he courses are plenty, so take your pick. Help yourselves to
seconds. There's Food for Thought, Nosh and Drosh, Lunch
and Learn. Sit around your "Rebbe's Tish" and eat up.
Judging from the menu of adult education classes, Jews are
hungry. In fact, they're famished. If not for food, then for thought.
The number of educational opportunities for Jewish adults is
increasing nationwide and in Detroit. The Jewish Education
Service of North America (JESNA) recently published a survey doc-
umenting the trend. Locally, rabbis like Herschel Finman comment
that their course loads are heavier now than they were a decade ago.
Lubavitch Rabbi Finman began a Torah study group called the
"Jewish Judicial Seminar" downtown during the late 1980s. At the
time, he was teaching about 16 other Torah classes around metro
Detroit. Today, he teaches 35, which comprise his full-time job.
The phenomenon crosses denominational boundaries. Orthodox,
Conservative, Reform and Humanistic institutions also offer adult
education, now more than ever before.
Some study groups meet at obvious places like the Jewish Feder-
ation and synagogues. Others, however, take place in law offices, fac-
tories and private homes. They attract all ages of adults and a large
number of professionals.
Why the boom? Rabbis and students give several explanations, not
the least of which has to do with a vacuum era. It's an age of nonstop
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34
RUTH LITTMANN STAFF WRITER
pop culture, they say, ripe with sensation, full of fun, yet empty and
sadly void of values.
A sampling of life in Yuppies-ville left 31-year-old Ted Efros crav-
ing something else. Mr. Efros, growing up, was the kind of guy some
would call your average Jewish kid. At 13, he had his bar mitzvah
ceremony. In high school, he attended youth-group functions, mainly
for social purposes. In college, he joined a Jewish fraternity, primar-
ily because he loved those ... Shabbat dinners?
Not quite. Try fiat parties.
However, they grew stale. Mr. Efros followed the recipe for success
— a good degree, good job, good car — but frankly, he says, some-
thing was missing.
He began attending Ohr Somayach programs in metro Detroit
about a year ago. Ohr Somayach, an international Torah-obser-
vant Jewish learning network, sponsors functions of several sorts: