A Ladder For Learning

DREAM

from page 7

Top Man

Head of School Rabbi Lee Buckman
sees his role at the JAMD as "a
catalyst for building a community"

DIANA LIEBERMAN
StaffWriter

I

n April 1999, Rabbi Lee Buckman left his post at
Congregation Beth Israel in Milwaukee to take over as
head of a nonexistent, multi-stream Jewish day high
school in Detroit.
Now that the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
is about to open, former Milwaukee congregant Jeane
Meyers recently sent him a brief e-mail.
"I just have one word for you," she wrote. "Dormitory."
The school, set to open Monday with about 50 ninth-
and 10th-graders, has no intention of building a dorm.
But, if board members ever decided to go that route,
Meyers would give strong consideration to sending her two
younger sons to the school.
Meyers knew Rabbi Buckman for six years, "from the
day he got here to the day he moved." The family's oldest
son, Michael, now 21, was bar mitzvah directly under
Rabbi Buckman, who was the congregation's associate
rabbi, and Jeane worked with him on countless family edu-
cation projects.
"The closest I can come to describing his personality is
like Mickey Rooney in those old movies," she said. "You'll
be talking to him and all of a sudden, he'll jump up and
say, let's put on a parader"
Meyers also strongly recommends the rabbi's haman-
tashen, which the students would bake and sell to fund
their Jewish Heritage trips.
"He'd roll up his sleeves and work right along with
them," she said. "He has a really nice way with kids."
Fellow Milwaukee congregant Shelley Budney-Weber
said her family still considers Rabbi Buckman their rabbi.
"Whenever we have any kind of religious question, we
call him," said Budney-Weber, whose daughter was bat
mitzvah with the rabbi. "I can't say how important he was
to us in times of joy, crisis or death."
Recently, when a relative of her husband's died, the fam-
ily received a call from Rabbi Buckman here in Detroit,
saying he had to be in Milwaukee on business and would
pay a shiva call. "I called Rachel, his wife, who's my friend,
and said, 'What kind of business?'" Budney-Weber remem-
bered. "She was quiet for a minute and then she said, 'He
doesn't have any other business in Milwaukee.'
"Detroit is lucky to have him."

YOUTHFUL INFLUENCES

Rabbi Buckman, 39, grew up in Chicago, where he attend-
ed public schools. He received his classroom Jewish educa-
tion in an afternoon Hebrew school, continuing through
high school.
His family was strongly committed to synagogue life and
home observance, he said, as well as to Israel, Hebrew and

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2000

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Rabbi Lee Buckman

Jewish education. "They sent me to Camp Ramah, which
further reinforced those lessons I learned at home, and then
there were a number of key people along the way who
influenced my religious development, such as the cantor at
my childhood synagogue," he said.
"I think the family plays the most crucial role in the
child's Jewish identity," he continued, "to the extent that the
parents can develop stances that are non-negotiable, and
Jewish practice that is constant and filled with passion."
Rabbi Buckman had ties to Michigan before moving
here last year. His wife, Rachel, whom he met while both
were students at the University of Michigan, is a graduate
of West Bloomfield High School. The couple always made
frequent trips to the area to visit friends and relatives.
A gymnast in college, he continues a regular routine of
running, swimming and biking, and enjoys playing table
tennis and jumping on a trampoline.
After graduating from U-M, he spent a semester doing
research at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, then pursued
a doctorate in psychology at the University of Minnesota.
Studying with an Orthodox rabbi, he became convinced
that his vocation lay in Jewish religion and education.
Before enrolling in the Jewish Theological Seminary of
America in New York, he transferred to Minnesota's mas-
ter's program and received a master of arts degree. He gave
serious attention to issues in educational psychology,
including publishing a paper on how cooperative learning
groups affect student achievement and social integration.
Rabbi Buckman was ordained in 1990. He has taught at
both Orthodox and community high schools, and will
teach at the JAMD as well. This semester, his course load
consists of Bible and Rabbinics.
In further preparation for his role as head of a
TOP MAN on page 26

more and more interested."
Her goal is "a really good Jewish edu-
cation that will focus on tradition and
Bible study."
It's not as though Keren didn't fit in
at public school. "She's involved in
everything at the school — academics,
social life — and not just with the
Jewish kids," said her mother. "Her
wanting to go to the academy is a big
compliment for us."
A lot of her friends who are going on
to Bloomfield Hills Lahser High School
"were crying" that Keren won't be join-
ing them, her father added.
Hillel graduate Jeremy Baruch of
West Bloomfield will be surrounded by
friends as he enters ninth grade at the
JAMD, but that's not the reason he is
going there.
"They will provide a good Jewish
education, and there's still a lot to learn,"
he said.
A member of Hillel's cross-country
and tennis teams, Jeremy looks forward
to playing those sports at his new school
as well. And he was reassured about his
post-high school prospects after speaking
with John Boshoven, the JAMDS direc-
tor of career counseling.
Rabbi Buckman also influenced the
young man's decision. "He's a nice guy,"
Jeremy said. "It seems like he cares aboutl
everyone a lot."
For Elektra Petrucci of Royal Oak,
the JAMD was one of several possible
high school choices. A visual artist who
likes drama and singing, Elektra attend-
ed the Oakland Steiner School in
Rochester Hills during the week and
received a cultural Jewish education
Sundays through Workmen's Circle.
Elektra's mother, Maureen Davidson-
Petrucci, teen group adviser at Oak
Park-based Workmen's Circle, said she
was very taken with Rabbi Buckman.
"He's so devoted to fulfilling this incred-
ible goal he has developedshe said.
The small size of the JAMD was no
problem, since the Steiner School had
only about 100 students in all grades, {
with a graduating class of four. And the
JAMD is committed to putting on sev-
eral theatrical performances yearly, along
with hosting invitational events in per-
forming arts and athletics for students in
other cities' Jewish day high schools.
Elektris final decision was based on
the broad curriculum and the opportu-
nity to learn Hebrew. In addition, she is
fascinated by the idea of spiritual
growth.
"I talked to Rabbi Buckman about
the minyan, and he said there would be
a learner's minyan several times a week,"
she said. "We are all spiritual, and I
would see it as an opportunity to get