24 | OCTOBER 27 • 2022 

F

ounded in 1896, Petoskey’s 
Temple B’nai Israel (TBI) began 
with local Jewish merchants 
who served the many tourists that 
flocked to the area in the summer 
months. TBI has maintained a small-
town, tight-knit family feel ever since. 
The Reform congregation has 
been in its current location in down-
town Petoskey since the 1930s and 
has worked to expand its northern 
Michigan campus, which includes two 
buildings. The first building includes 
the sanctuary and social hall, expanded 
and renovated in 2003; and the second 
building is a newly built parsonage, 
opened for rabbinic stays in 2021. 
TBI is one of the founding congre-
gations that began the student-rabbi 
partnership with the Hebrew Union 
College. For many years, the student 
rabbis just visited in the summer, until 
it was expanded to the school year on a 
monthly basis as well. 
TBI “hit the jackpot” a decade ago, 

when it began to host Rabbi 
Maya Leibovich — the first 
female Reform rabbi from 
Israel, in the summers. 
Leibovich was retiring 
and looking for a part-time 
gig in the U.S. when a TBI 
congregant knew somebody 
who knew her. TBI connected with her 
and her husband, Menachem, who also 
helps with cantorial duties, and they 
just completed their 10th summer with 
TBI this year. The Leiboviches spend 
those months providing all different 
kinds of services and Torah study for 
the congregation. 
Never having an ordained rabbi 
leading them before, TBI 
President Valerie Meyerson 
says Rabbi Leibovich has 
changed the face of the 
congregation.
“Petoskey’s a resort com-
munity, so while our con-
gregation has about 85-90 

family unit memberships, only 35 of 
those are year-round units,” Meyerson 
said. “We really expand during the 
summer with who’s here and who’s par-
ticipating, and Maya has really helped 
us make connections with some of the 
wonderful summer Jewish contingent 
that comes up here. She’s made us a 
lot more cohesive than we were and 
given us a great foundation to move 
forward.”
Meyerson says that without the sum-
mer residents, the synagogue couldn’t 
function as it does. 
“Having this resort community 
where we get these folks who come 
up and want to support the Jewish 
community, we’ve expanded our mem-
bership base plus our donor base with 
that. These folks are very generous, 
and they really help.”
With fewer rabbinical students com-
ing from the HUC these days, TBI is in 
a transition period of figuring out the 
long-term plan for leadership during 

Valerie 
Meyerson

Rabbi Maya 
Leibovich

Temple B’nai Israel has called downtown 
 
 
 
Petoskey home since the 1930s.

A Resort Town 
 Synagogue

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY
SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT

