Metro
Kaufman Gift Aids
Hillel Israel Trip
I
n May, 40 Michigan Jewish college
students climbed aboard a tour bus
for a Jewish identity-building trip
throughout Israel. The trip of a lifetime
was made possible by a $25,000 dona-
tion from Alan J. and Sue Kaufman and
family of Bloomfield Hills.
Students from
Michigan State
University, University
of Michigan, Grand
Valley, Central
Michigan, Western
Michigan and Alma
College joined
Rachel Kaplan
together to share a
journey that would
take them to the north and south of
Israel to explore Masada, Jerusalem, Tel
Aviv and the Negev Desert.
"Our trip to Israel is a wonderful
memory that I will cherish forever',' said
Rachel Kaplan of Farmington Hills, a
WMU sophomore. "How lucky I am to
be given this great experience'
Zack Fenton, an MSU junior from
Bloomfield Hills, said the trip was excit-
ing. "We never had a dull moment and
COME IN NOW AND
HARDWOOD FLOORS.
DUSTLESS SAND AN
REFINISH
OR
it was inspirational connecting to my
roots in Israel. It was the best time of
my life."
According to Cindy Hughey, executive
director of the Lester and Jewell Morris
Hillel Jewish Student Center at MSU, the
generous Kaufman family gift was ear-
marked to reduce the Birthright Israel
waitlist at MSU. "None of the wait-listed
students were left behind and we were
able to take 80 students on two buses
this past May:'
Asked if the trips truly reshape how
young Jews feel about Israel and their
own Jewish identities, Wayne Firestone,
president of Hillel: The Foundation for
Jewish Campus Life, says the Birthright
trips "inspire and invigorate this gen-
eration."
He added that the Taglit-Birthright
Israel Program has for the last 10 years
sent more than a quarter-million col-
lege-age students to Israel, ensuring
that young Jews have meaningful expe-
riences that further connect them to
Judaism and help shape the narrative
that will continue to sustain us through
the ages. E
Still On Board
SCREEN AND COAT.
Rands reflects on Interchange role.
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20
July 22 - 2010
anci J. Rands of Bloomfield
Hills has completed a two-
year term as national chair
of Project Interchange. Founded in
1982, Project Interchange, an educa-
tional institute of the American Jewish
Committee (AJC), has brought 5,000
opinion leaders and policy-makers to
Israel from 60 coun-
tries, offering them
broad exposure to
the complex issues
facing Israel and the
region.
Rands, a mem-
ber of the National
Association of
Nanci Rands
Realtors, will remain
on the Project Interchange board.
"Introducing Israel to leaders in a
variety of sectors and from all over
the world allows me to share my pas-
sion for Israel," she said. "The global
impact of Project Interchange, espe-
cially through the work of our alumni,
is inspiring, and I am tremendously
proud to be a part of it."
During Rand's term as national
chair, Project Interchange conducted
two-dozen programs in Israel for
hundreds of opinion leaders and
policymakers from the United States
as well as Turkey, France, Ireland and
Indonesia.
She previously served Project
Interchange for a five-year period as
vice chair for alumni relations.
Rands, a frequent traveler to Israel,
joined two Project Interchange delega-
tions on their visits — one comprised
of university presidents and chancel-
lors from across the United States, and
a second of American civic and policy
leaders.
Rands is also on the AJC national
board of governors. She was invited
in 2009 to take part in the Adenauer
Exchange Program, which brings
American Jewish leaders to Germany
for meetings with German political,
academic, military and civic leaders.
Rands was succeeded in May as
Project Interchange chair by Robert S.
Peckar of New Jersey. [1]