'rituality Lasting ression Rabbi Hal Greenwald leaves JCCfor Califirnia school post. Rabbi Hal Greenwald SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN StaffWriter fter a brief, but indelible stay in the Detroit Jewish com- munity, Rabbi Hal reenwald is leaving to teach in California. Rabbi Greenwald has served for the past two years as director of Jewish education at the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit, where he was involved in programs to bring Jewish learning to staff and patrons. His last day was June 14. Now, the rabbi is returning to the Los Angeles area, where he received his ordination at Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies in 2000. His new position is rabbi-in-residence at Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School in Northridge, Calif. "The decision to leave was a very difficult one," Rabbi Greenwald says. "I felt truly embraced by the JCC and the Detroit community." Metro Detroiters he worked with also felt that embrace. "We are very sad that he is leaving," says Margo Weitzer, assistant executive director of the JCC. "He made an array of posi- tive impacts on both the JCC and the community." Within the JCC, the rabbi says, "The mandate was to help infuse everything we do — from basketball leagues and the health club to Book AG 6/21 2002 60 Fair and SAJE [Seminars for Adult Jewish Enrichment] — with an even greater sense of Jewish passion." He enhanced staff develop- ment in Jewish education through the Shorashim program, where Jewish learning was made an automatic com- ponent in staff training. "We learned together at the depart- mental level during monthly lunch- and-learns led by local rabbis and edu- cators and at off-site training days," Rabbi Greenwald says. "Every weekly management-team meeting began with 20 minutes of Jewish learning, as we looked at the business of the JCC through the prism of Torah." He adds, "Sharon Hart, president of the JCC, brought text study to the highest levels of our lay leadership through dinner-and-learns prior to board meetings and chavrutah [one- on-one religious] study at mentor training programs." The rabbi also helped launch the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Judaic Enrichment Center, the interactive Jewish learning center that comprises the Ford Motor Company Center for Exploration and Discovery and the David B. Hermelin ORT Resource Center in the West Bloomfield JCC. "I worked shoulder-to-shoulder with some of our community's most dedicated and talented lay leaders and staff on a project I think is going to be unbelievably exciting," Rabbi Greenwald says. "The person who will fill this position will also be the direc- tor of the Weinberg Judaic Enrichment Center, which will place him or her at the center of one of the most exciting adventures in Jewish education anyone has seen in a long time." Outside The Center "The rabbi took his SAJE class to the Birmingham-Bloomfield Yoga Center," says Nancy Kaplan, community out- reach coordinator of Eilu Eilu, the adult Jewish learning program of the Conservative movement, where the rabbi was a teacher and member of the steering committee. "That just epitomized the imagina- tion he brought to his whole way of thinking. He has a gift to bring Torah learning to the. learner." Rabbi Greenwald was instrumental in leading the new beit midrash format of Eilu v' Eilu, where pairs of learners study text, in teacher-facilitated classes. . "The pre-holiday "Elul Beit- Midrash" he ran last August and September brought in people who never would have sat down and stud- ied text, but came because of him," Kaplan says. Rabbi Greenwald also led "The Best Jewish Book You're Probably Not Reading" in a Birmingham bookstore, designed to broaden horizons through Jewish books. "He has a beautiful soul, and an eclectic following from so many places in the community," Kaplan says. "He is warm, friendly and delightful and makes people happy to study Jewish topics with him. They gravitate to him." While many Detroiters will miss the rabbi, on the other side of the country, staff and students of the 30-year-old Abraham Joshua Heschel Day School are eagerly awaiting Rabbi Greenwald's July 1 arrival. "We are thrilled to have him," says Dr. Roxie Esterle, middle school prin- cipal of the independent 450-student school, which integrates secular and Judaic education. "He comes with the most enthusiastic recommendations and we were tremendously impressed with his commitment to Judaism." Rabbi Greenwald will work mostly within the middle school, but will be involved with the entire transitional kindergarten through eighth-grade stu- dent body. "The position is a vital role in our school," Dr. Esterle says. "It involves teaching, services and some counseling. He will also be involved with the extensive community service program in our school." A search is under way at the JCC for a new director of Jewish education. "It's been wonderful having Rabbi Greenwald here and his shoes will be difficult to fill," Weirzer says. "But find someone we're confident qualified with a high degree of Jewish knowledge." Rabbi Greenwald says: "The next person in this position will be walking into a rich learning infrastructure, with the opportunity to bring more infor- mal adult education into the lives of families and individuals." Although his move will take him far, he says, "I'll be carrying with me the Torah I learned from my teachers in Detroit. I hope. to remain in touch with the people and institutions here that gave me so much." O