Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Congregation

Margo Schlanger

Seasoned Member Profile: Mac Moore and Deborah Dash-Moore

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Deborah Dash Moore and MacDonald Moore joined the Ann Arbor Reconstructionist Havurah in 2005 when they moved to the city to teach at UM (Deborah is Director of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies). Both had long been members of a Reconstructionist congregation in New York, West End Synagogue, participating in a family tradition on Deborah’s side that extended to her maternal grandparents’ support for Mordecai Kaplan and membership in the Society for the Advancement of Judaism (SAJ). Deborah attended Hebrew school at the SAJ and became Bat Mitzvah, a ritual not widely available in those years.

Deborah and Mac write: “Our sons, Mordecai and Mikhael, mostly grew up as the fourth generation of Reconstructionists. Because of strong ties with family in New York City where Mordecai and Mik (now married men with children) and Deborah’s parents live, we tend not to stay in Ann Arbor for the major holidays, but we appreciate AARC and try to attend Shabbat.”

Mac Moore
Mac Moore
Deborah Dash-Moore
Deborah Dash-Moore

Meet Genna Cohen, Who Met Us Through Jana Hirsch!

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Genna Cohen
Genna Cohen

Genna writes: “I moved to Ann Arbor in 2010 to start a Ph.D. program through UM’s School of Public Health. Prior to that I lived in Washington, DC, and Atlanta, GA. I love to spend my nonworking time at yoga, rock climbing, baking, and stopping strangers on the street to say hi to their dogs. I really appreciate the energy at AARC. I am grateful to Jana Hirsh, another new member, for introducing me!”

Meet Jana Hirsch, Nice New(ish) Girl & Epidemiologist

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Jana Hirsch
Jana Hirsch

Jana Hirsch moved to Ann Arbor in 2010 (from Philadelphia, and before that New York). Here’s what she says:

I moved here to start a Ph.D. in Public Health. I am in the department of Epidemiology at the University of Michigan, where I work in the Center for Social Epidemiology and Population Health. I am eager to defend my dissertation about how neighborhood environments influence walking—that happens on March 14, 2014, at 1:30p.m. A video I made about some of my research can be found at: http://goo.gl/oefdzp.  Anyone who wants to come watch my defense should join in on the event!

Jana reports that she was drawn to AARC by our High Holiday services and by the fact that not all of us are students or faculty at U of M.

Here are some of her favorite things:

  • Favorite novel: Watership Down.
  • Favorite movie: “Anything so terrible that someone else would turn it off.”
  • Favorite food: “Ras Malai (a sweet Indian cheese dessert), because it’s one of the few things I can’t cook/bake myself!”

Welcome to Jana.