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LUNCH AND LEARN
LISA JACKNOW ELLIAS
Special to The Jewish News
0
nce a week, at vari-
ous sites in the De-
troit area, groups of
Jewish adults take
an hour out of their
busy day to think about
Judaism.
Miriam Schey Imerman,
director of domestic concerns
for the Jewish Welfare
Federation, often attends
lunch-hour classes at the
Federation offices in
downtown Detroit.
"It's goOd once a week to sit
and reflect on the larger
issues in our lives," Imerman
said. "Sometimes, we get so
involved in our day-to-day oc-
cupations that we forget what
our work is all about. These
classes don't require an exten-
sive background. All you need
is a desire to learn?'
The classes at Federation
are usually taught by Rabbi
Alon Tolwin, director of
Aleynu/Aish Hatorah, the
Partnership for Jewish
Education. Aleynu, an
organization dedicated to
bringing adults back into
Jewish education, offers pro-
grams throughout the Detroit
area.
"Jewish adults have to be
Aft0111011111111Wr.
role models," Rabbi Tolwin
said. "We send our children to
Hebrew school or day school,
but children need to see these
values in our daily lives.
Could we expect Americans
to function with a part-time,
seventh-grade education? No
— but that's what we're ex-
pecting of our kids!'
"Across• the board —
Reform, Conservative, Or-
thodox — if the children see
their parents involved in
some type of Jewish study,
they'll be more likely to be in-
volved and take their studies
more seriously. People shoUld
ask themselves what
Judaism can add to their
lives. If we don't spend time
trying to figure out the
answer, where will our
children be? It will mean
nothing."
That's the basic premise
behind Aleynu/Aish Hatorah,
Rabbi rIblwin said. The group
is dedicated to the survival of
the . Jewish people through
education. It was founded in
1974 in Israel by Rabbi Noah
Weinberg, with two teachers
and six students, including
Alon
"The organization is now
around the world," said Rab-
bi Iblwin. "It is manned by
people who come from all
Alon Tolwin's
Aleynu
project is
bringing
adults back
to Jewish
education.
walks of life, all levels of com-
mitment. What we have in
common is the survival of the
Jewish people."
Rabbi Tolwin, 38, was born
in Israel and raised in
Milwaukee, part , of a family
with five children who
became increasingly more
observant as they matured.
With an original goal of
becoming "either a guitarist
or psychologist," he attended
the University of Wisconsin
as a music major. He then at-
tended Bar-Ilan University
and earned his bachelor's and
master's degrees through
Aish Hatorah.
While in Israel, Rabbi
Tolwin met Detroiter Aviva
Carmen. After their mar-
riage, they lived in Santa
Clara, Calif., where the rab-
bi was associate principal of
a girls' high school. The cou-
ple, who have six children,
returned to the Detroit area
when he accepted a position
at the Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah's Beth Jacob School
for Girls.
But Rabbi Iblwin never
moved away from his first
love, adult education. Several
yearg ago, he went back to
school and retrained in com-
puters, and is currently work-
ing as a computer consultant.
At the same time, he founded
a local unit of Aleynu/Aish
Hatorah. He hopes that he
will be able to leave his corn-
puter job and devote his full
time to teaching.
"Most of my family is mov-
ing to Israel," Rabbi Tolwin
said. "I'm staying here
because I think I have work
to do. It sounds self-righteous,
but I mean it. There are not
enough people doing this
work."
With a budget of less than
$20,000 a year and donated
office space, the program has
a part-time coordinator,
Michele Broner. Classes and
programs are, for the most
part conducted by volunteer
teachers.
Aleynu/Aish Hatorah pro-
grams reach between 150 and
200 people weekly in the
Detroit area, Rabbi Tolwin
said. Courses have included a
series of lectures on Jewish
medical ethics at the Detroit
Medical Center, a home study
program through , neighbor-
hood havurot in Southfield,
West Bloomfield, Franklin
and the Oak Park-Hunting-
ton Woods area, and crash
classes in Hebrew (a joint pro-
ject with the National Jewish
Outreach and the Jewish
Learning Network of
Michigan).
Aleynu also holds weekly
"Lunch and Learn" groups at
various sites such as the
Federation, the Schlussel, Lif-
ton law firm and The Jewish
News. Weekly Mishnah
classes, one-on-one learning
for busy people, and an Ex-
ecutive Learning Program
are also on the schedule.
Aleynu courses usually in-
volve taking Jewish law and
applying it to contemporary
issues. Ethics of the Fathers
and Torah are the starting
points for discussions on abor-
tion, cosmetic surgery, AIDS,
and euthanasia.
"We deal with serious
issues from the Bible, but we
try to be extremely practical,
not just philosophical or
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
69