JANUARY 18 • 2024 | 25

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same passion. Then I get the kids,
a radically connecting relationship.
Even with a mask, it was so special to
be in the room learning with people.
Moshe Rabbeinu had to wear a mask
to be around people. But he was still
there amongst them.
Rebecca Strobehn: I think that the
transitions of the last couple years
have made me aware, more than
ever, how the sort of socio-emotional
atmosphere of high school is as if not
more important than the academic
learning. To bring back some of those
things that are so core to the school
culture and to Jewish culture in the
school feels really good.
A full spirit weekend, full school
assemblies; the Shabbatons were all
full, everyone wanted to be a part of
it. The energy and the joy around
the school dances and prom and
graduation — all these things where
we couldn’t do any of these things
before. Or the all-school Hallel, where
we shove ourselves maniacally into
the porch of the JCC. The freedom
to have that community, to have that
energy, and to let high schoolers be
high schoolers. I’ve never appreciated
that before in the way that I appreciate
it now.
Rabbi Ellis: Those routines of just
being in school are so nice. [This
year we brought] parents back for
programs on Yom Ha’Atzmaut — we
davened together, said Hallel. It was
really beautiful.

A COMMON JEWISH
FOUNDATION
Lissie Rothstein: We are a community
school for the Orthodox community
and have been in existence for more
than 100 years. We [today] have about
1,500 students and are servicing about
23% of them in our special education
department. I really look through
the lens of how are we reaching all of
them and allowing them to access the
same Jewish education as their peers?
Chana Steinmetz: I think that
for all of us here, when you ask
what we’re doing in each of our

LISSIE ROTHSTEIN,
Director of Special
Education and Support
Services, Yeshiva Beth
Yehudah
“I have a degree in
cognitive impairments
and learning disabilities
and a master’s in autism education
and emotional impairments. About
10 years ago, I was approached
by Yeshiva Beth Yehudah — I was
teaching at Wayne State in the
Early Childhood Special Education
Department and had also done 14
years in public schools — because
they felt a lot of their students were
not making it in the regular classes.
I did some consulting for them, and
then the head of school offered me
a new position as director. I retired
from public schools at that point,
although I continued to work with
the Federation and with Friendship
Circle. I love working in my
community, and I love being able to
effect change where it really makes
a difference.”

CHANA STEINMETZ,
Preschool Director,
Yeshiva Darchei Torah
“I moved to Detroit 24
years ago and came to
Darchei Torah 12 years
ago. Preschool is so nice
because it’s where they
start. Darchei is in one building,
so I get to see the kids as they
grow. I’m very, very passionate
about what I do. I think all of us as
educators, we just want to see our
children growing from little through
big with feelings of Yiddishkeit, and
that love.

RABBI ARI ELLIS,
3rd-grade Judaics
teacher, Farber Hebrew
Day School
I’m originally from
California and I was
the rabbi of a shul in
Winnipeg, Canada, a
small community. I always wanted

to be a teacher, and, as a family,
we wanted community. That’s
what brought us to Detroit. My
wife works here at Farber; my kids
went here. My wife’s mother, who
retired and moved to Detroit, even
she works here now part time. One
of the things we hear a lot is that
Farber feels like family. As an out-
of-towner with no family here, that’s
one of the things that I love.

REBECCA STROBEHN,
Rabbinics instructor,
Frankel Jewish Academy
“I grew up in this
community — graduated
from Hillel Day School
and the Frankel Jewish
Academy. I then got
my education degree at Jewish
Theological Seminary and also got
a master’s in Jewish history. I’ve
always loved learning Torah. But
the moment I realized I wanted to
do this all the time was during a
year-long fellowship at Hadar in
New York. That’s when I thought,
“I really want to spend a lot of time
learning about this and building
community around it.”

PHREDDY
NOSANWISCH, Judaics
teacher, Hillel Day
School
“Yiddishkeit found me
in my 30s, and it just
changed my life for the
better. Once I saw it, I
couldn’t give it up. I went to Jewish
Theological Seminary’s education
school and was supposed to do
my student teaching in New York.
The day I went for my interview, I
stopped in a grocery store and the
shelves were bare, and [someone]
said, “Did you hear the first case of
COVID has been reported in New
York?” Within a couple of months, it
became clear that if we came here
to Michigan, I’d be able to do my
student teaching in person. I just
fell in love with Hillel and didn’t
want to leave.”

Lissie
Rothstein

Chana
Steinmetz

Rabbi Ari
Ellis

Rebecca
Strobehn

Phreddy
Nosanwisch

Meet the Participants