END OF MODEL YEAR
lationship with the clergy and the
staff," Ms. Brockman said.
"It is always important for the
kids to establish a closer rela-
tionship with the rabbis," said
Shir Shalom Religious School Co-
director Mindy Nathan. 'The clos-
er you can get rabbis to the kids,
the better chance you will have in
retaining the kids."
The new program will also fea-
ture a more involved family edu-
cation element. In the past,
parents were responsible for mak-
ing sure the students got to school
and were picked up at the end of
the session. Now, parents will
take part in the potluck dinners
and song sessions that follow the
retreats, said Ms. Nathan.
By drawing the parents into
the learning process, the educa-
tors hope to develop better atti-
tudes toward Judaic education.
'We hope the parents will par-
ticipate," Ms. Nathan said. "Any-
thing we can do to get parents and
kids in this age group talking with
each other and doing things to-
gether Jewishly is hard work but
worth it."
A similar area-wide curriculum
sponsored by the Los Angeles
Jewish Federation has operated
for the past two decades. Although
those schools have not done away
with the Sunday requirement,
they have instituted retreats to
follow certain segments of the cur-
riculum and a social-action com-
ponent to cap off the year.
The program has been a suc-
cess with the teens, attracting
some 170 participants each year
in the eighth-grade program.
`They have to want to do to it,"
said Cheryl Seidman, director of
eighth- and ninth-grade programs
for the Los Angeles Bureau of Ed-
ucation. "The one thing we have
learned is that you can't force a
teen-ager to go to school on a Sun-
day."
Other schools in the Detroit
area feature overnight retreats
and alternative programming as
part of the year for the pre-ado-
lescent and adolescent students.
Three years ago, upon the
demise of the United Hebrew
Schools, Congregation B'nai
Moshe decided to take a differ-
ent approach to teaching its stu-
dents. A Saturday morning
session replaced Sunday school
and a family education compo-
nent was added.
On Saturdays, about 65 per-
cent of the parents attend ser-
vices while elementary students
go to class then in addition to
one night a week. The post-bar
and bat mitzvah students act as
teacher aides and attend the so-
cial portion of the program, a
United Synagogue Youth meet-
ing. Other events, including re-
treats and sleepovers, help to
make up the six hours of week-
ly instruction that is recom-
mended by United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism.
"You really have to tailor-
make a program to fit the needs
of these kids," B'nai Moshe's Di-
rector of Education Rita Abram-
son said, referring to the
adolescent students. "We have
hit upon something that works."
"I have almost 100 percent at-
tendance each week," she said.
Successful programs cost
money, though. In many cases,
parents must shell out extra
cash for the retreats in addition
to congregational memberships
and tuition. Although Congre-
gation B'nai Moshe rolls the cost
into the tuition, others assess
extra fees; in Los Angeles, the
cost for the two retreats in the
eighth-grade program is $360
while ninth-graders, who attend
five retreats, must pay $565
on top of tuition and member-
ships.
Shir Shalom is hoping to re-
duce any costs with the help of
the Agency for Jewish Educa-
tion. According to Ms. Nathan,
in addition to pitching in with
curriculum programming, AJE
may provide some help with
grant writing in an effort to keep
costs low. ❑
CLEARANCE
Everything Drastically
Reduced!
HURRY IN WHILE SELECTION
IS STILL GOOD.
Jack
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Orchard Lake Road Between 14 and 15 Mile • West Bloomfield • (810) 855-9700
OPEN SATURDAYS 8:00-4:00
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FRIDAINSATURDAY•SUNDAY
New Rabbi Aims
Shir Shalom Forward
JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER
M
ichael Moskowitz's ju-
nior year abroad in Scot-
land was supposed to be
spent studying political
science.
Instead, it became a defining
moment in his life.
"There was one Orthodox syn-
agogue in Scotland, and it was dif-
ficult for its members to remain
observant," he said, adding that
he had a hard time communicat-
ing with the members of the syn-
agogue who spoke Hebrew with
heavy Scottish accents.
"I never had felt so cut off," he
said. "I missed a connection to Ju-
daism."
Now, the newly ordained rab-
bi is settling into his job at Tem-
ple Shir Shalom where he will be
formally installed Sept. 8. His
brother, Rabbi Steven Moskowitz
of New York City, will participate
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