Shabbat Across Detroit

January 11, 2008

We’re all coming together
For Shabbat at our School ’cause we’re cool
And we know that spending time together
Will bring unity to our community

Our school, the Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, is very unique and incredibly different from most of the other schools that participated in the Eimatai conference in Baltimore in November. For starters, we are a non-denominational school, meaning, we have all kinds of Jews ranging anywhere from very observant, to not so observant. Moreover, our community is very spread out; many kids who attend our school drive 45 minutes to get to school everyday. Additionally, in order to convey this point to the rest of the convention we sang the song that is encompassing this article. It is based on the song We’re All in This Together from High School Musical!

With all that being said, our group decided that our initiative should be a community Shabbat dinner, complete with Kabbalat Shabbat and an Oneg. When we decided that this was what we were going to do, we knew we were going to have to overcome many obstacles. How were we going to find a suitable location for our dinner that is centrally located in our spread out community? How were we going to daven together when we have families who will only pray in a traditional minyan with a mechitza and families who only believe in egalitarianism? Well, this is the solution we came up with.

First, on Friday, March 7th we are going to hold our dinner at a middle school that is located within walking distance of a neighborhood with a plethora of shomer Shabbat families who would be willing to house families who need it. We chose this date because on that Friday night synagogues and schools across the country will participate in a program called “Shabbat Across America.”  Additionally, we are going to have two separate minyanim, one with a mechitzah and one without. Then, we will all come together to enjoy a lovely Shabbat dinner as a school community. We really hope that we can unify our community and that we can all celebrate Shabbat together.

Jews from everywhere, denominations?

We don’t care!

’Cause that’s the way we do it in DETROIT!

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Fall 2007 School Initiatives

November 16, 2007

Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School
Goal: To expose the student body to developmentally disable youth, and provide a day of fun for the disabled youth.

Initiative: Using the already successful Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration run by the school, Beth Tfiloh students will join up with Yachad to create a buddy system to enjoy the carnival and celebrations of the day in pairs.

Frankel Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
Goal: To create a sense of unity in the school around a religious event.

Initiative: Frankel students will coordinate a Friday night experience in one of the local communities for students and families of all backgrounds to come together for a Shabbat experience.

Hebrew Academy of Montreal
Goal: To increase the amount of volunteering done by their fellow students.

Initiative: Hebrew Academy students will create a chessed day whe students in the school will each participate in a volunteer activity of their choosing. Students will be encouraged to continure their volunteering throughout the year.

Hebrew Academy of Nassau County
Goal: To increase environmental efforts amongst the student body.

Initiative: HANC students will work to create a month of environmentalism that will start will small recycling projects, and culminate in a larger effort to green the school grounds.

Hillel Yeshiva of Deal
Goal: Help provide food to poor families in their community.

Initiative: Hillel students will work with the local food pantry to increase food donations by creating a weekly shopping list to be distributed around the community. They will also work to find a larger facility for the food pantry.

Magen David Yeshiva
Goal: To continue the A.U.D.G.E. model of students educating students on major Jewish issues.

Initiative: Magen David students will continue to run educational assemblies in their school, and aim to spread the A.U.D.G.E. program to other Jewish day schools.

Margolin Hebrew Academy
Goal: To unite Jewish teens from surrounding communities with students from the school.

Initiative: Margolin students will create a shabbaton in a hotel for students of the school and other teens from Jewish communities across Tennessee.

Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy
Goal: To enhance Yom HaShoa programming for the student body.

Initiative: Berman students will create a living museum experience which will provide a hands on afternoon of realistic programming including

Queens Gymnasia
Goal: To create a stronger sense of unity, respect, and belonging amongst the student body.

Initiative: In order to create more fun activities for the student body, Gymnasia students will run fundraisers to raise money and create a sense of ownership over student programming.

RASG Hebrew Academy of Miami Beach
Goal: Improve school unity through a connection with Israel.

Initiative: Building off of the Israel 60th celebrations, RASG students will conduct a month of Israel trivia education and inspiration culminating in a school-wide shabbaton.

Westchester Hebrew High School
Goal: To increase the level of environmentalism in the Westchester area.

Initiative: Westchester students will begin by increasing recycling in the school, followed by recylcing in the larger community, and ultimately coordinating a beach clean-up by their school.

Yeshiva University High School for Boys (MTA)
Goal: To increase school unity through an existing MTA exclusive social networking website.

Initiative: MTA students will create a launch party to promote the website and encourage students to interact in their downtime with the school as their focus.

Yeshiva University High School for Girls (Central)
Goal: To promote chessed and volunteerism for people who are local and around the world.

Initiative: Central students will conduct a chessed mission to South America to excite students about volunteering, and continue the work back in New York.

Yeshivat Rambam of Baltimore
Goal: Increase school spirit in light of a changing school culture.

Initiative: Rambam students will conduct a film contest for students to create commercials advertising their school in a funny or interesting way. The program will culminate with a school-wide film festival highlighting the videos.

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