metro
News From
The Frankel Center
Engaging from page 27
MARTI
& ERICA
You have given us more
joy than we ever thought
possible. We are very
proud of you both.
May all your dreams
come true.
Celebrating Our
Judaic Studies
Graduates
A few weeks ago, the Frankel
Center for Judaic Studies at
the University of Michigan cel-
ebrated its graduates, class of
2012. They included students
from as far away as Dunwoody,
GA, and Owings Mills, MD,
and as close as Birmingham,
West Bloomfield, Fowlerville,
and Dexter, MI. Yet Carly
Greenspan, Candyce Hill,
Laura Marcus, Hannah Rous-
sel, Asa Smith, Aliza Storchan,
and Elizabeth Traison share
with Allie Maron and Cara
Herman an enthusiasm for
integrating study of Jews, Ju-
daism and Jewish culture into
their studies. They did more
than take a single course; they
committed to multiple Judaic
Studies courses, a decision that
will reverberate throughout
their adult lives because it gives
them insight into and ways of
thinking about Jewish history
and culture. Indeed, Judaic
Studies appeals to students in
part because of its flexibility
and intimacy. Students get to
contemplate serious questions
that animate the history of
Jews, Jewish literatures written
in many languages across the
centuries, and facets of a rich
Jewish religious culture. Mazel
tov to our Judaic Studies grads!
— Deborah Dash Moore
Director and
Frederick G.L. Htletwell
Professor of History,
University of Michigan
Congratulations on receiving our
Masters in Elementary Education
with Certification from U of M.
We know you will be a terrific teacher
& are very proud of you!
Love,
Mom, Dad, Helene,
Robbie & Michael
MICHAEL SIMONS
We are proud of you & all of
your academic & extra curricular
achievements. We know you will
continue to be successful
at U of M. Go Blue!
Love,
Mom, Dad, Helene, Debbie & Robbie
Maze! Toy!
ROBBIE SIMONS
WWW.Isa.umich.edu/judaic/
We are proud of all your
accomplishments both academic
& extra curricular. We know you
will continue to succeed
at U of M. Go Blue!
judaicstudies@urnich.edu
734/763-9047
Love,
Jean &Samuel
Frankel
Center for Judaic Studie
. ,3; 2011 Regents of the University of Michigan
1758170
28
Debbie Simons
a is24 2012
Mom, Dad, Helene, Debbie & Michael
Hometown Engagement
CommunityNEXT has become
a known quantity in the Detroit
Jewish community since the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
launched it as a "digital-centric con-
cierge service that provides avenues
for young Jewish adults to achieve a
dynamic lifestyle." CommunityNEXT
builds community among young
Jews by maximizing the number of
non-threatening
entry points and
strengthening their
connection to the
Federation and
larger Jewish com-
munity.
Rachel
Lachover, associ-
Rachel
ate director of
Lachover
CommunityNEXT,
presented the
opportunities and challenges of
"making Federation relevant to
young Jews." The tone and tempo of
CommunityNEXT flows largely from
the differences between Generation
Y and X, as well as from those their
senior:
• Young adults blur work and play.
Further, they see their family as
friends and friends as family
• Members of Generation X tend-
ed to reject rules. Gen Yers rewrite
rules.
• When you talk or present to
young adults, they want to know, in
the first 15 seconds, "So what? Why
now? Why me?"
• Humor is a way, if not the prima-
ry way, for Gen Y to communicate.
• When young adults make deci-
sions, they likely will think, "If it's
important, we will have heard about
it."
A Sense Of Entitlement?
Amid the colorful Q&A that fol-
lowed, Jo Datz, executive director
at Jewish Federation of Springfield,
Ill., posed what she described as a
"philosophical question":
"I wonder if the intensive focus
on the young people themselves isn't
creating a sense of entitlement that
undermines the spirit that we sup-
port a cause, not based on the expe-
rience it provides, but because it is
worth supporting?"
Another attendee countered that
these generational critiques date
back to Ecclesiastes.
Ecclesiastes could not be reached
for comment, but is on record as
having offered this advice to the
young: "Therefore remove sorrow
from thy heart, and put away evil
from thy flesh: for childhood and
youth are vanity." _I