Another Way To Learn

New Orthodox day school offers a vocational
alternative for high school boys.

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DIANA LIEBERMAN
Copy Editor/Education Writer

ive large and sturdy wooden doghouses are
lined up in the parking lot of the Oakland
Technical Center, Southeast campus, in
Troy. They are waiting to be carried home
by the young men who made them, the 10 ninth-
graders of Toras Chaim Mesivta Vocational School.
The Orthodox day school, whose name means
Torah of Life Vocational High School, opened this
fall under the auspices of the Kollel Institute of
Greater Detroit, the advanced learning center for
Orthodox Jewish men located in Oak Park. Its
founders hope to meet a challenge that has perplexed
Jewish educators from earliest times: how to educate
young men whose learning styles are not amenable
to the structure of the traditional yeshivah.
A typical Orthodox yeshivah requires that its stu-
dents study Torah for many hours, with intense,
concentrated attention, said Channah Schwab, direc-
tor of the new school. "Not everybody has the
sitzfleisch [ability to concentrate] to sit three to four
hours to study. That doesn't mean you're not a great
boy."
In the past, students like those at Toras Chaim
have fallen through the cracks, with no place to
study at a pace that was manageable for them.
"We lost some of the boys because there wasn't a
place like this to educate them," Schwab said.
"The young men at our school are very gifted
individuals who take their Torah studies very serious-
ly, but they want to be prepared for the outside
world," she said. "We want them not to be lost in
the workforce, but to give them the tools to contin-
ue in their Jewish life and Torah values."

A Model For The Future?

Next year, this year's students will advance to 10th
grade and another class of ninth-graders will enter,
allowing more of a choice in vocational subjects.
But higher enrollment will inevitably bring higher

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Blending Torah, Labor

318

2002

24

Students at Toras Chaim spend most of their day
learning, but learning in a way that accommodates
their divergent learning styles and interest in hands-
on areas.
The academic part of the high school, which
began this year with ninth grade only, meets at three
sites: the Kollel, Congregation Beth Tefiloh Emanuel
Tikvah in Southfield and Bais Hakneseth Hagroh in
Oak Park. The amount of time spent each morning
in traditional Torah study is shorter than in most
other yeshivot, Schwab said, but students return to
school at 9 p.m. for another session of religious
study.
So far, English and two levels of mathematics are
the only other academic subjects taught.
Perhaps the most innovative element of the day is
the time spent at Oakland Technical Center. Known
as 0-Tech, the Troy center is one of four in Oakland

publishing. On a recent Thursday afternoon, the
young men were intent on creating election-style
pins, mugs and posters.
Yisroel Mondroe, 15, of Oak Park, who has a job
at the Oak Park Library about 14 hours a week, used
skills gained there and from 0-Tech teacher Steve
Green to create a template for making notepads for
school use.
Mordechai Gold, 17, of Chicago, one of two Toras
Chaim students from outside Detroit, concentrated
on tweaking photos for a T-shirt.
The final class for this year will be agri-science,
consisting of animal care and indoor and outdoor
landscaping.

costs.

Toras Chaim Mesivta student Gabriel Stern, 14,
of Oak Park works on his graphic design at
Oakland Technical Institute.

County to provide supplementary and vocational
education to county high-schoolers and those of
high school age. It is a program of Oakland Schools,
the county's central educational service agency.
Every afternoon, Toras Chaim uses part of the
facility and pays a teacher for two hours of training
in marketable skills. Each class lasts five to six weeks.
"Before we started the school, I spoke to Bonnie
Crawson, head of 0-Tech, and she told me what
would be ideal for this age," Schwab said.
Also instrumental in setting up the new high
school were Carol Freedman, vice president of career
development and employment services at JVS, Rabbi
Judah Isaacs, executive director of the Agency for
Jewish Education, and Oakland County
Commissioner Michelle Friedman Appel, D-
Huntington Woods.
This year, the students' vocational education began
with a building trades course. They made the dog-
houses, starting from scratch, and ended with shin-
gles and siding.
They then studied basic auto mechanics, including
oil, tires and spark plug changes, wheel alignments
and elementary engine repair.
"I can't tell you how much the boys liked that,"
Schwab said. "You don't see it around here, but I
know real Orthodox people in New York and New
Jersey who are on the ground all day fixing cars."
The current project is graphic design and desktop

"If we have two classes, we need two teachers at
each time," said Schwab, who draws no salary for
her work with the school. "Tuition isn't going to
cover this. It can only continue if we have another
source of money."
This year, Toras Chaim's only funding comes from
an anonymous donation and from its $5,000-per-
pupil tuition. The school has a policy of giving
scholarships whenever needed.
Schwab and Kollel leaders will be invited to make
a presentation to the steering committee of the
Education Forum of Jewish Philanthropists, said
Harlene Appelman, director of the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit's Alliance for Jewish
Education. The Michigan-based forum includes phi-
lanthropists, lawyers and financial planners.
The program drew an enthusiastic response from
the Jewish Education Service of North America
(JESNA) and other national leaders.
"It sounds like a responsible response to diversity
in the community," said Shani Bechhofer, JESNA
senior research associate. Although Boys Town in
Israel provides a somewhat similar program,
Bechhofer said she knew of no equivalents in the
United States.
"Lifelong education is a given in the Orthodox
community, and it is very wise to use the resources
that are available to provide a high quality vocational
program," she said. "It's vitally important to .assure
the kids that they are cherished by the community."
Harvey Well, head of Chicago's Associated Talmud
Torahs, recently recommended the formation of a
vocationally oriented high school CO Chicago's Jewish
federation. "If Detroit did it," he said, "they deserve
congratulations."
Locally, Michael Eizelman, chair of Federation's
education division, called Toras Chaim "an excellent
idea."
"It's one of the few — if not the only — Jewish
day schools in the country to provide alternatives for
students who are not able to thrive in a traditional
day school structure. It allows them exposure to all
areas of trades while maintaining their Judaism.
"If this makes it, it could be a model even outside
the Orthodox community." ❑