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My grandparents had a hardware store across from B'nai Moshe on Dexter. In the early 50's I would attend services sometimes with my grandmother. I also went there to Hebrew School. We lived on Tuexedo off of Dexter from 1950 to 1954. I went to Roosevelt Elementary School for 2nd, 3rd & part of 4th grade. We then moved to the Livernois 7 Mile area. I have great memories living in the Dexter area. 

Diane Bruch 2024

My mother Ella Sass Klarman was the secretary when Bnai Moshe was being built on Dexter. She met my father Morris Klarman at a Bnai Moshe young peoples dance. My brother Edward Klarman was the first Bar Mitzvah where Rabbi Lehman officiated in 1949.  I was in the 1955 Consecration Class . Bnai Moshe has continued to be important in our lives.  

When the congregation first began the meeting records were written in Hungarian. We lived on Lawrence Avenue., 
I attended Roosevelt elementary school, Durfee intermediate school and graduated from Central High School in 1956. 85% of our class went on to college, the highest on record. The Dexter / Linwood area was true walkable Jewish community  
Anne Klarman Kelz

My grandfather Sam Jaulus and my son, Sigmund Jaulus, were officers and one of the first members of B’nai Moshe. I attended and was had my bar mitzvah there with Rabbi Lehrman presiding.  Louis Klein was a cantor who was an amazing musician and brought great musicians to perform, like Dave Brobeck (David, as he was introduced).  

The building on Dexter was wonderful as it had hidden pathways and doors....it was orthodox and changing.   Rabbi Lehrman admonished the young women not to have non-Jewish girlfriends, as they might have brothers and we should not mix.   It was a time that if you dated or married a non-Jew, you were considered deceased.   Glad attitudes changed.

Marc Mazer

I went here from around 1937 till the early 40's and then again as a member of Boy Scout Troop 23 (Nate Trager's troop). Most of the time the kids would hang out in the basement while their parents and grand-parents would be davening upstairs. However, there were times I had to sit next to my Zaida who would always be showing me the current place we were reading in the seder (I do that with my family today!) even though I could read Hebrew since I was five.

My cousins lived on Lawrence about a block from the shul so I hung out there most of the high holidays. Fedora hats, new suits (at Rice & Ashe downtown) and other things are still in my memories of the Dexter experience. I went to MacCollough, Rosevelt and Winterhalter (yes, all three - we moved a lot during the late depression years) then Durfee and Cass Tech, and attended Hebrew School at MacCollough, Rose Tzadik Cohen (on Lawton when it was first built in 37 or 38), the UHS on Tuxedo, and then the Yeshiva on Dexter and Cortland.
- Mitch R

In early 1950s, a group of girls walked from the Sturtevant/Petosky area to B'nai Moshe for Saturday services. They had the best Kiddush afterward us girls decided since Rock & Rye pop was served!
Diane

This building was the second location for B'nai Moshe. I believe the first was at Garfield and Beaubien where the VA Hospital now stands. The congregation, which was founded by Hungarian Jews in 1911, moved to the building you have shown in 1929. I believe the school wing was added sometime later. The congregation at that time was Orthodox, so women sat in the balcony upstairs. In 1960, facing an exodus of its members to the suburbs, the congregation sold this building and moved to a new facility at 14390 Ten Mile in Oak Park. Facing yet another exodus, the congregation sold the Oak Park building in 1990 and in 1992 moved into its current building at 6800 Drake Road in West Bloomfield.
Joel

United Hebrew Schools operated the school bldg. next door and North of the synagogue. It was built in the early-50s, and later was operating as a DPS. I am not sure what the school's usage is today.

I attended Hebrew School here from 1951-54. They had an extensive after-school program Mon.-Thurs. with a fleet of buses to deliver students from public schools to Hebrew school. The buses took you home about 6 pm.
Arnie