Editor's Letter

Migration: Desert's Bloom

First of two parts

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realm for the migration task force to fulfill its mission.
It's hard to know how successful Federation's task force
initiatives will be against that backdrop. We need it to deliver
truly innovative, outside-the-margins ideas to reverse the tide
of a shrinking Jewish community. I understand consensus
building but sometimes taking a calculated risk is the better
way. Imagine, for example, if Federation deployed cool emis-
saries in their 20s to Chicago and other hip metropolises to
outreach to young Detroiters, alerting them to what's happen-
ing back home — the new jobs that are available, the seed
capital available for entrepreneurs, the lower cost of living.
I do know that promise in a place we love and call home
can be born from uncertainty.
"From the desert came the Torah:' Tisdale said, "and I
believe from this 'desert time' in Michigan's history will come
a renaissance of our beautiful state and the city of Detroit!'
I can list dozens of reasons why that will be hard to achieve.
Still, I embrace the hope that Tisdale, as charismatic a young
adult leader as there is here, exudes.
Cleveland is one example of an older northern city striv-
ing to bounce back. The Cleveland Jewish community via its
Federation is experimenting with interest-free loans for any-
one coming back. That community already has a substantial
endowment for Jewish day school education; the
funding provides large subsidies to all families,
including those just moving into the area.
Detroit clings to the potential to again be
great. Says Tisdale: "It is waiting for us to see
through what was and begin imagining what
could be."

eave it to a young adult to apply God's imprint to the
young adult flight from Jewish Detroit.
There are times in our lives when the world seems
more like a desert than a place of growth and life. In looking
for the reason, Rabbi Jennifer Tisdale
dug into the archives of one of the
Detroit Jewish community's rabbinic
giants, Rabbi Morris Adler, of blessed
memory.
Adler led Congregation Shaarey
Zedek in Detroit and Southfield from
1946 until a troubled young congre-
gant shot the rabbi and himself on the
Shabbat morning pulpit in 1966. The
beloved rabbi suggested that when
we "live in a desert age;' the "voice of
God does not sound clear and true
Tisdale said in a thought-provoking sermon on May 18 at
Temple Israel in West Bloomfield. Adler characterized this
desert age as a time of "confusion over right and wrong, faith
and reason!'
"In such a time he believed, "it feels as if
God is absent."
In the case of the steady flight of young
adults to urban hotspots like Chicago, New
York, Washington, Boston, Atlanta, Los Angeles
and Seattle, I like the imagery that Tisdale
painted: Detroit is in a "desert time." Detroit
once was one of America's largest and most
vibrant big cities. Over-reliance on the auto
Coming Together
industry, increasing crime after the 1967 riots
Tisdale and other young people who have
and declining schools and services forced most
stayed and are proud to be here — members of
of Detroit's once-significant Jewish population
Federation's Young Adult Division, the Temple
to the suburbs. Michigan's current economic
Israel-originated Imagine program, Hillel of
crisis has driven many of our young adults to
Metro Detroit, the young adult groups of B'nai
Rabbi Tisdale
other states in search of jobs, nightlife and a
B'rith, Hadassah, the Anti-Defamation League,
charismatic, thoughtful
livelier urban core. On the home front, we fight
the American Jewish Committee and other
a hazy vision to halt the flight.
communal agencies — envision an exciting, inviting Detroit.
Detroit — the central city and its suburbs — remains
They want to stand with other young professionals to help
home to one of America's great Jewish communities, still very rebuild the central city; a small but active group of Jewish
generous despite fewer of us. We boast a rich ethnic tapestry
young adults already takes up residence there. Wayne State
embracing our immigrant experience. Many families date
University is aiming high to re-engage with the Jewish com-
back generations. Many seniors have always lived here. Tisdale munity at the student, communal and philanthropic levels.
got it right: "We like to nest here and I would argue that it is a
We must toil — as a community. Standing pat will accom-
pretty cozy and wonderful place to make your nest."
plish nothing.
Tisdale talks about being "just on the horizon of entering
our promised land in a revitalized Detroit and a rejuvenated
On Board
Tisdale, 29, is trying to do her part as a member of the Jewish
Michigan." Over-enthusiastic? Maybe. But I know she's willing
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's migration task force. It
to roll up her sleeves and work, not just preach.
is striving to distill the ways and means to convince Jewish
As she admirably put it: "I do not fool myself into thinking
young adults already here to stay and those who have left to
that it will be easy. But I also don't think I am fooling myself
return. It would be wise to work seamlessly with Michigan
when I think that it will happen. We have no choice to help
universities to provide reason and incentive for college-bound
make it happen." II
high school seniors to stay in state.
Relating how God gave the Torah to the Jewish people in the
0
Have your children left for a perceived
desert, Tisdale said: "Rabbi Adler teaches that similar to how
I-
richer
urban experience?
tn
a desert can bloom with flowers and oasis, there is no human
111—
condition ... so dark that it can completely shut out God!'
Can hope drive a reconnection of more
The point is that it's not beyond God's reach to speak with
young
adults to Detroit?
crystal-clear clarity in the desert — and not beyond the
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