",

A Meeti
Of Minds

From the Hebrew alphabet to the
most complex Talmud tractate,
Detroit Jews are pairing up to learn.

LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
StaffWriter

I is dark and cold; the sun has set
on another hectic work day. Still,
men and women stream into
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Oak
Park. The day is not quite over. There is
still some learning to be done.
The rhythmic hum of voices vibrates
inside the school's study hall. People are
learning Torah, in pairs, across from
each other over the narrow tables set in
rows in the lunchroom.
The students run the gamut of
observance levels and Judaic knowledge.
Some of the men are bearded, their
heads topped by black kippot; others
are clean-shaven, with baseball caps.
Some women wear sheytels (wigs), long
sleeves and long skirts; the natural locks
of others fall to their shoulders.
Here, it doesn't matter if you've
grown up davening three times a day.
Partners in Torah is all about opening
the doors to Jewish learning, regardless
of affiliation.
Selwyn Isakow, 45, owns a merchant

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things," mostly from Pirkei Avot (Ethics
of the Fathers.).
"I just sit there and listen with awe. I
sometimes question. I guess by nature I
am somewhat skeptical. It's been very
informative, to understand the rationale
behind some of the beliefs and some of
the history of our people," Isakow says.
Rabbi Moshe Lichtenstein, creator of
the program, says, "Many people that
started with Partners in Torah have vir-
tually no experience with the actual
Torah, with what's written in it. They
may have grown up Jewish, but actually
going back to the sources, they have
very little experience. Oftentimes people
read one or two lines and end up in a
45-minute discussion on something
entirely different."
"They've never had the opportunity
to talk about different questions or
ideas, without the 'I'm trying to convert
you' [perspective]."
Working in his father-in-law's fran-
chising business, Lichtenstein "really
missed the teaching, the outreach." A
national organization called Torah
Mesorah, which is based in New York,
approached him to get the program
going in Detroit. Partners in Torah is
active in 60 or 70 locations across the
country, he says.
The program is open to any Jewish
person, says Cohen, principal of Yeshiva
Beth Yehudah. "Affiliation, denomina-
tion, it really doesn't matter what kind
of background they have — all a person
needs is a healthy interest."

Above: Sheldon Frankel and
Razz* el Sobel have been study-
ing Torah together for one year.

Right: Jerry Britvan has been
teaching Larry Gormezano
about Torah for a year and a
half

banking business. He has studied with
Rabbi Avi Cohen, coordinator of Part-
ners in Torah, since the program began.
"I come from a very uninformed
perspective on [Judaism]," Isakow
says. "And what I find is that the more
I learn, the less I realize I know. I start
at 6 on a Tuesday morning and I'm
exhausted and I go directly to Partners
in Torah at 8 [p.m.] ... but by the time
I come out of the one-hour learning
session, I'm reinvigorated. I feel won-
derful."
Isakow and Cohen study "a lot of

The free program runs every Tuesday
night from 8-9 p.m. It follows no set
curriculum; the partners decide what
they want to learn.
"The one-to-one study allows the
partners to bounce ideas off each
other," Cohen says. "It's really an age-
old learning tradition."
Men learn with men, and women
with women — "because they share
more common interests," Cohen says.
"A relationship is ultimately formed
between the study partners and it goes

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even beyond the studying, so it's more
natural that a man would form that
relationship with another man, and a
woman with a woman."
There are fewer women who study
with Partners in Torah, but not because
they aren't welcome.
When Lichtenstein started the pro-
gram, he tried to make it as accessible
to women as possible.
"We wanted to make the statement
that women should have as much access
to Torah as men. The reality is, unfortu-
nately, with families, it's more difficult
for women to get out, so there are more
men participants," he explains.
The people who teach are not neces-
sarily teachers — they are lawyers, busi-
nessmen, "just a little more knowledge-
able than their partners," says Cohen,
who tries to pair up people in similar
professions to ensure common ground.
Every week, 30-50 people learn with
Partners in Torah. They have access to
any topic, Cohen says. However, "of the
available teachers, there are no women
teachers qualified to teach women who
want to learn Gemara (Talmud)."
Anita Pastor, 50, has been learning
with Simi Weinhause for two years. Pas-
tor is a Reform Jew by affiliation but
has studied the Tanya, Talmud and
Kabbalah under the tutelage of Rabbi
Elimelech Silberberg.
"I am a seeker and a learner and I'm
affiliated however I represent myself to
Hashem. I let Him choose, because
there are so many levels of Judaism,"
Pastor says.
She and Weinhause are studying
Torah, portion by portion.
"This is the second time I've gone
through it, we're getting more in-depth,
taking it apart even more," she says.
Stuart L. Selis, 46, says, "I think
many people feel that many Jewish
traditions, much of the things that
they hear from the rabbis, are from a
disconnected past. By learning these
things with [a partner], you almost
feel as though you know some of the
sages who thought through some of
these issues and offered their opinions,
and makes what you learn more
authentic."
A member of Young Israel of West
Bloomfield, Selis grew up Conservative.
Lichtenstein has seen people "grow
in their Judaism — sometimes knowl-
edge, sometimes observance — I think s,
everybody has come away with a posi-
tive experience, even the mentors.
We've had tremendous success in
developing more of a community,
more of a sense of belonging for
everybody." ❑

