AUGUST 3 • 2023 | 15

Traverse City 
Highlights

For people looking for a weekend 
Up North, Traverse City has a lot to 
offer — lakes, rivers, the trails through 
beautiful woodlands and vibrant 
agritourism. Known for the Sleeping 
Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, 
cherry orchards and vineyards, 
Traverse City provides a perfect 
backdrop to connect with family, 
friends or just yourself. Each weekend 
offers something special. See what’s 
coming next at www.traversecity.com.

Congregation Beth Shalom. 
The congregation, where 
Rabbi Arnie first worked as 
a student rabbi in the early 
1980s, has never had a full-
time rabbi. 
Housed in a modest white 
building resembling a one-
room schoolhouse, little has 
changed at Congregation 
Beth Shalom since opening 
in 1855 as Temple Beth El. In 
2015, it merged with Ahavat 
Shalom, a congregation 
formed in 1997 by a group 
of community leaders, and 
is now Congregation Beth 

Shalom. The building, now a 
historical site, is recognized 
as the oldest in Michigan to 
be continuously used as a 
synagogue.
Rabbi Arnie describes 
services at Congregation Beth 
Shalom as a combination 
of Reform, Conservative 
and Renewal practices to 
accommodate its participants 
who come from all different 
Jewish backgrounds. 
Traditions, he says, are 
important, and the service 
is mainly in Hebrew, with 
some English prayers. The 

congregants, he says, are 
familiar with the service 
and love to be participatory. 
The congregation, he says, is 
egalitarian and welcoming to 
all, including members of the 
LGBTQ+ community. 
As for the Jewish 
community in the area, Rabbi 
Arnie says, “I don’t think that 
anyone who chooses to live in 
Traverse City does so with the 
goal of living in an immersive 
Jewish world. If you really 
want to be immersively 
Jewish every day, that kind 
of community doesn’t exist. 

Jews who move to Traverse 
City have done so knowing 
that’s not what they’re moving 
there for. They’re moving 
for the beauty of the area, 
the lifestyle, opportunities 
for physical pursuits and 
also because there’s a lovely 
Jewish community, but 
not an immersive Jewish 
community.” 

For more information about Chabad 

of Traverse City, including registration 

for the free High Holiday services, visit 

www.chabadtvc.org. To learn more 

about Congregation Beth Shalom, visit 

www.beth-shalom-tc.org.

Mike London and 
Ken Newberry 
at Congregation 
Beth Shalom

