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By LAUREN ROTH lroth@leader.net
Sunday, March 09, 2003 Page: 3A
WILKES-BARRE – A program that helps teenage boys struggling with
traditional Jewish education wants to make a home in a downtown building.
The Bais Menachem Youth Development program would use the left half – 148
S. Franklin St. – for offices, classrooms and possibly a common room. The
space once housed Howell & Jones Realtors. The right half – 150 S. Franklin
St. – has already been approved as housing for the teens. The five apartments
are occupied by five tenants, who would be evicted.
On Wednesday, March 19, at City Hall the Zoning Hearing Board will consider
a variance request from Lubavich Rabbi Uri Perlman for use of the 148 Franklin
St. side. The original zoning permit request was denied March 4 because the
youth program is not an accepted use in an S2 zone.
Rabbi Perlman is hopeful the variance will be granted. “I feel we’re not
really changing the use. It was a training center for real estate; we’d use it
to train groups of one to two students in computers, GED or Jewish studies.”
Robert Schreiber has lived at 150 S. Franklin St. for three years, and said
that though he doesn’t oppose the program, he’s just beginning to process the
news. “Who wants to be kicked out of where they’re living for any period of
time?” As the only tenant who is a student, he said he’d planned to live
there for another two years.“I like it a lot. It’s a great apartment in a
great part of town.”
That’s what drew Perlman to it, too.
“It puts us in the perfect location,” said the rabbi, noting the building
is walking distance from Ohav Zedek Synagogue on South Franklin Street and the
Jewish Community Center on South River Street. The synagogue is the program’s
prayer center, and the JCC is its recreation center.
Perlman, a Kingston native, began the program three years ago because he
felt “there was a lack in the religious Jewish community that could be
filled.” Jewish young men 17 to 18 years old who struggled academically in
traditional yeshivas or floundered socially at home or at work had no place to
turn. The program does not accept applicants with mental health problems or
criminal histories, he noted.
Teens have come to the program from Holland, France and Australia, but most
are from Florida, California or New York. Here they have a place to stay, life
guidance and an option to job-train at Diamond/Triumph Auto Glass in Kingston.
About 50 young men have been part of the program, which lasts six months to
two years, and three have stayed in the community. The five full-time staffers
have also settled here. The program also has 7 part-time faculty members.
But Bais Menachem has not had a permanent home or office before.
Jeff Davidowitz, past president of the JCC and member of the Bais Menachem
board of advisers, said he supports the program’s quest for a “bais” –
“home” in Hebrew. “I think it’s an exceptionally positive thing,” he said.
“There’s a high ratio of supervision. I think they’d be a wonderful
neighbor.”