Generation
Yes
Meet a handful of young Jews
who are making it their business to ensure
the future of Detroit's Jewish community.
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN Special to The Jewish News
Photos by KRISTA HUSA
111
hen Ethan Gilan realized that
his temple had no services
that appealed to his genera-
tion, he spearheaded the cre-
ation of a service that would fit.
Stephanie Jacobson found a way
to get young adults working on
residential care for the developmen-
tally disabled. Joshua Opperer recruits his peers
to lead service committees, while Paul Silverman
represents Detroit at Jewish meetings around the
country and around the world. Jimmy
Hooberman is a sparkplug for a young adult
group that welcome Jewish immigrants to
Detroit, and Sari Cicurel held a raft of leadership
posts before becoming president of the Jewish
Federation's Young Adult Division.
The six are exceptional in the amount of time
and energy that they devote to shaping and
strengthening the involvement of younger adults
in the life of Detroit Jewry. But the six are also in
many ways representative of a new generation
that is training itself for involvement.
The Jewish News asked a broad spectrum of
local leaders — younger and older — to identify
people between the ages of 25 and 45 who have
already shown their ability to involve their peers
in community activities. The names of the six
people profiled here came up time and again as
exemplars of all that is vibrant and hopeful about
the Detroit Jewish community's Generation Yes.
They are, to a man and to a woman, com-
mitted innovators, people who see a need for
existing institutions to change by offering
opportunities for involvement that match the
lifestyles and interests of their peers. If that
means making up a new cause or activity, so be
it. If it means working through an existing
institution, that's fine too, they say, so long as
the work is meaningful and produces some visi-
ble result.
"Our generation is hands-on, wanting to know
where their efforts are going," says Jacobson.
One and two generations ago, leaders devoted
their passion and pocketbooks to the Jewish com-
munity at-large, usually working with a handful
of agencies under the Federation. Now dozens of
service organizations, agencies, educational insti-
tutions and synagogues clamor for every dona-
tion dollar or hour of volunteer time. And the
next generation is tied up with full-time, high-
powered careers, full-time volunteer schedules
and, oh yes, personal lives.
"I think it's impossible to predict who's going
to be the next David Hermelin or Max Fisher,"
said Jim Rosenberg, outgoing director of
Federation's Young Adult Division. "Our chal-
lenge is to try to figure out how to involve them,
use their skills."
Figuring out what works is easier when you
learn more about Gilan, Jacobson, Opperer,
Silverman, Hooberman and Cicurel.