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Editor's Letter
The Contours Of Learning
ewish day schools matter a lot. Synagogue schools
could matter more. But both are integral to sustain-
ing Jewish life in America. Both help assure passage
of our heritage from one generation to the next. Both also are
shackled with obstacles.
As a Jewish community, we confront a myriad of issues: a
shrinking, aging populace, young adult
flight, insufficient school and camp
scholarships, mounting eldercare
needs, Michigan's embattled economy.
But teaching our kids how to be Jewish
remains the core challenge.
So I was heartened to hear Detroit
Jewry's organized leadership urge
increased support of Jewish education,
in all its shapes and sizes, from pre-
school through high school.
We're a community with 17,000
kids age 17 and younger. More than
16 percent of Jewish Detroit's population of 72,000 consists of
kids 10-19; so teens are a huge percentage of who we are. Not
courting our kids is foolhardy. We won't have to worry what
kind of Jewish community we have in 2020 if we lose them
today.
At the 2007 annual meeting of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and its banking/real estate arm, the
United Jewish Foundation, our communal leaders pledged to
guarantee every child an affordable, quality Jewish education
of their parents' choosing.
Federation's outgoing president, Peter Alter, made Jewish
education enhancements a hallmark of his three-year presi-
dency. In his closing remarks, he said Federation's Jewish
Education Visioning Task Force has produced a plan that
would carry the community "into the next generation and
beyond in providing the highest quality and most innovative
Jewish educational services that are available."
I have confidence in task force chairs Beverly Liss and Gary
Shiffman. Still, I'll reserve judg-
ment until the plan is released.
That way, I can stay objective,
inquisitive and probing on the
community's behalf. For exam-
ple, the idea of a reward program
enabling preschoolers to "earn"
cash back for use in a day or
synagogue school is intriguing,
but is it practical?
j
belt midrash, houses of learning. It also will urge a linkage
between formal programs like day schools, preschools and
synagogue schools and informal offerings like summer
camps, youth groups and Israel teen missions. The potential
synergy from such a linkage would be exciting.
Looking Forward
There's a need for greater educational investment, but
Federation's Annual Campaign no longer can be depended on
to fund every new initiative. Sure, the Campaign remains the
fourth richest in America despite our population ranking only
21st. But the number of donors is declining as our total num-
bers fall, especially among 20- and 30-somethings who could
give for years even if they started out modestly.
Over the past three years, the number of day school scholar-
ships has grown by $400,000, or about 15 percent. Synagogue
schools, Fresh Air Society and the Jewish Community Center
have seen double-digit growth in scholarship assistance, too.
The day school aid is welcomed, but it shouldn't mask the
troubling trend of rising tuition that has put an unsubsidized
education out of reach of most middle-class families. Our
synagogue and supplemental school enrollment of 4,200 is
nearly double that of our day schools (2,300).
The task force plan also will address the crucial need to
recruit and retain teachers at all student levels. Interpret that
to mean better trained and better paid teachers — if we have
any hope to attain the quality that Alter envisions.
The task force's call for an educational concierge to guide
families with school-age kids to the best Jewish learning
opportunities based on family expectations and resources
should be an easy sell for a local philanthropist. Many families
not familiar with the array of options probably settle only for
a good secular school.
Important Pillars
As Peter Alter passed Federation's presidential baton to
Nancy Grosfeld on Sept. 23 in Handleman Hall at the West
Bloomfield JCC, I pondered the
announcement of a $100,000 Pillars
Campaign for Jewish Detroit's two
top priorities: Jewish education
and eldercare services. This nexus
between our precious community
edges — the younger and older
generations — is huge. Together, 50
percent of our population is younger
than 18 and older than 64.
Seniors nourish the community with their know-how and
insight. Kids give us incentive to keep our community vibrant
and yearning. But only a communal commitment with vision,
reliable funding and a degree of risk will furnish the texture
of learning that engages our kids and instills them with
Jewish values and pride. It's a texture pivotal to Jewish life.
Achieving this also would impress young families and
single young adults looking to relocate here or move back.
We must tap into each
student's neshamah,
the innermost chamber
of their soul.
Reaching Deep
Alter is right: A task force plan that isn't inspirational will fail.
The knowledge served up won't be absorbed. And the learn-
ing, fragile as it is, won't last.
"We must seek to reach not only students' minds, but also
students' hearts — to connect with their Jewish community,
with Israel and with their Judaism," Alter said.
Amen.
But I will take that a step farther. We must tap into each
student's neshamah, the innermost chamber of their soul.
Only then can we give them a fighting chance to fend off the
secular lures of full assimilation, acculturation and apathy.
In another peek, Alter said the task force plan will encour-
age the community to invest "substantial dollars" in existing
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Are we, as a community, on course in
helping our kids live Jewish lives?
Are we doing enough to boost the quality
of our synagogue schools?
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October 4 • 2007
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