24 | SEPTEMBER 1 • 2022 

C

ongregation Or 
Chadash is an inclu-
sive, halakhic syn-
agogue in the heart of the 
Huntington Woods/Oak Park 
community. Or Chadash’s min-
yan is a participatory one in 
which everyone volunteers their 
services. 
Or Chadash was founded by 
Rabbi Eliezer Cohen over two 
decades ago, when 
his prior pulpit 
was eliminated by 
the merger of two 
synagogues. Intent 
on maintaining a 
platform for their 
outlook on Torah 
Judaism, Rabbi 
Cohen, eight of his 
former congregants and mem-

bers of other congregations 
who shared their views began 
meeting in different homes each 
Shabbat and Sunday morning. 
The group incorporated under 
the name “Or Chadash,
” or “a 
new light,
” to indicate the min-
yan offered something different 
from others in the Oak Park 
area.
One of Or Chadash’s found-
ing principles is that women 
have a place in the synagogue. 
A woman served as the first 
president — a conscious choice 
to demonstrate that this is 
permitted by Halakhah. At Or 
Chadash, women recite Kaddish 
in the presence of a minyan, 
read from the liturgy, lead 
certain prayers like the prayer 
for the State of Israel, open the 

ark, and deliver summaries of 
the week’s Torah portion and 
haftarah.
After a number of years as a 
traveling minyan, Or Chadash 
found its current home, shar-
ing space with the Lubavitch 
Cheder on Coolidge Highway 
in Oak Park. With a sanctuary, 
social hall and children’s play-
room, Or Chadash can accom-
modate a growing congregation. 
 
 
Since the passing of Rabbi 
Cohen in August 2013, the shul 
has continued to grow, building 
on the foundation of rationalist 
halakhic Judaism that Cohen 
laid down.
Deb Kofsky-Apap, current 
president of Or Chadash, had a 
long history with Rabbi Cohen. 
“He was actually my Mishnah 

teacher when I 
was a kid at Akiva 
and then was my 
son’s Mishnah 
teacher,
” she said. 
“He’s very much 
an iconoclast in 
the Detroit Jewish 
community and in 
the Orthodox community and 
created what I think is a very 
unique shul that really doesn’t 
have a parallel in our commu-
nity.
”
Kofsky-Apap believes Or 
Chadash sets itself apart, being 
a shul that is Zionist, rationalist, 
halakhic and as egalitarian as 
can be within the bounds of 
Halakhah. 
“It’s completely volun-
teer-driven. We have no paid 

OUR COMMUNITY

The shul continues to grow, 
built on the foundation of 
rationalist halakhic Judaism.

Congregation 
Or Chadash: 
‘A New Light’

SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT

Deb 
Kofsky-
Apap

The late 
Rabbi 
Eliezer 
Cohen

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

Children at an Or Chadash 
Chanukah party in 2019 
before the pandemic

