Dear Congregant,

In the past few months I and others have asked you in this column to get more involved by volunteering and by giving financial support to the synagogue. My goal for this month is to enlighten you with a walk down history lane. Some of this history you may know and for others this will be entirely new.

Our synagogue was founded by nine Hungarian Jewish men on September 2, 1911. The original name was “Beth Eliyahu” honoring Elias Einzcig, a member of the new congregation. In 1917, the congregation erected its first permanent home at the corner of Garfield and Beaubien. At that time the congregation found itself short of funds. (Amazing - History keeps repeating itself.) Mr. Einzcig holding the title to the congregation name offered to sell the name to the highest bidder. The sons of Moshe (Morrie) Gunsberg raised the money to rename the synagogue “B’nai Moshe,” the sons of Moses. (Now that is an entertaining idea - just kidding.) The brothers had a slight difference of opinion concerning the name, but finally agreed to the proposal by Samuel Gunsberg to name the synagogue after their father. The Gunsberg family pledged $45,000.00 and the new building was completed.

In May 1929, the building on Dexter and Lawrence in Detroit was dedicated. The Articles of Association stated that the purpose of worship was according to the tenents of the Orthodox Judaism. That property was sold for $250,000.00 in the fall of 1957. A new building on 10 mile Rd. in Oak Park was dedicated on September 9, 1960. We remained in that building until 1989. Our current building held its first service on June 23, 1992.

The clergy who have served over the years for various periods of time preceding our current clergy are:

Rabbis: Joseph Thumin, Moses Fischer, Jacob Nathan, Eliezar Levi, Moses Lehrman, Stanley Rosenbaum and Allen Meyerowitz

Cantors: Samuel Glantz, Anton Rosenfeld, David Katzman and Louis Klein

Sextons: Harry Landsman and Shalom Ralph

Other events that occurred over the years are:

• The purchase of 3000 gravesites from the Oakview Cemetery on April 30, 1958.

• Dedication of the Adolph Deutsch Chapel on May 24, 1959, the first unit of the Oak Park building.

• Dedication of the Harry Rosemand Social Hall on September 9, 1960 and the Isaac and Helen Liebson Library on September 10, 1960 at the Oak Park building

• B’nai Moshe’s admission to the United Synagogue of America in November, 1963 (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism).

I know that I just touched on some of the history of our beloved synagogue. It is fun to travel the road of history and see where it takes you. I hope that you have learned something new and enjoyed the trip. We must never forget our past as we go to the future.

Shalom until next time.