Top left: Shoshana Cohen,
Leah Fink and Muni Rosenthal
work on Jewish current events.

T H E D ET R O I T J E W I SH N E W S

Top right: Howard Gelberd:
By the year 2000 ...

Above: Dr. Richard Krugel:
A $1 million wishlist.

Right: Ron Leff:
Connected to the
synagogue.

But Ron Leff, Adat Shalom's director of edu-
cation and youth, believes the congregation may
have gained the most. The positives have been
in integrating the school program into the syna-
gogue structure, higher enrollment, and in-
creasing the number of students from member
families from 40-60 percent in 1991 to 85-90 per-
cent today.
'We're completely part of the life of Adat Shalom
now," Mr. Leff says. 'We're not just rented space."
Mr. Leff admits that the high-school program
does not offer the depth that it once did in
an effort to attract more teens. "But," he
argues, "what are they getting if they don't get
anything?"
Adat Shalom's high-school grades have in-
creased 20-30 students, to 150 this year. The
Monday night Nosh and Drash includes dinner,
classes and discussions. A new Sunday morning
program offers additional classes for those who
want more.
To ease the transition from elementary to high
school, Adat Shalom last year created Gesher
(bridge) for eighth-graders. At first, Gesher was
run on Monday afternoon and seemed too much
like Hebrew school. This year, the program
switched to Monday night, with a classroom for-
mat at the beginning of the year evolving into a
discussion format by the end.
"We are transitioning and brainwashing them
from the first minute they come to our school," Mr.
Leff says. "We are working on high school becom-
ing an expectation."
Congregation Shaarey Zedek has taken a more
traditional approach with its high school. It re-
quires 8th- through 10th-graders to attend six
hours each week, and 11th- and 12th-graders four
hours a week.
The Conservative congregation maintained
its independence from UHS, although there were
some cooperative efforts at the high school level.
Shaarey Zedek's Rabbi Irwin Groner is delight-
ed with the transition from UHS to ME.
"It stimulated congregations to take greater ini-
tiative and required parents to assume a greater
role in defining goals of Jewish education for their
children and becoming partners with the syna-
gogue and school. If nothing else was achieved but

that," he says, "then we could say, Dayenu'
(enough).
"United Hebrew Schools in a sense took away
from the parents the primary obligation to de-
velop and evaluate. It was also a disincentive for
synagogue affiliation. Why affiliate and pay mem-
bership dues when religious education was pro-
vided for and subsidized by the organized Jewish
community?"
Rabbi Groner also applauds AJE's efforts to-
ward teacher training, resource development,
family education through Jewish Experiences
For Families (JEFF) and special-education pro-
grams.
Rabbi Paul Yedwab at Temple Israel agrees.
"UHS had zero value to Temple Israel," he says.
"The Agency for Jewish Education has lifted the
playing field for all Jewish learners. They create
new programs, not compete against us. If there's
a hole, they're willing to fill it — that seems to be
Howard Gelberd's philosophy.
"They're always here, saying, Why don't we try
this,' being very, very helpful and bringing re-
sources to bear on the project."
Temple Israel, with nearly 1,900 students in its
religious and nursery schools, educates 25 percent
of all children enrolled in Jewish education class-
es in the Detroit area. Director of Education
Frances Pearlman says there is no question that
ME is helping the temple.
"In a community so diverse in terms of needs
and constituencies, and spread out geographi-
cally, the AJE has provided cohesiveness and a
centralization of services." She adds that the tem-
ple can bring in an expert and co-sponsor with AJE
and other schools.
"We have a way to go to develop collegiality,"
she says, "but we've made strides." And she em-
phasizes we when she talks about AJE. All of her
teachers have attended at least one ME in-ser-
vice program, and "many go to everything that
is offered."
Is there more to be done? 'With more money,
yes," she says. She sees needs in the areas of
special education, high-school Hebrew, enrich-
ment opportunities, curriculum consulting and
special projects. But she likes what she has seen
so far.