Opinion
Community Views
Day School
Dilemma
Go Beyond
Emotions
MAYER KAHN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
JAMES R. LYONS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
A
s a parent of four young
children, I read with
great interest The Jew-
ish News article which
outlined the dilemma which
day schools are confronted with
today: At the same time that
day schools are facing hard eco-
nomic times, the need for schol-
arships is forever increasing.
Fortunately, to quote the
words of Akiva's Barry Eisen-
berg, "Federation has recog-
nized Jewish education as a
priority so they will continue
with economic support."
Ironically, the day school
which is growing the fastest of
In 1964, a group of parents
determined that Beth Yehu-
dah's philosophy was incom-
patible with their own ideals
and formed Akiva to provide
the Orthodox community with
an alternative approach to Jew-
ish education.
Though many at the time be-
lieved that a compromise could
have been reached that would
have kept the splinter school
from breaking away, the gen-
eral consensus was that the
community is served better by
affording parents more selec-
tions for the education of their
children.
fined educational philosophy
they espoused. Darchei Torah
was born.
Darchei Torah's growth is
impressive: adding one grade
each year, it now has over 150
students.
Apparently it is too late for
Federation to reconsider its de-
cision on allocating funds for
the upcoming year. However,
given the priority which Fed-
eration had placed on Jewish
education, and in the light of
the sympathetic view of
Darchei Torah expressed by Ir-
win Alterman in the article, it
is obvious that Federation
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah has some healthy 'competition.'
all is not the beneficiary of any
such support. In the words of
writer Lesley Pearl, Darchei
Torah is "literally splitting at
the seams." Yet, as reported in
a May issue of The Jewish
News, Jewish Federation has
recently, for the third consecu-
tive year, deferred judgment on
making the fledgling school a
beneficiary.
The exact reason for Feder-
ation's hesitancy to allocate
funds to Darchei Torah is un-
clear. However, some of the
comments made by a Federa-
tion spokesman in the May ar-
ticle may shed some light on
the subject: There is a percep-
tion in the community that
Darchei Torah is duplicating a
service already provided by
Beth Yehudah. As a Beth
Yehudah alumnus and a Beth
Yehudah parent (who has de-
cided to move my children to
Darchei Torah), I feel that I
may be able to be helpful in re-
moving that false perception.
Mayer Kahn is a resident of
Oak Park.
In the mid 1980s, the Detroit
Jewish community continued
to grow; in particular, Beth
Yehudah saw its enrollment
rise to over 600 students. Due
to a wide array of philosophies
on the part of parents, a vari-
ety of educational philosophies
on the part of teachers, and a
diversity of ideals within the
educational board, the school
A gift of the
building would be
the ultimate stamp
of approval.
would like to help the young
school. I think there is a way.
With the demise of the Unit-
ed Hebrew Schools, the Agency
for Jewish Education building
finds itself without a perma-
nent occupant.
What a merit it would be for
those who worked so hard to
have that building erected if its
tradition of being a home to
Jewish education could contin-
ue as the perpetual home of
Darchei Torah. A gift of the
building to Darchei Torah
would be the ultimate stamp of
approval of Federation and lead
to acceptance by the communi-
ty at large.
Federation, by lending sup
port to Darchei Torah, will en-
able more students to be
educated under philosophies
which are closer in line with
their parents' own ideals than
has ever been possible.
In this era where excellence
in education is so paramount,
it is an opportunity that
Federation cannot afford to
miss. El
-
finds that it is unable to oper-
ate under one distinct philos-
ophy.
Thus Beth Yehudah takes
an eclectic approach to educa-
tion.
In 1986, some community
members decided that they
need a school for their children
that would function in accor-
dance with the clear and de-
It occurred dur- and dreams for the Southfield-
ing my student Lathrup area. Behind many of
days at Wayne the ideas expressed were un-
State University spoken fears, often about the
in the late 1950s. changing multi-cultural nature
The suggestion of the Southfield-Lathrup area.
had been made "Housing values are going
to teach a course down," said one participant, who
about commu- is not convinced that the stud-
nism and a faculty discussion on ies are valid showing that for the
the subject was presented. Giv- past three years the housing val-
en the emotions of the time, you ues in the area have increased.
can imagine how heated this dis- "Our schools are degenerating"
cussion became.
belies the fact that 85 percent of
Fearing that students would the students at the largely
be lead astray, that the class African-American Southfield
would be a propaganda tool for High School are going to college.
communism, etc., the discussion
Emotional fear and precon-
soon degenerated. The heat was ceived prejudices were behind
blistering and the understand- many of the concerns. How do
ing of the question was nil until we change emotions and prej-
a professor of medicine said, "We udice?
teach about cancer in the med-
Kahlil Gibran, the Lebanese
ical school. It doesn't mean that poet, in his book The Prophet,
we approve of cancer, but we pictures the human as an indi-
have to know everything about vidual sailing on the waters. He
it before we can deal with it."
draws a comparison between
Several events over the past the emotions which are the sails
few weeks have raised, for me, and the mind which is the rud-
the problem with dealing with der. In today's world where emo-
what are essentially emotional tions seem to be running
responses to new challenges. rampant, we are like the boat
The more deeply felt the emo- which is driven by its sails to
tional response, the more bril-
liant are the "facts" marshalled.
But it is clear that we have not
yet learned how to change emo-
Whatever the
tions, move out of our comfort-
able ways and overcome our
"reality" of the
preconceived ideas or fear, what-
basis of the
ever the basis. Let me cite a cou-
ple of examples.
emotions, how do
The response to my April ar-
ticle in The Jewish News about
you get people to
the need for honest dialogue be-
tween Christians and Jews was
look at where we
interesting and rewarding. The
deep-seated fear and the
are today as
strength of the emotional impact
of the subject came through loud
opposed to where
and clear in some of the pub-
lished letters as well as some of
we were even 60
the private comments I received.
Whatever the "reality" of the
years ago,
basis of the emotions, how do
you get people to look at where
let alone
we are today as opposed to
where we were even 60 years
centuries ago?
ago, let alone centuries ago. It
is clear if we are not to continue
to live in the past, we must
change the present and move and fro, with no real sense of di-
beyond our emotionalism.
rection. We have seen the icy
Under the leadership of the intellectualization of mass mur-
Jewish Community Council and der in Nazi Germany where
its staff person Beverly Philips, emotion was consistently stifled.
the Southfield-Lathrup Village
Gil; -an argues that we need
Coalition has been formed. a balance of both — emotions to
Made up of a wide range of drive us and an intellect to steer
groups and individuals living us correctly. The challenge we
and working in Southfield-Lath- all face is to find the correct bal-
rup, it is fast becoming a signif- ance between the two so that
icant group in our community. learning from the past we do not
A major gathering was held repeat the same mistakes, but
last spring producing over six grow to a better, richer future
pages of ideas, concerns, hopes for all. It is in this light that I
continue the pleas for mutuali-
ty. We agree to disagree, but in
The Rev. James Lyons is
an open, honest conversation we
the director of the Ecumenical
mutually grow. El
Institute.