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A Philanthropic Pillar

EDUCATIONAL IMPRINT

Education from page A28

Rabbi Judah

Isaacs

Rabbi Joseph H. Ili

Krakoff

Tom Wexelberq-

Clouser

Rabbi Jason

Miller

Steve
Freedman

Rabbi Eric

Yanoff

Jeremy
Baruch

Daphna

Ruby

A30

March 19 • 2009

Foundation of Detroit pledged $15 mil-
lion to the endowment of the Davidson
Institute to further science education
projects and initiatives both in Israel and
internationally.
At the time the endowment was
announced, Davidson said, "It is essential
that the Weizmann Institute broaden its
proven, successful educational science ini-
tiatives to reach even more people in Israel
and around the world.
"I believe that education — particularly
science education — is an absolute neces-
sity for a healthy and vibrant society," he
added.
"Mr. Davidson was a role model who
led by example," said Dr. Daphna Ruby,
national vice president and executive
director of the Michigan Region American
Committee for the Weizmann Institute of
Science, based in Bloomfield Township.
"He cared very much about education,
realizing that science and technology
are the keys to our future. It is in that
spirit that he established the flourishing
Davidson Institute of Science Education
at the Weizmann Institute in Israel,
where tens of thousands of children and
adults benefit from a variety of programs
designed to advance science education
and scientific literacy. Mr. D's investment
will bear great fruit for generations!"
Also in Israel, Technion's William
Davidson Faculty of Industrial
Engineering and Management offers
programs leading to advanced degrees
in industrial engineering operations,
research and systems analysis, econom-
ics, behavioral and management sciences,
business administration and statistics
information management engineering.

Teaching Jewish Teachers

In 2000, Davidson was involved in the cre-
ation of a program that has impacted the
education of countless students in syna-
gogue classrooms.
With a Millennium Campaign for
Detroit's Jewish Future endowment gift
from the David and Doreen Hermelin and
William and Karen Davidson families to
Federation, the Hermelin-Davidson Center
for Congregational Excellence was found-
ed to strengthen the local congregational
education system. (Philanthropist David
Hermelin died in November 2000.)
Implemented by the AJE, the center
embarked on a long-term program of
enhanced education for synagogue-based
teachers.
The AJE, along with the center's board,

developed intensive training programs for
multi-denominational educators work-
ing in congregational school settings,
based on the grade level of their students,
from preschool to grade 12, with teachers
receiving a stipend for participation.
The enhanced training, which included
national expert involvement, resulted
in the creation of JEEEP (Jewish Early
Educator Enhancement Program), a two-
year program focusing on improving the
Judaic knowledge of preschool educa-
tors. Teachers of children in grades K-2,
3-5 and 6-12 were divided into TEAM
(Teacher Educator Advancement Model)
programs. Intensive four-week summer
courses were also included.
The program, which trained approxi-
mately 600 teachers, also subsidized
structured trips to Israel for the educators
with a goal of bringing Israel back into the
classroom. An evaluator from the William
Davidson Graduate School of Jewish
Education at JTS participated and con-
ducted evaluations during each trip.
"The center is an unbelievable model
for other cities," said Rabbi Joseph H.
Krakoff, a member of the center's board,
who officiated at Davidson's funeral, along
with colleagues Rabbi Eric Yanoff and
Cantor Meir Finkelstein of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Oakland County.
"When you talk about innovation and
creativity and a vibrant approach to trans-
forming the classroom, this is it because of
the vision and foresight of the Hermelins
and Davidsons. For them to give teachers
the experience of advanced education and
to take them to Israel is such a blessing!"
Upon completion of the center's teacher
training component, congregational reli-
gious schools are now being evaluated
with a focus on enhancing the system,
with rabbis, parents and teachers included
in the strategic planning process. In addi-
tion to the teaching component, the center
funded the Synagogue 2000 program in
the Detroit community.
In an article on the center, AJE Executive
Director Rabbi Judah Isaacs listed lessons
other communities may learn from it.
He included the importance of investing
funds in congregational excellence for
change to occur, the significance of com-
pensating teachers for serious professional
involvement, the need to think systemati-
cally about how to effect change within
the congregational school system and the
worth of every Jewish educator having an
affordable way to visit Israel.
Isaacs sights the Hermelin-Davidson

Center for Congregation Excellence as
being "on an important journey to elevate
and improve our educational landscape!'
Doreen Hermelin, who serves as one
of the chairs of the center, remembers its
start. "Bill and my husband, David, both
had a passion for education and wanted to
form a program for kids in congregational
schools," she said. "It is amazing now to
look at how the center has impacted stu-
dents through the intensive education of
the teachers. The two men had a common-
ality in that they both felt education was
primary. Their relationship was very spe-
cial; they talked almost every day and had
tremendous respect for one another. They
had more laughs than you can imagine."

Graduate Studies
Among the nearly 20 Detroiters who have
studied at the William Davidson Graduate
School of Jewish Education at JTS in New
York is Rabbi Jason Miller of Farmington
Hills. His connections with Davidson
began long before entering the school and
have continued way past his 2004 gradu-
ation.
"Mr. Davidson's philanthropic reach was
enormous:' Miller said. "Wherever I trav-
eled on my own educational and profes-
sional journey, there was Bill Davidson.
"As a young student at Hillel Day School,
I sat in classrooms that were part of a
wing that he named for his children, Ethan
and Marla Davidson. I studied for my
master's degree at the William Davidson
Graduate School of Jewish Education. As a
Jewish educator, I've been part of continu-
ing education programs through TEAM, a
program of the Hermelin-Davidson Center
for Congregational Excellence.
"As a staff member of the U-M Hillel
Foundation," said Miller, "I worked in a
building that was established because of
the generosity of Mr. Davidson and many
of his friends. As a rabbi, I have led groups
in Israel to the Davidson Center in the
Jerusalem Archaeological Park, Israel's
most important antiquity site in the Old
City of Jerusalem, which he funded. As a
rabbi in Columbus, Ohio, I was a guest at
a dinner at the home of Les and Abigail
Wexner for Jewish communal leaders to
meet the newest class of Wexner Fellows
and Davidson Scholars."
Miller sees JTS' Davidson Graduate
School, America's largest pluralistic school
of Jewish education, as a great example
of Davidson's philanthropic mission. "He
shared his thoughts about the vision of the
school, but then allowed the school's leader-