Puttering

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN

Staff Writer

I

f you've ever been to the
Western Wall and looked a
little lost, chances are you met
someone from Aish HaTorah.
They're the ones excitedly jump-
ing up and down, asking if you
want to have Shabbat dinner with a
family in the Old City. And they
don't often take no for an answer.
Alon Tolwin is nothing like that.
Sure, he's excited and enthusiastic
and would love to fix you up with a
family for Shabbat. But he'll take it
slowly, ease you in, get to know you
.
a little. He has that luxury.
The Detroit director of Aish
HaTorah has reached a lot of people
in this Jewish community. Some,
like Worldwide Financial's Andy
Jacobs, open their offices and homes
for Torah learning. Others have
attended Discovery weekends that
decode the Torah and aim to "prove"
ancient prophecies.
But no one is breaking down
Tolwin's door.
Aish HaTorah in Detroit, unlike its
branches in other cities, is doing just
OK. Every year, 1,500-2,000 people
come through Aish programs as
opposed to the 8,000 or so in
Toronto, where the Jewish population
is under 100,000, and the 1,000
monthly Aish visitors in New York.
Toronto's Aish HaTorah offers 80
programs a month and six satellite
sites, and is now building a second
permanent structure. What's the dif-
ference?
Big bucks.
"One of the biggest factors is how
much money we have," says Rabbi
Ephraim Shore, executive director of
Aish-Toronto. "Toronto's a very gener-
ous community, and they are keenly
aware of the problems of assimilation.
As a result, the community as a whole
has responded very generously to sup-
porting the programs of Aish
HaTorah."
Toronto offers programs for every-
one — college students, singles, young
families, preschools, Hebrew schools, a
whole course catalogue, says Shore.
Aish opened in Toronto about 15
years ago, with 80 people attending
programs in its first year.
In New York, Aish runs 14 pro-

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he's the first to admit that he's "not a
grams for 1,000 people a month. It
fund-raiser, not a good organizer."
has quadrupled in size in the last year
He also admits that his divorce five
and a half, thanks to the opening of
years
ago "ruined the dynamics. I was
its own building, says Rabbi Yitz
going
to move to Israel, close up shop.
Greenman, executive director.
I came back. But I had lost momen-
"We have 15 people on staff, about
tum."
three rabbis and three full-time volun-
Tolwin grew up in an observant
teer rabbis," he says. "Of course, you
home in Milwaukee and was turned
can't operate without funds."
on to Aish by Jack Rajchenbach, a
Even in Washington, D.C., which
high school mentor who raved about
has a transient Jewish community sim-
Aish
founder Rabbi Noach Weinberg.
ilar in size to Detroit, Aish has made
inroads. Rebbetzin Ruth Baars says the Unlike Tolwin, most Aish rabbis are
ba'ale teshuvah, or they've become.
8-year-old Aish center runs High Holy
Jewishly observant.
Day services and lunch-and-learns but
Tolwin started Aish in Detroit in
has yet to offer weekly davening.
1986 "because there was not
About 2,500 people come
Rabbi
Alon
enough
going on for adult
through its programs each year,
Tolwin
teaches
Jews,"
he
says. "Demo-
says her husband, Rabbi
a
class.
graphically,
Detroit is segre-
Stephen Baars.
gated Jewishly — the
But a big part of what they
Orthodox are in one area."
do is invite people to their home for
Aish runs regular programs, and the
Shabbat and yomtov.
Tolwins
— the rabbi, his wife Leah,
"For people to get a sense about
and
seven
children from his first mar-
what traditional Judaism is about, —
riage
—
welcome
people into their
it's funny because people look at
home all the time. But Aish does not
Judaism as revolving around the syna-
have a building, just a small office in
gogue, but in traditional Judaism
Franklin, where no observant Jews live.
that's not the center — the center is
There is nowhere to daven, so Aish
your home. The synagogue is utilitari-
cannot run learner services like its
an," says Mrs. Baars.
counterparts in Toronto and New York.
Alon Tolwin is like a life-sized
Yet, this year marked the second
teddy bear. He's approachable, warm,
attempt to offer instructional Rosh _
friendly. He always smiles behind his
Hashanah services at the Maple/Drake
red-and-white speckled beard, he can
Jewish Community Center, and
play "Stairway to Heaven" on the gui-
Tolwin can count on a select group of
tar, and he's been known to attend
local individuals to host classes — like
Neil Young and Santana concerts. But

Financial, The Jewish
Worldwide Financial,
the
Franklin
home of Rick
News,
g
Cohen and the law office of Marvin
Schwedel. Tolwin, Rabbi Mike
Berger and Rabbi Eli Gordon teach,
"What Aish is all about is we
want to move people, we want to
get people to take responsibility,
give them an idea that is com-
pelling," Tolwin says.
Already, nearly 400 families in
the Detroit area can say, 'We are
actively more Jewish now because of
Aish,'" Tolwin professes.
Rabbi Weinberg, a Chicago
native, started Aish HaTorah in the
1970s with "10 guys in a house in
Bnai Brak."
Now, its center in the Old City
of Jerusalem offers a men's yeshiva
and short-term learning through
Aleynu, a women's yeshiva called
Eyaht in the Kiryat Sanz neighbor-
hood and a worldwide network of
sites. Aish's philosophy is that a Jew is
a Jew, regardless of formal affiliation.=
It also espouses that the state of Israel
"is a divine gift."
Most offices opened thanks to the
efforts of a team of rabbis, says
Tolwin. Not here.
"I've tried high-profile programs ...
but we've decided consciously not to
do that. I'm good at getting people in
to listen. One reason Aish is not a bir,
glitzy organization [in Detroit] is I've
decided to do niche marketing. I get a
flow of people coming in; the down-
side is, they go."
Ideally, Tolwin would like to hire
someone to do fund-raising. But "peo-
ple don't want to come here," he says.
"I can't guarantee a salary, and it's a
tough town. I can't guarantee my own
salary." Aish salaries come from done-)
tions.
In Detroit, Or Somayach is the best
known international outreach organi-
zation. Rabbi Avraham Jacobovitz's
Machon L'Torah: Jewish Learning
Network of Michigan has also made
great strides through classes and on-
campus outreach as have the
Lubavitchers, who spread the word
through the Chabad Houses scattered:
through the area and through the
efforts of individual rabbis.
A few months ago, hundreds of
people came out in the middle of a
work day to hear and see the chief
rabbi of Israel via satellite, thanks to