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FRIDAY, MAY 24, 1991

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Rabbi Aft Leaves AJE
For D.C. Congregation

SUSAN GRANT

Staff Writer

A

fter three years,
Rabbi Bruce Aft is
leaving his job at the
Agency for Jewish Edu-
cation and taking a pulpit at
a Conservative synagogue
outside of Washington, D.C.
Rabbi Aft, 37, will resign
as principal of the Jewish
Community High School and
director of the Midrasha Col-
lege of Jewish Studies at the
end of August. He begins his
new job as spiritual leader
for Adat Reyim in Northern
Virginia shortly before Rosh
Hashanah.
"I wanted to be here for
registration in the fall and to
welcome the new directors,"
Rabbi Aft said. "We have
invested so much' time in
building these programs up,
I want to be there for the
transitional period."
Local educators Judy
Silberg Loebl and Helene
Cohen will assume Rabbi
Aft's duties, said Ofra
Fisher, AJE executive direc-
tor.
Mrs. Loebl, who will con-
tinue to be the agency's di-
rector of special programs,
has been named Jewish
Community High School di-
rector. She has taught at
both the high school and the
Midrasha and is principal of
the Grosse Pointe Jewish
Council School.
Dr. Cohen, who recently
joined the AJE's Resource
Center, will be the new
Midrasha director. She
earned a doctorate in educa-
tional administration, plan-
ning and social policy from
Harvard University, taught
at Nova University in Ft.
Lauderdale, and was direc-
tor at large for the Florida
area's Central Agency for
Jewish Education.

Although Rabbi Aft's
replacements have been
chosen, Ms. Fisher is sorry to
see him leave. "I think it's
one of the great losses to the
community, not only the
agency," Ms. Fisher said.
"He did a lot for the com-
munity not related to his
job," she said, referring to
Rabbi Aft's activities with
JARC and the Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
"But I'm glad he is getting
the opportunity to lead his
own congregation," she said.
Rabbi Aft heard about the
job opening at Adat Reyim
earlier this year. The con-
gregation, which considers
itself Conservative, but re-
cently voted not to affiliate
with United Synagogue of
America, was searching
for its first full-time rabbi.
Because the 200-family con-
gregation accepts patrilineal
descent, allows non-Jewish
spouses as voting members
and has an alternative edu-
cational program, Adat
Reyim members felt a
Reconstructionist leader
would better serve the con-
gregation than someone
from the Conservative
movement, Rabbi Aft said.
After a few telephone
interviews and a March visit
to the congregation, Adat
Reyim offered Rabbi Aft the
job.
"When I interviewed, I
didn't have any serious in-
tentions about taking it,"
Rabbi Aft said. But after
meeting the congregation
and talking to his wife and
four children during subse-
quent family meetings, he
changed his mind.
"It didn't have the bag-
gage that other congrega-
tions do," Rabbi Aft said.
The membership was look-
ing forward to having their
first full-time rabbi who
could help them increase

