Sharing Resources

Conservative Beth Shalom, Reform Emanu-El start
Detroit's first interdenominational religious school.

Barbara Lewis
I Contributing Writer

ongregation Beth Shalom and
Temple Emanu-El, both in Oak
Park, will start the new school
year with a combined religious school for
children from grades K-7.
The new school, called Yachad ("Together"
in Hebrew), will meet on Sunday mornings
at Temple Emanu-El , which is Reform, and
on Wednesday afternoons at Congregation
Beth Shalom, which is Conservative.
Arlene Keller of Bloomfield Hills, who
recently retired as principal of Temple Beth
El's religious school, will serve as interim
director for 2015-2016 while a search is con-
ducted for a permanent director.
This is the first interdenominational
religious school in the Detroit area, say the
congregations' rabbis, Robert Gamer of
Beth Shalom and Arturo Kalfus of Emanu-
El. Other cities, including Philadelphia,
Pittsburgh and Miami, have had interde-
nominational schools for several years.
The joint school came about very quickly.
Faced with the loss of Beth Shalom's part-
time education director in the spring and
a dwindling student population, Gamer
reached out to the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit to discuss merging with
another school.
Federation's Jeff Lasday, director of the
Alliance for Jewish Education, and Harvey
Leven, director of school services and profes-
sional development, invited Kalfus into the
conversation.
The rabbis, who had previously taught an
adult education program together, presented
the idea to their boards and religious school
boards — all were very supportive, Kalfus
said.
A 10-member committee from both
congregations developed the programs and
policies for the new school and provided
members for a joint governing committee.
The process was fairly easy because both
congregations' schools were using the same
two curricula developed by the Union for
Reform Judaism. The Chai curriculum cov-
ers Jewish concepts and values, and the
Mitkadem curriculum teaches Hebrew lan-
guage.
"It made a lot of sense educationally and
economically to join forces' Kalfus said.
"Our schools will be able to take advantage of
joint resources, fuller classrooms and a full-
time education director."
Last year, Emanu-El's religious school
had approximately 90 students; Beth
Shalom had 36.

Beth Ahm,

Moshe Start

C

24 August 20 • 2015

Cooperative

Religious School

n September, two West Bloomfield
Conservative congregations, Beth
Ahm and B'nai Moshe, will begin a
partnership designed to strengthen
their religious schools.
Both congregations have held reli-
gious school sessions on Saturday
mornings and Tuesday afternoons,
making the joint effort fairly easy to
implement.
Each will keep its students at their
home synagogues for the Saturday
classes, where they can be with their
families. On most Tuesday afternoons,
the children (grades K-8) will attend
class at B'nai Moshe, said Steve Fine,
B'nai Moshe executive director. On
Tuesdays when the school has special
holiday events, they'll meet at Beth
Ahm.
"We have a tiny, tiny school," said
Beth Ahm's rabbi, Steven Rubenstein.
The congregational school had only
11 students last year, in part because
many of the congregation's students
attend Hillel Day School. B'nai Moshe's
school had about 40 students.
Leaders of the two congregations
had talked informally about combin-
ing programs for several years, Fine
said. Discussions about a cooperative
religious school – Rubenstein doesn't
like to call it a merger – began about
eight months ago.
The congregations will retain their
education directors, Elissa Berg at
Beth Ahm and Gail Gales at B'nai
Moshe. The combined program will be
overseen by a six-person committee
consisting of the rabbis, executive
directors and education directors from
both congregations.
Response from families has been
very positive, Rubenstein said. "They
recognize the benefits of what we're
trying to do and that we're trying to
preserve the religious schools of both
congregations."
– Barbara Lewis

I

Rabbi Arturo Kalfus, Arlene Keller and Rabbi Robert Gamer

"The students will benefit by having more
kids in each class, and we won't have to com-
bine grades," Gamer said. "It will be better
for them socially"
Federation provided a grant of $10,000 to
help with startup expenses, such as statio-
nery and a website, and Leven is continuing
to guide and mentor the Yachad governing
committee.
"Federation is delighted to have been a
catalyst in encouraging the two synagogues
to collaborate and develop this first-of-its-
kind religious school in Detroit': Leven
said. "Federation believes that combining
resources this way will result in both a bet-
ter learning environment for the children as
well as a better usage of scarce community
resources':

Pluralistic Approach
Neither rabbi is concerned about denomina-
tional differences.
So much of the curriculum deals with
Jewish values, which are not denomina-
tional, Gamer said. When it comes to issues
like Shabbat, kashrut and certain prayers,
where Conservative and Reform practice
diverge, the students will learn about both
approaches.
"There's nothing wrong with teaching
multiple views about how to observe tradi-
tion' Gamer said.
"The curriculum focuses on Torah sto-
ries, Jewish holidays, Israel and Hebrew
language," Kalfus said. "If we wanted to, we
could find differences, but our attitude is
to find commonality and take a pluralistic
approach."
Both congregations attract many families
from Oak Park and Huntington Woods, and
parents are happy that their children will be
able to interact with more of their friends
from the neighborhood at school, said Eric

Zacks, president of Beth Shalom. His three
children, Asher, 9, Micah, 7 and Leah, 5, will
be in the Yachad school this year.
"I'm so excited for this new, innova-
tive venture': said Teresa Beckerman of
Huntington Woods, vice president of Beth
Shalom's religious school board. Her 11-year-
old twins, Eden and Brooke, will attend the
new school.
"The program has a lot to offer, and I'm
happy that my children will be going to reli-
gious school with more of their friends," she
said.
Ruth Hurwitz of Huntington Woods,
vice president of education for Emanu-El,
said the families she's spoken to support the
effort. "It will give both synagogues an appre-
ciation for the other," she said.
One issue that came up during the plan-
ning process was food because Emanu-El
does not have a kosher kitchen as Beth
Shalom does. The committee agreed that
whenever food is served to the school stu-
dents on a Sunday, a fully kosher option will
always be available, Zacks said.
Leven praised both congregations for their
work in creating the school.
"The geographic proximity of the two
congregations makes this particular shid-
duch relatively easy,' he said. "The creation
of Yachad was also facilitated by similari-
ties in school curriculum. But perhaps the
most important facilitating factor was that
the rabbis and the lay leadership of both
congregations were highly supportive of the
endeavot"
Emanu-El President Dennis Kayes of
Huntington Woods, said, "It's a great thing
for both congregations."
A meeting has been scheduled for reli-
gious school parents, prospective parents
and others interested in the Yachad pro-
gram on Sept. 2 at 7 p.m. at Emanu-El.

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