jewish format 
but a kind of interfaith service, one in 
which the non-Jewish residents will also be 
comfortable,
” the cantor said. 
“Many of my friends here were very 
delighted to have a Jewish service and a 
Jewish presence. In the world of faith, at 
least in this country today, we all need to 
stand together. The best thing for us as 
Jews, and for most people, is to recognize 
our humanity and not let some of the divi-
siveness become a part of what we do,
” he 
added. 
The Skullys are calling their endeavor 
Congregation Beit Chaim, a name that car-
ries multiple levels of significance, Sydney 
explained during her d’var Torah, which 
she happened to deliver on the third anni-
versary of the massacre at the Tree of Life 
Synagogue in Pittsburg. 
“The anniversary of the Etz Hayim 
tragedy made me think of life. I wanted to 
give our endeavor here in Allegria Village 
a name to make it come alive,
” she said. 
“Everyone knows the toast l’chaim — to 
life. We are not a place where people go 
to die but to live. Also, the Hebrew word 
beit means house. We all 
literally live under one 
roof. You don’t have to go 
outside for anything. Just 
thinking of how the staff 
helped us put this service 
together made me think 
how true it is that ‘it takes 
a village.
’ The word beit 
is also Arabic for house. 
We are here in the heart 
of Dearborn. Many of our 
dining room wait staff 
wear hijabs. We are proud of our diversity 
here and want to celebrate it.
” 

For more information about Congregation Beit Chaim, 

contact Hazzan Roger Skully at (313) 600-8982 or 

Sydney Skully at (313) 600-9092.

Couple start a new 
congregation at their 
retirement village.

A Jewish 
Presence in 
Dearborn

JENNIFER LOVY 
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Hazzan Roger 
Skully blows the 
shofar outside the 
Allegria Village.

COURTESY OF THE SKULLYS

Sydney and 
Roger Skully

