64 | JULY 14 • 2022
A
s director and
founder of Chabad
Academy, a free
international online Jewish
learning program affiliated
with the Bais Chabad Torah
Center in West Bloomfield,
Rabbi Elya Silfen has made
it his life goal to help others
connect with and learn about
Judaism.
However, his own encoun-
ter with Judaism was one that
happened by chance. “I grew
up in Chapel Hill, North
Carolina, as a totally secu-
lar kid,” Silfen, 35 of West
Bloomfield, explains. “There
wasn’t much of a Jewish edu-
cation over there.”
Yet, once Chabad came
to town, Silfen says he was
“totally hooked.”
On Friday nights, he began
attending Shabbat services
while still in high school. “It
was cool to hang around cool
Jews,” Silfen describes. “That
sparked my interest.”
A LIFE-CHANGING
EXPERIENCE IN ISRAEL
As senior year of high school
approached, Silfen’s parents
told him he could take a gap
year before starting college.
When someone asked him
if he wanted to spend that
year in Jerusalem, Silfen, who
had never been to Israel, was
immediately intrigued.
For his time, he would
earn college credits
and experience a full-
fledged travel program.
Yet there was one
caveat: Silfen would be
attending a yeshivah.
However, joining the
yeshivah worked in his
favor. As the young-
est of his roommates,
Silfen met young
Jews from all over
the world, including
Australia and South
Africa.
“I wanted to emulate
them,” Silfen recalls.
“They were 24 and I
was 18.”
In learning about
Judaism, Silfen discov-
ered a whole different side
to the religion that he hadn’t
known previously. He studied
mysticism and what it meant
to have purpose in life.
Before, “it was always
about candles, eating matzah
and attending boring services
on Yom Kippur,” Silfen says.
“This was just a flip on its
head. It was very relevant and
very practical.”
As the year wrapped up,
Silfen wanted to continue his
Jewish studies. For the next
seven years, he pursued a
rabbinical degree, working
in investment management
at Morgan Stanley for sev-
eral years before deciding
he wanted to become a full-
fledged rabbi.
“This was always my pas-
sion,” Silfen says of rabbinical
studies.
ONLINE INSPIRATION
Moving to West Bloomfield
in 2015, where his wife
was from originally, Silfen
became ingrained in the
Metro Detroit Jewish com-
munity. As COVID-19 hit
some five years later, Silfen
discovered an opportunity to
help others stay connected to
Judaism online.
On social media, he posted
a mix of educational Jewish
content. Inspired by a friend
known as the Millennial
Rabbi, who uses social media
in a similar fashion, Silfen
says people were enthralled
by the content and expressed
interest in taking classes.
Finding a group of vol-
unteer teachers, Silfen
built what is now Chabad
Academy, which operates
like a nonprofit and is entire-
ly donor-based. “Now we
have about 13 teachers and
200 students,” he says of the
academy, which celebrated its
one-year anniversary in June.
Chabad Academy sees
students from all over the
world, reaching as far as
Switzerland, Sweden and
South America. It offers four-
to-five classes a day from 6
a.m. through 8 p.m., teaching
a mix of different subjects
like Talmud, Kabbalah and
Meet Rabbi Elya Silfen, founder of a free
online Jewish learning program.
Bringing Judaism to the World
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
NEXT DOR
VOICE OF THE NEW
JEWISH GENERATION
LEFT: Volunteer teacher Rabbi Avrohom Wineberg leads a class.
RIGHT: Rabbi Elya Silfen.