Boca Graduation

Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstadt, Rabbi Richard Spiegel, and their moms

EC's Jewish-literacy program for adults celebrates its bar mitzvah year (13th anniversary)by graduating one of its largest classes.

The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School of the Jewish Education Commission of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County recently celebrated its bar mitzvah year (13th anniversary) by graduating one of its largest classes. This year's graduates also were the first ones to learn about the international Mini-School's new worldwide Alumni Association. A trio of Boca Raton residents and past Mini-School graduates -- Karen Altschul, Dorothy Meyers Wizer and Rose Weitz - helped create the Alumni Association after a conference in January, which the local Mini-School's advisory council sponsored.

Altschul said of the Mini-School, "It changed my life." And it had the same effect on her colleagues. "So as a way of saying 'thank you,' we wanted to give back" by working to establishing the Alumni Association, Altschul said.

In Judaism, it is said that to every generation is born 36 righteous people. This year's Melton graduating class was just one person shy of that total; 35 Boca Raton and Delray Beach residents received certificates at a graduation ceremony on May 18 at the Federation's Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Center in Delray Beach.

The certificates from the Melton Center for Jewish Education at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem signified the graduates' satisfactory completion of the Mini-School, a comprehensive two-year Jewish-literacy program specifically designed for adults. The center and the program are named after Florence Melton, 93, of Boca Raton.

Commencement speaker Harriet Oster reminded her classmates not only about the milestone they were marking, but also the importance of their learning. "When we pray, God listens," Oster said. "But when we study, God speaks."

A highlight of the commencement exercises was a mini-reunion of two graduates (Audrey Kaufman and Carol Joy Spiegel, both of Boca Raton), and their sons (Rabbi Jeffrey Eisenstadt, director of youth and camping for the Jewish Reconstructionist Federation in Elkins Park, Penn.; and Rabbi Richard Spiegel, spiritual leader at Temple Etz Chaim in Thousands Oaks, CA., north of Los Angeles).

Nearly three decades ago, the men were rabbinic students, and their mothers were kavelling (Yiddish for "bursting with pride"). Today, the men are rabbis equally proud of their Mini-School moms.

"We studied together, and now our mothers are studying together," Spiegel said. "I want to thank our mothers and Melton for bringing us all back together again." When he and Eisenstadt were students, "Our mothers were our biggest fans," Spiegel recalled. "Now, we're theirs." Just as the mothers attended their sons' graduation, "It's wonderful for us to attend theirs," Spiegel added.

The graduation ceremony also was particularly meaningful for Dr. Stephen Grabelsky of Boca Raton, who co-chaired the Jewish Federation's annual Super Sunday phone-athon fund-raiser in March with his wife, Emily, a member of the Jewish Federation Women's Division cabinet.

In his comments before and during the graduation ceremony, Grabelsky admitted that his Jewish education stopped the day he had his bar mitzvah. "I've always had a strong Jewish identity, but I lacked a lot of that Jewish knowledge," he said. "Emily has more of a Jewish education than I do. That's why I decided to do this (enroll in Melton)."

Ironically, their son, Ben, "graduated" from his pre-school the day before Grabelsky graduated from the Mini-School. "So it's been a big week for the Grabelsky family," Emily Grabelsky said. She put her arm around her husband. "I'm very proud of him," she said.

Dr. Leon Weissberg, executive director of the Jewish Education Commission of the Jewish Federation, wasn't surprised that the commencement exercises were so emotional and meaningful for the graduates.

"This is an exceptional moment in time for the graduates," Weissberg said. "It is an experience they will remember and cherish forever." Federation President & CEO William Bernstein praised the graduates for their efforts to acquire more Jewish knowledge.

"It gives me a great deal of pleasure to be here with you... with people who value learning," he said. "I'm very proud of the commitment all of you have made toward your education."

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