metro >> on the cover
Empowered To Learn
Yeshiva's Tuesday night
Stories by Robert Sklar
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Embracing The Hum
Nancy Triest grew up Conservative and
attended United Hebrew Schools, but she
and her husband, Brent, now keep an
Orthodox home. They have two children
and two grandchildren. Nancy finds spiritual
nourishment amid the Partners Study Hall.
"It's powerful — tables upon tables of
men and women conversing and learning
Torah:' said Nancy, a past board member of
Oakland County-based Tamarack Camps.
"Partners gets people to think and dig
in," she added. "The knowledge alone can't
help but pique your curiosity and make you
richer'
Janet and Stuart Snider, parents of three
and grandparents of one, are active in the
Orthodox community. Janet calls all the
Partners voices rising in study "contagious
and motivating:'
"It makes you feel you are part of some-
thing much bigger, yet you can customize
your studying to your chosen topic at your
own speed and stop for questions, com-
ments and discussion along the way:' Janet
said. "So on the one hand, you're part of
this huge group, but at the same time,
you're part of just a team of two:'
"Partners in Torah has
blossomed beyond any of
our most hopeful expec-
tations:' said Dr. Maury
Ellenberg, Yeshiva board
chair. "It has become
the catalyst for amazing
activities across the entire
Dr. Ellenberg
breadth of the Jewish
community:'
The program is named for the late local
couple Jean and Theodore Weiss.
As Holocaust survivors who understood
what the rebuilding of the Jewish people
required:' Ellenberg said, "they were the
perfect example to name the program for:'
Their family assisted in starting the
Partners endowment; family members also
participate in Partners and call the naming
a high honor.
Dr. Conrad Giles,
former president of the
Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit,
has studied with Yeshiva
President Gary Torgow
for 12 years. Giles aptly
calls Partners a "great
community builder, con-
necting the Orthodox and
non-Orthodox communities in a greater
understanding of one another:'
8
July 11 • 2013
study helps unify community.
T
"Rabbi Nehorai said: 'Exile yourself to a place
of Torah — and do not assume that it will come
after you — for it is your colleagues who will
cause it to remain with you; and do not rely on
- Pirkei Avot 4:18
your own understanding."'
The program, which began with 10 part-
nerships, has become a critical component
of the Jewish Detroit learning landscape,
including a growing partnership with the
Jewish Community Center. The JCC out-
reach is one of the newest examples of how
Partners has become a Yeshiva division that
provides many avenues to learn for Jews of
varied ages, backgrounds and interests.
are what help make you a better Jew with a
more fulfilling expression of Jewish life.
Judge Mark Goldsmith of the Detroit-
based U.S. District Court for the Eastern
District of Michigan studies through
Partners with Rabbi Doniel Neustadt, head
of the Vaad Harabonim of Greater Detroit.
"He has elevated my understanding of
Talmud beyond what I could have imag-
ined:' Goldsmith said. "Partners is critical
to my spiritual
growth:'
No Caste
System
The Partners
program is
Staying
Vigilant
Orthodox-led,
but non-
Partners is the
judgmental.
Detroit Jewish
community's
The Orthodox
mentors include
largest pro-
gram for con-
rabbis, profes-
sionals and
tinuing adult
homemakers.
education. In
a program so
They hope their
partners deepen
large and with
participants
their religious
ranging from
understanding,
Robert Sklar and Stuart Snider study Pirkei Avot.
appreciation
Orthodox to
and practice as
secular, some
partnerships don't work. For example,
a result of all the time invested, but it's not
about forcing change. Torah itself, no matter lack of connection from either side would
how religiously observant you are, is a life
quickly doom a partnership.
changer. God's teachings are a unique gift
Rabbi Cohen is happy to find a differ-
that can instruct, uplift and even transform,
ent partner for anyone who feels pres-
depending on how tightly you cling to them.
sured or uninspired. The noble intent is
The common thread to Partners is a
to make each shidduch (match) enduring.
desire to study Torah in an inviting atmo-
Cohen relishes making successful matches,
sphere. No two journeys as a Jew are alike.
based on a variety of subjective factors. A
The beauty of Partners lies in elevating your bonus comes when those matches evolve
Jewish soul and expanding your under-
into lasting friendships beyond the study
standing of what it means to be Jewish.
hall, which happened with both of Janet
Partners is designed to supplement, not
Snider's partnerships. A weekly commit-
obfuscate, learning with a favorite rabbi,
ment to study is ideal, but if partners get
at your synagogue, as
together only twice a month, well ... no
part of a chavurah or via
one is taking attendance.
In a significant disclaimer that addresses
another Jewish organiza-
tion.
an occasional concern, Cohen, who as a
Ideally, the totality of
teenager at yeshivah dreamed of advanc-
ing 1-on-1 learning, told me: "Tuesday
what you learn should
encourage you to value
night Partners has removed the erroneous
your Judaism more. The
notion that religious Jews look down on
Judge
cherished parts of your
non-religious or less-religious Jews —
Goldsmith
Jewish portfolio typically
or worse, don't feel that they're Jewish.
Everyone in the
room is accepted;
we don't want
negative vibes.
Every Jew is a
Jew — and is
respected:'
Rabbi Joshua
Bennett of
Temple Israel,
Jean and Theodore
a Reform syna-
Weiss, the late
gogue in West
couple whose names
Bloomfield,
adorn the Partners
who has worked
Detroit program
alongside Rabbi
Leiby Burnham
of the Partners
educational team, amplified Cohen's point.
Bennett says Burnham "is a mentsh who
honors me as a rabbi" and "who cares
deeply about learning for learning's sake:'
Bennett continued: "I am totally confi-
dent sending anybody to Leiby knowing
he or she will come away from that experi-
ence enriched and honored for their com-
mitment to Judaism at whatever level they
are comfortable at:'
Rabbi Schechter, the program direc-
tor, says a key to Partners is its priority of
face-to-face learning; studying by phone is
an option only when getting together isn't
possible. Many of the partnerships validate
his claim that Partners sparks a rapport
that enables people who otherwise would
never do so to sit together and learn.
Rabbi Daniel Nevins, dean of the rab-
binical school at the Jewish Theological
Seminary, serving the Conservative
movement, is former spiritual leader of
Adat Shalom Synagogue in Farmington
Hills. "Studying in a customized way like
Partners in Torah is clearly an attractive
model:' Nevins told me.
He senses an excitement building
around Torah study throughout the Jewish
world. Since he's based in New York now,
Nevins couldn't comment on Partners
Detroit directly, but did add, "I think the
world of Rabbi Cohen:'
A National Model
The concept of Partners as a way to learn
isn't a local innovation of Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah, Michigan's largest Jewish day
school with about 850 students. Still,
Partners Detroit is an independent pro-
gram serving Metro Detroit. Although
not part of the national Partners program
run by Torah Umesorah's Brooklyn offices,
Partners Detroit did spring from the vision
of the national program's founder, Rabbi
Eli Gewirtz.