18 | JULY 27 • 2023
OUR COMMUNITY
I
t’s a Thursday morning in
June at Temple Israel.
The executive conference
room is booked for a support
group, down the hall space is
being set up for the biweekly
adult health and fitness class,
and in the sanctuary sound
checks are being done for a free
afternoon concert.
Kari Provizer, as usual, is
buzzing around the building.
She’s checking to make sure
things are booked, popping in
and out of meetings, and brain-
storming the name of another
support group.
Between the support group,
fitness class and concerts —
hundreds of people turned to
Temple Israel and the Robert
Sosnick Family Life Center on
that Thursday. In more than
25 years of work, more than
100,000 people have felt the
impact of the center and the
work of Kari Provizer.
Temple Israel will celebrate
Kari and the Robert Sosnick
Family Life Center on Aug. 4
with a special Shabbat service
and dinner. The event is open
to the community. All are wel-
come, with dinner scheduled
for 5:45 p.m. with a special
oneg after the service.
HOW IT BEGAN
The Family Life Center all
started with a simple, but
grand, idea by Robert “Bobby”
Sosnick, z”l.
Sosnick want-
ed to create
a position at
Temple where
someone was
there to interact
with families on
behalf of the cler-
gy. He saw that
rabbis got pulled
in thousands of directions,
and while members turned to
Temple in times of joy, they
also turned to Temple in times
of grief and difficulty.
Sosnick felt there was room
for a social worker at Temple,
someone with an expertise that
could provide relief and assis-
tance and resources for Temple
families and the greater Jewish
community.
He also wanted to remain
anonymous, so, in 1996, the
Temple Israel Family Life
Center was announced with
the benefactor being listed as
nothing more than “a generous
member of our congregation,
”
and Kari was tasked with cre-
ating a first-of-its kind center
within the synagogue space.
Kari always knew she wanted
to do something where she
could help people, but original-
ly thought she would work in
the school system after getting
her master’s in social work from
the University of Michigan.
She did her practicum in
the Waterford school district,
before moving and working at
the Jewish Senior Life Center
in Des Moines, Iowa. Working
with seniors in Iowa led to
working with Jewish Senior Life
in Michigan, before she was
approached about the position
that Temple was looking to cre-
ate with Sosnick’s anonymous
funding.
A 24/7 JOB
“I grew up at Temple and I
knew it was always a place that
I wanted to come home to. To
have the opportunity to create
the Family Life Center and
what it has evolved into has
been incredible,
” Kari said. “I
knew how special Temple was,
and I had a vision of the amaz-
ing things we could do with
the love and support from the
Sosnick family.
”
From Day 1, the job has con-
tinued to evolve to best meet
the needs of the congregation.
Kari spent the first year meet-
ing with Temple members,
Temple to celebrate Kari Provizer and Robert Sosnick
Family Life Center on Aug. 4.
continued on page 20
SEAN SHAPIRO SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
A Touchpoint at Temple Israel
The late
Robert
Sosnick
FOR MORE INFORMATION SCAN THE QR CODE OR VISIT
WWW.TEMPLE - ISRAEL.ORG/
KariProvizerFLC25
A Celebration of
Kari Provizer
and the Robert Sosnick Family Life Center
5725 WALNUT LAKE ROAD, WEST BLOOMFIELD MI 48323 | WWW.TEMPLE-ISRAEL.ORG
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