60 | MARCH 17 • 2022
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OBITUARIES
OF BLESSED MEMORY
Interment was held at
Adat Shalom Memorial
Park Cemetery in Livonia.
Contributions may be made
to a charity of one’s choice.
Arrangements by Dorfman
Chapel.
JERRY ZABEL, a
resident of West
Bloomfield, died
on March 9,
2022, at the age
of 77.
He is survived by his
loving and devoted wife,
Rochelle Zabel; daugh-
ters and son-in-law, Marla
(Jason) Golnick and Elisa
Zabel; his adoring grand-
daughters, Ariel and Rayna
Golnick, and Lillian and
Ruby Harwin; sister, Judith
“Cookie” Stein (late husband
Sol Stein); his brother-in-law
and sister-in-law, Frank and
Beth Grund; many nieces,
nephews and cousins who
absolutely cherished him. In
addition, he leaves behind a
lifetime of wonderful friends.
Mr. Zabel was prede-
ceased by his siblings, Phyliss
(the late Sonny) Damraur,
Marlene “Malky” (the late
Hersh) Goldberg, Herbert
“Sonny” (the late Sharon)
Zabel.
Interment was held at
Adat Shalom Memorial
Park Cemetery in Livonia.
Contributions may be
made to the Alzheimer’s
Association, to Congregation
Beth Ahm or to a charity of
one’s choice. Arrangements
by Dorfman Chapel.
Influential Reform
Rabbi Shim Maslin Died
Rabbi Simeon “Shim” Maslin, a
national leader in the Reform move-
ment who pushed Reform Jews to
embrace lifecycle traditions and a
more substantive interpretation of
mitzvah, died from cancer on
Jan. 29, 2022. He was 90.
Maslin was the senior rabbi at
Reform Congregation Keneseth
Israel in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania,
for 17 years, from 1980 to 1997 —
his last stop in a 50-plus-year career
that included positions in Chicago,
Curaçao and Monroe, New York.
He also served as president of the
Central Conference of American
Rabbis, an organization uniting
about 2,000 Reform rabbis.
As a Reform leader, Maslin wrote
the book Gates of Mitzvah in 1979,
which introduced classic Jewish
life cycle practices into the Reform
movement.
Maslin’s insight helped modern
Jews go deeper and conduct baby
namings, marriages and funerals in
an authentic fashion.
“He played that role of reintroduc-
ing tradition into Reform Judaism,
”
current Keneseth Israel Rabbi Lance
Sussman said.
The book was so influential that
Sussman had read it before he’
d even
met the leader of the congregation
he would one day lead.
Maslin was a proponent of other
innovative ideas within the Reform
movement, including interfaith hos-
pitality.
Maslin described himself as a
“religious naturalist.
” In a 1997 piece
for the Inquirer, he wrote: “The func-
tion of a Jew is to be co-creator, with
God, of the world. The task of the
human being is to perfect the world,
using the tools God gives us.
”
Source: Philadelphia Jewish Exponent via JTA