30 | AUGUST 17 • 2023 

BACK TO SCHOOL

E

nrollment holds steady 
at Detroit Metro’s 
Jewish day schools 
in West Bloomfield and 
Farmington Hills. 
Administrators say that 
last spring they initially 
received a few calls of inquiry 
from public school families 
following the diversity 
assembly debacle that 
occurred at Bloomfield Hills 
High School. However, they 
say few have transferred their 
children into a day school 
Jewish setting due to this 
reason. 
What’s most on the minds 
and priorities of families and 
students who wish to attend 
a Jewish day school is the 
desire to receive a high-quality 
secular and Jewish education 
in a smaller, nurturing Jewish 
setting. 

FRANKEL JEWISH 
ACADEMY
At Frankel Jewish Academy, 
where 37% of incoming 
students are from public 
schools, Head of School Rabbi 
Azaryah Cohen 
said motivation to 
transfer to a Jewish 
high school setting 
must emanate 
from the student. 
“That desire 
from the student is 
just as important, 
and maybe more so, than 
the parents’ wishes to give 
their child a solid Jewish 
high school education as an 
important component to their 
Jewish identity,
” Cohen said. 
“Ultimately, it’s the student that 
makes the choice, and 95% 
of the students who tour our 
building and meet with the 
faculty enroll.
” 
This fall, FJA will welcome 

approximately 150 students. 
That breakdown includes 40 
freshman, 30 sophomores, 
30 juniors and 50 seniors. At 
press time, administrators said 
these numbers go up with 
last-minute enrollees, or even 
students who transfer up to 
a month into the new school 
year. 
Last year, FJA graduated 
25 students. According to the 
school’s 2021-2022 annual 
report, more than 60% of FJA 
students in the 2021-2022 
school year received tuition 
financial aid, and graduating 
seniors received $2.18 million 
in scholarships for college. 
Cohen said the school prides 
itself on the long-lasting and 
impactful connections its 
faculty makes with its students. 
One example of this is the 
influence of mathematics 
department chair and math and 
physics teacher Eric Rapp.

Cohen said last 
year, Rapp went 
through a rigorous 
application 
process to earn 
his certification to 
teach at Lawrence 
Tech. Part of the 
application included getting a 
letter of recommendation — 
not from an adult, but a past 
student. 
“
A few years back, Rapp had 
a physics student who is now 
studying at the University of 
Chicago,
” recalled Cohen. “In 
a tale of turning the tables, 
it is this student who wrote 
his former teacher a letter of 
recommendation. It is these 
lasting relationships between 
teachers and students who 
become alumni that we attest to 
the best attributes of getting an 
education at Frankel.
” 
This fall, FJA General 
Studies Principal Erika Weiler 

Frankel Jewish Academy and Hillel Day School look 
forward to welcoming students back to class.

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Eric Rapp

Back to School Time

Rabbi 
Azaryah 
Cohen 

Frankel Jewish Academy 
seniors visit Auschwitz 
on their trip to Poland.

