AUGUST 4 • 2022 | 21

ples of synagogues renting 
space from churches or church-
es from synagogues, there are 
very few examples, if any, of 
co-ownership the way we have 
co-ownership of this facility,
” 
says Rabbi Josh Whinston, head 
rabbi of Beth Emeth. “Besides 
our office spaces and small cha-
pels, every other space is shared. 
“I think the Genesis partner-
ship is a unique aspect of who 
we are and an amazing invest-

ment that’s been made here.
” 
Beth Emeth has an active 
social action committee that 
does typical direct service pro-
grams like volunteering at the 
local shelter and a food pantry 
on its campus that they co-run 
with the church. The pantry 
doesn’t require proof of need 
and sees dozens of people come 
once a week to get food. 
“I’
d say we’re a place of wel-
coming and belonging for both 

our members that have been 
with us for a long time and 
folks that walk in the door for 
the very first time,
” Whinston 
says. 
Beth Emeth’s main clergy 
includes Rabbi Whinston, who 
arrived in 2016, Cantor Regina 
Lambert-Hayut and Rabbi 
Daniel Alter, director of edu-
cation.
Beth Emeth is made up of 
about 550 member units, some 

of those being singles in a 
household and some of them 
families. 
“
A few thousand people,
” 
Whinston says, including 
University of Michigan faculty 
and graduate students. “For me 
as a rabbi, working in a univer-
sity town, that’s a fun part of the 
work I get to do and the folks I 
get to work with.
”
Whinston says he’s most 
interested in people discover-
ing new ways of connecting to 
Judaism. 
“I think Judaism should be a 
tradition that feels comfortable 
and makes us feel safe, and it 
also should push us forward, 
both ritually in our observance 
but also around social issues,
” 
he says. “For me, spirituality 
and social justice are two sides 
of the same coin. They feed 
each other; they certainly do 
for me personally, and I hope I 
instill that idea in the congrega-
tion at large.
” 

CLOCKWISE: Rabbi Josh 
Whinston and Cantor 
Regina Lambert-Hayut in the 
sanctuary for a bar mitzvah. 
Rabbi Whinston and Cantor 
Lambert-Hayut on the bimah. 
The Temple Beth Emeth 
congregation gathered at 
the Washtenaw Farm Council 
Grounds on April 3, 2021, for 
a Plague Drive-Through and 
Drive-in Movie (The Prince 
of Egypt). Members of the 
congregation, Rabbi Daniel K. 
Alter (far left) and Rabbi Josh 
Whinston (middle right) at 
the Jewish Rally for Abortion 
Justice in Washington, D.C., 
on May 17, 2022.

Watch 
Ask the 
Rabbi with 
Rabbi Josh 
Whinston

