Young Leaders Teach
F
or a group of
teenage students, the
opportunity to
become the teacher was too
much to resist — even if
the classes were held on
Saturday nights.
The Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit high
schoolers volunteered to
hold study sessions in _
halom Penholder
Marble Hebrew
Desk Cloc
Hebrew Watch
Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our
Fathers) at six area syna-
gogues during April and
May.
"On the weeks between
Pesach and Shavuot, it is
traditional to study Pirkei
Avot," said Rabbi Aaron
Bergman, JAMD director
of Jewish Studies, who is
overseeing the 9th- through
12th-grade participants.
"We were approached
Jeremy Baruch, 18, Danielle Borovoy, 17, and Alexa Lipman, 17, all of West Bloomfield, prepare
with the idea of having
to lead study sessions in Pirkei Avot.
the kids lead the sessions
by an Academy parent,
unteered to lead the sessions at their
Many synagogues hold learning ses-
Dr. Mitch Parker, who works with the
own congregations. Rabbi Bergman
sions between Minchah (afternoon
Conservative movement's Rabbinical
then created a packet of teaching and
service) and Maariv (evening service)
Assembly. We are also involved with
on Saturdays, so finding students for
discussion materials for each group.
such organizations as the [Orthodox]
"We study a lot of Pirkei Avot at
the classes was simple. "Many of them
National Conference of Synagogue
school," he said. "So these kids were
were in shul already for the services
Youth [in Southfield] and the [multi-
and were expecting some type of
well-prepared. Pirkei Avot is one of
denominational] B'nai B'rith Youth
the
most
popular
Jewish
texts
—
it
is
learning program anyway," Rabbi
Organization [in West Bloomfield]
part of the oral law itself, the basic
Bergman said.
and we were delighted for this oppor-
There are two remaining sessions in
ethical foundation of the Jewish peo-
tunity."
the program. JAMD students will lead
ple It re-examines our commitment to
Students who are members of the
Pirkei Avot discussions at 8 p.m.
Torah, the pleasantness of Torah."
six area Conservative synagogues vol-
Saturday, May 15, at Adat Shalom
Synagogue and at 8:15 p.m. Saturday,
May 22, at Congregation B'nai
Moshe. The program is open to every-
one. ❑
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Rabbi Menachem Z Greenfield, assistant principal of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in
Southfield, celebrates the holiday of Lag B'Omer with 7th-grade students at the
home of Rabbi Shlomie Newman of Oak Park.
The United Jewish Social Club First
& Second Generation Survivors will
host yizkor services, dedicated to the
memories of the 6 million Jews
slaughtered in the Holocaust. Services
will be held at 1 p.m. Sunday, May
16, at the Oak Park Jewish
Community Center.
Organizers are Rabbi Leo
Goldman, Congregation Shaary
Shomayini; Cantor Nasanel Carmen;
Josh Berkowitz, Michigan Friends of
the Israel Defense Forces; and Andy
Morton, a survivor.
Event chairs are Michael Weiss and
Jenoe Roth.