Spirituality
Inaugural Class
Goal: Women Rabbis
ATID program graduates its first
group of high school seniors.
Orthodox women's yeshivah program
aims to elevate spiritual leader training.
Keri Guten Cohen
Ben Harris
Story Development Editor
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
A
TID: Alliance for Teens in
Detroit completed its first
year with the graduation
of 47 seniors on May 18 at Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit in
Farmington Hills. In their graduation
gowns and mortar boards — white for
girls and blue for boys — the gradu-
ates received their diplomas before an
audience of nearly 300 people.
This innovative Hebrew high school
program combines students in grades
8-12 from four congregational syna-
gogues — Adat Shalom in Farmington
Hills and Congregations Shaarey
Zedek of Oakland County and B'nai
Moshe and Beth Ahm, both in West
Bloomfield. Nearly 300 students met
Mondays for dinner and classes at
Hillel. Most core classes kept kids with
their home synagogue; elective classes
blended the students. Teachers includ-
ed congregational rabbis, cantors and
education directors as well as experts
from the community.
"I like that more people came togeth-
er from around the community and not
just from my shul," said Lesless Klein,
18, who belongs to Shaarey Zedek. "We
got to meet a lot of people and also got
to know other rabbis."
Klein, who will attend University of
Michigan next fall, spoke at the gradu-
ation about the memorable three-day
trip the ATID juniors and seniors took
to Washington, D.C., where they par-
ticipated in various community service
projects.
Lt. Ofir Ziv, commander of an Israeli
Air Force paratroop platoon, spoke to
the group of his experiences during the
war in Gaza. He was in town on behalf
of the local Israel Bonds office.
Popular elective classes at ATID
included the Jewish Web, Jewish cook-
ing, Yoga & Yiddishkeit, Dunk 'n Drash
(Torah study and basketball) and an
art class where teens made Judaica and
studied text.
"Next year, we plan to offer more
classes that incorporate text study
integrated with the arts (music, theater,
photography, etc.)," said Rabbi Jason
Miller, ATID director.
Miller was pleased with ATID's suc-
cessful inaugural year and looks forward
to growing the program next year.
"We conducted a thorough survey
B4
May 28 2009
New York
T
Leslee Klein, 18, of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek of Oakland County
speaks at the ATID graduation about
the school's trip to Washington, D.C.
during the final session of the program
in which we polled our students about
their core classes, electives, dinner
menu, special programs, teachers and
more," he said. "We will take a hard
look at those surveys and tweak the
program for next year. Throughout the
year, we made several adjustments so
that we are constantly improving our
program."
He sees ATID as "a healthy bal-
ance between Jewish education and
fostering a fun, social experience for
Jewish youth." A highlight of the year
was a back-to-school social program
following winter break at the Jewish
Community Center's Teen Center in
West Bloomfield. The program includ-
ed social action and tzedakah. Also, a
United Synagogue Youth chapter was
formed through ATID.
"I recommend everyone try ATID,"
Klein said."I enjoyed it and wish I'd
had it many more years."
More than half of ATID's students
receive financial assistance through
Federation's Alliance for Jewish
Education. "Additional funds have been
secured for financial assistance for the
2009-10 academic year," Miller said.
"No family will be turned away for
financial reasons."
Any local Jewish teen may enroll. For
information, go to www.atidhs.org or
contact Miller at (248) 539-5783.
wo months ago Sara Hurwitz
— then the "spiritual mentor" at
Rabbi Avi Weiss' Orthodox syna-
gogue, the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale —
was given a new title: Maharat, a Hebrew
acronym that stands for spiritual, halachic
and Torah leader.
Now Weiss is trying to export that some-
what cumbersome title to the rest of the
Jewish world with the launch of a yeshivah
to train new maharot.
Yeshivat Maharat, as the school will be
known, is expected to be up and running in
September and will offer women part-time
instruction in all areas of Jewish law, pasto-
ral training and even a synagogue intern-
ship. The full course of study to become a
certified maharat will take four years.
"We're training women to be rabbis,"
Hurwitz told the Forward. "What they will
be called is something we're working out"
Orthodox feminist leaders, several of
whom were pulling hard for Weiss to go
all-out and call Hurwitz rabbi, nevertheless
were pleased by the new developments.
Israeli Conversion Controversy
Jerusalem/JTA — Israel's Supreme
Court ordered the state to fund private
non-Orthodox institutions that prepare
potential converts to Judaism. In addi-
tion to ordering the state to create an
equal funding formula, the court man-
dated that the government retroactively
fund the affected institutions for the past
three years.
The May 19 ruling was in answer to
an appeal filed by the Israeli Movement
for Progressive Judaism, which performs
Reform conversions.
Prospective converts must attend con-
version classes to prepare them to go in
front of the rabbinical court. The converts
can be prepared by the Institute for Jewish
Studies, a public institution set up by the
Ne'eman Commission to teach converts
from any background, and under the
auspices of the Ministry of Immigrant
Absorption.
Other public conversion ulpans are
operated under the auspices of the
Ministry of Education. In addition,
prospective converts can attend classes
under the auspices of private institu-
tions, which are operated by all streams
The Jewish Orthodox Feminist Alliance
in a statement called Hurwitz's new title a
"historic moment" and, in the only hint of
disappointment, noted that another mile-
stone would be reached with the ordination
of Orthodox female rabbis.
Some, however, saw the clever new title
as a cop-out.
"I respect anyone who believes there is
a serious reason for allowing women to be
rabbis, and I respect anyone who has seri-
ous reasons not to:' Jonathan Mark wrote in
the Jewish Week. "This isn't my fight.
"On the other hand, I'm having a hard
time rooting for anyone who believes
women should be rabbis, but who won't
say it out loud, who wants to back-door it,
to fake it, by calling the woman not rabbi,
but Manhigah Hilkhatit Ruhanit Toranit,
as if that will fool the traditionalists, as if
that will fool the [Orthodox Union] shuls
where [Yeshivat Chovevei Torah] graduates
can't get hired — like changing the name
of a sickly child to Alta to fool the Angel of
Death."
"You have to start somewhere," Hurwitz
told JTA."We have to put one foot in front
of the other and keep moving forward, and
I think that the community will follow" 7_
of Judaism.
Meanwhile, Israel's Supreme Court
has ordered the High Rabbinic Court to
explain why it nullified conversions by
the former National Conversion Authority
chief. The move to cancel hundreds of con-
versions overseen by special conversion
courts headed by Rabbi Haim Druckman
came in February 2008, when a religious
court judge in Ashdod retroactively
annulled the conversion of a woman that
Druckman had converted 17 years ago.
The annulment also affected the Jewish
status of the woman's four children.
The Supreme Court's May 18 ruling
came after a petition was filed by several
organizations and two women whose
conversions were affected, the Jerusalem
Post reported. The petition asked the
court to order Israel's rabbinic courts to
recognize all conversions registered by
the National Conversion Authority. The
rabbinic court has 90 days to respond.
The woman and other converts in
her position remain registered as Jews
with the Interior Ministry, but the rab-
binic court wields the power to refuse to
marry them.