ion

er Detroiter is helping Adat Shalom
p its post-UHS school.

LESLEY PEARL STAFF WRITER

"I think it can become
convenient for a syna-
gogue with a community
education program to fall
into the trap of non-
involvement," Mr. Leff
said. "In Sacramento, we
worked to get the syna-
gogue interested again, in
making decisions and coor-
dinating programs."
Mr. Leff emphasized
Sacramento's program was
on a smaller scale than
Detroit's. It had no AJE to
aid financially. Instead,
synagogues had paid into
the community school, so
resources were rechan-
neled back to the congre-
gations.
"The UHS program in
Detroit was a good one.
Now we need to build upon
what worked, refine it and
make it synagogue based,"
Mr. Leff said.
Mr. Leff hopes to incor-
porate family education,
learning for both children
and parents, into the cur-
riculum in both formal and
informal ways.
"My experience has been
that there is a different
feeling when the syna-

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14

s the Agency for Jewish
Education changes its
focus from running reli-
gious schools to acting as a
resource for them, some
area congregations are, for
the first time, beginning to
develop their own reli-
gious school programs.
Adat Shalom, the
largest of the former
United Hebrew Schools
locations, has a potential
edge.
Ron Leff, the new edu-
cation director for Adat
Shalom, worked through a
similar transition in
Sacramento, Calif.
A former youth director
and adviser for Detroit
Congregations Beth

Shalom and Beth Achim,
Mr. Leff headed west in
the late 1980s to pursue a
master's degree in Jewish
education at the
University of Judaism in
Los Angeles. He graduat-
ed in 1990 with an empha-
sis on bridging formal and
informal Jewish educa-
tion.
Mr. Leff worked as
director of youth and edu-
cation at a Conservative
synagogue in Los Angeles
before traveling north to
Sacramento. Upon his
arrival, the community-
wide religious schools
ceased operation and syn-
agogues developed their
own programs.

gogue is running the
school. There is an inte-
gration process. Teachers
feel more involved as a
part of the synagogue. It
forges a bond as all part of
the same goal," Mr. Leff
said.

Adat Shalom is
developing a
synagogue-based
education program.

In preliminary registra-
tion numbers, about 20
percent of those students
planning to attend the
school are not Adat
Shalom members. Many
individuals in education
feared families not belong-
ing to a synagogue, but
sending their children to
UHS schools, would drop
out altogether.
"Some seem interested
in joining, but it's really
too early to predict what
the trends will be," Mr.
Leff said. "I think the
unaffiliated families are
checking out their options
now." ❑

A Pravda Article
Prompts Campaign

ELIZABETH APPLEBAUM ASSISTANT EDITOR

m

arina Lupyan had
heard all the
reports about
improved conditions
for Jews in the former
Soviet Union.
Then she picked up a
newspaper.
Ms. Lupyan, of Oak Park,
couldn't help but notice a
May 6 Pravda article called
"The Tribe of Satan."
Written by Dmitri
Gerasimov (with no identifi-
cation), the article revives

an anti-Semitic fable that
has, in the past, resulted in
the deaths of thousands of
Jews: the blood libel.
"(A man named B.
Goldenberg of Israel told me \
that) Levites considered a
sacrifice of a goy on the day '\
of his Holy Day as a sign of
the national and religious
might, and a request of a 1
high mercy from God," the
article states. "The more
moral the goy, the greater
was the favor of God. Thus,