SEPTEMBER 8 • 2022 | 31

PHOTOS COURTESY OF KEHILLAT ETZ CHAYIM

Shabbat morning and holiday 
services for a while, but recently 
purchased a building of its own 
in north Oak Park.
The last Shabbat in August 
was the first Shabbat that 
Kehillat Etz Chayim spent in 
its new space. They’re planning 
to do a major renovation of 
the new space that could put 
them back at Beth Shalom for 
a few months during that time, 
but at least for the next several 
months, they are full-time in 
the new space.
About 40 families belong to 
Kehillat Etz Chayim. 
“They’re wonderful people, 
eager to participate — whether 
that’s helping schlep things from 
one location to another, con-
tributing to Kiddush or contrib-
uting to the building,” Lopatin 
said. “When I give a class, I 
know that people are going to 
ask questions and shout out 
different things — always in a 

positive, helpful light. 
“It’s a joyous, positive group, 
whether it’s little kids at Tot 
Shabbat or slightly older kids 
for the Kids Kehilla we offer 
— whether it’s from that age to 
seniors to people in their 80s, 
people are happy to be here, and 
that’s very important.”
One thing Lopatin finds 
interesting is the ability to 
attract people from all different 
locations and still be connected 
in a meaningful way. 
“We’re in Oak Park, 
geographically we’re close to 
Berkley, we’re just across the 
street from Huntington Woods, 
people walk to the synagogue 
from Royal Oak, someone 
actually walked last week 
from Birmingham. We love to 
have people from all over and 
we’re excited to have this sort 
of geographic ability to bring 
different types of communities 
together.” 

The Singer family 
at a KEC Purim 
celebration.

Davening on the 
ground during 
the evening of 
Tisha b’Av 

The last morning in a member’s 
basement before moving to the 
new building on Coolidge.

