Career Move

Two of metro Detroit's most popular young
rabbis to leave for New Jersey.

DIANA LIEBERMAN

Staff-Writer/Copy Editor

R

abbi Scott Bolton
announced this week that
he has accepted a job at a
Jewish day school in New

Jersey.
Beginning July 1, he will be head of
school at the Solomon Schechter Day
School of Raritan County, a 300-stu-
dent school housed at the Jewish
Community Center of East Brunswick,
about halfway between Rutgers and
Princeton universities.
Along with his wife, Rabbi Amy
Bolton, he came to Michigan three years
ago from the University of Judaism in
Los Angeles, where both were ordained
as Conservative rabbis. But much of
Rabbi Scott Bolton's family is on the

East Coast, and the move is as much for
family reasons as career reasons, he said.
"It was a decision we made as a fami-
ly, to be closer to family while launching
into a . leadership role in Jewish educa-
don," he said.
Most recently; Rabbi Scott Bolton has
taught Bible and rabbinics at the Jewish
Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, the
community's only multi-stream Jewish
high school, while also working as
rabbi-educator at Congregation Shaarey
Zedek. He also has served as communi-
ty educator at Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit.
Rabbi Amy Bolton is director of out-
reach and education at the Jewish
Hospice and Chaplaincy Network. The
couple have two children: daughter
Shuli, 3, and son Shiya,
"We will always love this communi-

Direct Link

Rabbis Amy and Scott Bolton, with
children Shiya and Shuli.

ty," said Rabbi Scott Bolton. "This is
where we built our family, and we feel
like we made close friends here.
"This Jewish community really knows
how to keep Jews Jewish."
As the JAMD begins to search for a
new teacher, Rabbi Lee Buckman, its
head of school, said the Boltons are "a
wonderful family." 33
"We are all very sorry to see them go,

SCHOOL-TO-SCHOOL
PAIRINGS

• Hadera:
Congregation Beth Ahm: Pe'er
Am Elementary, serving 166 stu-
dents, 50 percent are Ethiopian
Temple Beth El and Congregation
Shir Tikvah: Amishav Elementary,
School-to-School Program, we have
serving 155 students, mostly new
an opportunity to enrich our curricu- • immigrants
lum and to encourage our children
Young Israel of Southfield: Shilo
to stand with Israel in a very imme-
Elementary, serving 150 students
diate and tangible way."
• Migdal Ha_Ernek:
Noting that a special curriculum has
Temple Shir Shalom: Giora Yoseftal,
been developed for the program, Giles
serving 70 students, grades 3-6
added, "The School-to-School Program
Temple Kol Ami: Yigal Allon,
goes hand-in-hand with teaching the
serving 70 students, grades 3-6
concepts of tzedakah (charity), and
Birmingham Temple: Aliza Begin,
tikkun olam (repairing the world).
serving 35 students, grades 1-3
These are lessons children are never too
Congregation B'nai Moshe:
old or young to learn." ❑
Shalom Aleichem, serving 70 stu-
dents, grades 3-6
Keter Torah Synagogue: Ha'ari,
serving 70 students, grades 3-6:
Campaign Update
• Netanya:
With a $35.5 million goal for
Young Israel of Oak Park,
its 2003 Annual Campaign, the
Congregation Beth Shalom and
Jewish Federation of
Temple Emanu-El: Sinai Elementary,
Metropolitan Detroit has raised
serving 239 students
$29.35 million, $25.35 million
Temple 'Israel: Shazar; serving 400
for the Annual Campaign and $4
students
million for the Nancy and
• Nazareth Mt:
Stephen Grand Challenge Israel
Congregation Shaarey Zedek: Yodfat
Emergency Fund.
Elementary, serving 400 students.
Adat Shalom Synagogue: Netufa
Elementary, serving 235 students.

Local congregations `;adopt" Israeli schools to provide after-school programs.

tr

nder the umbrella of the
Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's
Grand Challenge Israel
Emergency Fund drive, 15 area con-
gregations will participate in the
School-to-School Program to support
after-school activities that target the
urgent needs of Israeli children living
in Detroit's Partnership 2000 region
of the Central Galilee and in nearby
Netanya.
With the collective goals of raising
$500,000 and creating one-on-one
educational links to Israel, the Jewish
community here will "adopt" 12
schools — three in Hadera, five in
Migdal HaEmek, two in Nazareth
Illit and two in Netanya.
Each congregation has been
matched with a school, based on size.
In addition, Federation's Alliance for
Jewish Education has developed a
special curriculum to link each con-
gregation with its "partner school."
The goal is that each congregation
will have 100 percent participation,

4/ 4
2003

16

at whatever financial level, from its
membership.
In total, the community's School-
to-School Program will support some
2,100 Israeli youngsters by adding
hours to the school day, serving a
nutritious lunch and providing a safe
haven for scholastic enrichment. For
all too many of the children who
participate in this program, the
extended day has become a necessity
of life because the hot lunch they
receive at school is the one nutritious
meal they can count each day.
"What we don't see in the news is
the daily toll the war takes on the
most vulnerable of Israel's popula-
tion: the children," said Robert
Naftaly, who co-chairs the School-to-
School Program with Dr. Lynda
Giles.
"With the near collapse of Israel's
economy and the sharp decline of
public assistance programs, many of
the children in our Partnership 2000
region are going hungry. Through
our congregational response. in the

he said. "The New Jersey community
will be blessed as we have been blessed."
The loss of Rabbi Amy Bolton from
the Jewish Hospice and Chaplaincy
Network will "create a very great hole
that will be difficult to fill," said Rabbi
E.B. "Bunny" Freedman, the
Southfield-based organization's executive
director. "She got along so well with all
our patients, all our rabbis."
According to its mission statement,
the Solomon Schechter Day School of
Raritan Valley, founded in 1981, aims
"to educate Jewish youth toward
becoming knowledgeable, practicing
committed Jews and responsible citi-
zens, while achieving academic excel-
lence in both general and Judaic stud-
ies."
Laurie Landry, the school's board
president and co-chair of its search
committee, said she had reviewed 40
resumes and interviewed six candidates
for the position.
"I can probably count on-the fingers
of one hand the number of people who
have inspired me," she said. "I only
spoke to Rabbi Bolton once and added
him to the list." ❑