Unusual Connections

Temple Shir Shalom and Oakland Community College partner to give
Jews and gentiles a taste of Judaism.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN STAFF WRITER

R

abbi Dannel Schwartz be-
lieves that the best way to
combat Jewish illiteracy
is to teach Jews and gen-
tiles alike about Judaism. And
one way to do that, says the Re-
form spiritual leader, is to open
the synagogue to the outside
world.
This fall, Temple Shir Shalom
in West Bloomfield will for the
third year be a satellite site for
continuing education classes
through Oakland Community
College. OCC classes will be of-
fered at Shir Shalom, and Shir
Shalom classes will be adver-
tised through OCC's continuing
education department, Schwartz
says.
Shir Shalom suggested the

arrangement as part of its
outreach to the community,
Schwartz says.
"We don't believe intermar-
riage is a terrible thing. We be-
lieve it is a symptom, and the
disease inhabiting the Jewish
people is illiteracy," Schwartz
says. "If Jews don't know their
Judaism, they are willing to give
it up too easily.
"We have to outreach to them
as well as give non-Jews an idea
of what Judaism is all about.
How do we do that? Outreach
through local adult education
programs."
The best one available local-
ly, says Schwartz, is OCC. "We
contracted with them ... our
adult ed classes are available to

them — they advertise our class-
es, and we accept their stu-
dents."
Fall 1997 classes include a
writing workshop, taught by Dr.
Aaron Stander, head of OCC's
English Department (three ses-
sions, $30); "How Do We Talk to

Drawing a wider
audience.

God?" led by Rabbi Michael
Moskowitz (six sessions, $50); in-
troduction to Judaism, taught by
Schwartz and Moskowitz (six ses-
sions, $50 plus a $50 book fee);

MARLENE B. SELTZER, M.D.
and ROBERT A. LONG, M.D.

are joining

"Hands-on Judaism" by Judi Si-
mon (six sessions, $45); and a
class on "Love: a spiritual guide
to making love work, making love
last, losing love and finding pur-
pose," taught by Schwartz (four
sessions, $45 plus $10 for an in-
formation packet).
Mindy Nathan, Shir Shalom's
educational director, does not
think the courses compete with
those the Jewish Community
Center offers a couple miles
away.
"I went through their bro-
chure pretty carefully, and I
don't see it that way — primar-
ily because we are targeting two
disparate markets that are not
competing with the JCC" — the
non-Jewish community and Shir
Shalom members.
While mostly Jews enroll in the
Shir Shalom-OCC courses, some
gentiles have signed up — either
individuals who want to learn
about Judaism, those who want
to convert ("the intro to Judaism
classes are required as part of our
conversion program," Nathan
says) and also people "who are on

their own spiritual journey."
A class needs 10 students to
run, and most average about 20,
Nathan says. Schwartz's cours-
es on spiritual healing and mys-
ticism have had as many as 75.
OCC's continuing education
courses are "non-credit, just in-
formational classes," says OCC's
Martha Maitlen. Most of those
students are "older adults, in-
terested in getting more infor-
mation and applying that to
their lives," she says. ❑

Correction

The Aug. 15 article on the
closing of the Zeman's Bak-
ery on Southfield Road had
an omission. It should have
stated that Sunshine Treats
of West Bloomfield is an ad-
ditional retail source of
kosher baked goods, under
the supervision of Rabbi Jack
Goldman's Metropolitan
Kashrut Council of Michigan.

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