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The Agency for
Jewish Education is
getting high marks.
But are educational
improvements
happening
quickly enough
to staunch the
numbers of
Jews who are
tuning out?

ALAN HITSKY ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Mark Eichner leads a Monday night
high-school class.

Opposite page: Saul Rube's
"Text du Jour" class at
Shaarey Zedek.

H

Mr. Gelberd came to Detroit in August 1992
to head the Agency for Jewish Education (AJE).
He enacted the communal plan to transform the
United Hebrew Schools from a provider of after-
school Jewish education for Conservative Jews
into the AJE, a resource for all Jewish schools.
After almost four years of effort, AJE is getting
high grades from area schools. But Mr. Gelberd
worries that the effort isn't enough.
"We're in the process of retooling, but we're still
working with the old 'givens' of the 1950s and '60s,
and we have to deal with the kids of the '90s." That
means students who would prefer to be out on their
jet skis rather than hearing about the Second Tem-
ple.
He would like the critics who still remember the
cheder (Hebrew school) of the good old days to vis-
it a classroom "and see what these kids
see at 5 o'clock in the afternoon."
What they see — and what Mr. Gel-
berd, the AJE, the Jewish Federation
and local Jewish schools are changing—
are old perceptions and methods of de-
livering Jewish education, so that the
schools can develop Jews with a stronger
sense of Judaism. That may mean less
study of classical Jewish texts and more
use of computers; younger, higher-paid
teachers who can better relate to the stu-
dents; and a heightened sense within the
Jewish community that it must do more
for Jewish education or lose the battle
for its future.
A 1993 Brandeis University study
backs up the need for more education.
Researchers surveyed 544 Americans
aged 18-44 who were born Jewish. Twen-
ty-nine to 31 percent of those who re-
ceived no Jewish education, one to two
years of supplementary (afternoon) Jew-
ish education or three to five years of
Sunday-only school married other Jews.
Thirty-seven to 40 percent of those
who attended six-plus years of Sunday
school or three to five years at supple-
mentary Jewish schools married other
Jews. Forty-five to 50 percent married
other Jews if they had one to five years
of day school or six-plus years of supple-
PHOTOS BY GLENN TRIEST
mentary school.
Eighty-one percent of those who attended Jew-
rying gentiles.
* Only 25 percent of children of interfaith mar- ish day school 6-plus years married other Jews.
The AJE is addressing the assimilation issue
riages are raised as Jews.
* Only 18 percent of mixed marrieds belong to by serving as a communal resource for all Jewish
schools, providing curriculum support, teacher
a Jewish congregation.
* Only half of all Jews regard being Jewish as training, resources and speakers.
The emphasis for Jewish education, Mr. Gel-
very important.

oward Gelberd is getting
nervous as the year 2000
approaches.
"Kids today don't have
those direct memories of the
creation of the State of Is-
rael, the Shoah (Holocaust),
or even family Jewish ac-
tivities," he says. Without
those connections, Mr. Gel-
berd, executive director of the Agency for Jewish
Education in Southfield, sees a world of choice in
American society where increasing numbers of Jew-
ish young adults are choosing not to be Jews.
He cites the following statistics from national
studies:
* Since 1985, 52 percent of all Jews are mar-