26 | AUGUST 25 • 2022 

Y

oung Israel of Oak 
Park (YIOP) is a 
Modern Orthodox 
congregation located at the 
center of Metro Detroit’s 
Orthodox Jewish communi-
ty, drawing its membership 
from three adjacent cities 
— Huntington Woods, Oak 
Park and Southfield. These 
neighborhoods are all a short 
distance to numerous ameni-
ties of the Orthodox Jewish 
lifestyle, including a mikvah, 
kosher restaurants, supermar-
ket and bakery. 
YIOP prides itself on being 
a community shul and is 
composed of members with 
a multi-generational history 
at the congregation as well as 
those new to the city or YIOP. 
Throughout the 20th cen-
tury, Young Israel was very 
much Downtown-focused 
with multiple Young Israel’s 
within five-minute drives from 
each other. It was sustainable 
because of the concentration 

of the Jewish community at the 
time.
As time passed and people 
moved to the suburbs, multiple 
shuls either closed or merged. 
In the early 1990s, Young 
Israel of Oak-Woods on 
Coolidge — the first Young 
Israel in suburban Detroit — 
merged with Young Israel of 
Greenfield, creating Young 
Israel of Oak Park.
YIOP’s educational pro-
grams include children and 
adult programming, including 
Daf Yomi, Monday night Beit 
Midrash, parshah study ses-
sions for women, Thursday 
night learning with cholent, a 
Chasidic class, Jewish history 
class, scholar-in-residence 
programs throughout the year, 
and Bnei Akiva and NCSY 
programs.
YIOP offers two daily min-
yanim for Shacharit, and one 
for Minchah and Maariv. On 
Shabbat morning, there are 
two minyanim, a teen minyan, 

Shabbat groups for younger 
children and an infant/toddler 
room with paid staff.
YIOP also comes together 
for social events such as triv-
ia and bingo nights, Detroit 
Symphony Orchestra concerts, 
baseball games, an occasional 
comedy night and other out-
ings. YIOP has an active mil-
lennial social group for young 
professionals.
For YIOP’s Rabbi Shaya 
Katz, being an 
Orthodox con-
gregation means 
the shul is about 
more, not less. 
“Some people 
look at Orthodox 
Judaism and say 
that means you can’t do this or 
you can’t do that,” Katz said. 
“For me, I think the shul is 
about the ennobling of people’s 
lives, finding ways people can 
bring meaning and purpose 
through service of God. And 
that includes not just prayer, 

but social interaction, charita-
ble work, study and different 
outlets for people’s interests.
“So [YIOP] is really a one-
stop shop for all types of 
things. And when I started the 
job three years ago, what I told 
the congregation was that we 
are trying to promote as many 
different ports of entry as 
possible to make sure anybody 
and everybody can find some-
thing meaningful through the 
shul.”
Rabbi Katz says YIOP prides 
itself on having an eclectic 
group of congregants, a pop-
ulation varying “in terms of 
background, in terms of the 
way they dress, and in terms of 
what they’re interested in.”
YIOP has seen a snowball-
ing of young professionals 
joining the shul. 
“It’s the building of a culture 
as opposed to being estab-
lished in our ways. It’s different 
from how Young Israel has his-
torically been. It’s certainly a 

YIOP is seeing a snowballing of 
young professionals joining the shul. 

Young Israel 
of Oak Park 
Is Growing 

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY
SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT

Rabbi 
Shaya Katz

