12 April 11 • 2019
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ONLINE HEBREW STUDY
At Conservative Congregation B’
nai Moshe in West 
Bloomfield, the small number of students could not support 
a traditional religious school. Instead, each student gets 
a customized 30-minute Hebrew lesson via the Internet 
through OnlineJewishLearning.org. The online lessons are 
augmented by a Sunday morning gathering for students of 
all grades where they learn about prayer, Jewish history and 
culture, said Barrett Harr, director of youth education and 
family engagement. The program is free for paid-up congre-
gation members.
Overall religious school enrollment in greater Detroit 
declined only slightly this year, to 2,012 from 2,197 last year, 
said Harvey Leven, senior director of school services for the 
Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit, which 
coordinates communal education.

FAMILIES CAN CHOOSE
With only 18 students this year, 
Congregation Beth Ahm in West 
Bloomfield decided to let each family 
choose what to study — and when, 
Berg said. Now 10 children (from 
eight families) come to the synagogue 
for an hour each on Monday, Tuesday 
or Wednesday for individual instruc-
tion with Berg or David Higer. Each 
family also meets with Rabbi Steven 
Rubenstein at least once every semester.
The youngest students start with 
individualized Hebrew instruction.
“Sometimes the parents stay for the 
lesson,” Berg said. “We have two who 
never learned Hebrew themselves, and 
they’
re very excited to learn.”
Older students choose topics that 
interest them for six to 12 weeks of 
study, and at the end of the block, each 
has something tangible to show, Berg 
said. It could be the ability to read a 
prayer in Hebrew, a map showing the 
travels of the Israelites as described 
in the Torah or a personal Passover 
Haggadah.
The children are much more respon-
sive and more likely to complete assign-
ments than they were in traditional 
classes, Berg said. She is thrilled when 
students tell her about something they 
learned on their own between sessions.
On Shabbat, all the Beth Ahm stu-
dents come together for Hebrew con-
versation.
Parents appreciate Beth Ahm’
s flexi-
bility. “One family came to us because 
we had a class on Monday, and no one 
else did,” Berg said.
“We’
ve had some great discussions 
about our family history and tradi-
tions,” said Erica Gray of Farmington 
Hills, whose daughters, Leah, 12, and 
Chloe, 11, study with Berg. “We’
ve 
made my grandma’
s challah recipe and 
are working on a project that could 
win us a trip to Israel. It’
s been a great 
bonding experience for the girls and 
me.”
Svetlana Lebedinski said, “We like 
that the religious school program is 
individualized for each student and that 
our children develop a relationship of 
trust with the teachers.” 
She said the program helped her 
middle son, Daniel, 9, to develop a 
clear Jewish identity and knowledge of 
holidays and traditions. She and her 
husband, Alexander, feel the program 
will help their son “carry the essence of 
Jewishness into adulthood.” ■

STUDY, PRAYER, ACTION
This year Shir Tikvah, a Reform and Renewal congregation in 
Troy, took a “deep look” at its middle-school and high-school 
programs, said Rabbi Aura Ahuvia. “Our faculty revamped our 
class offerings and integrated them with team-building exer-
cises, youth group activities and tikkun olam actions. The idea 
is that each leg of Jewish practice informs the other — study, 
prayer and action.
”
Shir Tikvah’
s bar and bat mitzvah program was updated so 
that every family meets with the rabbi six times over the course 
of six months to help the celebrants discover deeper meaning 
in their parshahs, Ahuvia said.

MAKING IT RELEVANT
Temple Kol Ami in West Bloomfield has seen “tre-
mendous growth” this year in its pre-K and kin-
dergarten classes, said Gail Greenberg, director of 
lifelong learning, and enrollment in other grades is 
stable. 
Once a month, the whole school comes together 
around a theme. To learn about Chanukah lights, for 
example, the students made night lights for a home-
less shelter and observed a miracle of sorts by making 
“stone soup.”
“It’
s child-centric and learning-centric,” Greenberg 
said. “The students are not sitting in a classroom 
learning about brachot (blessings) but taking informa-
tion and making it relevant to their lives.” 

Daniel Litman of West Bloomfield builds an edible sukkah during a B’
nai 

Moshe Sunday evening teen gathering.

BARRETT HARR

Students at Shir Tikvah’
s school 

 COURTESY SHIR TIKVAH

At Beth Ahm, 

Elissa Berg, 

school director, 

works with Noa 

and Elli BenEzra.

Cora Burgess, Jasmine 

Rubin, Tzippora 

Gutmann and Jemma 

Rubin make cards and 

fill mishloach manot 

parcels at Temple Kol 

Ami.

COURTESY KOL AMI

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