“The way to get involved with Aish HaTorah Detroit is to walk through the doors. You’ll be greeted with a smile, a cup of coffee and you’ll find a program that’s relevant to your Jewish life.”
Connecting Jews to Judaism.” That’s the mission of Aish HaTorah Detroit, according to executive director Rabbi Simcha Tolwin.
Aish HaTorah Detroit was founded in 1980 by his parents and has been in its current building in Oak Park since 2009.
“So often, there are obstacles — whether it’s membership, big box or services — and our mission at Aish is to make Judaism relevant, exciting and easily accessible to Jews of all backgrounds,” Tolwin said.
He notes that one in 10 Jewish kids are in day school and one in four are in Hebrew school, which means the majority of Jewish kids are getting zero Jewish education. For post-high school years, it’s worse.
“Aish HaTorah is a very clear-cut mission to reach those who are not being reached,” he said.
Aish HaTorah is not a synagogue, Tolwin says, but a learning center.
“It’s a place to come and bring your family to experience meaningful Judaism. We have no membership structure whatsoever. We don’t have fixed seating. We only just put in an ark about six years ago for b’nai mitzvah.”
Before COVID, Aish didn’t even have daily services, just Shabbat and High Holiday services. Only now are there three services a day as daily services became necessary in the community.
“The majority of the Jewish community today doesn’t go to services on a regular basis, and when you have a Jewish community built around shul, the tendency is to think ‘if I go to shul, I’m a good Jew; if I don’t go to shul, not so good,’” Tolwin said. “We’re saying it’s not about shul; it’s about you. Our definition of success is when you take what you learned at Aish and apply it at home. We’re not looking to fill seats or fill membership rosters. We’re looking to fill Jewish homes with Judaism.”
Having spent time in New York, Tolwin, an Orthodox Jew, noticed Jewish labels and denominations aren’t nearly as enforced there as they are in a place like Detroit.
“In Detroit, it’s still a very big deal. There’s a need to put it into a box. The strength to not being a synagogue and not having affiliation or labels is that’s where the trend is going. If you look at the coasts, L.A. and New York, nobody cares. It’s the middle of America still hanging on to these boxes. So, there’s a strength in being ‘what’s coming.’”
Tolwin says another strength in not being a synagogue is the difference between the current generation and prior generations of Jews.
“For our parents’ generation, to be a good Jew meant you belonged to a synagogue, paid membership and went. But today, young Jewish people are looking for meaning; they’re not looking to belong to someplace just because it’s the thing to do,” Tolwin said. “They want to know what being Jewish means. What does being Jewish say about abortion? About same-sex marriage? They want it to matter. When you have an organization dedicated to Jewish learning, you’re tapping into what the young Jewish person wants today, which is meaning versus belonging.”
Some of Aish HaTorah’s core programs have been Israel missions, including introducing the concept of Mission4Moms in Detroit.
Other programs Aish HaTorah run include Pop-Up Shul, giving individuals and families the ability to make their own High Holiday services in their backyards.
Aish also has a Sunday school, which Tolwin says is similarly priced as other synagogues, but no membership means it becomes about half the price.
Also offered is Aish Camp, a program supporting young families during any time of school break, and their challah bakes, including one coming up for the High Holidays.
“Other than that, we have a lot of weekly programs and classes,” Tolwin said. “There’s about 50-100 people who learn weekly with us, depending on what’s going on. And about 700 families are involved with us on an annual basis.”
Tolwin says anytime you walk into Aish, you will see as many completely secular-looking Jews as Orthodox Jews.
“I don’t think there’s another building or synagogue you can walk into [like that],” he said.
“The way to get involved with Aish HaTorah Detroit is to walk through the doors. You’ll be greeted with a smile, a cup of coffee and you’ll find a program that’s relevant to your Jewish life.”
Watch “Ask the Rabbi” with Rabbi Simcha Tolwin: