F

rankel Jewish Academy 
(FJA) nominated Aliyah 
Lofman, 16, of West 
Bloomfield as Volunteer of the 
Week for her active role as a 
leader in school activities and 
passion for community service. 
“
Aliyah Lofman, a senior at 
Frankel Jewish Academy, is an 
excellent student, the leader 
of the FJA Zionist club and 
National Honor Society, and 
a member of the Girls Varsity 
Tennis Team,
” said Rabbi Elliot 
Pachter, FJA
’s rabbinic advisor.
“
Aliyah’s unique community 
service is spent at Detroit’s 
Downtown Boxing Gym 
(DBG), where she provides 
academic tutoring to young 
students.
”
Volunteering is a big part of 
Aliyah’s life. She says she actively 
began volunteering throughout 
the community when she 
attended Hillel Day School. 

“Hillel gave me the spark 
to begin volunteering,
” Aliyah 
explained.
“They also opened my eyes 
to all these other organizations 
that I would have never been 
familiar with, like JARC and the 
DBG.
”
Even after Aliyah graduated 
from Hillel, she continued 
to volunteer with DBG on a 
regular basis. The Downtown 
Boxing Gym is a youth program 
that provides free academic 
and athletic programs to 
students from ages 8 to 18, with 
continuing mentorship and 
support through age 25. 
“Their motto is ‘books before 
boxing.
’ So, I go and I tutor the 
middle schoolers there,
” she 
said.
Aliyah says she loves being 
able to give back and share her 
knowledge and make an impact 
in people’s lives. She says she’ll 

never forget one of the seventh- 
graders she tutored. 
“I would tutor her every time 
I would go because it was kind 
of difficult for her to get along 
with the other tutors,
” Aliyah 
said. 
“For some reason, we had 
this connection. Whenever 
she would see me, she would 
light up and give me a hug. 
Eventually she graduated 
middle school and headed off 
to high school. I wasn’t working 
with her anymore, but I would 
still see her. Every time I went, 
she would always greet me, 
and I could see that I made a 
difference in her life.
”
Aliyah feels it’s important 
to give back and share her 
knowledge when she can. 
“I feel I am very privileged 
and have these opportunities 
that not everybody has. So, 
I think in whatever ways we 
can we help and give back to 
those in need is important. And 
when you make that difference, 
it makes you feel good every 

time.
”
Aliyah says she’s thankful for 
her support system at school, 
DBG and her parents for taking 
her to Detroit to volunteer. 
“It’s almost 40 minutes away. 
So, they would drive me every 
time I would go, and my mom 
would also volunteer with me 
sometimes.
”
Every time Aliyah goes to the 
Downtown Boxing Gym, she 
feels more motivated to educate 
herself and do better in school.
Aliyah encourages others 
to get involved with programs 
like DBG and plans to continue 
her volunteer work with 
organizations throughout the 
community even after she 
graduates from high school and 
spends a gap year in Israel. 

To learn more about the Downtown 

Boxing Gym and how you can volunteer, 

head to dbgdetroit.org/volunteer. If you 

would like to nominate someone to 

be the next volunteer of the week, send 

a nomination with a short paragraph 

telling us why to rsweet@thejewishnews.

com.

OUR COMMUNITY

Sharing the 
Spark of Life

22 | SEPTEMBER 29 • 2022 
 
 
 
 

VOLUNTEER OF THE WEEK

Evan Weitzman and Aliyah Lofman sift through ancient archaeological 
finds in Israel. TOP: Aliyah helps out in a village in Fiji.

Meet Aliyah Lofman, a Frankel 
Jewish Academy student who 
shares her knowledge with 
students in need. 

RACHEL SWEET ASSOCIATE EDITOR 

