The Jewish Advocate – “Partnering in Torah”

Alternative education, like alternative music or medicine, is quietly making its way into the mainstream. Among Boston’s Jewish adults, one particular program has found success: Partners in Torah, an innovative Jewish education service founded by Rabbi Eli Gewirtz of New Jersey.

The program, which grew out of an experiment Gewirtz conducted in the East Windsor synagogue where he served as rabbi for six years in the early 1980s, matches semi- or non-affiliated Jews with Orthodox study partners. The majority of pairs speak over the phone weekly; a minority meet in person. However the partners communicate, the one-on-one sessions seem to work.

Dafna Shoner, who recently moved to Brookline, does “followup” for Partners in Torah. After a pair is made, she calls up each individual to ensure compatibility and satisfaction. “It’s a quality control thing,” she said.

Gewirtz emphasized that Partners in Torah does not push an agenda. “We interview every single mentor and if we feel that someone has an agenda, then he’s out,” he said.

On the most basic level, Gewirtz sees Partners in Torah as providing “an opportunity for Jewish people to get together and explore what they have in common.” But he confessed that the program is also a vehicle for furthering Jewish unity, identity and pride.

The absence of a specific agenda – a fact impressed on participants by the presence of a great many doctors and lawyers among the mentors – “puts to rest the idea that Orthodox Jews look down on the unobservant.” Many mentees, who request mentors by dialing

Partners in Torah’s toll free number, would feel uncomfortable talking to people who outwardly appear ultra-Orthodox, according to Gewirtz. The participants choose what they study: subjects range from the weekly Torah portion to Jewish philosophy to Jewish views on contemporary issues.

A survey conducted by the dean of the Rutgers Business School, Dr. Michael Cooper, revealed that nearly 80 percent of mentees believe the program has had a “significant impact” on their Jewish identity; more than half of those said the impact was “very significant.” And about 70 percent said they were “extremely satisfied” with the program.

While the need for adult-oriented Jewish education is widely recognized, no other programs compare to Partners in Torah in terms of size, success or cost. Organizations such as the Synagogue Council of Massachusetts, which promotes Jewish unity through “respect for diversity,” hold occasional study sessions and cross-denominational retreats, but their programs do not demand the same commitment as Partners in Torah. Marilin Lipman, the council’s assistant director, explained that free lessons, such as those offered by Partners in Torah, are difficult to find. Though unfamiliar with Partners in Torah, she said the model could be a good one.

In 1982, while serving as rabbi of a non-denominational East Windsor synagogue, Gewirtz realized that the retention rate for adults in the group classes he offered was extraordinarily low.

“After two or three classes,” he said, “most people left.”

That’s when he began pairing people with study partners, using the more traditional yeshiva model that became the basis for Partners in Torah. From only four people on the first night, participation rapidly grew to upward of 150.

Gewirtz stumbled on an opportunity to implement the program more broadly a few years later. Torah Umesorah – the National Society for Hebrew Day Schools – an Orthodox organization, had been awarded a special grant from the Avi Chai foundation to support adult education. The task fell to Gewirtz; the outcome was Partners in Torah.

After unexpected telephone calls from Alaska and Virginia in the mid 1990s testified to the program’s potential, Gewirtz decided to go national. Since, with the help of a grant extension from Avi Chai, over 25,000 Jews nationwide have participated in Partners in Torah. And Gewirtz expects that number to keep rising.

By Jeremy Gillick

(TheJewishAdvocate.com JANUARY 4, 2008)