411 • •
EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK
It's not • •
The Rigors Of Learning
ewish education is a priority of Detroit Jewry and
one of the pillars of the Jewish people. Yet it's always
short on funding, so always at risk.
I'm drawn to this theme of learning what it means
to be a Jew as Jewish day schools and synagogue schools pre-
pare for the new school year.
In a few weeks, I'll be meeting with Harlene Appelman,
chief Jewish education officer of Federation's Alliance for
Jewish Education. We'll discuss her emerging blueprint for
formal and informal learning.
Meanwhile, I'm immersed in thought about the education
challenges we face as a community, chal-
lenges threatening our pursuit to keep life-
long Jewish learning on the front burner.
Take student scholarships. I know people
are more apt to give to building projects than
scholarship funds because you see the fruits
of giving quicker in bricks and mortar. I also
know deciding where to give is highly per-
sonal.
ROBERT A.
From my vantage point, congregational
SKLAR
schools are hurting money-wise along with
Editor
our day schools. The infrastructure, support
base and mission of these two
groups of schools are different, but they share a
burning desire to build Jewish identity and nurture
Jewish purpose.
It's hard to compare one school with another
given their individual situations, but I dare say we
need to be more up front as a community about
how we define and measure quality. It's clear all of
our schools bear the burden of having expenses out-
strip income.
4111
new sources of finding will become a top priority.
As our day and congregational schools adjust to a flat
investment portfolio, fluctuating student counts, greater
demand for financial aid and the potential for endowment, we
must commit to interacting with Jewish communities else-
where where endowed funding flourishes.
Let there be no doubt: We need to put Jewish learning in
financial reach of more families, whether their choice is a day
school or a congregational school.
Congregational preschools are a particular concern. They're
on the lowest rung of the scholarship ladder. Yet they serve a
highly impressionable age group. The sooner we embrace kids,
the better chance we'll have to keep them Jewish. We can't
wait till they're 11 and expect them to appreciate Judaism as if
they had been learning for seven years.
one
• event.
•
S
S
poopsi Pi vvIth
•
0:?.•
Combined Energy
The Detroit Jewish community has brought many cultural
jewels and social needs in the surrounding community under
its philanthropic wing.
In that light, I wonder why our schools don't do more to
share precious resources — to spread brain power and teach-
ing tools and initiate joint revenue building and
more joint programs. Surely there's strength in
numbers when it comes to maximizing the return
on restricted, general and legacy gifts.
Federation is in the best position to unite all of
our schools in a massive push to see the world
through a wider, more engaging lens, one that
peers into a budding world of trusts, grants,
fund-raising and other possible revenue streams.
We can't be afraid of going in a new direction,
even if that means a step backward at first, if the
long-range benefit were to be better quality and
Balancing Act
controlled tuition in our schools.
To counter the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
The weak economy no doubt has stymied the
Rabbi Buck man
Detroit's across-the-board allocation cuts in the
Jewish Education Trust, a hoped-for $50 million
wake of a General Fund shortfall, schools can opt
endowment for Jewish day school education that
to lower their costs or raise their tuitions. But who's to say
Federation heralded last year. Dividends haven't matched
such allocation cuts won't recur?
expectation, but the Trust was born out of initiative — and
Continued cutbacks stress not only the hiring, training and
that's good.
paying of teachers and staff, but also the investment in corn-
Ultimately, Detroit Jewry's future is tied to how well we
puters, innovations and enrichment. Yet schools must do their
teach our kids about being Jewish — and how well we inspire
part in trimming when times are leaner, just as communal
them to give when they grow up.
agencies must do theirs.
Without solutions to our funding predicament, matters will
As for tuition, whether for a day school or a congregational
worsen. I fear that stressed-out, financially strapped parents
school, it's tough to know when you've raised it too far.
would forsake Jewish continuity when confronted with the
Parents will bend to give their kids a Jewish education, but
decision of whether to enroll their kids in dance or soccer or
they won't break. Too often, their hopes come crashing to a
Hebrew school.
halt when no financial aid is available. I never want us to be
We as a community owe it to our children, grandchildren
forced to shut a school as a wake-up call for greater fiscal con-
and future generations to take a vested interest in Jewish edu-
trol.
cation — even if that means taking a calculated risk.
There's scholarship money out there, thanks to private
I hearken to the cogent reasoning of Rabbi Lee Buckman,
donors as well as Federation initiatives. But it's scarcely
head of school at the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan
enough in a community like ours, one with 2,330 day school
Detroit. Almost 30 percent of its 130 students this coming
students and 4,500 students in congregational schools.
school year will receive tuition assistance.
We're fortunate to have big givers in our midst, philanthro-
"This generation of children," Rabbi Buckman says, "lives
pists who give regularly and generously toward a host of com-
in an open, liberal society that does not have the artificial bar-
munal causes. But student scholarships aren't nearly the draw
riers of a ghetto or anti-Semitism to remind us that we are
they need to be.
Jewish.
Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education, newly mandated
"Unless we immerse our children in the texts, traditions,
under the leadership of Appelman and Rabbi Judah Isaacs, is
language and culture of our people, they will not be able to
charged with being not only an advocate, but also an imple-
answer the most fundamental question of modernity: 'Why
menter. Given the tenor of our times, I'm sure that identifying
be Jewish?"' CI
S
'40
S
S
•
•
S
oval+.
S
JARC'S 23rd Annual
Fall Fundraiser
A NEW\1USICAL
*
•
A8BA
MAMMA
0
MAI
O
Fisher Theater
Sunday, Nov. 2
1:30 pm & 7:30 pm
Tickets at www.jarc.org
or (248) 538-8810 x418
S
0
0
.
Y0)15.
A-chili- 5}fill!
( Ages 21 to 40 )
Mamma's VIP Lounge 5-7 pm
Fisher Building
oin
jam
For 34 years, helping people with
disabilities be fully included
in community life.
722260
8/22
2003
5