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editorial

FJA Reconnect Eff orts Generating Community Benefi ts

S

ince being elevated to head of
school in 2015, Frankel Jewish
Academy’s (FJA) Rabbi Azaryah
Cohen has been reconnecting the
high school to the broader commu-
nity while reaffirming the inclusive
vision associated with its origins
(“Community Reconnect: FJA Head
of School works to build bridges that
will benefit the school and beyond,”
Oct. 12, page 18).
We applaud Rabbi Cohen’s efforts,
and those on his board of directors
who support his outreach, and ongo-
ing commitment to excellence in
secular and Jewish studies. We are
also grateful for their re-embrace of
its community school model, nation-
ally acclaimed when it welcomed its
first classes of students in 2000.
The Jewish News Foundation’s
William Davidson Digital Archive
(www.djnfoundation.org) contains
hundreds of articles that collectively
tell the story of the Jewish Academy of
Metropolitan Detroit (its prior name),
including its founders’ dreams, receipt
of critical financial support from the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan

Detroit, the many successes of its
students and changes at the school
following founding Head of School
Rabbi Lee Buckman’s departure in
2009. We encourage you to read our
editorial on page 41 of the June 27,
2013, edition to gauge the depth of
discord that had existed between the
school and significant portions of the
community.
Rabbi Cohen’s efforts are creat-
ing more opportunities to advocate
and recruit students for the school.
Current enrollment of 176 is down
about 20 percent from just a few years
ago and remains over-dependent on
a pipeline of eighth-grade students
from Hillel Day School.
Another important step for FJA is
to once again accept its allocation
from Federation’s Annual Campaign.
While the school is listed as a ben-
eficiary agency of the Federation, an
anonymous donor has provided FJA
with the dollars Federation would
have allocated to the school dur-
ing the past three annual budgeting
cycles. Annual campaign dollars that
would have directly benefitted FJA

were instead steered into the com-
munity’s safety and security program.
There is no precedent for a benefi-
ciary agency of Federation declining
to directly accept its allocation once,
let alone three times.
Federation’s Annual Campaign
remains one of the Detroit Jewish
community’s most enduring and uni-
fying endeavors. Gifts from thousands
of donors — small and large — go
into one pot. After assessing needs,
a cadre of community volunteers
allocates these dollars for maximum
impact. This process enables all, even
an $18 donor, to feel they have a stake
in the success of such beneficiaries as
Jewish Family Service, JVS, Tamarack
Camps, Yeshiva Beth Yehudah, BBYO
and Jewish Senior Life. Currently, FJA
is not in that mix.
We look forward to cooperating
with FJA as we report on its achieve-
ments and challenges … and are
heartened by the efforts of Rabbi
Cohen and his lay leadership that
are enabling the entire community
to assist the school and celebrate its
successes. •

guest column

Not In My Community

JCADA prepares to Mark Domestic Abuse Awareness Month.

T

Helen Katz

Rabbi Marla
Hornsten

his October, communi-
ties across the state and
throughout the country
will sport purple ribbons as a
reminder of Domestic Violence
Awareness Month. Please wear
yours.
Our Detroit Jewish commu-
nity must continue to look at
a problem from which we are
not immune.
Why, you might ask? Don’t
Jews believe in Shalom Bayit
(peace in the home)? Certainly,
domestic abuse and violence
don’t occur in Jewish house-
holds …
Sadly, our rabbis, social work-
ers, physicians, teachers and
friends tell us that is not the
case. In fact, the incidences of
domestic abuse and violence
in Jewish communities is sta-

tistically the same as in other
communities, without regard to
economic status or educational
level.
More than a dozen years ago,
Jewish Family Service, with the
support of the Jewish Women’s
Foundation, commissioned
Jewish Women International to
conduct a comprehensive needs
assessment survey of attitudes,
knowledge and beliefs about
domestic abuse in the Detroit
Jewish community.
The results of the survey told
us that our community did not
understand much about domes-
tic abuse. Broadly speaking,
the report concluded that lead-
ers, clergy and social service
providers in our community
were ill-equipped to recognize
incidences of domestic abuse.

When they did understand that
something frightening was hap-
pening, they did not have the
tools to respond or help.
JCADA, our community’s
ongoing response to domestic
abuse, was born. The Jewish
Coalition Against Domestic
Abuse (JCADA), supported by
back-to-back grants from the
Jewish Women’s Foundation, set
out to educate the community
and our responders and to cre-
ate a network among the Jewish
human service agencies, syna-
gogues, psychotherapists, physi-
cians and teachers that is ready
and able to respond. JCADA is
working to ensure that there is
no wrong door for those seeking
help.
Our congregations are often a
point of entry for families expe-

Our
Story

Bryan Lubaway and Jared
Rothberger talked about starting
a business together since college.
Former BBYO members who went
on to serve together as Zeta Beta
Tau president and vice president,
the longtime friends were restless
in their careers.
“We knew we played well off
each other,” Jared said, “and we
decided to follow our dreams and
start a business that could sustain
our families and allow us to use our
complementary skill sets. We
searched for the best ﬁt and found
Jan-Pro, helping others start their
own commercial cleaning franchises.”
“Commercial cleaning might not be
the sexiest thing you’ve ever heard
of, but we spend every day helping
people start their own businesses.”
Bryan said. “We identify candidates,
train them, develop leads, and help
people build something.”
Hebrew Free Loan’s Marvin I.
Danto Small Business Loan
Program helped the friends fund
their business in addition to their
own savings and family investment.
“Banks make investments for a
return on their money, Hebrew Free
Loan makes investments for a
return on community,” Jared said.
“HFL wants us to do well. They
matched us with business mentor
Jon Dwoskin, who guided us when
we needed it. HFL has been caring
and supportive. We just can’t say
enough about them.”
Bryan agrees. “We have grown to
11 ofﬁce staff, 48 franchise owners,
and along with franchise staff, there
are approximately 200 jobs created in
Michigan by Jan-Pro Detroit.”
Additionally, said Jared, of Jan-
Pro’s 147 worldwide markets, our
area is currently the number one
market for growth. “That’s a direct
impact on our community,” he said.

Click. Call. Give Now.
www.hfldetroit.org
248.723.8184

Health. A fresh start.
A good education.
The next great business idea.

Hebrew Free Loan gives interest-
free loans to members of our
community for a variety of
personal and small business
needs. HFL loans are funded
entirely through community
donations which continually
recycle to others, generating
many times the original value
to help maintain the lives of
local Jews.

6735 Telegraph Road, Suite 300 • Bloomfield Hills, MI 48301

Hebrew Free Loan Detroit

@HFLDetroit

continued on page 8

jn

October 19 • 2017

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