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