Cover Story/Undeterred

Undeterred

Studying at Israeli yeshivot is one way Detroit Jewry is affirming its solidarity with
the Jewish homeland despite perilous times in the Mideast.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer

0

n Tuesday, while travel warnings were
bringing some Americans home from
Israel, Azaryah Cohen of Oak Park was
in New York boarding a plane for
Jerusalem.
Cohen, 28, is no tourist. Instead, he's one of
many metro Detroiters who forge a bond with
Israel by studying in its Orthodox yeshivot.
"Support for Israel runs deep and wide in this
community," says Rabbi Daniel Nevins of Adat
Shalom Synagogue and president of the Michigan
Board of Rabbis.
"It's a really dark time, but we will be strong
and we will prevail," says the rabbi, who advo-
cates communicating a pro-Israel message to news
media and public officials, contacting friends and
family in Israel, planning to visit them as soon as
possible and praying for peace.
For Cohen, a student at the Yeshiva University
Kollel-Caroline and Joseph S. Gruss Institute in
Jerusalem, connecting with Israel means returning
there with his wife, Aliza, 28, and their 7-week-
old son, Yedidyah Chaim, after visiting family in
Oak Park for Passover.
"There is something about being there — not
just religious culture — but Jewish culture," he
says. "There's something that ties all of Israel
together, that makes me need to be there."
Azaryah's mother, Aviva Cohen, says: "We have
two other children studying in Israel who did not
come home for Pesach this year. If they were any
other place but Israel, I would be worried and say,
`Come home.' But that is home."

A Natural

For many in the Detroit Orthodox community,
study in Israel a "natural" — the obvious next
step after high school graduation.
"It's almost a matter of course for Orthodox
kids who go to day schools to go Israel to learn
after high school," says Rabbi E.B. "Bunny"
Freedman of Oak Park, whose daughter and son-
in-law are students living in northern Jerusalem.
"I spent two years studying in a yeshiva in Israel
after I graduated high school," says Rabbi Reuven
Spolter of Young Israel of Oak Park. "And those
two years had a tremendous impact on my per-
sonal, spiritual and religious development."
Howard Sherizen of Oak Park has two children,
Leah, 19, and Moshe, 17, who plan to leave for

a

.

4/12

2002

14

Related editorials: page 37

Elisheva
Freedman, 19,
and Leah
Sherizen, 19,
both of Oak
Park, were
classmates last
year in Israel.

Israel study programs at the end of the summer.
"There is a positive peer pressure to send our
kids to Israel to learn," he says. "If we fail to share
with our kids the Israel experience, they will end
up shortchanged when it comes to religion, God
and the Jewish people."
A majority of last year's graduates of the Beth
Jacob School for Girls in Oak Park, a division of
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, are continuing the tradi-
tion in Israel.
"And of the 19 girls in the current class, 17
have chosen to apply and have been accepted in
Israeli study programs for next year," says Rabbi
Nathaniel Lauer, the school's educational director.
"As of this moment, as far as I know, all of them
are planning to go."
For some, the decision of whether or not to
travel to Israel during violent times is made with
the guidance of halachic deciders — objective per-
sons, learned in Jewish law and human behavior,
who are aware of the personal circumstances of
each traveler and their families.
"Halachah (Jewish law) says we should not
expose ourselves to a dangerous situation," Rabbi
Lauer says. "But if they are going to study and
follow instructions, the halachic decider may
guide them toward going."
Forethought and precautions are still para-
mount, Rabbi Lauer adds.
"We should not be foolhardy," he says. "We
trust that the right thing will take place, but it
makes a difference where we are. It may be 'my
time' if I blindfold myself and cross a dangerous
expressway — but not 'my time' if I stand back
on the side of the road."

Why Israel?

"Nothing can intensify identity and quality of
Torah-learning like an experience in Israel," says
Sherizen. It's a passion he and his wife, Chana,
have instilled in their children.
"I was fortunate to have that experience and I
pray to God each of my children have it, too," he
says. Son Moshe plans to attend Ner Yaakov in
Jerusalem with a group of Detroit boys in the fall.
"My oldest son, Kalman, [21], studied in Israel
following high school. It left an indelibly positive
imprint on his personality and Jewish convic-
tions," Sherizen says.
"There is a saying that comes from the
Talmud," says Mindy Rothstein, 20, of Oak Park,
who attends Stern College for Women in New
York City following a year's study in Israel. "It
says, Avirah d'ar'ah d'Yisrael mach'kim: The air of
the land of Israel makes one wise.
"Based on this, throughout Jewish history,
Orthodox Jews have encouraged the study of
Torah in Israel as there is something about the
land itself that influences Torah study in a posi-
tive way."
Attending school in Jerusalem "sparked my
learning more," says David Zacks, 19, who pre-
pared to return to school this week after spending
Passover with his family in Southfield.
And what makes Israel more conducive to learn-
ing, even when students aren't always safe leaving
the confines of the school?
"You have to remember what your focus is,"
says Dovid Cohen, 19, packing to leave his par-

GOING BACK on page 18