when he switched to Southfield-
Stuart noted that during their time in
"Most of the people I know from
Lathrup, he came to life and studied,"
Akiva's high school, few classes
Akiva fell behind in math and were
she recalled. "He was being challenged
required much homework.
scared to take sciences," she said. "I
and he rose to the challenge."
Former Akiva parent Noemi
took a chemistry placement exam here
Despite being behind at first, Avi
Ebenstein said her son, Avi, was
at Michigan and not only didn't I
Ebenstein graduated early from
behind "in every subject, especially
know the answers, I didn't understand
Southfield-Lathrup and finished U-M
science and math but even in other
the questions."
in three years. Now pursuing a mas-
subjects," when he transferred from
Other former students and parents
ter's degree in applied economics at U-
Akiva to Southfield-Lathrup in 1994,
echoed Chopp's concerns about
M, he's less critical of Akiva's deficien-
the same academic year Chopp left.
Akiva's math and science instruction.
cies than his mother.
"When he was at Akiva, he was
Newman complained about "bogus
"You're a little behind in chemistry,
depressed and never studying, but
labs in which we spent weeks on one
thing, like building
rockets." Sara
Feldman, a '97
Akiva graduate, said
she entered U-M last
year "at a serious dis-
advantage in math
and science, particu-
larly science.
"We had teachers
at Akiva that didn't
seem to understand
what they were
teaching," Feldman
said. "Part of me
wants to major in
science, but I'd have
to take all the intro-
ductory classes that
most people who are
serious have placed
5,
out of already.
Feldman,
Newman and
Above left, the class of 1998 in its freshman year; right, the cover of its yearbook.

but it's not a handicap that will cause
long-term problems in your college
education," he said. "You might be a
course behind but it's not insurmount-
able. My U-M career was in no way
impeded by my high school education,
but I'm good at school, so maybe it did-
n't hurt me as much as other people.
The University of Michigan and
other competitive universities recom-
mend that prospective students com-
plete at least two laboratory science
courses and three
years of mathematics,
but last year Akiva
began offering alter-
native math courses
and a "natural sci-
ence," enabling stu-
dents to graduate
without taking
trigonometry, calcu-
lus, chemistry or
physics. Calculus and
trigonometry at the
school are half-year,
rather than full-year
courses.
This year, students
who wish to take
physics are doing so
through a correspon-
dence course, said
Rosalie Lake, Akiva's
secular studies princi-
pal. Twelfth grade

"

Defining Centrist Orthodoxy

A

kiva Hebrew Day School,
founded in 1964, describes
itself as a centrist
Orthodox institution.
Influenced by 20th Century
scholars like German-born Rabbi
Joseph Soloveitchik, centrist, or
modern, Orthodoxy views the
founding of the state of Israel as reli-
giously significant and values both
secular and Jewish learning.
City University of New York
Professors William Helmreich and
Reuel Shinnar describe centrist
Orthodoxy as "a movement that seeks
to harmonize the secular and the reli-
gious in ways that are compatible
with both, and always within the
bounds of Halachah [Jewish law]."
In a November 1998 article on
trends in Orthodoxy, Helmreich and
Shinnar noted that like their more
right-wing, or haredi brethren, modern

1/1
1999

10 Detroit Jewish News

Orthodox fully observe mitzvot such as
Shabbat and kashrut, but "modern
Orthodoxy encourages engagement
with the secular world. As opposed to
the right-wing Orthodox, it does not
counsel retreat, isolationism and blind
obedience to rabbinical leaders in order
to preserve its way of life."
Rabbi Avi Shafran, a spokesperson
for the haredi organization, Agudath
Israel of America, agreed with the
characterization, although he noted
that the tone taken by Helmreich and
Shinnar was excessively harsh.
"The two areas in which one can
make a distinction between the cen-
trists, as they call themselves, and the
right wing, as they call us, are vis-a-vis
Israel and the degree of interactions
with the larger world," said Shafran.
"The centrist camp is Zionistic in the
sense that it presents the State of
Israel as the culmination of a religious
dream, whereas we tend not to do so.

"There's also no question that we
are insular and do perceive a degree
of threat to our lifestyles and ideals
from the outside world," Shafran
added.
As for the article's contention that
ultra-Orthodox Jews counsel "blind
obedience" to rabbinic leaders, Shafran
said, "We definitely look at our rab-
binic authorities as setting the tone for
how we should live and act, and we
make no apologies for that. To look at
the wise men, the greatest Torah schol-
ars for guidance is part and parcel of
what Judaism always was, and I'm
proud to say we don't make decisions
on our own as individuals when it
comes to important things."
In an interview last year with The
Jewish News, Yeshiva University
President Rabbi Norman Lamm
defined modern Orthodoxy as being
open to Western civilization and cul-
ture, committed to the State of Israel

and believing that "women should be
accepted to the maximum allowed by
Halachah and sacred tradition."
Said Lamm: "We believe one
ought not to accept modernity
uncritically or to reject it mindlessly."
In general, some visible differentia-
tions between centrist and right-wing
Orthodox Jews are the attitude
toward secular education (ultra-
Orthodox Jews are less likely to
attend secular universities or pursue
professional careers), dress (a centrist
Orthodox woman might wear pants
and not cover her hair, whereas ultra-
Orthodox women tend to interpret
Jewish modesty laws more stringent-
ly), role of women and the extent of
mixed-gender activities considered
acceptable. Ultra-Orthodox Jews are
often termed by others as "black hat,"
because their men frequently wear
black hats over their yarmulkes. LI