This Week

Love Of Learning

The Florence Melton Adult Mini School returns with its two-year Jewish study program.

DIANA LIEBERMAN
StqffWrite?

hey call it "a voyage of Jewish
self-discovery," and it sets sail
Oct. 17 from two ports in
metropolitan Detroit.
The Florence Melton Adult Mini
School is an in-depth tour of Judaism
that includes theology, life cycles, histo-
ry and ethics. Last offered in the Detroit
area 1994-1996, the two-year curricu-
lum was crafted by scholars and educa-
tors at Hebrew University in Jerusalem
as a pluralistic, inclusive program.
"Any Jewish person is welcome to
attend," said Judy Leder of
Farmington Hills, one of the pro-
gram's three co-directors. "Other than
or someone who has studied Judaism
intensely — this program is for the
general student."
The two-year curriculum, which
runs 30 weeks a year, offers a choice of
morning or evening sessions. Morning
instructors at the West Bloomfield
Jewish Community Center will be
Rabbi Scott Bolton and Dina Shtull-
Leber. Evening instructors at the Max
M. Fisher Federation Building in
Bloomfield Township will be Rabbi
Aaron Bergman and Michael Weiss.

F

A Community Of Learners

The Melton Mini School is different
from other adult education courses
because it offers a sequential, in-depth
educational experience instead of mis-
cellaneous disconnected classes, said
Aviva Panush, associate director of the
Agency for Jewish Education.
Panush, who taught at Toledo's
Melton program several years ago, is
another co-director of the new

Detroit-area program.
Panush said Melton's interactive cur-
riculum encourages independent
thought. She was especially impressed
that people in her classes in Toledo

7/27
2001 .

14

were ready to continue with their
Jewish education after the two-year
curriculum had ended.
"We continued the program for
another two years," she said. "Melton
doesn't offer a post-graduate course,
but they do make recommendations."
In addition to improving their own
knowledge, adults who make a long-

term commitment to the
At the end of a sample
began in 1980 as a
Melton program make a
Melton Adult Mini School
concept of American
positive impact on their
class, Sharon Hart, president businesswoman and
children, Panush said.
philanthropist
of the JCC, discusses the
"What children will
program with prospective
Florence Melton.
learn by their parents'
student Pam Goldberg of
Her ideas were taken
involvement is more than
Farmington Hills and
up by Hebrew
just information," she said. Rabbi Aaron Bergman.
University and the
- "It's the importance of
first classes were
education, the excitement
offered in 1986.
of education.
Now 90 years old, Florence Melton
"Children learn that what's impor-
has lived to see the program that
tant to Mom and Dad are those things
bears her name offered at 58 sites in

they spend time with. Melton shows
them that Jewish education is not just
),
a pediatric enterprise.
Phyllis Falbaum of West Bloomfield
completed the Melton program when
it was last offered in the Detroit corn-
munity.
"The program had an excellent

structure," said Falbaum, who recently

retired as a teacher at Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit. "it
had objectives and outcomes. In the
two years, I missed only one session." -

North America and an additional
five sites in England, Israel and
Australia.
The program's third co-director is
Rabbi Hal Greenwald, the JCC's
director of education. Community
co-chairs are Mindy Soble Kaufman
and Jeff Schlussel.
Melton's Detroit-area sponsors are
the Jewish Federation of

Early Beginnings

Metropolitan Detroit's Alliance for
Jewish Education, the Agency for
Jewish Education and the JCC.
Federation's Alliance is subsidizing
the program with approximately
538,500, while the other two agen-

The Melton Adult Mini School

cies are providing in-kind support.

Rabbi Bergman's comments on t
Talmud at a recent Melton sample
class could just as easily be applied

the philosophy of the.program. "It
not enough just to look up a rule
book," he said. "It's important to
think things through." Ei

Melton Adult Mini School partic-
ipants have a choice of either
morning or evening sessions con-
sisting of two one-hour classes
with a 15-minute break. Sessions
are scheduled for' 9:30-11:45 a.m.
Wednesday mornings at the
Jewish Community Center in
West Bloomfield, or 7-9:15 p.m.
Wednesday evenings at the Max
M. Fisher Federation Building in
Bloomfield Township. Classes run
for 30 weeks a year for two years.
Annual tuition is $295, includ-
ing a 550 non-refundable deposit.
Tuition subsidies are available.
Registration deadline is Aug. 15.
For more information, contact
Judy Leder at (248) 661-1894, or
e-mail meltondetroit@aol.com