Putting

n
The

Beth Greenapple works to enrich
the Judaic content of the JCC.

PHOTO BY DANIEL LIPPITT

JULIE WIENER STAFF WRITER

II n encouraging people to learn about Ju-
daism, Beth Greenapple likes to think of
chocolate cake. "You don't have to have a
big piece or eat it with a fork, but it's there
for you," she says.
As director of Judaic enrichment, a
brand-new position at the Jewish Com-
munity Center, she's dishing up a lot of
metaphorical chocolate cake.
Her responsibilities include developing and
implementing Jewish educational programming
as well as helping to infuse all of the JCC's pro-
gramming with Judaic content, atmosphere and
learning. She also coordinates partnerships and
joint projects with other Jewish organizations
in the community.
In what Ms. Greenapple *calls a growing trend,
directors of Judaic enrichment are becoming de
rigueur at JCCs throughout the country. "There
are a lot of JCCs that have experienced the same
kind of loss of identity that this JCC was suf-
fering from," she said. "And one of the ways to
regain a sense of purpose as separate from a gen-
eral, civic community center is to focus on that
Jewish piece that makes us a Jewish commu-
nity center."
Since starting work in late February, Ms.
Greenapple has been brainstorming new pro-
grams and working on ways to improve exist-
ing ones. Plans include bringing students from
day schools and supplementary schools into the
JCC gallery for study related to the exhibits.
Work is also under way for educational programs
commemorating Israel's 50th birthday.
Ms. Greenapple has a knack for slipping Jew-
ish programming into departments within the
JCC not normally thought of as Jewish. Like the
JCC's fitness center, where she has posted ta-
bles listing the distances between cities in Is-
rael so that people can learn about Israeli

geography while charting their progress on the
treadmill.. She also hopes to make Jewish learn-
ing videos available for people to watch while
they work out.
Or the "physical activity" the JCC provided
for last month's Israel fair: Ms. Greenapple
transformed an obstacle course into a simula-
tion of Israel Defense Forces basic training. With
assistance from Friends of the IDF, Ms.
Greenapple used the activity as an opportunity
to teach children about the IDF and the skills
necessary to become a good soldier in Israel.
A native of New York, Ms. Greenapple moved
to Detroit just two years ago, in part because she
was drawn to Detroit's Jewish community. "'Me
friends I knew here I'd met through [Coalition
for the Advancement of Jewish Education] — I
encountered a vibrant Jewish community [in
Detroit] where people were looking for ways to
innovate and looking for creative educators with
experience and talent."
Before accepting her current job, Ms. Greenap-
ple balanced three part-time teaching jobs in the
Jewish community: music and liturgy at Tem-
ple Israel, Sunday school at Beth Achim and sec-
ular studies at Sally Allan Alexander Beth Jacob
School for Girls.
As a young adult, Ms, Greenapple probably
wouldn't have pictured herself becoming a Jew-
ish educator. Although she grew up in "a strong
ethnically Jewish family," she found her reli-
gious upbringing spiritually unsatisfying.
"My bat mitzvah was the singularly most dis-
appointing spiritual experience I have had," she
recalls. Instead of the "thunder and lightning
kind of epiphany" the young Ms. Greenapple
had been anticipating for her entrance into adult-
hood, she shared the bimah of an enormous Long
Island temple with three other b'nai mitzvah
and got to read only four lines of her Haftorah.
To make matters worse, the
rabbi forgot her name.
Disenchanted by the lack of
learning and spirituality in her
temple, the young Ms.
Greenapple dropped out of her
confirmation class and spent
years in a spiritual quest that
included explorations of Bud-
dhism and Christianity and a
move away from organized re-
ligion altogether.
But years later, a job teach-
ing secular studies at the Abra-
ham Joshua Heschel School, a
nondenominational day school
in Manhattan, reawakened
Ms. Greenapple's faith in Ju-
daism. She was drawn to the
welcoming and accepting phi-
losophy of the school and has
"been on a learning curve ever
since."
She now identifies as a Con-
servative Jew and places a
high premium on creating a
safe space for Jews who are un-
affiliated. "In some ways, I'm
uniquely qualified for connect- N-
ing with people out there who cn
o,
are disaffected, who don't know —
what it's about, who feel like .=;-
they don't have the skills," she
says.
"I hope to give people options
and choices, but we have to be
welcoming and friendly," she
adds. ❑

z

Beth GrApnanole: Spiritual Quest.

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