Special Report
ON
E COVER
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Sta ff p ho to by Ang ie Ba an
Jordan
Glass
Keeping Detroit Young
SheIli Liebman Dorfman
Senior Writer
W
ith a passion for community,
Jordan Glass knows firsthand
the importance of young
adults making their homes here and
becoming involved in opportunities that
enrich Detroit Jewish living.
Although his job took him to San
Francisco and Los Angeles, he said, "I
didn't leave because I thought the grass
was greener somewhere else. I love Detroit,
and I always looked toward a time when I
would come back"
Home again since 2002, and living in
West Bloomfield, he recently joined the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
Migration Task Force, formed to discuss
aspects of the Jewish Population Study,
including ways to encourage young adults
to live and work in this community.
At 30, Glass can boast a 20-year involve-
ment with Federation. "When I was in
elementary school, I used to go with my
mom to Super Sunday to bring the adults
coffee and popcorn," he remembered.
For the past two years, Glass was Super
Sunday's co-chair, a position once held
by his mom, Nancy Glass Kanat of West
Bloomfield, who still volunteers at the
event.
Since his first month back in Detroit,
Glass has been involved with Federation's
Young Adult Division (YAD), now serv-
18
February 1 . 2007
ing on its executive board and as YAD's
associate campaign chair and YAD chair
of the Leonore Marwil Detroit Jewish Film
Festival.
He has attended the United Jewish
Communities (UJC) General Assembly,
and the National Young Leadership
Conference in Washington four times. And
he's led the UJC Young Leadership Mission
to Israel twice.
"One of the most important things for
our generation is to build a connection
with Israel by going there he said. On one
trip, he met Jennifer Rosenthal, 25, of West
Bloomfield. They will marry in September.
"I grew up in a family of communal
volunteers and activists, watching the
national news and debating what was
going on in the world:' he said. "My par-
ents also helped develop my drive, dedica-
tion and desire to make a difference in
anything I did."
While at Michigan State University
James Madison College, where Glass
studied political economics and inter-
national relations, he interned for the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
in Washington and was a founder of the
group's MSU chapter, Spartans for Israel.
Last fall, Glass joined the newly formed
Young Leaders Project at Congregation
Shaarey Zedek in Oakland County, where
he is a member. "It is a great group of
young professionals who share a passion
for Judaism, tzedakah and tikkun olam
(repairing the world);' he said.
Through the group, he met community
activist Joel Jacob of West Bloomfield and
will be part of Jacob's upcoming trip to
Washington to meet with members of
Congress and lobby on behalf of hunger
issues and Jewish communal concerns.
A perk to Glass' homecoming is work-
Jordan Glass is a Detroit booster.
ing with his dad, Herbie Glass of West
Bloomfield, at the Glass Freedman
Company in Bingham Farms. A pension
consultant, he helps design retirement
plans for companies and their employees.
Always a Detroit booster, Glass empha-
sized,"This is an incredible place with a
lot of professional opportunities and great
culture. It's a great place to raise children
with our incredible schools."
He knows keeping young adults here is
vital. "It is important that we make sure
there's never a gap in the leadership who
recognize the needs of our community
and how to fulfill them:' Glass said.
He is concerned with assimilation and
"people getting lost in their own lives.
They need a way to connect and discover
— or re-discover — our Jewish commu-
nity.
"When you're a young person, your
community is in the hallways at school; in
college, it's in the dorm. But later on you
need to make your community by being
involved in it:"