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