COMMUNITY

Detroit Jewish Educators
Off To CAJE Conference

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

D

etroit Jewish
educators will share
their ideas and
teaching methods with 1,900
teachers and administrators
from around the world dur-
ing the upcoming Con-
ference on Alternatives in
Jewish Education. (CAJE)
"It's really a summer
camp for Jewish educators,"
said Rabbi Bruce Aft to de-
scribe the four-day, 15th an-
nual CAJE conference which
begins Aug. 12 in Columbus,
Ohio.
"We're able to do what we
don't have a chance to do
during the school year," said
Rabbi Aft, Midrasha director
and Jewish Community
High School principal. Rabbi
Aft is one of almost 100
Detroit Jewish educators
from 16 institutions atten-
ding the conference.
The conference, sponsored
by the Coalition for the Ad-
vancement of Jewish Edu-
cation, features more than
700 sessions on teaching
techniques, Hebrew, prayer,
Jewish history, literature
and heritage. This year's
event will revolve around
five themes including mak-
ing Judaism accessible to

gifted and special needs
students, relationships bet-
ween Jews and other ethnic
and religious groups, the ac-
culturation of Soviet Jews
and educating the
peripheral Jew. Among the
Detroiters making presenta-
tions at the conference are
Rabbi Aft, Harlene Ap-
pelman, director of family
programs for Jewish Experi-
ences For Families, Dr.
Nancy Gad-Harf, Temple
Israel's program director,
and University of Michigan
English professor Mashey
Bernstein.
"The conference is all
about learning and shar-
ing," said Joseph Poisson,
Temple Israel's director of
education. "You learn new
things and share ideas."
Janet Pont, Congregation
Shaarey Zedek's nursery
school director, said the
CAJE conference provides
teachers and administrators
with new ideas and mate-
rials which they can bring to
their classrooms.
Teachers learn how to
better approach a topic, es-
pecially one which must be
taught every year such as
Jewish holidays, Mrs. Pont
said.
Robert Lask, Temple Beth
El's educational director,
said he is looking forward to

JNF Appoints
Fund Chairman

tional Fund's Operation Pro-
mised Land Emergency
Campaign.

Jack Zwick

Jack Zwick, managing part-
ner in the Detroit office of
Laventhol and Horwath, and
a leader in Detroit's Jewish
community, was appointed
chairman of the Jewish Na-

Mr. Zwick served as presi-
dent of the JNF Council from
October 1982 thru October
1984. He also served as presi-
dent, vice president and
treasurer of Young Israel of
Southfield. He was an officer
and executive committee
member of Akiva Hebrew
Day School and served on the
scholarship and nominating
committees. He is a member
of the board of directors and
a past officer of the Jewish
Federation Apartments. He
also serves on the City of
Southfield's Zoning Board of
Appeals.
Mr. Zwick is past president
of the Association of Hebrew
Day Schools of Greater
Detroit. He is a member of
the Michigan Association of
Certified Public Accountants
and the American Institute of
Certified Public Accountants.

bringing new textbooks and
curriculum from the CAJE
conference into the
classroom.
"Hopefully, the conference
will benefit my school," said
Mr. Lask, who is attending
his first CAJE conference.
While Detroit Jewish
educators search for new
teaching methods, they also
hope to learn more about
Judaism.
"A very important aspect
of CAJE is what I learn in
terms of my own knowl-
edge," said Mrs. Pont, who
has attended many con-
ferences in the past decade.
"It's really like going to col-
lege and not having to worry
about taking an exam."
Issues the Detroit delega-
tion will focus on during the
CAJE conference include the
resettlement of Soviet Jews.
"We need to learn how to
make them feel welcomed
and how to make Americans
feel this is a blessing for
Jews everywhere," Mrs.
Pont said.
Rabbi Aft said questions
about the resettlement issue
which must be answered are:
"How can American Jews be
more receptive to the
Soviets? Are we providing
people with what they need?
Are we integrating people
into the community?"
While acculturating
Soviets is at issue, so is
educating American Jews
about Judaism.
"The Jewish family is no
longer traditional," said Mr.
Poisson. Today, both parents
work and there are more
interfaith or single-parent
families who don't have a
strong Jewish background,
he said.
"We have to change and to
meet head-on the needs of
the students in our classes,"
Mr. Poisson said. "Jewish
education has to grow with
the times. We have to meet
the needs of the 90s."
Because the conference at-
tracts Orthodox, Conser-
vative, Reform, Reconstruc-
tionist, Humanistic and
secular Jews, a variety of
views are expressed at the
CAJE conference
workshops. While the
workshops last all day, the
educators still find time to
socialize and exchange
ideas.
Mr. Poisson said he gets
some of the best ideas by so-
cializing with administra-
tors from other large schools.
"You make a lot of
friends," he said. ❑

Ash

Magy

JWF Will Honor
Three Young Leaders

In recognition of their com-
munity involvement three
young leaders have been
selected to receive the Jewish
Welfare Federation's Annual
Young Leadership Awards.
Dr. Owen Perlman will
receive the Frank A.
Wetsman Award; Diane Ash,
the Sylvia Simon Greenberg
Award and Paul Magy, the
William H. Boesky Memorial
Award.
The Wetsman and
Greenberg awards provide for
the honorees' attendance at
the General Assembly of the
Council of Jewish
Federations.
The Boesky Award,
presented annually to a
Young Adult Division
member, provides for his or
her attendance at the United
Jewish Appeal Young Leader-
ship Conference.
President of the Jewish
Community Association/UJA
of Washtenaw County, Dr.
Perlman is a member of the
United Jewish Appeal Young
Men's Leadership Cabinet, of
which he was both regional
and area chairman, and co-
chairman of the National
Morasha Young Leadership
Mission.

He is involved in several
Detroit Federation and Allied
Jewish Campaign efforts.
Ms. Ash, a graduate of the
Wexner Heritage Foundation
Jewish Leadership Studies
Program, is adviser and
former chairman of the
Federation Women's Division
Speakers Circle. She has been
a member of the Women's
Division board since 1986.
Vice-chairman of the Allied
Jewish Campaign Women's
Division Business and Profes-
sional $750 Section, Ms. Ash
served on the National UJA
Women's Young Leadership
Cabinet. She is a member of
the executive committee of
Jewish Family Service.
Mr. Magy, chairman of the
1991 YAD Executive Commit-
tee, is the division's im-
mediate past president.
Formerly co-chairman of its
Allied Jewish Campaign, he
has been on the YAD board
since 1987. He is also on the
board of Jewish Home for
Aged.
A member of the UJA
Young Leadership Cabinet
since 1988, Mr. Magy served
on its executive committee
last year.

Dinner Will Mark
Rebbe's 40th Anniversary

On Sept. 9, the Lubavitch
Foundation of Michigan will
hold a community-wide din-
ner and concert at the Hyatt
Regency Hotel in Dearborn
under the chairmanship of
Paul S. Magy.
Called "Celebration 40,"
the dinner marks the 40th
year of leadership of Rabbi
Menachem Mendel Schneer-
son, the Lubavitcher Rebbe.
The event will honor the
founders and builders of the
Synagogue Campus of Living
Judaism, the complex of in-
stitutions to be established at
a 40-acre site on Maple Road
in West Bloomfield.
Leonid Hambro, pianist and

Rabbi Schneerson
entertainer, will present a
musical program including
Jewish and Chasidic
melodies. Hors d'oeuvres will
be served at 5 p.m. with din-
ner at 6 p.m.

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 39

