This Week
Meeting The Need
New York-based
Covenant Foundation
gives the AJE $321,000
to encourage young people
to pursue careers in
Jewish education.
DIANA LIEBERMAN
Staff Writer
N
o matter the denomination, it's a common
problem in Jewish education — how to
find well-trained, committed professionals.
This month, the Detroit-area Jewish com-
munity was awarded a $321,000 grant for an intern-
ship program to help solve that problem.
The grant from the New York-based Covenant
Foundation was received by the Agency for Jewish
Education (AJE) in partnership with the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's Alliance for
Jewish Education (FAJE).
Grant funds will provide internships for recent col-
lege graduates, with the hope that these young people
will be inspired to pursue careers as Jewish educators.
The Detroit-area grant is one of more than $1.7
million in funds awarded by the Covenant
Foundation in 1999 for innovative programs in
Jewish education.
Judah Isaacs, the AJE's executive director, com-
pared the new grant program to the Team
Americorps program, which funds internships in
public education.
"Kids finish college unsure of what they're going
to do. With this grant, they'll be able io explore the
field of Jewish education," Isaacs said.
Although many applicants likely will be education
graduates, a degree in education is not required, he said.
The internship program will begin in fall 2000.
Each intern will work for two years, with grant funds
providing a full-time salary for the two-year period,
said FAJE Executive Director Harlene Appelman.
"This grant is a big step in the direction of pro-
fessionalism and getting young people interested in
the field of Jewish education," Appelman said.
Interns can choose from
among a variety of work areas,
she said, from the Jewish
Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit to a syn-
agogue's nursery school class.
Each intern will be required to
spend at least one summer
working at a Jewish camp.
Complete details of the pro-
gram, including the number of
internships to be awarded and
the exact salary, have yet to be
determined.
This year, FAJE has orga-
nized subcommittees to study
the future of Jewish educa-
tion in the Detroit area.
Among subcommittee reports
due later this winter are sev-
eral on recruiting teachers
and encouraging professional-
ism.
"This grant really goes
AJEs Judah Isaacs
toward the Alliance vision,"
Appelman said, adding that
FAJE is "actively pursuing" other grants in a vari-
ety of areas.
Established in 1990, the Covenant Foundation
makes annual. grants for innovative programs and
to individuals involved in Jewish education. In
1998, a Covenant grant helped fund the locally
produced movie From Generation to Generation —
Jewish Families Talk About Death.
The AJE internship grant is one of 13 awarded in
,
the United States and
Canada for 1999, chosen
from among 175 submis-
sions.
Among the other grants
given in the category of
teacher recruitment and
training are to a Boston-
based program for people
seeking new careers, and a
joint endeavor for under-
graduates by Ohio State
University and the
Columbus (Ohio)
Commission on Jewish
Education. Another pro-
gram gives a stipend to new
teachers in Jewish schools
on Canada's West Coast,
with the commitment that
they will remain in the area
after the grant runs out.
There's no requirement
that the Detroit-area interns
stay in Jewish education, or
in Michigan, after their two
years are up, although that's certainly the hope.
"Even if they don't, we will have trained a few
really qualified lay leaders," Appelman said. ❑
For more information on AJE intemships in Jewish
education, contact Judah Isaacs, (248) 354-1050,
or Harlene Appelman, (248) 203-1469.
Open For Business
Adult ed group holds
mini-sessions during winter break.
T
you know, the more you realize
he
there isto know."
Armed with that philosophy, Sandra Sherman
of Bloomfield Hills, her mother and in-laws
spent a cold morning, Dec. 23, at Congregation
B'nai Moshe, absorbing all they could about the
kabbala, the ancient system of Jewish mystical
belief.
The occasion was the first session of a two-
part series, "The Tree of Life and the Way of
Splendor: An Introduction to Kabbala." Taught
by Ruth Bergman, the course was an abbreviated
version of a semester-long series on the same
David Blewett was guest speaker at the Dec. 27
Latte and Learning program.
topic she'd offered earlier in the year through
Eilu v'Eilu, the adult Jewish learning project of
the Detroit Conservative movement.
It was Eilu v'Eilu's first try at a winter break
12/31
1999
27