Jewish Agency For Israel and still on
the board, serving alongside his
daughter. Yes, he says, she can be
brash and demanding.
"She has given me more trouble
than anybody else," he said. "She's not
bashful about saying she doesn't
agree.
,,
what she's doing and that's important
to us. Whenever we've needed her,
3
though, she's always been there.'
Buoyed by the experience of the
1962 young leadership mission, Jane
learned Hebrew and stepped up her
involvement in Israel support agencies,
including UJA, Federation and the
Jewish Agency For Israel, rising
to key leadership posts in all.
Outgoing Jewish
Federation President Robert
Naftaly says "very few people
are more dedicated to the rela-
tionship between the people
of Detroit and the people of
Israel, o.r to assuring there's a
,
Sherman's outreach to Israel are
Project Renewal and Otzma.
Shortly after Menachem Begin was
elected prime minister in 1978,
Sherman became national chair of
Project Renewal. The program, which
had multinational support, was
intended to bring disadvantaged Israeli
But, he adds, "what she has to say
can't be ignored. What she has brought
to the table is a knack for seeing a side
of an issue we hadn't considered."
Jane's husband, Larry, also made his
first trip to Israel while on the 1962
UJA young leadership mission. A
retailer, he didn't share his wife's
yearning for aliyah; still, he was struck
•
by the need to passionate-
ly support the Jewish
state.
In 1980, the couple did
the next best thing to
aliyah — they bought an
apartment in Israel. "It
was our answer to having
Jane Sherman's communal service
a piece of the land," Jane
resume:
said.
CURRENT
"Without Larry's
• Jewish Agency For Israel Board of
encouragement and sup-
Governors
port," she added, "I never
— finance and administration sub-
would have achieved what
committee chair
I have."
• United Jewish Appeal Supplemental
"I'm extremely proud of
Giving/Israel Education Fund chair
her," said Larry, a past
• United Israel Appeal treasurer
United Jewish Foundation
-- Contract Review Committee
of Metropolitan Detroit
chair
vice president. "I always felt
• Council of Jewish
Janie was capable of doing
Federations/United Jewish
any job she put her mind
Appeal/United Israel Appeal
to. She has great organiza-
Partnership Committee
tional skills and a great
• Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
determination to be suc-
Detroit Board of Governors and
cessful in a first-class way.
Executive Committee
"My role over the years
• United Jewish Foundation of
was to be there when
Metropolitan Detroit vice president
things weren't always
7,= • Hillel Day School of Metropolitan
going the way she wanted,
Detroit Board of Directors
and to give her the free-
dom to travel by staying
PAST
Above left: Max Fisher congratulates his daughter,
home with the children."
Jane Sherman, in 1971 after she received the
• Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Constant travel
Sylvia Simon Greenberg Award, recognizing a
Detroit
notwithstanding, Jane says -
young woman who has consistently given outstanding
— vice president, 1989-95
her extended family —
service to Federation and its constituent agencies.
— Women's Division Campaign and
which includes son David
Education Department president,
Above: Jane Sherman speaks at the 1989
of Birmingham, daughter
1982, campaign chair, 1980-81
Fisher Meeting in advance of the 1990
and son-in-law Sylvia-and
—
Michigan Miracle Mission I
Allied Jewish Campaign.
Randy Wolf of West
vice chair, 1993
Bloomfield, son and
— Michigan Miracle Mission II
daughter-in-law Scott and
executive director, 1995
secure and safe place for Jews to live."
Robbie Sherman of West Bloomfield,
— Teen Mission to Israel I chair,
He said there isn't anyone "who has
and five grandchildren — "is the most
1996
higher credentials in serving the peo-
important thing in my life."
—
Day School Task Force
ple of Israel and making sure the Jews
Sylvia Wolf, active in Federation's
Committee
chair
of Detroit understand how important
Young Adult Division, confirms that.
—
Israel
and
Overseas Committee
Israel is to Jewish Americans."
"It's been difficult at times because she
chair
Two
projects
that
underscore
Jane
travels so much, but my mother loves
citizens into the mainstream of Israeli
society via social programs and hous-
ing improvements.
"It was a chance to close the social
gap in Israel," Sherman said.
"The underprivileged, largely from
North Africa, Yemen, Iraq and Iran,
became involved in public decisions
about what they needed to make their
lives better — libraries, child rearing,
care for the aged, garbage pickup, edu-
cational programs."
Detroit partnered with two Project
Renewal cities: Ramla, of which
Sherman is now an honorary citizen,
and Yavneh. During the Ramla partner-
ship, Max Fisher and fellow Detroiter
A. Alfred Taubman contributed funding
for a community center.
In the mid-'80s, Sherman became
national chair of Otzma, a sort of
Communal Service
• Allied Jewish Campaign general
co-chair, 1988-89
• United Jewish Appeal vice chair
— UJA Endowmqnt chair
— UJA Partnership 2000 co-chair
UJA Jerusalem 3000 chair
— UJA Young Women's Leadership
Cabinet chair
• Jewish Agency For Israel Youth
Aliyah Committe, Rural and
Urban Development Committee
chair
• Council of Jewish Federations
Board of Directors
• Joint Distribution Committee/Israel
subcommittee co-chair
• American Israel Chamber of
Commerce/Detroit chapter chair
• Jewish Community- Center of
Metropolitan Detroit Board of
Directors
• Fresh Air Society Board of Directors
HONORS
• 1971, Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit's Sylvia Simon
Greenberg Award for young leader-
ship
• 1987, first woman recipient of
the State of Israel Bonds' Ben-
Gurion Centennial Medal, signify-
ing a "Jewish leader of the next
generation"
• 1991, United Jewish Appeal's
Herb Garon Award for young lead-
ership
• 1998, Hillel Day School of
Metropolitan Detroit honors to Jane
and Larry Sherman "for their out-
standing leadership and vision for
the future."
9/25
1998
Detroit Jewish News
15