O O Spirituality • Rosh Hashannah: Saturday and Sunday, September 27-28 Yom Kippur: Monday, October 6 Fashion contests. Meaningless socializing. Politically correct pseudo-Jewish psycho-babble. Aunt Gloria's brisket and Cousin Ruthie's kugel. Is this the sum total of your Rosh Hashannah experience? Are you looking for services that are small, friendly, authentic, and spiritually meaningful? Do you want supervised holiday programming for your children? Children's Advocate Nursery school welcomes its first new director in 17 years. DIANA LIEBERMAN StaffWriter ■ \1 Sara TuOman Bais Chabad Torah Center A friendly, haimishe Shul within walking distance of the finest neighborhoods in West Bloomfield, offers High Holiday services where all Jews (regardless of affiliation, knowledge, or level of observance) reconnect with G-d, their divine souls, Torah, and the Jewish people. Call us at 248.855.6170 for more information SPECIALISTS IN !r CUSTOM GLASS PRODUCTS: • Eurostyle Frameless Shower Enclosures • Conventional Mb Shower Enclosures • Custom 14111 Mirrors • Alim»-ed BI-Fold Doors • Beveled Etched Glass • Glass Furniture Rible Tops • Ilandr«ils Sbncei1964 Visit our Southfield Galloy of Glass at: 22223 Telegraph Rd. (South (kf 9 Mile Rd.) 248-353-5770 248-353-0678 Fax Zee tite ass Sett ,eter &a/ Clothing should be laundered & on han gers. Open 7 Days Fast Turnover 8/29 2003 52 Now Accepting Fall Items Fashions & Accessories CONSIGNMENT aeottfrie- HighlandLakes Shopping Center 42947 W. 7 Mile Rd. - Northville - (248) 347 4570 - 741840 Vir ith only a few more days until the first day of school, Congregation Beth Ahm is sprucing up its classrooms and putting the fin- ishing touches on a new playground. And in the midst of it all, Cathy Rozenberg is setting up shop in the director's office of the Samantha Erin Rosen Nursery School, Beth Ahm's intimate, child-centered preschool. In taking over from Joyce Epstein, who'd led the West Bloomfield school for 17 years, Rozenberg pledges to continue "all the good parts of the experience — the smallness, the close- ness." The Samantha Erin Rosen Nursery School opens Wednesday, Sept. 3, with classes for 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds, along with parent-toddler and music pro- grams. Although the formal program runs mornings only, early care and afternoon enrichment programs are available. Rozenberg has worked with chil- dren and young families for 25 years. A graduate of the University of Michigan, she went on to Wheelock College in Boston, where she earned a master's degree in early childhood edu- cation. After a few years of teaching, Rozenberg began a preschool in her hometown of Toledo, which she led for 9 years. She also taught part time at Lourdes College, training young teachers in techniques for teaching cre- ativity in music and art. She moved to metro Detroit 11 years ago with Cathy Rozenberg at Beth Ahnz's Samantha Erin Rosen Nursery School. her husband, Yakov, and Staff photo by Angie Baan children Joshua and Anna, now 13 and 11. Before coming to Beth Ahm, Rozenberg did some substitute teaching in metro Detroit and taught fourth grade, Hebrew, and Judaica at Temple Shir Shalom. Her goals for her new job include integrating ❑ GLASS www.reidglass.com 622830 No Appointment Necessary traditional Jewish values and heritage into a program in which "kids learn to make choices, problem solve and take initiative." "People will frequently ask if the school does academics," Rozenberg said. "The answer is yes, but in a developmentally appropriate way." Preschoolers deserve a rich, varied program, but do not need "first grade ahead of its time." "If a child is ready to begin reading, we will certainly help that child devel- op reading skills," she said. "If a child is still learning what to do if they want a block and another child has it, then we work on social and coping skills. "For all children, we will provide a print-rich environment. Children dic- tate stories and we transcribe them and read them back. That way, they begin to associate their words with the squig- gles on the page." At a recent directors meeting held by Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education, Rozenberg enjoyed meet- ing the other leaders of metro Detroit's Jewish preschools. And she was excited about discussion on the ways children can express their own creativity, which echoed her own philosophy. "When young children work on art projects, what's important is not the final product, not that we have a row of menorahs that all look alike," she said. "Instead, it's the process that's important. "We want adults who grow up knowing how to make their own deci- sions."