Local Melton Adult Mini-School Grads Pursue Advanced Studies at Jewish Federation

Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County (Florida)
Published Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Rabbi Morey Schwartz. Click on the image above to view a photo gallery from the event.

More than 65 men and women from their 30s to their 90s spent a morning studying torah, listening to live music and singing, as they kicked off this year’s Florence Melton Adult Mini-School alumni programming. Special guest lecturer Rabbi Morey Schwartz presented, "The Book of Jonah: How Many Second Chances Do We Get?” on the campus of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County on October 7.

Schwartz led the group of Melton graduates and their guests in an examination of Jonah, an unwilling prophet on the run, looking at themes of repentance and forgiveness. Their close reading of the biblical text and secondary resources uncovered contemporary, relevant messages to enhance the participants’ High Holiday experiences. Rabbi Schwartz is the Director of Curriculum Development for the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School Institute of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

"The alumni association provides specialized learning and programming throughout the year,” said Karen Altschul. “Our spirited discussions and wrestling with difficult text shows our knowledge and skill of analysis, and our commitment to further learning in the Melton tradition. More than 100 registered alumni participate in six to eight advanced study sessions each year in what has truly become a community of lay scholars.”

Altschul is Founder and Chair of the local Melton Alumni Association, the first and largest such organization among 14 nationwide. “Our Melton graduates agree that since graduation Jewish learning has become a way of life for them,” said Dr. Leon Weissberg, Jewish Education Commission Executive Director. The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School is a part of the Jewish Education Commission of South Palm Beach County.

With 65 sites internationally, Melton is the largest pluralistic adult Jewish education network in the world, as well as in South Palm Beach County. Last spring 74 diverse local students graduated from the two year course, which promises that if you “Give us two hours a week, we’ll give you more than 5,000 years of Jewish history, culture, heritage and tradition.”

This year’s Melton graduate program includes the following weekly courses: “Shemot/Exodus from Slavery to Sinai” with Dr. Weissberg from October to January; and two programs, “The Holocaust through Diaries and Memoirs,” and “Shivim Panim Bereshit: Part 1 Adam to Abraham, The First Twenty Generations,” with Marion Hirschmann from January to April. Registration is limited to Melton graduates, and each series has a $250 fee.