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

