20 | SEPTEMBER 24 • 2020 

I

n the midst of the COVID-
19 pandemic, a new match-
ing grant initiative, the 
Our Heritage Program, aims 
to recruit Jewish public school 
students to enroll in in-person 
Chabad day schools for the fall 
semester.
Rabbi Zalman Shneur, 
the executive director of the 

Brooklyn-based Menachem 
Education Foundation, an 
organization dedicated to 
improving Jewish and Chabad 
education, and the creator 
of the initiative, believes that 
COVID-19 and resulting 
remote learning in many pub-
lic schools presents a unique 
occasion for Jewish schools 

around the country to appeal 
to new students from the secu-
lar community. 
“We have a once-in-a-life-
time opportunity,” Shneur said. 
“In Jewish day school, you 
know that your child will have 
a seat in a classroom five days 
a week. For many parents that’
s 
very important.”
The new program began 
accepting online applications 
from Chabad day schools 
on Aug. 5 and will provide a 
matching grant of $25,000 to 
selected schools around the 
country, provided that each 
school brings in 10 new stu-
dents from public schools. The 
grant money can be used for a 
variety of purposes: to subsi-
dize students’
 tuition, to help 
create additional classes in the 
areas of arts and culture, and 
to hire help or additional staff. 

Bob Aronson, an adviser 
to the Our Heritage Program, 
and former CEO of the Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan 
Detroit, calls the project “a 
small, but exciting start-up in 
Jewish education.”
“The goal is really to cre-
ate an incentive for Chabad 
schools to open their doors to 
the secular community more 
effectively,” he said. 
According to Shneur, 
no Chabad day schools in 
Michigan have applied to the 
initiative so far. Rabbi Mendel 
Stein, the development director 
for the Lubavitch Cheder & 
Yeshiva-International School 
for Chabad Leadership in Oak 
Park, says he hopes to take 
part in the program one day 
when his school can open a 
public-school track.
Outside of Michigan, 

S

ince the 2002-03 school 
year, thousands of 
local seventh graders 
have embarked on Religious 
Diversity Journeys, an immer-
sive interfaith educational 
program of the InterFaith 
Leadership Council of 
Metropolitan Detroit. Before 
schools closed for COVID-19, 
700 students from 50 public, 
private and parochial tri-county 
schools visited local houses of 
worship for five different faiths.
Whether at a church, tem-
ple, mosque or synagogue, 
students met with congregants 
and clergy who discussed their 

beliefs, customs and holidays, 
and demonstrated the use of 
ceremonial objects. The stu-
dents shared a traditional meal 
and got to ask questions. The 
program draws enthusiastic 
reviews from participating stu-
dents, parents and teachers.
Religious Diversity Journeys 
has a strong connection with 
the Jewish community. Its 
founder, Gail Katz of West 
Bloomfield, was teaching 
English as a second language 
to students who had recently 
immigrated to the U.S. She saw 
a need for greater knowledge 
and understanding among stu-

dents of different backgrounds. 
“When we know little or 
nothing about the religious 
beliefs of our neighbors and 
we classify them as the other, 
they become our enemies,
” 
she explained. “Our hope is 
that with Religious Diversity 
Journeys, the other will be 
replaced by our friend.
”
Five local Jewish congrega-
tions (Congregations Beth Ahm 
and Beth Shalom, and Temples 
Beth El, Emanu-El and Israel) 
hosted students during the past 
school year. For Rabbi Steven 
Rubenstein of Beth Ahm, “hav-
ing the students and their teach-
ers here was a great experience. 
The program felt like a precious 
opportunity to share the beauty 
of Jewish life.
”
The Religious Diversity 
Journeys program “helps stu-
dents learn about their neigh-

bors who practice different 
faiths, overcoming fears about 
unknown or little-known 
religions and customs, and 
encouraging new friend-
ships,
” said Rachel Clawson, 
InterFaith Leadership Council 
board member and chair of its 
Religious Diversity Journeys 
Committee. “The program is 
intended to increase under-
standing and appreciation for 
religious differences, substitut-
ing knowledge for stereotypes.
”

Local interfaith middle school program 
will expand to multimedia format.

Jews in the D
Religious
Diversity Journey

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

INTERFAITH LEADERSHIP COUNCIL OF METROPOLITAN DETROIT

Congregation Beth 
Shalom’
s Rabbi Robert 
Gamer shows a student 
how to hold a Torah 
before the pandemic.

Chabad 
Schools
Outreach

Bob Aronson 
promotes Chabad 
day school initiative 
in light of COVID.

MADELINE HALPERT CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Bob 
Aronson

