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18 January 30 • 2014
JN
Diversity Journeys
Seventh-graders from six school districts stop at
Temple Israel to learn firsthand about Judaism.
P hotos by Stacy GIlemon
HONORED.
TIMELESS.
metro
Stacy Gittleman
Special to the Jewish News
W
hat does a rabbi look like?
To the uninitiated, a rabbi
wears a long black coat,
grows a long beard and, therefore, must
always be a man.
Rabbis, teachers and other volunteers
at Temple Israel in West Bloomfield
helped to dispel this and many other
misconceptions about Judaism as they
guided a diverse group of 150 seventh-
graders from six school districts through
a "Jewish Religious Diversity Journey"
The Jan. 16 trip was part of a series of
explorations into different religions
created by the Interfaith Leadership
Council of Metropolitan Detroit.
According to the council's adminis-
trator Meredith Skowronski, Religious
Diversity Journeys for the past 11 years
has taken young leaders — 25 hand-
picked students from each school dis-
trict — on six trips to a different house
of worship to foster understanding and
a celebration of cultural differences.
Participating school districts include
Berkley, Birmingham, Bloomfield Hills,
Clarkston, West Bloomfield and Walled
Lake.
Gail Katz, a retired Berkley teacher
and director of Religious Diversity
Journeys, explained that the program
fits in perfectly with the world religions
unit of the seventh-grade curriculum.
"The journey only extends what they
are learning beyond the textbook and
the classroom:' Katz said as she mingled
with the students during a morning ice-
breaker. "We strive to increase respect
and understanding among all students"
Rabbi Joshua Bennett, who is clean-
shaven and without a long black coat,
kicked off the formal component of
the day of learning in the temple's large
sanctuary. Students, impressed by the
large golden ark on the bimah, learned
about the three different branches of
Judaism, the belief in one God, learn-
ing Torah and the connection to Israel,
which unites Jews across every level of
observance.
Later in the morning, groups of stu-
dents took turns touring the building
and listening to Rabbi Ariana Gordon
explain the cycle of Jewish holidays,
the complexity of having a Hebrew cal-
endar that is both lunar and solar, and
the odd phenomena this year that was
"Thanksgivukah."
The students also visited the build-
ing's mikvah and viewed an open Torah
Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny of Temple Israel and volunteer Janet Cummins of
Birmingham display a Torah scroll to seventh-graders participating in a
Religious Diversity Journey session about Judaism.
scroll with Rabbi Jennifer Kaluzny.
"These trips are an invaluable les-
son where kids get a hands-on learning
experience and are made to feel wel-
come in different houses of worship:'
Kaluzny said, after teaching a group
about how a Torah scroll is made and
written.
Student Voices
Over a Mediterranean vegetarian lunch
prepared by Mezza of West Bloomfield
and sponsored by Temple Israel, stu-
dents expressed their appreciation for
the program, which allows them to
explore other traditions and pose ques-
tions that would seem inappropriate or
uncomfortable in a classroom setting.
Ben Johnston of Bloomfield Hills'
West Hills Middle School came away
from the program with a better under-
standing of the different branches of
Judaism as well as the customs and holi-
days his Jewish friends celebrate.
"This program is important to me
because we have a diverse society"
Johnston said. "We go to school with
different kinds of kids and, as we get
older, these are the people we'll go to
college and work with. We must have
the knowledge of their backgrounds
so we can be more tolerant and under-
standing"
Ashley Liles and Maddy Merritt,
both of Sashabaw Middle School in
Clarkston, do not go to school with
many Jewish kids. The program allowed
them to peer into a siddur (prayer book)
and not feel embarrassed to ask why it
Maddy Merritt and Ashley Liles,
seventh-graders from Clarkston's
Sashabaw Middle School, examine
Hebrew letters in a prayer book.
Ben Johnston, a student at West Hills
Middle School, learns about the role of
a mikvah in Jewish life.
opens up backwards or why the letters
look different than English.
The "journey" gave them a better
perspective of the history and origins
of the Jewish people. Not only did it
widen their understanding of Jewish
holidays beyond Chanukah, but the les-
son with Rabbi Gordon also gave them a
broader understanding of a holiday they
would otherwise only know as a "Jewish
Christmas"
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