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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