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Water And The Well

Learning session focuses on Flint crisis.

H

umbled by droughts on the West dance by holding up a clear bottle filled
Coast, flooding in the middle
with lead-contaminated Flint tap water.
of the country and the
“This is why we’re here,” he
all-too-close-to-home situation
said. “This bottle of water is
in Flint, The Well, Metro Detroit’s
from Flint and is contaminated;
pluralistic Jewish community-
and yet to the naked eye it is
building, education and spiritual-
impossible to know that such
ity initiative, hosted a community
is the case. It will stay in plain
learning experience.
sight all evening as a reminder
“Lead in the Water” was
of just what it is we’re talking
presented Jan. 26 at the Office
about and just what is at stake.”
Rabbi Dan
Coffee Shop in Royal Oak in
Those present then heard
Horwitz
partnership with Repair the
from Nayyirah Shariff, a Flint
World: Detroit, NEXTGen
resident and community orga-
Detroit and Moishe House Royal Oak.
nizer with the Democracy Defense
The event was the first of 12 monthly
League. Shariff shared some of her
installments of The Well’s CSI: Coffee.
personal experiences with Flint’s water,
Study. Interpret. series, which recently
as well as some of the challenges that
received an “Ignition Grant” from the
currently exist on the ground in trying
New York-based Covenant Foundation
to ensure that clean water is being made
to help enhance and grow the number
available to all in need — regardless of
of young Jewish adults in Metro Detroit
language spoken, citizenship status and
engaging in egalitarian, empowered text gender identity.
study on relevant topics.
Attendees then broke into small
The program began with Rabbi Dan
groups for text study. Each received a
Horwitz, founding director of The Well,
packet of texts and suggested discussion
welcoming the 50 young adults in atten- questions all thematically tied to water,

Andy Leavitt, chief of staff for Michigan Sen. Jim Ananich, briefs the crowd about the
situation in Flint.

the role it plays in the Jewish tradition
and in society today. Texts ranged from
poetry by Robert Frost, to selections
from the Torah, to recent newspaper
articles. Participants were invited to
read, decipher and discuss these texts
within their groups.
After text study, Andy Leavitt, chief-
of-staff to State Senate Minority Leader
Jim Ananich (D-Flint), addressed the
group. He provided an overview of the
policy decisions that had led to the cur-
rent crisis in Flint, provided insight as
to what is currently happening at the

governmental level in Lansing as well
as locally on the ground in Flint, and
answered questions posed by attendees.
The evening closed with Leavitt
sharing ways that Metro Detroiters
could help the residents of Flint. Rabbi
Horwitz and his wife offered a matching
challenge of up to $500 for donations
made by attendees to organizations aid-
ing the citizens of Flint.

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For details about upcoming events and about The
Well, a project of the Lori Talsky Zekelman Fund at
Temple Israel, visit meetyouatthewell.org.

Get Ready For Limmud

Conference on Jewish learning to take place in Ann Arbor.

Barbara Lewis | Contributing Writer

Y

ou can hear the excitement in
10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Michigan Union in
Deirdre Hirschtritt’s voice
Ann Arbor.
when she talks about
A kosher lunch is included in
Limmud, an educational charity
the registration fee: $18 for stu-
that produces a large annual win-
dents and $25 for adults who regis-
ter conference and several other
ter before Friday, Feb. 19, and $36
events around the year on the
for late registrants.
theme of Jewish learning.
Limmud will see more than 50
In December, Hirschtritt, one of
sessions on a wide variety of topics
13 members of the steering team
connected to Jewish life, includ-
Deirdre
for the upcoming LimmudMI
ing
human trafficking, pickles,
Hirschtritt
Jewish learning experience, trav-
Shakespeare, Primo Levi, Queen
eled to Birmingham, England, to
Esther and Jewish humor.
participate in LimmudUK, known to those
Registration for Camp Limmud, for
in the Limmud movement as “the mother
children from kindergarten through eighth
ship” because it’s where the program started grade, is $15 per child, including lunch and
in the early 1980s.
snacks. Hirschtritt says it’s not just child-
Since its founding, Limmud has spread
care, but a junior version of the Limmud
to dozens of cities around the world.
learning experience.
LimmudUK attracted close to 3,000 partici-
Most of the presenters are from
pants last year.
Michigan. Out-of-state presenters include
Hirschtritt and the rest of the steering
Sid Schwartz, a senior fellow at the Center
committee are hoping to create something
for Learning and Leadership (CLAL) in
similar, albeit smaller, at LimmudMI, which New York, whose participation was made
will take place on Sunday, March 13, from
possible by a grant from the Covenant

20 February 11 • 2016

Fund; David Kraemer, librarian at the
Jewish Theological Seminary in New York;
Dena Weiss from Mechon Hadar in New
York; and Yaffa Epstein from the Pardes
Institute in Jerusalem.
LimmudMI supporters include the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit,
the Cohn-Haddow Center for Judaic Studies
at Wayne State University, the Charles and
Lynn Schusterman Family Foundation,
the Anti-Defamation League, the Jean &
Samuel Frankel Center for Judaic Studies at
University of Michigan, Hillel of University
of Michigan and the University of Michigan
School of Social Work’s Jewish Communal
Leadership Program.
“What’s really special about Limmud
is that it is guided by 10 core values,”
said Hirschtritt, 25, a graduate student in
information science at the University of
Michigan.
Those core values include learning, com-
munity and mutual responsibility, diversity,
empowerment, participation, enabling con-
nections to be made and expanding Jewish

horizons.
“There’s so much room for innovation,
but the core values give us a framework that
we can build on,” said Hirschtritt, co-chair
of the volunteer team who also works on
marketing.
She said what is most impressive about
LimmudUK, which she hopes will also
happen in Michigan, is that the program is
nonhierarchical, nondenominational and
intergenerational.
The most prestigious professors and
rabbis are treated like all the rest of the
participants, who come from all age groups
and every denomination of Judaism, from
Orthodox to Humanist, she said. High
school and college students mingle with
senior adults.
“It’s not a place where anyone will be
judged; it’s a place where everyone will be
welcomed,” she said.
For information about the speakers and
program, visit LimmudMI’s website at
www.limmudmichigan.org. Registration
can also be done via the website.

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