20 | AUGUST 10 • 2023
W
hen summer days
come to Michigan,
we all love the extra
hours of daylight. Some Jewish
women in Huntington Woods
are taking advantage of these
long Shabbat afternoons to better
get to know their neighbors.
Huntington Woods residents
Rachel Lopatin, Lisa Winer
and Debbie Kirshner Devries
are at the beginning stages of
establishing an informal group
comprised of mostly Shabbat-
observant women to get to know
each other in the neighborhood.
Winer said the group’s first
event — a seudat shlishit (Shabbat
afternoon meal) — occurred on
July 8 in Devries’ backyard. It
prompted the 25 women there
to form a group on What’sApp.
From there, they agreed on a
second seudat shlishit for Aug. 5.
In the chat group, there has
also been talk about future events
into the fall, maybe a Shabbat
wine and cheese tasting or a
sangria in the sukkah. Other
women suggested forming
a walking group or social
opportunities with spouses.
Either way, Winer said there
is a lot of potential for this
group to organically evolve and
connections and friendships to
deepen in the Woods.
“The majority of women
expressed appreciation to have
a way to meet Jewish neighbors
and socialize and connect with
women who they don’t see often
because they don’t attend the
same synagogue,
” said Winer, an
attorney who belongs to Young
Israel of Oak Park.
“I noticed that post-COVID,
many of my friends and myself
had gotten out of the habit of
going to synagogue,
” Winer said.
“We were Shabbat-observant, but
we were not relying as much on
the synagogue as a social outlet
but there still was a desire for
connectedness. “
Winer said she also noticed
many new Jewish families were
moving into Huntington Woods.
Arranging a backyard get-
together on Shabbat after-noon
proved to be the ideal way to get
to know new women as well as
reconnect with familiar faces.
“In the post-COVID era we
find ourselves in, our community
needs to find ways to adapt
to changes in the way people
socialize,
” Winer said. “In our
area, there are so many different
shuls where people belong. Some
lean more to the left and others
lean more to the right, but we
all have something in common
in that we are all Jewish.
Irrespective of our political
beliefs or levels of religious
observance, there’s no reason
we cannot be friends and create
opportunities to grow or cultivate
new friendships.
”
Devries, a court reporter
who affiliates with several local
synagogues, recalled how her
own mother would invite women
over to socialize in their Oak
Park backyard and loves to carry
on this tradition.
“I have frequently hosted and
entertained on Shabbat and
holidays,
” Devries said. “Shabbat
lends itself to be a welcoming
time, and I hope we as the
women of Huntington Woods
have more opportunities to
gather and socialize on Shabbat
this summer and into the fall.
”
Rachel Lopatin said she was
approached by Winer and
Devries on the idea, noting that
many young Jewish families had
moved into Huntington Woods
during the pandemic and were
interested in getting to know
their neighbors.
“On our first gathering in
July, it was purely two hours
of socializing with about 25
women,
” Lopatin said. “We
had a great mix of women of
different ages and phases in
their lives. We had some single
women and empty nesters.
We realized that nearly all the
women already knew each
other as acquaintances, but this
was a greater opportunity to
better get to know one another.
New connections were made as
women made a point to reach
out to welcome a new face in
town. Women lingered a bit
longer than we thought they
would. They were all just happy
to be in each other’s company.
”
Lopatin, who is the wife
of Rabbi Asher Lopatin of
Eytz Chayim Congregation
in Oak Park, said any future
gatherings are carefully planned
as to not to detract or conflict
with programming at local
synagogues, such as if a shul
invites a speaker to give a talk or
a study session. While the first
get-together was purely social,
ones in the future, especially
as the Jewish High Holidays
approach, may have a Torah or
text learning component.
“While the summer lasts,
those long summer Shabbat
afternoons have become a
perfect opportunity to get
together,
” Lopatin said. “I was
just envisioning this as a summer
thing, but others have expressed
they want to host Shabbat
evening dinners and include men
and families. I don’t know how
this will evolve, but what it shows
us is that there is an eagerness for
Jewish women, and then their
husbands and then even families,
to gather in person once again on
Shabbat.
”
Women in Huntington Woods form
social group to better know
their neighbors.
STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
OUR COMMUNITY
Shabbat
Get-Togethers
LEFT: Lisa Winer, Debbie Devries
and Rachel Lopatin started
Shabbat get-togethers for Jewish
women in Huntington Woods