Elissa Berg
Amy Appelman
Rabbi Jason Miller
Rabbi Eric Yanoff
Danielle HarPaz
Mechnikov
as a study hall and meet with an ATID
staff member as a tutor. For graduates of
Hillel now in public or non-Jewish pri-
vate schools, a special study track will be
implemented.
A travel component includes Shabbat-
experience visits to New York City and
Chicago, social action and civic-based
trips as well as a tour of the Paper Clips
project in Whitwell, Tenn. "Adat Shalom
and Shaarey Zedek have been doing these
types of trips, but for the others this will
be a new opportunity," Miller said.
Leadership training programs will
be led by directors of Camp Ramah in
Canada, Tamarack Camps and B'nai B'rith
Youth Organization.
The larger number of students will allow
for more specific courses to be offered.
"We may not have enough students at
each individual synagogue for classes to
be run at various levels:' Berg said. "But
with hundred of teens, we can run a course
like conversational Hebrew with beginner,
intermediate and advanced classes.
"Students who want to major in a spe-
cific subject can take an elective related to
that interest — like social action, Jewish
text or art — during each of their five
years in ATID:' she said.
The school's faculty will have wide-
spread expertise. "There is so much poten-
tial for passionate teachers when staff
members from several congregations are
involved," Yanoff said.
As Hillel becomes the gathering place
for Jewish education on Monday nights, an
adult component also will be offered, featur-
ing guest speakers, a weekly Torah portion
class led by Shaarey Zedek's Rabbi Joseph
Krakoff and a Hebrew literacy course hosted
by area Conservative men's clubs, with more
programming in the works.
New Faces, Old Faces
"There is a lot of ruach (spirit) and excite-
ment in being part of a large group:' said
Yanoff, whose religious school is the larg-
est Conservative synagogue high school in
the area, with 120 students. Adat Shalom's
enrollment is next with 85.
Leadership at the 380-family B'nai
Moshe — where 24 students attend pro-
gram for grades 8-12 — is undecided
about joining ATID, but excited about the
possibilities.
"We have an excellent teaching staff,
low attrition and our kids have bonded
through the years; but I see a huge poten-
tial bonus to join in with ATID," said edu-
cation director Mechnikov.
"Kids who are part of ATID will have so
many new connections:' she said. "They
may even notice someone from their
public high school they didn't know and
realize they have something in common. It
also gives them the chance to see friends
they don't see as often because they aren't
in school together. And later on, when they
go to college, they will already know so
many more kids.
"Some of the parents are nervous about
how their quieter kids who've been part
of a smaller synagogue program could be
lost in a big crowd:' she said. "A task force
at B'nai Moshe has been meeting weekly
to discuss this kind of issue and others.
We want to make sure we bring the right
approach to the program before we decide
to bring all the kids into the fold!'
Miller said, "For some, there is a com-
fort level in staying where they are, with
what they're used to. ATID will have small
classes, small social groups and a lot of
opportunity to bond with the students'
own congregation's clergy."
For Beth Ahm, ATID means providing a
high school program where there have not
been the resources to have one for the past
few years. A couple of Beth Ahm's high
schoolers attend a congregational religious
school at another synagogue. "We have at
least 60 members who are the right age:'
said education director Appelman, "but
we are a big day-school synagogue with
many students at FJA.
"We definitely fit the bill for ATID
because it is open to day-school kids as
well. We are very excited to be part of the
momentum that will be created by all the
other synagogues!"
Appelman understands the probability
of ATID's success. "I am a graduate of a
community supplementary high school
in Cincinnati, where the students of four
Reform synagogue schools were together
in classes:' she said. "We weren't in neutral
space like ATID will be; each semester, we
jumped from synagogue to synagogue. I
had a very positive experience?'
In addition to synagogue teens, ATID
expects to attract students from unaffili-
ated families, too.
What About Fun?
Organizers hope ATID, with its mass
of students, will lead to a revival of
the Conservative movement's United
Synagogue Youth (USY), which in the past
several years has dwindled locally.
"USY is a place that encourages teenag-
ers to live Conservative Jewish lives:' Berg
said. "Even if teens didn't live observant
lives, when they were with USY they were
in a model that showed them how; and
they observed while participating." Some
area Conservative congregations have
no USY chapters; the 1,050-family Adat
Shalom has only 20 active members.
To help spur participation, USCJ's Gutin
has pledged free two-year memberships to
USY for ATID students.
"We are not giving up on the next gen-
eration," Yanoff said. "ATID is an invest-
ment in our future And "future" is the
definition of the Hebrew word atid.
Together But Separate
"ATID is not a merging of identities or of
congregations:' Miller said. "Each congre-
gation will maintain its separate identity,
mission and vision!'
In addition to an ATID graduation, indi-
vidual synagogues also will hold separate
graduations and confirmations. Special
programming may be held at individual
synagogues or at Tamarack's Camp Maas
in Ortonville for the entire ATID group
during the school year.
Having all those teens in one place
makes it advantageous to promote
community-wide programs, such as
Federation's Teen Mission '08. "When I
make announcements during services
about teen-related programs, the kids look
at me and then they look at each other and
say, Are you going to that?'" Yanoff said.
"Imagine if there were 200 of them asking
each other. Teens go where teens are
The ATID steering committee is headed
by Rabbis Miller and Yanoff, Adat Shalom
President David Schostak, Shaarey
Zedek President David Wallace and Adat
Shalom's Executive Director Alan Yost.
Other members include educational direc-
tors from all area Conservative synagogues
and parent representatives. An advisory
committee includes clergy from all area
Conservative synagogues as well as corn-
munity leaders, additional parents and a
contingent of teens.
The initial idea for ATID came 31/2 years
ago during a monthly Conservative leader-
ship gathering to discuss issues impacting
the local community.
The concept of ATID is new, but other
communal programs have existed before.
United Hebrew Schools, which dissolved
in 1988 with the formation of Federation's
Agency for Jewish Education, once was the
largest communal-based Hebrew school
system in the country with its own build-
ings as well as partner-run branches and a
summer camp. Last year, a combined pro-
gram of some Detroit-area Conservative
and Reform synagogue schools was
attempted but did not succeed.
The cost of ATID is $700, which is com-
parable to current tuition at the partici-
pating congregations.
"Adat Shalom and Shaarey Zedek have
been responsible for the initial start-up
costs of ATID,"Yost said. "The rent for
Hillel Day School is built into the opera-
tional budget for the school. It is anticipat-
ed that the expenditure for teachers' sala-
ries will be reduced by the commitment
of time, energy and active presence of the
clergy and educational directors who will
be active faculty members?'
In addition, Yost said, "Parents will
be able to apply for scholarships from
Federation's Alliance for Jewish Education
in the same format as prior years when
synagogues operated their own indepen-
dent high school programs?'
Miller added, "No Jewish student will
be denied an ATID education because of
financial difficulties?'
And the hope is that many students will
join in. "There is a tremendous power
in being part of something bigger than
ourselves," Yanoff said. "We are putting
a fresh face on the next generation of
Conservative schools. We are going to take
the core enrollment to provide enthusiasm
— and then invite the world?' ❑
For information on ATID, contact
individual Conservative synagogues,
access the ATID Web site at www.
atidhs.org , or contact Rabbi Jason
Miller: atid.hs@gmail.com or (248)
535-7090.
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March 27 • 2008
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