JEWISH FUTURE page 3

Snider, who is on the presidium
of Machon. "What really brings
people in is a sincere thirst for
Jewish knowledge."
Operating out of a small house
on 10 Mile Road in Oak Park and
an historic house on Hill Street
in Ann Arbor, Machon does not
charge for classes and charges
only a nominal fee for programs,
to cover costs. Rabbi J does not
want to associate religion with
money.
"Synagogues charge high dues
per family. I wanted to break that
notion," he says.
From day one, Rabbi J insti-
tuted a policy in which Machon
completely separates fund-rais-
ing campaigns from learning.
"We want all Jews in town to
know that if they want to study,
they don't have to worry about fi-
nances."
The organization currently op-
erates with a $350,000 budget,
but that figure is growing, says
Rabbi J, who plans to hire a third
full-time staff member this
spring.
Most people say it is Rabbi J
who attracts people to Machon.

"He's just got an infinite love
for Jews. And he'll go anywhere
and do just about anything to aid
a Jew he sees in trouble or in dis-
tress spiritually," Mr. Snider
says.
"He's not out to transform the
world. His perspective is, if you're
going to make a choice, make an
informed choice. He's very good
at what he does because of his
complete love of Jews, and he'll
go to any length to try to save a
Jewish soul. I don't know when
the man sleeps — his phone rings
off the hook. He's a pretty re-
markable guy."
Over the years, Rabbi J has
turned down offers to leave Ma-
chon. He figures it is "much more
effective to speak to Jews wher-
ever they are.
`The real problem of the Jew-
ish future begins at the college-
age level," says Rabbi J. When
individuals are young, they re-
main under the influence of their
parents. But in college, they "be-
gin to look for direction in life."
In 1981, Rabbi J began going
to Michigan State University to
reach out to Jewish students. On

average, 25-30 students would
turn out for his weekly Torah
class.
When Rabbi J first visited the
AEPi fraternity at MSU, word
spread quickly that "the rabbi
from Oak Park" was there. "It
was the first time a rabbi had
stepped foot in the house," says
Rabbi J, who established an on-
going program with the fraterni-
ty.

"The real problem of
the Jewish future
begins at the
college-age level."

Today, Machon has a presence
on the campuses of Eastern,
Western and Central Michigan
universities and, with the 1994
purchase of a building in Ann Ar-
bor, at the University of Michi-
gan.
For about 14 years, Rabbi J
and, since November 1995, Rab-
bi Naftoli Kirzner have focused
on U-M because it has the most

Jewish students — 6,000 — of
the Michigan colleges.
For years, Rabbi J "dreamt" of
having a place in Ann Arbor. He
used to drive by the house that
eventually became Machon's out-
post and think how nice it would
be "if I could get a house built like
that."
Because it was not in great
shape —"wires hanging from the
ceiling" — Machon got the 100-
year-old building for $215,000.
The inside of the building was
gutted and now programs are
held there, and five upstairs
rooms are rented to Jewish stu-
dents.
But initially, Machon ran into
zoning problems and neighbors
complaining that Machon didn't
have a permit for its activities.
Barrier-free issues also came up,
with some saying the wheelchair
ramp was too steep.
Although Machon has inhab-
ited the building for about a year,
it received final zoning approval
about a month ago.
Apparently, Machon's pres-
ence is needed on Michigan's
campus. Even with a nationally

known B'nai B'rith Hillel just two
doors away, Michigan students
are lacking- in terms of Jewish ed-
ucation, says Rabbi J.
"I'm very strong on the logic of
Judaism," he says. Jewish learn-
ing should happen in a non-
threatening environment, "not
judgmental. Don't tell what to do.
People come to us, I think, be-
cause they know they are never
going to be told what to do."
Joshua Opperer first heard of
Machon from a law school pro-
fessor who directed him to Rab-
bi J's reference library. Then
Rabbi J told Mr. Opperer about
Or Samayach, a yeshiva in Israel,
where Mr. Opperer spent three
weeks studying while he was in
law school, thanks to a Machon
scholarship.
"I would definitely say that
[Rabbi J] provided information
and inspiration; most impor-
tantly, he opened up to me a
whole world of Judaism, a way to
enjoy Judaism which I never had
before, a richness about some of
the usual things like Shabbos,"
Mr. Opperer says.
JEWISH FUTURE page 28

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