AUGUST 3 • 2023 | 13

W

hen Peter Sander 
heard that a 
Chabad center 
was coming to Traverse 
City, he was excited to have 
a place to go for Jewish 
programming. When its 
founders, Rabbi Laibel and 
Chaya Shemtov, arrived 
earlier this year, he was there 
to help the young couple 
move in.
Chabad of Traverse City 
opened its doors in March, 
joining Congregation 
Beth Shalom, the only 
synagogue in Traverse 
City, and doubling the 
opportunities for organized 
Jewish activities in Northern 
Michigan’s largest city. 
While it’s hard to know 
how many Jewish residents 
are in the area, Congregation 
Beth Shalom draws up to 40 
participants for its monthly 
rabbi-led Shabbat service, 
plus the 10-20 attending 
via Zoom, and attracts as 
many as 100 people for High 
Holiday services. 
Rabbi Shemtov thinks 
there are at least 300 Jewish 
families in the area. He 
says they see new faces of 
unaffiliated Jewish residents 
coming to Chabad events 

every week. 
Terry Tarnow, 74, is an 
artist and longtime member 
of Congregation Beth 
Shalom, who describes 
the Jewish community as 
closeknit, but says people 
come and go. Her kids and 
their friends have all left. 
But with new people moving 
to the area, the Jewish 
population isn’t dwindling. 
At synagogue events, Tarnow 
used to know everyone, but 
now they’re using name 
tags because “there are just 
enough new people.”
Tarnow compares the 
membership fluctuation 
to a roller coaster with its 

ups and downs. But 
she doesn’t think it’s 
any different than 
other congregations, 
regardless of size or 
location. It’s just more 
noticeable in a small 
community. And, she 
says, like any other 
synagogue or temple, 
they fill the seats during 
the High Holidays 
with people who 
don’t typically come 
for Shabbat or other 
gatherings. 
Living in a small 
Jewish community, she 
says, made it easier for her 
to get involved. She and her 
husband fell in love with 
Northern Michigan and 
moved to Traverse City from 
the Detroit area in 1971.
“Growing up, I went to 
Temple Beth El,” Tarnow 
recalls. “I went all the way 
through high school but 
really didn’t know the rabbi 
very well. As soon as we 
moved up here, we had a lot 
of student rabbis over the 
years, and the rabbis became 
our good friends also. They 
came to dinner, and we did 

social things with them, 
which we still do today 
being a smaller, closeknit 
community. I don’t know 
that I ever would have been 
that active if we stayed in 
Detroit.”
With the arrival of 
Chabad, residents like 
Sander, a 45-year-old 
Chicago transplant who 
moved to the area with his 
wife 10 years ago, welcome 
the additional opportunities 
for Jewish programming and 
involvement. 

continued on page 14

Chabad of Traverse 
City held a barbecue 
for Lag b’Omer.

Rabbi Laibel and 
Chaya Shemtov and 
their son Mendel

COURTESY OF CHABAD OF TRAVERSE CITY

Chabad of 
Traverse City’s 
first seder

