Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld with study partner Howard Jacobson of Bloomfield Hills

Partners In Torah

Yeshiva Beth Yehudah program grows while embracing
all kinds of Jewish learners.

Shelli Liebman Dorfman

Senior Writer

p

artners in Torah educators have
been known to travel to great
lengths and unique locales to
reach even one student.
Avid snowboarder Rabbi Leiby
Burnham has conducted both individual
and group study discussions on the slopes.
"We talked Torah on the lift, in between
runs, in six inches of fresh snow," said the
rabbi, associate director of the Orthodox-
run Jean and Theodore Weiss Partners in
Torah Program of Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in
Southfield.
The program began in 1996, with 10
pairs of students and teachers meeting at
the Yeshiva to discuss Jewish topics for an
hour each Tuesday. While the weekly 1-on-
1 study — now up to 200 Jewish learners
of all religious levels and backgrounds
paired with a teacher-mentor — is still
the core of the program, recent expansions
go far beyond Tuesday night.
In total, Partners programs touch more

than 600 learners every week.
Students, male and female from pre-
teens on up, meet seven days a week in
pairs and for group study. They gather at
sites from coffee shops and dorm rooms
to offices and living rooms. They learn in
person, on the phone, by CD and through
satellite hookup. And now they have a
home base in a Jewish-owned condo com-
plex at Lincoln and Greenfield next to the
Yeshiva.
"There are no limits and no boundar-
ies," said Partners director Rabbi Avraham
Cohen.
He began as a Tuesday night mentor
during the first years when the program
was volunteer-led. The rest of his week
was spent teaching at the Yeshiva and
learning with 20 individuals each week, 1-
on-1 in offices and homes. About four or
five years ago, when that number grew too
large, he decided he could spend his whole
day on Partners.
For the welcoming, scholarly rabbi, this
was the beginning of a lifelong dream.
"As a teen in yeshivah, I dreamed of

doing just this, individual teaching with
those who want to learn," Rabbi Cohen
said.
His days now include near-continuous
individual and small group teaching as
well as the matchmaking of the 250 men-
tors who learn with students.
Once known as "Mr. Partners," Rabbi
Cohen says the program now has a full-
time staff focused on teaching classes at
the Yeshiva, in workplaces, at homes and
on college campuses.
"Children, teens, college students, fami-
lies, young adults, adults; everyone is part
of the great Partners team," said Rabbi
Burnham.

Where To Learn
Eighteen months ago, Partners' adminis-
trative offices moved from Rabbi Cohen's
office — and car — to a unique site next
door to the Yeshiva.
At the urging of Yeshiva leadership, a
local real estate company purchased and
renovated the three-building, 38-unit
apartment complex adjacent to the school

and converted it into condominiums.
"The Yeshiva is landlocked on its east
and west borders:' said board chairman
Dr. Maury Ellenberg. "The Southfield
Manor apartment complex, now known as
Regal Manor Condominiums, was a chal-
lenging neighbor for the Yeshiva. Because
the Yeshiva did not have the funds to
acquire the property outright, a deci-
sion was made to encourage a generous
[anonymous] local philanthropist in the
real estate business to purchase the prop-
erty and convert it to condos, for the com-
munity."
Yeshiva staff helped relocate residents
who wanted to move out of the apart-
ments instead of purchasing the one-,
two- and three-bedroom condomini-
ums that range in price from $69,000 to
$130,000.
"It has become a Sabbath-observant
community with over 20 units purchased
so far by members of the community," said
Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, the Yeshiva's executive
director and a Partners mentor.

Partners In Torah on page 16

April 12 • 2007

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