PHOTOS BY NATHAN VICAR
SYNAGOGUE SPOTLIGHT
Bais Chabad’s sanctuary
A ‘Home for Everyone’
Bais Chabad in final stages of opening a new mikvah and new playground. DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
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abbi Elimelech and Chaya Sarah Silberberg came to West Bloomfield with two small children in November 1975 as shluchim (emissaries) of the Lubavitcher Rebbe. They embraced the quiet, suburban community, encouraging people from all levels of observance to learn and increase their participation in Jewish life. The Sara & Morris Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center’s founding fathers were a group of Holocaust survivors, a group Silberberg connected to and with whom he formed the congregation. Bais Chabad initially ran out of a room in a day school, but, in 1982, they felt they had grown enough
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and built the current building on Maple Road, east of Orchard Lake. From humble beginnings, the congregation slowly grew, one family at a time. At some point, it became necessary for a younger rabbi to draw in younger people. That’s when their son, Rabbi Shneur Silberberg, and his wife, Zeesy, joined the team. Rabbi Shneur Silberberg says Bais Chabad is technically an Orthodox synagogue, but it offers a home for everyone. “Nobody is asked their level of observance or what their background is or how much they know or don’t know,” he said. “And that’s the goal, to be a place where everyone feels at home, and everyone has
the opportunity to grow in their Torah studying and their commitment to Judaism.” He says Elya Silfen, a congregant who is also a rabbi (but not part of the synagogue clergy), has launched an online Torah-study class based
out of the congregation that broadcasts throughout the world, with students checking in from Israel, Europe, Mexico and South America. The website is chabadacademy.org. “What COVID really taught us is you can sit in one place and broadcast to the world,” Silberberg said. “You don’t want to lose that in-person connection, but we’re trying to take advantage of that.” Other Bais Chabad clergy include Rabbi Avrohom Weinberg, who serves as a teacher as well as a building administrator. The Silberbergs and Bais Chabad are well known for helping the community celebrate the holidays with the Shofar Factory, Chanukah Wonderland and the Passover Matzah Factory. Silberberg says about 120 families or so belong to the congregation, but many people who participate in different Bais Chabad programs belong to other synagogues. “And that’s great, whether they enjoy the classes or my wife’s Jewish Women’s Circle or the holiday programs, it reaches hundreds of other families.” Silberberg says Bais Chabad’s congregant base has gotten younger. “We do have older
