th e yinniversary
j-lappy
Southfield
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facility was renamed in honor of
Lois and the late Milton Shiffman.
The house once used for Yeshivat
Chachmey Lublin classes was demol-
ished to make room for the gym.
The next year, Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld
came on as executive director, a posi-
tion he still holds.
In 1994, Rabbi Avraham Cohen was
appointed dean of the Yeshiva, and in
1999 became director of what is now
the Jean and Theodore Weiss Partners
in Torah Program, which pairs 600
learners of all backgrounds with men-
tors to study Jewish topics on a weekly
basis. Also in 1999, Rabbi Avrohom
Fishman was appointed principal
of the boys' school and dean of the
Yeshiva. The same year, the school
broke ground on the campus for the
Norma Jean and Edward Meer Early
Childhood Development Center.
In 1998, Congregation Beth Achim
merged with Adat Shalom Synagogue
at its current location in Farmington
Hills, moving its religious school to
the new facility.
In 1999, Yeshivat Akiva, a nursery-
through 12th-grade Orthodox Zionist
day school, moved from the former
Annie Lathrup school on Southfield
Road in Lathrup Village and began
classes in Southfield in the former
Beth Achim synagogue building on
12 Mile Road, where they currently
remain under the leadership of educa-
tional director Rabbi Yigal Tsaidi.
In 2000, Yeshivas Darchei Torah,
then a 15-year-old Orthodox day
school, moved into the former United
Hebrew Schools building on 12 Mile
Road. The school is headed by boys'
division principal Rabbi Dovid Kahn
and girls' division principal Sarah
Kahn.
Classes For Everyone
In addition to Jewish day schools, sev-
eral Southfield-based learning insti-
tutions currently offer after-school
and adult learning programs. With
offices based in Southfield, both Aish
Detroit, headed by executive direc-
tor Rabbi Simcha Tolwin, and Ohr
Somayach Detroit, led by executive
director Rabbi David Shapero, offer
educational programs that take place
throughout the community.
Michigan Jewish Institute began
in Farmington Hills in 1994 and relo-
cated to Oak Park in 1997. It chose
Southfield for a temporary move of
administrative offices and conference
center last year while its new facil-
ity, to be completed in 2009 in West
Bloomfield, is under construction. The
choice of a move — into the Specs
Howard School of Broadcast Arts on
Nine Mile Road — was made because
of the facility's school environment
and the easy access to surrounding
communities. Specs Howard (aka Jerry
Liebman of Southfield) is a long time
MJI trustee.
Other adult education programs are
conducted in Southfield-based syna-
gogues.
The Yeshiva, the first Jewish day
school to form in the city of Southfield
— and with about half of its 400 stu-
dents studying on the campus there
— is also the most recent to renovate
and create additions. Two years ago,
the school purchased the apartment
complex adjacent to the campus and
converted it into condominiums with
some units donated to the Yeshiva for
faculty housing. An anonymous donor
has funded the cost of a children's
playground in the enclosed courtyard
between the buildings. One of the
units houses Yeshiva offices, class-
rooms, a library and Agudas Yisroel-
Mogen Abraham synagogue, headed
by Rabbis Dov Loketch and Asher
Eisenberger.
In 2007, the school received a gift
from Yeshiva supporters Ann Newman
of Bloomfield Hills and her family
that would allow for construction of
a multimillion-dollar, two-story addi-
tion to the current boys' building,
including new first- and second-grade
classrooms, a new beis midrash (house
of learning), offices, computer and
science labs, a state-of-the-art library,
café work rooms and a study hall for
the Partners in Torah program.
The 8,500-square-foot addition to
each level of the building is expected
to be completed by the start of school
this coming fall. The Yeshiva campus,
named the Newman Family Campus
in memory of Shaya and Esther
Zeidenfeld and Chazkel and Berindel
Rozen, grandparents of Ann. Newman,
makes room for even more students to
participate in Jewish studies.
And with more than 1,000 young
students — and countless adults
— attending classes in Southfield's
Jewish-based schools, the city remains
solidly among the sites of the future of
Jewish education.
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Some of the historical facts
in this article were based on
information originally printed
in "Echoes of Detroit's Jewish
how do you get your news?
Communities: A History," by
Access the news. events and
opinions important to this community
Irwin J. Cohen of Oak Park.
check us out @ JNonline.us
April 24 • 2008
A31