20 January 24 • 2019
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Torah, Fun, Friends
Aish Detroit launches new group for girls.
S
ometime all it takes is one con-
versation to start a movement.
It was a cozy fall Sunday after-
noon. I had invited two of our Aish
Sunday School assistants, Hannah
Berger and Sophia Bernzweig, to my
house to settle a debate over whether
homemade sprinkle cookies could
be made better than bakery sprinkle
cookies. (Spoiler — yes, they can, and
I’
m happy to share the recipe.)
As we were baking and schmooz-
ing, the conversation led to how our
Sunday School assistants (many of
them our own b’
nai mitzvah gradu-
ates) could get the most out of their
time at Aish on Sundays.
As the ideas kept coming, I quickly
grabbed a pen and paper and told
Sophia to start writing. Within a few
minutes, we had a whole list of mean-
ingful activities and things to learn. I
realized right away this was too big to
integrate into Sunday School, and it
was just big enough to become its own
movement.
There has been an ongoing struggle
within our community to keep post-
b’
nai mitzvah teens Jewishly engaged.
According to the recent Federation
population study, we are losing a drastic
50 percent of children from pre-b’
nai
mitzvah programs to post. More star-
tling is that this has been consistent
with earlier studies (2005, 2010) and, as
of yet, no one has been able to reverse
the trend.
The following Sunday, we called a
meeting for our students in fifth grade
and up as well as our assistants. We
asked them about an idea of a new
group for girls their age. They loved
it. Things moved quickly after that; a
name was picked, TFF: Torah, Fun,
Friends, a time and date were set, and
flyers were printed for our first event.
We were excited; we knew it was a good
idea. But only once the flyers were post-
ed did we realize how important the
idea was. We received many calls and
emails from parents who were so excit-
ed to see a program willing to fill this
gap in programming.
On Sunday, Dec. 16, more than 15
girls attended our first TFF kickoff
event. We played a fun ice breaker
game to get to know each other. We
had girls there from eight different
schools. We enjoyed a pizza dinner
while Rachel Rosenthal spoke to the
girls about the important mitzvah of
V’
ohavta L
’
reiacha Kamocha, loving
your neighbor as yourself. Her message
to them: Before we can love another, we
have to first learn to love ourselves. We
wrapped up with fun donut decorating
activity and a raffle. The girls left with
a mini nail polish for a parting gift and
lots of smiles.
GETTING TEENS TO THINK JEWISHLY
Today’
s teens are faced with pressures
and anxieties that adults even a decade
older can’
t fathom. The Jewish learning
aspect of TFF provides a way for our
teens to process their life through a
Jewish lens. To create a tether to their
Jewish identity that can, God willing,
carry them through the mayhem of
middle school and beyond.
Our next event is scheduled for
Sunday, Jan. 27, from 5:30-7 p.m. at
Aish Detroit, 25725 Coolidge Hwy. in
Oak Park. We will focus on the mitzvah
of chesed, lovingkindness, as we pack
lunches for the Lunches of Love pro-
gram of Detroit Chesed Project. A deli-
cious dinner will be served. We will also
be running a sock drive at the event.
Anyone who brings a pair of socks to
donate will be entered into a raffle.
There is no cost to come. ■
Shaina Weiss is the educational coordinator for
young families at Aish Detroit For more infor-
mation about TFF, contact her at shainaweiss@
aish.com.
jews d
in
the
SHAINA WEISS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Girls at Torah, Fun,
Friends decorated donuts
at last month’
s event.
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