18 | JUNE 9 • 2022
OUR COMMUNITY
K
ehillat Etz Chayim
— a small Modern
Orthodox congrega-
tion that has met in members’
homes and in space rented from
Congregation Beth
Shalom since its
founding in 2018,
has purchased a
building of its own
in north Oak Park.
The building,
on the corner of
Coolidge and Talbot, now hous-
es Harmony Montessori Center,
which offers nursery, preschool
and kindergarten programs.
The two women running it
are retiring, said Kehillat Etz
Chayim’s Rabbi Asher Lopatin,
but the center’s programs will
continue through the summer.
Etz Chayim will then make
some renovations.
Lopatin said he does not
anticipate using the building
on a regular basis until after the
High Holidays.
The structure was built for a
church. The Michigan branch
of Workmen’s Circle/Arbeter
Ring, a Zionist workers’ group
founded in 1900, owned it for
many years before selling it to
Harmony Montessori in 2008.
(In 2019, the group changed its
name to Workers Circle.)
Kehillat Etz Chayim’s
President Dr. Michael Singer
of Huntington Woods said
the synagogue’s new location,
within walking distance of all
of Huntington Woods as well
as large parts of Oak Park and
Berkley, “will enable us to con-
tinue our individual and com-
munal growth and provide a
house of learning and prayer for
the entire community.
”
For himself and his family,
he said, having a permanent
location will offer “a sense of
stability and security that is very
comforting.
”
The building’s size is perfect
for Etz Chayim, which has 40
member families, Lopatin said.
The main room should be able
to seat about 150 people com-
fortably and is larger than the
chapel the congregation has
been renting from Beth Shalom.
Usually 60 to 100 people attend
Shabbat services, including
children and teens. For bar and
bat mitzvah services, which can
attract several hundred people,
the congregation may still need
to rent the sanctuary and/or
social hall at Beth Shalom.
For Shabbat evening and
some weekday services, Etz
Chayim congregants have been
meeting in members’ homes —
outdoors when possible during
the pandemic. After the renova-
tions, they’ll be able to use their
new building every day.
The 3,500-square-foot
Coolidge building has a large
parking lot, and Lopatin envi-
sions being able to construct
a canopy or marquee for large
kiddush receptions or meals.
The building is in great shape
and most renovations will be
cosmetic, he said — but those
may be substantial. The con-
gregation hopes to remove the
drop ceiling to create a more
open feeling. The restrooms,
now designed for toddlers and
preschoolers, will have to be
completely rebuilt.
Etz Chayim closed on the
building June 3, after securing
approval from the city of Oak
Park to use it as a synagogue.
“We’re so excited,
” said
Lopatin, who also works as
executive director of the Jewish
Community Relations Council/
AJC. Although the congrega-
tion is tightknit, the difference
between being a minyan and “a
real shul” is having a building
of one’s own, he said. “We are
really finding a home.
”
Kehillat Etz Chayim purchases building in Oak Park.
A Home of Its Own
Rabbi Asher
Lopatin
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Front and back views of the building that will become home to Kehillat Etz Chayim.
BARBARA LEWIS