Gifts to upgrade Jewish schools
June 12, 2007
A high school and rabbinic college in Oak Park will get major renovations and new dormitories thanks to more than $2.75 million in donations.
Alan and Lori Zekelman of Bloomfield Hills announced Monday they are giving $2 million toward Mishkan Israel on 9 Mile west of Coolidge. The 12,000-square-foot building, which also serves as a synagogue, is nearly 40 years old.
The Zekelmans, including Alan Zekelman's brothers, gave $10 million in January to the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills to retire the museum's debt and help it expand.
There is no timetable for the Mishkan Israel project, but it will happen within two years, Alan Zekelman said.
Another $750,000 is coming from the Meer family, local philanthropists. It will be used for the renovation and expansion of a Lubavitch lower school on Coolidge north of I-696. Work could begin this summer.
The financial commitments help solidify the city's Jewish presence.
Lubavitch of Michigan has also acquired, through money from different donors, apartment buildings across 9 Mile that will serve as three dormitories for the 100-plus students at Mishkan.
Zekelman, 44, got interested in Mishkan Israel while he attended services there to say the traditional prayer of mourning for his mother, Wanda Zekelman of Windsor.
Each time he walked in, he said, he saw both the threadbare quality of the building and the enthusiasm on the faces of the boys studying there.
Giving made sense to him.
"Each time I stepped through the door I knew that making a commitment to them would be fulfilling for me and for them," he said.
Site plans for the projects have not been submitted to the city, but Oak Park Mayor Gerald Naftaly said he's happy that the Jewish community is staying and investing in their homes and institutions.
"We're proud of what's going on," he said.
Contact JULIE EDGAR at 248-351-3294 or [email protected].
Copyright © 2007 Detroit Free Press Inc.
