18 | JANUARY 5 • 2023
O
n Jan. 15, Hebrew Day School
of Ann Arbor will host a brunch
in honor of its founders.
The Marlene Gitelman HDS Founders
Memorial Brunch will pay tribute to the
small group of dedicated Jewish community
members who founded the school in 1974.
Marlene Gitelman, who passed away
earlier this year at age 74, was vital to the
creation of the school and developing its
mission.
“The school was founded by a group
of folks who had a lot in common, but
also whose Judaism looked different from
one another in noticeable and significant
ways,
” explains HDS head of school Rabbi
Will Keller. “When they came
together, they envisioned a
school that had their values
overlap — and those values
ended up aligning.
”
Together, Keller says, the
founders built a school that
was student-centered, had a
high level of pedagogy and engaged stu-
dents at their own learning levels.
“The values, hopes and dreams that the
founders were all hoping for continue to be
the hopes and dreams that are on the minds
of our current families,
” Keller says.
A ‘SMALL, BUT MIGHTY’ COMMUNITY
The brunch will pay tribute to the lasting
impact the school’s founders had and is
named in honor of Gitelman’s memory.
Yet, although nearly 50 years have passed
since the school’s founding, Keller says its
approach to learning remains constant.
“Living in the nurturing shadow of the
University of Michigan, which has a strong
Jewish population, Ann Arbor’s Jewish
population mirrors that in a lot of ways,
” he
says.
While the Ann Arbor Jewish com-
munity is “small, but mighty,” as Keller
describes, it’s a vibrant group of indi-
viduals dedicated to creating the same
opportunities for their children and future
generations as the school’s founders hoped
for back in 1974.
“Having vibrant Judaism here in Ann
Arbor is a priority for the school,
” Keller
continues, “and that’s what you can see
reflected in our students.
”
Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor has
60 students and 20 staff on faculty. While
there’s some debate as to the numbers of
Ann Arbor’s Jewish community, the esti-
mate is between 7,000-10,000, with Jewish
Federation of Greater Ann Arbor currently
conducting a community study to bet-
ter understand how many Jews reside in
Washtenaw County.
Yet, as a small group, education at school
is much inspired by the students them-
selves.
“We often say that every class at Hebrew
Day School provides differentiated instruc-
tion, so we’re always tweaking our lessons
to best spark our students’ curiosity,
” Keller
OUR COMMUNITY
Hebrew Day School
of Ann Arbor Honors
Founders with a
Memorial Brunch
Rabbi Will
Keller
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Students at
Hebrew Day
School of
Ann Arbor