22 | SEPTEMBER 8 • 2022 

continued from page 20

LEFT: Nancy with Professor 
Howard Lupavitch. RIGHT: Nancy 
with Eilu v’ Eilu instructor Michael 
Weiss showing an audiocassette 
lending library of recorded 
classes.

learner of Judaism.
She’s held numerous roles and orga-
nized volunteer efforts that have made 
lasting impact on Metro Detroit’s Jewish 
community, such as serving as director 
of the Midrasha Center for Adult Jewish 
Learning from 1992-1995, part of the 
Alliance for Jewish Education.
Kaplan also helped bring the Florence 
Melton Adult Mini-School to Detroit 
for the first time in 1994. Although the 
school was short-lived, it was a suc-
cessful effort that was brought back 
and sponsored by Jewish Federation of 
Metropolitan Detroit.
Later, from 2002-2006, Kaplan intro-
duced Professor Howard Lupovitch to 
the area’s lifelong learning community. 
Lupovitch has gone on to become one of 
JLearn’s most popular instructors and has 
given lectures on numerous topics related 
to Jewish life and history.

ENCOURAGING PARTICIPATION
Yet these efforts only begin to scrape the 
surface of Kaplan’s tireless work (and 
extensive resume) in the local Jewish 
community. Throughout her years of 
involvement, there have been numerous 
other initiatives that she’s helped spear-
head or lead. She’s also helped break down 
barriers for women to be more involved 
in synagogue matters.

Kaplan’s work at Beth Ahm, however, 
continues to stand as some of the most 
impactful.
“The minyan is still going strong,” says 
Kaplan, who stepped down from her role 
coordinating it in 2016. Upon taking on 
the task of rebuilding the minyan, Kaplan 
was faced with a constant stream of new 
people walking into it and other people 
aging out.
What the minyan needed, above all, was 
consistency.
“You can’t just call people up at the last 
minute and say, ‘Please come,’” Kaplan 
continues. “We were trying to figure out a 
way to encourage more people and more 
new people to agree ahead of time to be 
there.”
To encourage minyan participation, 
Kaplan organized a membership list and 
other sign-up strategies that helped build 
commitment. She also wrote a synagogue 
bulletin about the minyan. Combined, the 
efforts paid off — more than 100 people 
would attend.
Throughout the process, Kaplan worked 
closely with Rabbi Steven Rubenstein, 
whom she credits with much of the syn-
agogue’s success over the years (she also 
served as assistant to the rabbi).
“Our working relationship was very 
positive and gratifying,” she explains. “My 
role was to help the rabbi fulfill his vision 

for Beth Ahm.”
 
FINDING MEANING AND GRATITUDE
Though these efforts seem like a lot of 
work, Kaplan calls it a process that is 
“very meaningful and gratifying” to be a 
part of. She also organized a Wednesday 
study group at Beth Ahm that took 
place over video and ran throughout the 
COVID-19 pandemic.
During these sessions, Kaplan would 
present different videos related to Jewish 
life that the group would then watch and 
discuss.
“There were about 50 people on the 
email list for that group,” Kaplan explains. 
Throughout the pandemic, Kaplan’s group 
even saw participants from as far away 
as Boston (a silver lining of increased 
connectivity during the health crisis, she 
says).
While the Wednesday study group is 
currently on a summer hiatus, Kaplan 
remains busy with her family and helping 
her son embark on the next chapter in his 
life.
She’s also eager to visit her daughter, 
son-in-law and grandchildren in Israel, 
whom she hasn’t seen since December 
2019 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pan-
demic.
These are “top-tier items on my list of 
things to do now,” Kaplan says. 

OUR COMMUNITY

