Detroit News: Oak Park school for aspiring rabbis opens on new campus

Oak Park — Students at a newly built school aimed at preparing young men to become rabbis begin moving

into their new dormitory this week.

Classes are scheduled to begin Tuesday at the new four-acre campus of the Lubavitch Yeshivah-International

School for Chabad Leadership at West 10 Mile near Greenfield.

The new 45,000-square-foot facility, which cost more than $5 million to build, will house the 180 males, ages

13-19, expected to enroll this year. During the 14-hour school days, they'll study traditional academics as well

as the Torah, the five books of Moses.

The school is relocating from its campus on Nine Mile Road near Coolidge to a bigger, high-tech facility that

has more modern amenities.

Pupils study at the school for six years. Tuition is about $12,000 annually. A typical day starts with studying

Hasidic philosophy in preparation for religious services. Students then go to prayer before breakfast.

Academic studies take up most of the day, which also include lunch periods and recreational sessions. . Group

gatherings also are held for students and staff in the evenings.

The Oak Park school, named in honor of Harry and Wanda Zekelman, the late parents of the school's main

benefactors, Alan and Lori Zekelman, is among 10 such schools in the world and draws students from around

the globe.

"This is a special kind of school," said Alan Zekelman, a Bloomfield Hills philanthropist, as he toured the new

facility last week. "Students come here and get this wonderful education."

Zekelman said most of the students who attend the 47-year-old institution are at least bilingual and that Yiddish and Hebrew are their primary languages. continue....