20 | JULY 6 • 2023
OUR COMMUNITY
V
iewers of the popular
game show Jeopardy!
got a glance of
one of the United States’
most distinctive synagogue
buildings on June 20, after a
clue showcased Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Southfield.
The Conservative
synagogue had leaked the
fact that it would appear as
a trivia item on Jeopardy! for
days before the game, and
as luck would have it, one of
the contestants that day lives
just a 45-minute drive from
Southfield, in Dexter.
Ben Goldstein told the
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
that his local expertise did
influence his quick response
to the clue — just not
correctly.
Contestants were shown
a picture of Shaarey Zedek’s
soaring facade as they heard
the clue, in the category
“
Architects”: “
After World War
II, these evolved Moorish to
Modernists as in architect
Percival Goodman’s Shaarey
Zedek in suburban Detroit.”
Goldstein, who has a Jewish
father but does not identify as
Jewish and said he was last in
a synagogue during “the bar/
bat mitzvah season of 1994,”
buzzed in right away. “What
are mosques?” he asked.
A second contestant, Janie
Sullivan, correctly guessed
“What are temples?”
“When I read the clue, two
phrases immediately jumped
out: ‘Moorish’ and ‘suburban
Detroit.’ Being a resident
of Southeast Michigan, I’m
familiar with Metro Detroit’s
famously large Muslim
community. Those two bits
of information made me
confident enough to ring in
and say, ‘What are mosques?’”
he told JTA via Twitter direct
message. “I just didn’t pay
enough attention to the
name of the building and its
architect.”
He added, “Obviously, I
got a bunch of playful abuse
from my Jewish friends over
text messages.” But Goldstein
— who grew up in suburban
Chicago, attended the
University of Michigan and
works outside Ann Arbor as a
marketing specialist at a tech
company — said he found
consolation from thinking
about another set of Jewish
loved ones.
“My father’s parents, Isaac
and Rochelle Goldstein, were
Holocaust survivors from
Poland, and they were devoted
viewers of Jeopardy!’” he said.
“They both passed away years
ago, but I know they’d be so
proud of me for competing on
the show that they’d forgive
me for my wrong answer.”
While someone with an
eagle eye might be able to
discern that cutouts on the
front of Shaarey Zedek’s
towering building resemble
Jewish stars, the name offered
the only real indicator in the
clue that that correct response
was about synagogues.
Shaarey Zedek means “Gates
of Righteousness” in Hebrew
and is a relatively common
name for synagogues.
Shaarey Zedek is one
of the largest and most
architecturally significant
synagogues in the United
States, an outlier for
Goodman, whose 50
synagogues mostly function
on a smaller scale.
“But even Goodman had his
roadside attraction: Shaarey
Zedek, capacity 3,500, parlays
a skyscraping Ark and an
erupting eternal flame into a
concrete Sinai on the shoulder
of Interstate 696 near Detroit,”
the architect Philip Nobel
wrote in the New York Times
in 2001.
What’s a Detroit synagogue once called ‘a
concrete Sinai on the shoulder of Interstate 696?’
Jeopardy! Clue
PHILISSA CRAMER JTA.ORG
Program for
Teachers Seeking
Career Change
Metro Detroit teachers ready
for a career change but
uncertain how to utilize their
many skills in a new form of
employment can take part in
a program titled MyCoach for
Teachers offered by Gesher
Human Services. The non-
profit agency is offering this
new, intensive two-week group
career coaching program for
just $50 this summer when
teachers are out of school.
The program includes four
masterclass group sessions
plus one individual coaching
session. Sessions are in-person
and will meet at Gesher’s head-
quarters in Southfield (29699
Southfield Road) on July 18,
20, 25 and 27 from 10-11.30
a.m. plus a one-on-one coach-
ing session on another date to
be determined. Registration is
required.
“Many teachers are reeval-
uating their career decision
and are looking to go in a
different direction,” said career
counselor Sherrie James.
“They have many skills which
are transferable into a new
form of employment, but they
might not have the confi-
dence, updated resume or even
awareness of how to make that
switch. We are here to provide
that assistance, knowledge and
show them their marketability.”
As the program is only open
to teachers — both current
and retired — participants will
find camaraderie and support
from others taking part. The
program will provide resume
assistance, career inventory,
job search advice, opportuni-
ties for professional growth
and meaningful identification
of skills for a new career path.
To register, contact Phyllis
Scripsick at pscripsick@
geshermi.org or call (248) 233-
4278.