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Good Place from page 8
MSU's Most Famous
Jewish Athlete
A
be Eliowitz played football at
MSU from 1931-32. He was a
co-captain and All-American
on the 1932 team. He received the first
MVP (Governor of Michigan) award
ever given by Michigan State, and the
Spartans finished with a record of 5-3-1.
He was also on the MSU baseball team.
"My dad was a remarkable athlete,"
says Linda Gorback, a Temple Israel
member from West Bloomfield. "He pri-
marily played fullback and halfback, but
he was also the punter and played quar-
terback on occasion, too."
Eliowitz went on to a remarkable five-
season career in the Canadian Football
League, where he played with the Ottawa
Rough Riders and Montreal Alouettes.
He was an All Star five times as a run-
ning back and as a flying wing. He was
inducted into the Canadian Football Hall
of Fame in 1969.
After playing in Canada, he was a
ties were on a downward spiral, although
we had a vibrant chapter," Rudick says.
"Students were not so involved with Hillel
then, which was run by a rabbi:"
Rudick, finance director for Hanson's
Windows and Siding, still is active with
the MSU AEPi chapter, which has about 80
members who have the opportunity to go to
educational seminars and national conven-
tions. "The fraternity's goal is to develop
Jewish leaders and lifelong friendships:'
The number of out-of-state students at
MSU died off through the 1970s-'80s as it
became more economical to study closer
to home. It wasn't until the early 1990s that
Jewish enrollment again began to increase.
More Jewish Students
It's been an evolution, Serling says, citing
many factors that combined to increase
the number of Jewish students enrolling at
MSU. A main reason, he says, is the rising
academic standards. GPAs are up dramati-
cally at MSU over the last 10-15 years. The
average freshman is coming in with a GPA
of 3.4 or 3.5. "That increase has ratcheted
up respectability in the eyes of Jewish fami-
lies," Serling says.
Second, he says, as the University of
Michigan takes more and more out-of-
state students, it's increasingly difficult for
local students to get in. "That combina-
tion means more Jewish kids want to go to
MSU."
Perhaps most important, however, in
this resurgence of Jewish students is a solid
Jewish Studies Program, the most Israel
study-abroad programs in the country and
a new Hillel House that features hundreds
of student-driven Jewish programs every
10 September 5 • 2013
Mit
Abe Eliowitz
physical education teacher in the Detroit
school system and continued to coach
football, winning city league champion-
ships at Denby and Cooley high schools.
He was inducted into the Michigan
Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1991.
❑
year.
Leib has been on the JSP advisory board
since its founding, working with Serling
toward promoting MSU as a place to go for
Jewish students.
"At the time, our perception was the
number of Jewish kids going to MSU had
diminished," he says. "They were going to
U-M, Wayne. There weren't the same num-
bers as when we had been there:'
Thankfully, then-president Peter
McPherson was a firm believer that the
more Jews on campus improved the univer-
sity on many levels.
"We had support in creating a Jewish
Studies Program focused more on contem-
porary Jewish life and our study-abroad
programs," Leib says.
MSU has given financial support in
many ways, including funding three core
positions in Hebrew language, American
Jewish history and Jewish religious stud-
ies. McPherson and Simon helped lead the
fundraising effort for the beautiful new
MSU Hillel House, now in its 13th year.
Today there are approximately 3,000
Jewish students at MSU. Much of the
growth is the result of the great partnership
between MSU and the Jewish community
in Michigan. More than $6 million has been
raised by the Jewish community for the
Jewish Studies program alone.
Jewish Studies Program
Back in the mid-1990s, Steve Weiland was
approached to further develop the fledgling
JSP at the university. "Because of the orga-
nizational experience I had; Weiland says,
"not because of my Hebrew"
He and Ken Waltzer, current JSP director,
developed a plan together.
"The reality was that in the early-1990s,
there were no Hebrew classes, no lectures, no
events related to Jewish
life. There was very little
related to Israel; Waltzer
says.
So he and Weiland
decided on four basic sub-
jects essential to the pro-
gram: Hebrew, American
Ken Waltzer
Jewish history, religious
studies and Israel.
"The key step was bringing Hebrew into
the curriculum in the mid-'90s with help
from Federation, which funded a part-time
instructor; says Weiland, who ran the
program until 2005, and currently teaches
higher education at MSU. "Also key was
support from the university administra-
tion:'
With that support, they were able to hire
four people who worked half-time in Jewish
Studies and half in their main departments.
"We were having speakers, concerts,
movies, lectures, anything we could think
of to bring people together; Weiland adds.
"The Jewish Studies Program became the
congregation of many Jewish faculty mem-
bers on campus:'
Waltzer says that over the last 20 years,
they've been able to develop a full Jewish
Studies Program "with a menu for stu-
dents to choose from as a minor. This year,
anthropology professor Chen Bram is our
Israeli fellow, and he'll be teaching about
Jewish/Muslim relations:' he says. "There
are a lot of opportunities for students
to study in Israel, a lot of scholarships.
We have a very active yiddishkeit, a lot
related to modern Israel — lectures,
film, etc:'
Study In Israel
MSU is the national leader in study
abroad programs, including study
abroad in Israel.
Weiland sums it up: "Because of
Michael's support and Ken's ingenuity, we've
become national leaders in providing study
in Israel opportunities for our students.
Through the ups and downs, Ken
has stuck with it:'
The most hands-on, in-depth
study of Israel offered by the JSP
is the MSU Jewish Studies Summer
Program at Hebrew University in
Jerusalem, which offers students the
chance to earn college credit while living
and studying in Jerusalem. The program
is designed for students interested in
learning firsthand about the history, poli-
tics, society, religions and culture of Israel.
There's also a spring semester program
for students to continue making progress
in their academic programs while study-
ing Israeli culture and history. In addition,
there is a Junior Year Abroad program
and a Green Israel program, which studies
environmental challenges, such as water
scarcity, in the Jewish state.
Professor Yael Aronoff, the chair in
Israeli Studies, just got back from taking 20
students on the summer
program. It was her third
time taking students
to Israel. While there,
students take two classes
(eight credits) at Hebrew
University: Politics and
Society, and History of
Modern Israel. During
Yael Aronoff
the politics course, stu-
dents had to simulate an Israeli election and
form a coalition government.
"It was a fantastic experience Aronoff
says. "We also went to think tanks and
NGOS, the Shimon Peres Center for Peace,
academic conferences, including panels on
the Pillar of Defense and discussions on
counter-terrorism:'
While in Israel, students went north to
study security-related issues, such as the
Iron Dome, rockets and bomb shelters.
They also went to Kibbutz Ein Hashloshah
and to Sderot, both on the border with
Gaza. Sderot has been hit most heavily by
Palestinian rockets.
This time, Aronoff had a few U-M stu-
dents on the trip. "U-M is not running a
study-abroad program because they are
Fraternity brothers Bob Britton, Michael
Serling and Ron Barron, still friends
after 50 years.