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+. 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