OUR COMMUNITY

continued from page 14

ON THE COVER

added a mitzvah to her Oct. 
14 bat mitzvah when her 
family decided they would 
add mezuzah decorating to 
their event and send guests 
home with mezuzahs, scrolls 
and all — that they could 
hang in their homes. 
“It made me feel good 
because you should 
celebrate that you’re Jewish, 
and we celebrated that at 
my bat mitzvah by making 
mezuzahs,” she says. “I 
hope they took it as a good 
meaningful experience, and 
they took it and put it on 
their doors.”
Her father, Dr. Bryan 
Weinstein, and his wife, 
Dr. Roya Soleymani, got 
the idea for their youngest 
child’s bat mitzvah after 
Bryan talked with Rabbi Levi 
Shemtov following the Oct 7. 
tragedy in Israel. They had a 
Havdalah service and party 
planned, but he wasn’t sure 
how to move forward with a 
celebration just a week later. 
“[The rabbi] said, ‘Why 
don’t we think of doing 
something that elevates 
the night into a much more 
spiritual place, so it’s not 
just a party, but rather, an 
elevation of spirituality,’” 
Bryan Weinstein recalls. 
“That really resonated with 
me. He brought up the idea 
of making mezuzahs at the 

bat mitzvah and getting 
everyone to add an extra 
mezuzah to the home.” 
They let guests know, too, 
that Shemtov could help get 
the mezuzahs on their doors 
if they needed it.
“I got on the mic and said 
to the whole crowd that the 
way we fight this in America 
is we don’t back away from 
our celebrations because 
that’s what the terrorists 
want, they want us to be 
scared,” Bryan says. “And 
we won’t be scared, we’re 
always going to celebrate 
our Torah and celebrate our 
traditions and celebrate our 
people.” 
Rabbi Benny Greenwald 
of Friendship Circle in 
West Bloomfield points out 
that the mezuzah is more 
than just the sometimes- 
ornate case that goes on 
the door. It’s the scrolls 
inside, checked to make 
sure they’re kosher, and 
the unique energy of 
the mitzvah that give 
the mezuzah meaning, 
he says. “To me, it’s a 
time to re-examine my 
mezuzah,” he says. “I try and 
encourage people to make 
sure they have mezuzahs 
on their doors.”

— Karen Schwartz, 
Contributing Writer

continued from page 14

Rabbi Bentzi Geisinsky helped the Katz 
family of Birmingham put up 
their mezuzah.

FINDING SAFE SPACES 
Brooke Leiberman of Farmington 
Hills says she’s seen more moms 
ask to join the Jewish Moms of 
Metro Detroit group on Facebook 
in past weeks than they have in a 
long time, adding that she thinks 
they’re coming together to find 
support as they face the unknown. 
Leiberman is one of the founders 
and administrators for the group.
“There’s been talk on the Jewish 
Moms board about how you can 
protect yourself, and debate with-
in the community about what’s 
appropriate and what’s not appro-
priate,” she says. “We just feel like 
we’re the safe place where people 
can ask those questions, where 
they can talk with other Jewish 
women about how they’re feeling 
and how their kids are feeling.”
Meanwhile, she says, her daugh-
ter recently presented about 
Judaism to her culture class at 
Farmington STEAM Academy in 
Farmington Hills. Additionally, 
she says her daughter has friends 
there from many different cul-
tures, and that she and her hus-
band, Chaim, have reinforced to 
her that other students should also 
be allowed to express their own 
beliefs, as long as they’re not wish-
ing her harm. 
Chaim Leiberman, who helps 
moderate a Facebook group for 
Israelis in Michigan, says he’s 
concerned about recent events but 
also resolute in showing Jewish 
pride. 
“I’m all for not hiding who I am, 
and at work, I don’t hide that I’m 
Israeli and I don’t hide that I’m 
Jewish — everybody knows it,” he 
says. 
At the same time, he explains, 
it’s important to be mindful of 
one’s surroundings and, as they say 
in Israel, that it’s better to be smart 
than to be right. 
With security in mind, 
Leiberman says he might put 
more cameras around the house 
but won’t be taking down the sign 

that says his name in Hebrew on 
his door or the Israeli flag that’s 
in his garage. And he’s upped his 
security mindset as well, making 
sure events he’s working on, such 
as a recent gathering of some 60 
Israelis, had security. “That’s not 
something in the past that we put 
any emphasis on, but that definite-
ly changed,” he adds.

BE JEWISH, BE PROUD
Rabbi Asher Lopatin of 
Huntington Woods, local executive 
director of the Jewish Community 
Relations Council/American 
Jewish Committee and rabbi of 
Kehillat Etz Chaim in Huntington 
Woods, says the large Israeli flag 
in his front window didn’t seem 
to discourage any trick-or-treaters 
on Halloween, and that they had 
no issues or complaints. He says 
he doesn’t want to live in fear or 
to give antisemitism a victory over 
him and his family by worrying 
about it. 
There are risks to being visibly 
Jewish, he says, citing the kippah 
he wears on his head, as well as 
having mezuzahs up or wearing 
Jewish symbol-based jewelry. 
However, there are also risks to 
driving cars, he notes, but people 
take those risks because of the 
value that capability provides. 
“I think we have to think of our 
Judaism as essential as driving my 
car. Judaism is as essential as that.” 
He urges caution, he says — 
and reminds his daughters at 
University of Michigan not to walk 
home alone at night, but with a 
message of Jewish pride. “I’m not 
saying be foolish, but I’m saying be 
Jewish; don’t give up your Judaism, 
don’t let them win.” 
Moreover, he says people across 
Metro Detroit are standing up for 
the Jewish community. “We have 
a list of 25 names of clergy — 
Black, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, 
Chaldean — they’re all standing 
up for us. We have to be proud 
and be proud of our Judaism.” 

16 | NOVEMBER 30 • 2023 
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