ticipants, the information
was helpful.
Lenore Hiscoe, who
teaches world history in the
Walled Lake school system,
said she "gets a lot of ques-
tions and needs some an-
swers (about Judaism)."
Her students, who study
religions as a basis of under-
standing civilizations, often
ask her about the Jewish
holidays and the Jewish
view on after-life.
Pat Jordan, a teacher's
assistant, and Marcia
Wyderko, a school secretary,
both came away from the in-
stitute with a better under-
standing of why using a
Christmas tree in a
classroom holiday party
might be offensive to Jewish
children or their parents.
"I can see the point now
where I did not before," said
Ms. Jordan, who works at
the Fairview Early
Childhood Center in Farm-
ington.
"We could do this (in-
stitute) for three years
straight," said Ms. Wyderko,
also from Fairview. "There's
so much to learn."
In addition to holding
workshops with the rabbis,
the institute also displayed
ceremonial objects from
several Jewish holidays, in-
cluding the Passover seder
table, the Torah for Shavuot
and a ram's horn for Rosh
Hashanah.
One of the sticking points
for many of the teachers was
why Jews are so opposed to
the teaching of religion, or
advocating silent prayer, in
the schools.
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Rabbi Yedwab said that,
on the one hand, "Jews have
a deep interest in the
separation of church and
state."
Also, he said, "We as
teachers can not teach what
we cannot know."
"Leave religion to the
home, to the parents," he
said.
Rabbi Syme, in his
workshop on "Our Celebra-
tions," addressed the prac-
tice of mixing celebrations of
Christmas with celebrations
of Chanukah. •
"Your greatest contribu-
tion is to teach your pupils
respect for differences," he
said. "Let them learn (re-
ligion) in church, in the
homes."
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Seniors At Akiva Spend
First Year At Home
AMY J. MEHLER
Staff Writer
ael Ebenstein would
rather be in Israel
this year. So would
classmates Jamie Pearlberg
and Rivky Schramm. Ditto
for many of the 14 twelfth-
graders at Akiva Hebrw Day
School.
They are Akiva's first
class not to spend their
senior year learning in
Israel.
"I'm really upset; I was
really looking forward to go-
ing to Israel this year," said
Ben Beres, 16. "I don't see
the benefit of staying in
school another year."
Yael, 16, was pretty mad
when she found out. "It was
a tradition in the school,"
she said. "They told us we
wouldn't be going in the nin-
th grade. I'd been looking
forward to it since I was in
the first grade. I thought it
was one of the best features
about the school."
For 17 years, juniors, hav-
ing completed all their
academic requirements in 11
years, spent their senior
year studying Judaic sub-
jects in Israeli yeshivot. At
the end of the year, students
returned for graduation and
y
received their high school
diplomas.
Michael Greenbaum was a
member of Akiva's first class
to initiate the school's Israel
program. His year, coin-
cidentally, was interrupted
by the outbreak of the Yom
Kippur War.
"We all stayed in Israel
except one girl," Mr. Green-
baum said. "Our classes con-
tinued, but it wasn't quite
the same with a war going
on."
Mr. Greenbaum, president
of Akiva at the time of the
policy change, said the pro-
gram had changed
significantly over the years
from its original intent.
"When it began, the pro-
gram was meant to afford
students the opportunity to
study in Israel who might
not have otherwise had the
opportunity," he said. "To-
day, most yeshiva high
school students go to Israel
directly after high school.
"Also, we all went to the
same school together," he
said. "But eventually,
students started choosing
different schools all over the
country. It had already
started to lose the flavor of a
12th year together in
Israel."
Rabbi Zev Shimansky,
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
15