Next American City, a national quarterly magazine dedicated to making
cities better, looks at Detroit's last synagogue and those trying to
save it.
Excerpt:
The Downtown Synagogue is one of just two congregations left in the
city, and is the sole Conservative congregation—as well as the only one
with its own building.
So when this last bastion of Jewish traditionalism faced the threat
of closing, it was a rather significant development for many Detroit
residents, Jew and gentile alike. After all, the Synagogue not only
seeks to provide traditional Jewish services, but, says the Synagogue’s
current president, Martin Herman, it also sees as part of its
philosophical mission to serve as a “symbolic link” between the Jewish
community and the city of Detroit, continuing the Jewish legacy and
representing the contemporary Jewish community’s commitment to
supporting an urban renaissance.
Luckily for the Downtown Synagogue, the growth of the young Jewish
population has its perks. Thanks to a small but dedicated group of
young people, the Synagogue seems to stand a chance at survival. They
organized themselves as the Detroit Action Council (DAC), and their
ambition seems to have breathed new life into the Congregation, as
they’ve collaborated with the owner of a neighboring nightclub to draw
in young people and have launched an effort to raise enough funds to
renovate the building and rent out the upper floors.
Read the entire article
here.
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