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Detroit's last free-standing synagogue is getting a $6M makeover

Kaitlyn Luckoff The Detroit News Published 11:16 p.m. ET Nov. 7, 2022

Detroit — When Jay Hack attended an event at a synagogue in Detroit with his wife nearly eight years ago, not only was he surprised by the pleasant experience, but he was also astounded to discover the temple had been founded by his family nearly a century ago.

"My dad's grandfather, Nathan, was a builder, and he built the synagogue in honor of my great-great-grandfather (Isaac Agree). It was a cool thing to live downtown and seek out some Jewish life there, and then kind of back into finding out that I had this cool family connection to it.

"Ultimately, that inspired me to raise money (for the synagogue) and be on the board."

The synagogue was founded in 1921 and operated out of a home on Rosedale Court. After outgrowing that space and occupying another building on the same street, the synagogue moved to a rented space at Griswold and State Street in 1927. The congregation purchased its current building in 1964, which was formerly the Fintex men's clothing store. Before obtaining this space, the synagogue rented a few spaces in the Capitol Park area.

"This was like this time capsule for me. ... I was in a building with my great-greatgrandfather on the wall," Hack said. "As a time capsule, part of the 'aha' moment was like: There's a legacy in Detroit and a piece of our family history that has a physical address. Wow."

To celebrate 100 years of honoring Isaac Agree and simultaneously looking ahead to the next century of success, the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue is undergoing a full, nearly $6 million renovation of its space on Griswold.

The synagogue began as a space where Jewish people could say Kaddish and pray during the workday, during a time when there were many synagogues within the city's borders. Now it is the last free-standing synagogue in the city. As the congregation has grown and its needs have evolved, the space is evolving, too, said Executive Director Rachel Rudman. The project will add flexible program and event space, offices, conference rooms and a children's area by updating the first-floor community space, kitchen and sanctuary.

Hack, 46, of Bloomfield Hills said the upcoming renovations are necessary, not optional, to ensure the synagogue's future success and growth. His vision for creating a safe and inclusive synagogue space is informed by his own experience as a parent in the congregation; he once found his son crawling near broken glass in the building.

The project calls for the renovation of 12,000 square feet, Rudman said, and is expected to be completed by early spring.

Because the current building does not have a functioning elevator for disabled attendees to safely access the worship space on the second floor, Rudman said inclusivity was a priority when envisioning the future of the synagogue.

"I think that we needed a building that suited our community, and the needs of the community have become more clear and have grown and have changed," she said. "We needed a space that was accessible. We needed a building that had space for families and children; that's being written into our plans, too. We needed to renovate the third and fourth floors so that we could have this space for programming and for events, and for weddings, and have a space where we could actually use the building."

Rudman said the new shared workspaces will serve as a core for Jewish communal life to gather and collaborate under one roof in the city.

"The third floor is going to be the hub of the shared workspace. ... It's not just a co-working space for Jews. We're talking about bringing in organizations that are primarily based in the suburbs and having them have some type of presence in our new building," Rudman said. "For some of them, that will be a dedicated desk for someone on their staff, for some of them that will be program space. ... We'll have some of them be able to use the commercial kitchen or have storage space in the building … a place for their board members to meet or to have conversations with politicians or pastors in the area.

"I'm excited about being in a building where there are a lot of different types of people working each day, and they're all doing different things, but we can come together, collaborate, share resources, talk about the projects that we're working on, and sort of build with one another, off of one another and do more work together," Rudman added. "There's a lot of overlap and a feeling of scarcity in the Jewish professional world and this is meant to give us all a sense of abundance."

Inviting a broader community

As a Detroit resident, building renovation project co-chair George Roberts said he used to walk by the synagogue daily. He said he felt the brick wall and solid red door were unwelcoming.

"That brick wall and solid wood red door create threshold resistance, create this feeling of should I go in or maybe I should not," Roberts said. "Our renovated building will have glass all the way along there; you'll see the activity, you'll see the life that's happening in that ground-floor space, and I think that it will make more people want to hold programming, book programming and come up with new programs and events to have in the space."

Among the many unique aspects of the synagogue, Rabbi Arianna Silverman serves as the sole clergy person. She was hired in 2016 and said she views the organization as a "100-year startup" due to its growth and evolving needs.

"It's both a tremendous privilege and a growing one, because our congregation has expanded so much, certainly in the last decade, and even since I've started," Silverman said. "When I started, there were about 10 kids in the membership of the synagogue, and now there are over 100. Not only has the congregation grown, but each of the demographics has grown. Along with kids comes family education, programming, a religious school and all of those kinds of things, so it's been awesome to be able to serve both the growth and the diversity of the congregation."

Silverman said the synagogue is unique in many capacities, particularly because of the community that it serves.

“We are the last freestanding synagogue in the city of Detroit," she said. "In a city where there used to be dozens and dozens of synagogues, we remain committed to staying in Detroit both because of the love for the city but also because of a commitment to our neighbors. ...

"Because we're in the city, we have a diversity of our membership in terms of race and age and economic status that is not necessarily reflected in other synagogues. We have folks who feel comfortable coming to us because we have tremendous racial diversity; because we are open to families with children who aren't necessarily ready to be members, we're still going to serve them. In fact, the religious school program that we have, you don't have to be a member of the downtown synagogue, you could still come and your kids can learn. We have a great deal of diversity in our membership."

A community effort

For the past decade, the synagogue's board has engaged with the community, encouraging residents to highlight their emerging visions for the future of Jewish Detroit, Rudman said. While the vision for this project came to fruition nearly 10 years ago, fundraising efforts for the renovation did not begin until early 2020.

"The millennial energy worked really hard to fundraise both from supporters in the city and supporters and suburbs and also start with grant funding," she said. "We've drawn in a lot of younger folks. The fact that we're not affiliated with a movement, I think, helps us. I think many younger Jews are drawn to the openness or the plurality. ... It makes them kind of feel like they're not affiliated with a particular movement."

The cost of the project closely reflects the magnitude of the construction; the funds were raised by synagogue board members. For the past three years, Roberts has contributed to the renovation effort. He said the team paused their fundraising during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, which delayed the project.

"We basically started this project from zero, and then had an early investment from the William Davidson foundation of a million-dollar matching grant. From there, we had to raise another $4.5 (million), getting us to a total of almost $6 million for the project."

Roberts said they hope to raise another $200,000 before the project is completed. Roberts said the construction costs increased tremendously due to inflation and they hope to later gather another $500,000 for "Phase 1A," which will complete the rooftop deck and other key features that were delayed.

"We have an incredibly generous Detroit Jewish community, and it was really on display in this moment. Many of the folks who gave (donations) are members of another congregation as well, and are probably generous supporters of their congregation and are generous supporters of ... many other Jewish and non Jewish social service and cultural agencies and nonprofits around Metro Detroit, around the country, around the world, and hadn't given to the downtown synagogue before, but found a new gear in their generosity to support this project."

Roberts said by contributing to the renovation of the synagogue, supporters are helping the city as a whole.

"The very mission statement of the downtown synagogue is to support the revitalization of Detroit," Roberts said. "I think that by supporting this project, people have found a way to contribute to the revitalization of Detroit, not just in the renovation of the building itself, but by investing in a place that will allow for further revitalization efforts to spring forth.

"The amazing revitalization efforts that will come from the community organizing, and working, and relationships built in this renovated building are countless right now, but I think that by investing in this community, in this space, folks can find another way to invest in the revitalization of Detroit.