>> on the cover
Proud students and their
teacher (in pink) at the siyum
marking the completion of
study.
14 women complete 3 1/2-year study of all
613 mitzvot from Sefer HaChinuch.
Lynne Meredith Golodner I Special to the Jewish News
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Sefer HaChinuch was written by
an unknown author in 12th century
Barcelona for his son. The father was
concerned that his son was hanging
around too much with "no-good-niks,"
as Finkelman puts it, and wanted him to
study more Torah. He writes an essay on
every single mitzvah, explaining its source,
to whom it applies, what the consequences
are if you don't observe and attempts to
offer a rationale for it.
Most people use the text today to find a
quick insight for a weekly d'var Torah. But
the tome (five books in all) was intended
as an introductory work leading to deeper
study.
Finkelman grew up in Bronx, N.Y.,
and gravitated to observant Judaism as
a teenager. Her Jewish education was
"piecemeal," though she has nabbed every
opportunity to delve into study that came
her way.
Trained as an attorney, she taught writ-
ing and research for many years at Wayne
State University and at McGeorge School
of Law in Sacramento. She has been mar-
ried to Rabbi Dr. Eliezer Finkelman for
43 years; they have four children and 11
10 January 17 • 2013
grandchildren.
Finkelman began teaching Sefer
HaChinuch with her son, Yaacov, to enrich
his Judaic education. They would sit on
their Berkeley, Calif., porch and learn
while waiting for his school carpool to
arrive.
"Using it with a young person helped
me to see all kinds of curriculum develop-
ment:' says Finkelman. "You can see the
intellectual progress clearly:'
Morality The Key
This text is designed to prepare the learner
for more serious study, like the Talmud,
Finkelman says. Several of her students
commented that they "never had a system-
atic Jewish education" until now.
Students also see the development of
the father-son relationship. Early on, the
father gives "a glorious parental tantrum,"
she explains, trying to push his son into
proper behavior. By the end, the father
has softened and grown closer to his son,
when he suggests that it is his son's turn to
find answers and enlighten the father.
The author presents Torah command-
ments in a rationalist approach while
tipping his hat to the mystical tradition,
-,1;n7,11r:
Beloved teacher Marilyn Finkelman of
Southfield
Finkelman notes.
"He always speaks respectfully of dis-
agreeing: 'Blessed is he whose mistakes
can be counted: He is not afraid of speak-
ing his own opinion. He emphasizes that
everyone can be part of the Halachic con-
versation. That is a voice that needs to be
heard in today's Jewish community:"
She also sees a major message emerg-
ing from the text: that the entire point of
Judaism, according to this work, is moral-
ity.
This time around, Finkelman built a
website around the class, www.hinnuch.
com. The website features every week's les-
son, in case someone had to miss class.
"You didn't want to miss:' a participant
says.
"These were a lot of people dealing
with real life and their investment in
this project leaves me in the dust:' says
Finkelman. One woman was recovering
from a car accident for two months and
her first outing was to Finkelman's class.
Another woman sat in a hospital beside
an ailing relative and listened to the lec-
tures virtually.
Southfield resident Mintzi Schramm
"got hooked" about a third of the way
through the first book. The class, she
says, was meaningful on many levels.
"Just the fact of having this group of
people who sat around and talked about
these concepts:' she says. And there was
having a mind like Marilyn's. She is tre-
mendously incisive. It was very, very stim-
ulating, broadening and mind-opening to
listen to her:'
The night after the siyum, the women
began a new class with Finkelman on
the Jewish laws of bodily harm, or rodef.
When the Chinuch class was coming to a
close, they turned to her, stupefied, and
said, "Well, we're not going to stop study-
ing, are we?"
Finkelman says she'll continue to teach
as long as she has an audience that wants
to learn.
❑
Classes are free. Contact Finkelman through
www.hinnuch.com.