12/10/2006

Keeping the faith

Small numbers mean Jews in region try hard to preserve traditions

By
Record-Eagle staff writer

Special to the Record-Eagle/Kevin Johnston
Temple manager Tom Johnson with his children, Jeremiah and Anne, at Temple B'Nai Isreal in Petoskey.

When she moved to northern Michigan, Wendy Weckstein traded a large synagogue with daily services and activities for a tiny one with about 50 families and a part-time rabbi.

But instead of weakening her Jewish identity, it strengthened it, she said.

”Up here, it's not in front of us, it's not handed to us,” said Weckstein, a physical therapist and fitness trainer for women. "We have to create Judaism in our family. And it's become more meaningful for us.”

Valerie Meyerson gave up opportunities for her children to be around other Jewish kids and easy access to items like "challah” or braided egg bread, one of the most important foods in Jewish culture. But she said she got much more in return, including a more relaxed "Up North” style of religious observation.

"It's pretty varied throughout the Jewish religion as a whole, but here in northern Michigan we're very laid back,” she said. "Some people observe more strictly than others.”

The women are among an estimated 150 Jewish and inter-cultural families who call northwestern Lower Michigan and its three small synagogues home. While the Jewish community still is relatively small, it is growing as more people recognize the region as a "viable Jewish destination” for families who are considering relocating, said one area rabbi.

"We get a call a month or so,” said Rabbi Chava Bahle of Congregation Ahavat Shalom, a progressive independent synagogue in Traverse City.

Being Jewish in northern Michigan has changed significantly since she moved to the area 14 years ago, Bahle said. Not only has the Jewish community expanded — membership at Ahavat Shalom is up by 45 families since the congregation began 10 years ago — but it has gained greater acceptance in the broader community.

"It has to do with increased interest in understanding cultures besides our own,” said Bahle, who gets as many requests to speak outside the synagogue as within it. "As the world moves closer to becoming a global family, we want to do more about meeting our neighbors.”

Bahle said area Jews also have made an effort to open up and reach out to the greater community. Congregation Ahavat Shalom welcomes people of all faiths and counts several non-Jewish families among its members.

"Clearly Jewish culture is having a profound impact on the Grand Traverse region. I am regularly hearing people say 'oy' — in a good way — and work to pronounce my name properly,” she said, referring to the hard "ch” sound in Chava.

Meyerson moved to the area about five years ago with husband Tom Johnson and their two children to become a librarian with the Charlevoix Public Library. Hers is one of about 30 year-round families at Petoskey's Temple B'nai Israel.

While it's a dramatic change from her life downstate, being part of a congregation so small that everyone has a key to the temple makes for a closer, tighter-knit community, she said.

"Everybody does something for the congregation, everybody's working for it,” she said. "It strengthens the group as a whole.

"The hard part is that there are not many of us. And trying to raise our children with a strong Jewish commitment is very difficult, especially since many people here still don't know any Jewish people.”

Her children, Jeremiah and Anne Johnson, are among only four Jewish students at their elementary school, Meyerson said. That can be hard, especially this time of year, when everything from the school concert they sing in to their classroom ditto sheets have a Christmas theme.

"Everywhere you look now, everything is Christmas,” she said. "That doesn't bother me when I choose to go downtown and participate in that, but it's my choice. But when my children don't have a choice when it's a homework assignment, that makes it difficult.”

Keeping the faith in northern Michigan also is harder when you "keep kosher,” or store and serve food prepared in accordance with Jewish dietary law, said Weckstein, president of Congregation Beth El in Traverse City, Michigan's oldest synagogue in continuous use.

"We're one of the few families up here that keep kosher, and that's a big challenge because there's no place you can buy kosher meat,” she said. "You have to get that from a special kosher butcher.”

Except for meat, which her family buys during regular trips downstate and stores in a large freezer, most other Jewish necessities and resources are available locally, she said. That includes some kosher wine and food, books and music, and Sabbath, Hanukkah and "yartzeit” or memorial candles. Even challah, a bread eaten on Jewish holidays and "Shabbat,” the Jewish sabbath, is available at some of the larger grocers and specialty food stores like Traverse City's Bay Bread Company.

"It was a Friday bread because of the Jewish tradition,” said Stacey Wilcox, owner of the Bay Street store with her husband, Steven. "When we bought the bakery about three years ago, we began making it every day. Now everybody loves it. Most people don't realize it's a traditional Jewish bread.”

Wilcox said the bakery also creates special-order breads for other Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashana, the Jewish New Year, when challah is traditionally shaped in a spiral, studded with raisins and dipped in honey.

"There's a lot of different things we do depending on the time of year and the custom,” she said. "They might want raisins in it, they might want us to bring it into a circle. We have different drizzles and icings because they might want a sweet bread.”

When it comes to synagogues, however, Jews in northern Michigan have fewer choices. Not only are Jewish temples few and far between, but they reflect similar movements.

"In a larger city you'd be able to choose an Orthodox congregation, a conservative congregation or a liberal congregation,” said Rabbi Al Lewis of Congregation Beth El. "In Traverse City, you just have liberal congregation(s). But what we try to do is design the services in such a way that they're responsive to the needs of people across the board in terms of their religious identity.”

While most congregations are so small that they can only afford a part-time rabbi or student rabbi, "Judaism is such a home-centered religion that it is possible to be very committed, very religious and practice in the home,” he said. "Coming to the synagogue is an enhancement but is not the only way to celebrate.”

"There's different ways to observe being Jewish,” agreed Meyerson, whose family lights candles and says prayers and blessings at home in lieu of regular Shabbat services. "For me, a big part of Judaism is the cultural richness of the faith, and family. Being Jewish is being part of a greater family.”

Bahle said she believes her congregation's small size not only make it more intimate but requires more of its members and so deepens their connection to the Jewish culture.

"In Detroit, there are over 100,000 Jews,” she said. "There are dozens of synagogues, there's a Jewish Center, there's a deli or bakery on every corner. So you can take your Judaism rather casually. Here there's a certain intentionality you have to bring to your culture or Jewish identity.”

"I personally like it better up here,” agreed Weckstein, whose three children, like Meyerson's, often share their culture with curious classmates. "You have to be very involved or it's not going to happen.”