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Melton School founder to be honored

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By Rick Adelman

At 95 years young, Florence Melton is just as intense, intelligent and outspoken as she was a quarter-century ago when her pioneering concept for a Jewish adult education program was merely a glint in her eye.


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What began as a written proposal in 1980 ultimately became the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School, a worldwide program that boasts 17,000 alumni and more than 6,000 students in 60 communities in five countries, including Israel. Melton, a resident of Columbus, Ohio who winters in Boca Raton, recently celebrated her birthday and the 20th anniversary of her school at the annual reunion brunch presented by the Florence Melton Adult Mini-School Alumni Association of South Palm Beach County.

"I opened up the windows for learning opportunities for adults regardless of upbringing, beliefs or background," says Melton. "We linked the concept of the intellectual and the spiritual in learning what the Torah has to say about life and then went about debating its relevance."

The first mini-school class was held in 1986 in Buffalo Grove, Ill., six years after Melton presented the concept of a comprehensive two-year Jewish literacy program for adults seeking answers to religious and spiritual questions. The South Palm Beach County mini-school, administered by the Jewish Education Commission (JEC) of the Jewish Federation of South Palm Beach County, has been in existence for 14 years with over 800 graduates.

The program, developed at the Melton Center for Jewish Education at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, requires only a two-hour per week commitment for 30 weeks during the school year. There is no homework or tests.

Although Melton does not come from a religious background and never graduated high school, she said she was "blessed with a very large measure of curiosity." It troubled her for many years that adults did not have access to any kind of Jewish knowledge. In fact, Melton believes, that has contributed to a serious flaw she sees in the Jewish educational system.

"We have many teachers who are part-time teachers who are not qualified because they themselves have been deprived of any kind of quality Jewish knowledge," said Melton, who still drops in on Melton classes when she’s in Boca Raton. "They are not paid well and many of them are not professionals."

According to Melton, the American Jewish professional community, by in large, believes that congregational schools are delivering a quality Jewish education to kids.

"What they are actually doing very well is teaching them "how to – how to celebrate the holidays, how to conduct services, how to read Hebrew, says Melton, "but these children don’t have a clue regarding their history, their Jewish values or the ideas of Judaism and why they should be proud of them."

Barbara Kabatznik, director of the South Palm Beach County mini-school, called Melton a "living legend."

"I always feels honored in her presence and anybody that meets Florence finds her most inspiring," says Kabatznik.


On Sunday, Feb. 4, 2007, mini-school directors, students and alumni from across the U.S. and overseas will honor Melton at Congregation B’nai Torah located at 6261 SW 18th St. in Boca Raton. For information, call 561-392-8566.


Posted by Rick Adelman on 01/26 at 01:00 AM • Hits: 581



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