Evening Dedicated to Torah

VOICE OF THE NEW JEWISH GENERATION

RACHEL SWEET ASSOCIATE EDITOR

Partners Detroit and Jewish Young Professionals hosted a Shavuot program at Yeshiva Beth Yehudah in Oak Park on Tuesday, June 2, providing an experience surrounding the power of Torah.

The Shavuot holiday celebrates the receiving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Some Shavuot holiday traditions include having a festive meal with baked goods along with staying up all night learning and reading the Torah. Partners Detroit decided to host its own Shavout experience.

“We brought our students together to participate in a learning experience where they were paired up with local members of the Detroit Jewish community and had the chance to learn about the topic of Shavuot and what Torah study really is,” explained Erin Stiebel, an educator with the organization.

Stiebel says they added this event to their Tuesday night Partners Learning Program, where they brought together an intimate group of Jews from every pocket of the Detroit Jewish community to learn together.

During the program, they got to enjoy cheesecake for dessert in a class with Rabbi Gershon Miller, who is the new dean of the Yeshiva Beth Yehudah school system.

“He’s an incredibly inspirational speaker who has such a broad spectrum of knowledge,” Stiebel added. “He was able to really take Torah learning to a new level and help people realize how powerful and unbelievable it is to have the gift of Torah.”

Even after the program, Stiebel says people stayed to ask questions and were interested in learning more.

“We’re hoping to build bridges and relationships within the community and help people forge a stronger connection to their Jewish identity and teach that Torah is more than something you read on Shabbat or on a holiday, but that it’s still relevant to our lives,” Stiebel said.

“The more we learn and the more we bring the concepts into our lives, the stronger we’ll feel connected to our rich heritage.”

Partners Tuesday Night Learning program happens weekly. For more information, email info@partnersdetroit.org.

COURTESY OF PARTNERS DETROIT

TOP TO BOTTOM: Partners Detroit Director Rabbi Bentzy