Hill . Street Jews
Rabbi Jacobovitz to open
a student learning center in Ann Arbor.
PHIL JACOBS EDITOR
Mutton will be renovating the former Delta Epsilon
fraternity dormitory.
or 11 years, Rabbi Avraham Ja-
cobovitz admired the blue, Vic-
torian house with the porch and
turret on Hill Street in Ann Ar-
bor.
He was in the city several
times a week, holding meetings with
University of Michigan students in
his temporary "office," the front seat
of his car.
On the way home from a class
here or a Torah lunch-and-learn
there, Rabbi Jacobovitz always
made sure he drove by 1335 Hill St.
before connecting with Route 23 and
the ride home to Detroit.
Last week, 1335 Hill Street be-
came the Ann Arbor branch of Ma-
chon L'Torah. Machon, the Oak
Park-based Jewish educational out-
reach center, purchased the house
from Delta Epsilon fraternity for
$215,000.
The 100-year-old home, listed by
the Ann Arbor Historic District
Commission registry, is called the
Farwell Wilson House.
The house, which has been used
by Delta Epsilon as a dorm for some
of its members, will need about
$100,000 in renovations, according
to Rabbi Jacobovitz.
The rabbi hopes to open the new
facility in time for the 1994 fall
semester. Already, Milton and Lois
Shiffman of West Bloomfield
have come forward with an undis-
closed gift to help get the purchase
and renovation under way. A lecture
hall will be named in the Shiffinans'
honor. Machon will renovate and
maintain several dormitory rooms
for Jewish university students. A
book and tape library, classrooms
and a parking lot also will be con-
structed.
"I'm very excited about this," said
Rabbi Jacobovitz, who was barely
able to stand still while showing
guests the house. "It's a prime loca-
tion for Jewish students, and hope-
fully, we'll be able to help more of
them get in touch with their Jewish
heritage."
The house is a quick walk from
both the Ann Arbor Chabad House
and the campus Hillel. Even with
the two other facilities so close, Rab-
bi Jacobovitz doesn't see Machon as
interfering with any other Jewish
organization's work. Instead, he
compared the addition of Machon in
terms of a mall. The more "stores"
offering Judaism to the students,
the better.
There are some 6,000 Jews
among the U-M student population.
"I believe that college campuses
are really the spiritual burial sites
of our Jewish future," said Rabbi Ja-
cobovitz.
"Many students come to college
with their Jewishness in tact, but
then start to stray away in college.
On campus, it's often the first time
they are away from home, from their
families and synagogues. They find
apathy on campus, they find mis-
sionary groups on campus, and to
feel accepted by everyone else, they
are more often listening to these mis-
sionary groups.
"With all the talk of continuity
that's going on in the Jewish world,
we're doing little in the area of edu-
cating our young people," he con-
tinued. "Our buying a house here is
part of a concerted effort to get to
Jewish students on campus. We are
unique in what we do because we
provide a focus on Jewish education
as an intellectual pursuit."
The Ann Arbor center initially
will be staffed by Rabbi Jacobovitz
about three days a week. There are
plans to hire a full-time adminis-
trator. Machon will offer classes to
U-M students and Ann Arbor resi-
dents. Religious services will not be
held at the facility.
Rabbi Jacobovitz also said the
center will be used as a base to out-
reach to college students at nearby
Ypsilanti-based Eastern Michigan
University.
Machon and Rabbi Jacobovitz will
continue outreach programs at
Michigan State University, Wayne
State and other colleges throughout
Michigan. 1=1