Tri - Community Coalition
Berkley
Huntington
Woods j Oak Park
Preventing Substance Abuse Together
.1)
ceeackri- X 0
- JX- roug
(r
L_/0/S9r/Pene,11-
with special guest Gary Weinstein
Kineret Gable of Detroit addresses a secret New Year's card to an
unsuspecting Kol Ami family with the help of her husband, Lance, and
their daughter Meira, 3.
His wife and two sons were
killed by a drunk driver.
How do you go on?
How do you forgive?
How do you use forgiveness to
make a difference in the world?
Welcome Back
Kol Ami students are greeted by a new
education director at a High Holiday Fair.
Shelli Liebman Dorfman
Contributing Writer
A
Farina's Banquet Center
t a High Holiday Fair filled
with fun, learning and the
excitement of the first day
of school, there was also an element of
introspection.
"Families entered
the social hall greet-
ed by a question: It
is 5772, what kind of
Jew were you?" said
Nicole Jahr, direc-
tor of education at
Temple Kol Ami in
West Bloomfield,
Nicole Jahr
where the event
took place. 'As they
continued down the path marked off
by benches and chairs, they came to
another question: It is 5773, what kind
of Jew will you be?"
More than 70 students and nearly
100 adults attended the Sept. 9 pro-
gram that coincided with the start of
religious school.
"Participants had to decide a path
to travel on," said Jahr, who created
the fair as a way to bring the families
together.
2485 Coolidge Hwy • Berkley, MI 48072
Date: Friday, October 5, 2012
Time: 7:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Tickets for the event are $30.00 and can be purchased at
www.tricommunitycoalition.org
New Education Director
G ot Gold?
N
We Buy it.
yea wctka,e,
12r669vis Stiskteh Atm tftte.
?e,G094d taadtt, cRatt4!
6881 Orchard Lake Rd.
on the Boardwalk
(248) 851-5030
1G S
20
September 27 • 2012
"They had two choices: to the left
was 'the path of the wicked' and to the
right was 'the path of the righteous!
Those who chose the wicked path were
met by parent volunteer Jodi Tauber
who interrogated students — inten-
tionally — about what they have done
this year that was so wicked. After
surviving the questioning, they were
given the chance to turn around and
follow the righteous path."
Along this road were experiential
activities.
"At one station, young students
threw little pieces of scrap paper into
a box full of blue tissue paper, learn-
ing, reflecting and experiencing the
tashlich ceremony of casting off their
sins," Jahr said.
At a high-tech station, students
downloaded a color identifier app onto
an iPad or iPhone. "Students aimed
the device at a red, green or yellow
apple and the app identified what color
it matched from the database," Jahr
said. The unusual colors included very
deep purplish red, strong brown and
moderate yellowish green.
"The activity was terrific for the par-
ents and kids who were able to down-
load the app," said fifth-grade teacher
Nina Rosenblum. "Each time a new
icole Jahr joined Temple
Kol Ami as education
director in July of this year.
Most recently, she was interim direc-
tor of education at Congregation
Beth Shalom in Oak Park. Prior to
that, she served as assistant educa-
tion director, religious school teacher
and teacher-mentor at Temple Beth
El in Bloomfield Hills for 10 years.
Jahr earned her bachelor's degree
at California State University, Fresno,
and her teaching certificate from
Oakland University in Auburn Hills.
She and her husband, Herb, have two
daughters, Samantha and Lauren.
During her more than 25-year
career as an educator, Jahr has taught
religious school kindergarten, third
and fifth grades and high school
students. She also has trained more
than 80 teachers in the Detroit
area as a Professional Development
for Teachers facilitator with the
Congregational School Initiative
(CSI2), a program of the Jewish
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's
Alliance for Jewish Education, in
which Kol Ami participates. Jahr is
president of the Metropolitan Detroit
Board of Jewish Educators. 11