for college students by college students

Safe Space

HMD’s Jewish Learning Fellowship allows
exploration among peers.

Molly Rott } jewish@edu writer

n September 2015, Rabbi Michele Faudem
was hired as the rabbi educator at Hillel of
Metro Detroit, which includes Wayne State
University, where I attend. I am fortunate to
already consider Rabbi Faudem a mentor, having
met her when I was a freshman and she taught
occasional women’s studies programs at HMD.
When Rabbi Faudem became permanent, I
knew all of her university endeavors would be far-
reaching. As soon as she arrived last year, she had
many new, exciting ideas, including starting a new
program called the Jewish Learning Fellowship
(JLF). This fall, we will hold the first JLF program.
The Jewish Learning Fellowship is a 10-week
experiential, conversational seminar for students
looking to deepen their understanding of Judaism
on their own terms. JLF was founded in 2007 at
the Bronfman Center at New York University. Since
then, JLF has graduated more than 1,400 students.
Sessions include “Life’s Big Questions: Or How
to Get More Out of College Through Judaism,”
“Judaism as Art: A Search for Congruity,” “Sex,
Love and Romance: Toward a Postmodern Jewish
Ethic” and “Judaism from the Inside Out: Spiritual
Practices for Real Life.”

I

Through this program, 20 students from the six
campuses HMD serves will have the opportunity
to work collaboratively with peers to help make
sense of the world we live in, a task that could
only be done well with the guidance of Rabbi
Faudem.
“The goal of JLF is to bring people together in
an atmosphere where they can explore Judaism in
a safe place and find their own places in Judaism,”
Faudem explained. “The 10-week course explores
Jewish ideas of belonging, collaboration, agreeing
and disagreeing all through Jewish texts and
conversations. It is essential that we, as Jews, are
able to see how different people belong to Juda-
ism and how we can agree and agree to disagree
about certain topics and still know that we are
one people.”
Manny Cohen, a student at Wayne State
University who will also be a JLF participant, said,
“The Fellowship is a good way to learn about
other people’s views of Judaism in a way I have
not experienced before.”
As a Hillel student intern, I will be participating
in the JLF program with the added responsibility of
meeting with program participants to learn about

Molly Rott and Rabbi Michele Faudem

their own personal Jewish journeys, their struggles
and their successes as Jewish college students.
As college students, we tend to be self-focused
and this is a great opportunity to talk about our
individual stories.
I know that this fellowship will expand our
views of the Jewish world in a memorable way.
I am looking forward to making new friends as

well. Rabbi Faudem has positively and unforget-
tably changed the landscape of Hillel of Metro
Detroit, and I am incredibly grateful for this op-
portunity. @

Molly Rott of Southfield is a senior at Wayne State
University.

(http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/)

The Museum of Sexist Objects

(http://ferris.libguides.com/sexism)

The Institute for the Study of Academic Racism

(www.ferris.edu/isar)

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The Jim Crow Museum

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2120520

52 August 25 • 2016