ACADEMICS from page

7

However, NJHS has been operating
with a deficit since its beginning, con-
cedes Lehmann. Outside of tuition,
revenues come primarily from individ-
ual donors in the Boston area and a
few modest grants from national foun-
dations. New Jew's finances may be
further stretched this year as the school
embarks on a major capital campaign
so it can move from the top four floors
of a bank into a permanent home.

A load on teachers

Students aren't the only members of
the New Jew community with a
demanding workload.
In addition to preparing for class
and participating in weekly staff meet-
ings, each member of the faculty —
many of whom
boast advanced
degrees and diplo-
mas from the likes
of Yale, Harvard
and Brandeis —
takes on a group of
student advisees.
That's a way to
ensure no students
fall through the
cracks.
"In the faculty
lounge, people are
usually talking
about the most
recent academic
work in their disci-
plines," notes English and Jewish histo-
ry teacher Edward Codish. Former
Akiva teachers, Codish and his wife,
Susann, moved from Detroit to Boston
last summer to work at New Jew, and
their daughter, Idit, is a freshman there.
The Codishes, who are Orthodox,
say the school's non-coercive philoso-
phy makes kids more interested in
religious observance. When they host-
ed student advisees to a barbecue, no
one was required to participate in the
blessings, but Orthodox and
Conservative students enthusiastically
joined in and Reform students fol-
lowed with interest.
The Codishes like that when conflicts
emerge at New Jew, the school seeks cre-
ative solutions rather than simply defer-
ring to the Orthodox interpretation.
For example, while planning a
recent Shabbaton (Shabbat retreat),
Reform and Orthodox teens clashed
over whether students could turn on
lights, write and play music. After dis-
cussion and a vote, the student reli-
gious life committee — on which Idit
sits — decided to set aside one room
for those wanting to use electricity.

1/27
1998
10 Detroit Jewish News

"Orthodoxy is alive and well at the
New Jewish High School without
claiming that it is superior," Ed
Codish said.

Committed, and not

New Jew's stu-
dents come
mainly from
the area's mod-
ern Orthodox,
Conservative
and Reform
day schools
(five in total),
and the school
is approxi-
mately 55 per-
cent
Conservative,

of Metropolitan Detroit also are plan-
ning a preparatory track and hope to
recruit public school graduates, along
with Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit graduates.
Ninth grader Aaron Paternoster
came to New Jew after nine years of

Ties to Brandeis

Clockwise, from top:

Between classes, students
take a music break.

Merging pop culture
with tradition.

Ben Weiner readies his
coursework to show teacher
Elizabeth Gutterman.

Netanel Ganin pays
attention to a recitation.

Time for horseplay:
Tim Andreev tries a
locker on for size.

25 percent
Orthodox, 15
percent Reform
and 5 percent
unaffiliated. The
number of
Orthodox has
jumped signifi-
cantly in the
past year, from
approximately
15 percent.
The faculty is
somewhat less
diverse, with more leaning toward
"traditional," says Lehmann, noting
that while he would like a more
diverse faculty, he does not feel it has
to be exactly proportional to the stu-
dent body.
About 20 percent of the students
come from public schools. They
enrolled looking for something Jewish
or simply the adventure of being pio-
neers in a brand-new school, and New
Jew offers a preparatory track to bring
them up to speed with the day school
graduates in Judaic studies.
Organizers of the Jewish Academy

where she identifies Jewishly, but has
been impressed so far with her new
school.
A floater among New Jew's differ-
ent minyans, Bodoff sees the school's
diversity as an opportunity to try out
different options.
"I've never been able to figure
out what I am, so I didn't want to go
to yeshiva or something Reform.
This is a really cool
compromise to be
with kids of all
denominations," she
says.

Hebrew school, the content of
which he claims to have forgotten.
"I wasn't really into the whole reli-
gious education aspect when I was
looking for schools, but I liked the
fact that this was small and new and
that the entire class would be brand
new," he says.
Paternoster, who describes himself
as a "religious drifter," jokes that
"some days I feel like being a Chassid,
some days I feel pseudo Reform."
Ninth grader Rebekkah Bodoff,
sporting long braids and a pin urging
the legalization of hemp, also isn't sure

"This is a great age
group because they're
trying to figure out
who they are and
what they're about,"
says Susan Tanchel, a
New Jew Bible
teacher and
Brandeis
University
doctoral can-
didate.
Tanchel is
only one of
many
resources New
Jew has
snagged from
the neighbor-
ing Jewish
university: the
school draws
several board
members from
the Brandeis
faculty
(Brandeis
President
Jehuda
g2
Reinharz sits
on New Jew's academic council),
enjoys its athletic facilities, employs
Brandeis undergrads as tutors, uses the
Brandeis library and sends students to
lunch at Brandeis' kosher cafeteria
once a week.
With her 10th graders, Tanchel
enjoys a comfortable rapport, joking
frequently, providing words of encour-
agement, bursting into song to make a
point and generally demonstrating a
passion not normally associated with
details of biblical grammar.
"Now you can pronounce it cor-
rectly when you read from the Torah,"
she calls out, delighted, when a stu-
dent masters one of the vocalization

ACADEMICS on page 12

