Rosh Hashanah >> communal messages
This Is Our Time
R
osh Hashanah offers us a unique
moment to be thankful for the
year we have lived, for our family
and friends, and for the wonderful com-
munity of Jewish Detroit we call home.
The new year is also a time to look for-
ward to the future with hope and excite-
ment for the joys and possibilities that lie
ahead. And, whether we are 9 years old
or 90, we find that each Rosh Hashanah is
unique and important in its own way.
For all of us who care passionately
about the Jewish community, however,
this year is truly special and worth cel-
ebrating.
Not long ago, we faced a daunting
financial crisis that affected many of
our Jewish families and individuals and
threatened the security of our commu-
nity. It was only through an extraordinary
measure of commitment, leadership and
resourcefulness that we overcame this
challenge and maintained our health and
stability.
As Federation leaders, we cannot hope
to express the enormous gratitude we
feel to all those who stepped forward on
behalf of their fellow Jews, including pre-
vious generations who worked to build
a strong foundation for Jewish Detroit.
Because of your strength, vision and gen-
erosity, we have weathered the crisis and
find that a new day is here. With it comes
the opportunity to pay that generosity
forward to future generations.
This is a special time for us. It is a time
when our community is once again on the
rise, when more of our most vulnerable
members — including our seniors, indi-
viduals with disabilities, families in need
and others — are cared for with love and
respect. This is a time when our children
have new avenues to connect with their
Jewish heritage and young people are
finding opportunities within their com-
munity and city. It is a time when Jewish
education and culture are blossoming and
when our bond with Israel is taking on
new dimension and depth.
We must recognize that, despite these
accomplishments, this is also a time when
many of our fellow Jews are still strug-
gling, and there remains much work to
be done in taking care of the needs of
the community. It is a time to rededicate
ourselves to the principles of tzedakah
and to the efforts to ensure the needs of
our Jewish family in Detroit, in Israel and
around the world.
This is our time, for the Jewish future
in Detroit belongs to each of us. If we are
willing to commit deeply to our com-
munity, it is a time when great things are
possible for Jewish Detroit.
On behalf of Federation, we want to
wish every member of our Jewish com-
munity a healthy, happy and joyous new
year. Together, we will step forward toward
a time of peace and harmony for Jews here,
in Israel and everywhere across the world.
Douglas Bloom,
president,
Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit
Todd Sachse,
president,
United Jewish Foundation
of Metropolitan Detroit
Scott Kaufman,
CEO,
Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit
Chag Samayach.
Happy New Year From The JCC
R
osh Hashanah is a time that
awakens our senses. The air
sings with the smell of autumn:
sweet apples and falling leaves and cool
air. Our holiday tables are laden with
delicious foods like chicken (prepared
in a healthy way, of course!), roasted
vegetables, round challah and honey.
Synagogues are filled with the sound of
prayer, and we are blessed to see family
and friends as they join us in celebra-
tion.
So, too, are our hearts and souls awak-
ened because Rosh Hashanah is a time
of renewed hope, a time to express our
gratitude and wonder at the beautiful
world around us.
At the Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit, we begin our new
year with a sense of appreciation for our
donors and members, volunteers and
friends. We are honored to work with
you and be part of this community.
Like virtually every nonprofit institu-
tion, we face financial challenges. But
we never forget that our ultimate suc-
cess is about people: are we providing
the finest programming and service
to everyone from infants to seniors to
families to teens with special needs?
We have certainly put our heart into
it.
This past year we held hundreds of
cultural and educational events and
hosted truly extraordinary talent at the
Berman Center for the Performing Arts.
We presented the annual Jewish Book
Fair, the JCC Stephen Gottlieb Music
Festival, the Gottlieb Family Festival of
the Arts and the Lenore Marwil Jewish
Film Festival. Our Janice Charach
Gallery's exhibits were breathtaking.
We offered the best in Jewish learn-
ing through Seminars for Adult
Jewish Enrichment, opened the new
Community Recreation Park in Oak
Park, made a lot of children happy at
Center Day Camps, Camp Discovery
and with the Kids All Together inclusion
program. We hosted trips around the
world and offered visitors a chance to
see Israel in a Shalom Street exhibit.
We presented outstanding program-
ming for senior adults with the Active
Life and IRP, introduced the JCC Lenny
Krayzelburg Swim Academy, welcomed
the Jewish Gay Network as an agency,
improved ourselves and our community
with the Kindness Project and held a
great Dr. Larry D. Sills Memorial Golf
Classic.
We worked to make certain that
our daily programs, the Pitt Child
Development Center, Meyers Library,
Center Fitness, Sports and Inline
Hockey, were beyond compare. And
we're already planning the JCC Maccabi
Games & ArtsFest, to be held here next
summer, which I am so excited for!
Thank you for giving us the opportu-
nity to present all of these and to serve
as a gathering place for everyone.
We wish you a sweet new year with
good health, happiness, friends and
family all around you.
Love, Love, Love,
Florine Mark,
president,
Jewish Community Center
of Metropolitan Detroit
Looking Forward And Looking Back
A
s we look forward to the new
Jewish year 5774, Detroit's Jews
will pray for peace and security
for Jews everywhere and especially in
Israel, and for prosperity and progress
for us and our non-Jewish friends and
neighbors. We have a sense of optimism
and hope, but also are not without some
68 August 29 • 2013
JN
trepidation.
Before we look forward, we look back
to the major events of 5773 and how
they affected the Jewish community. We
remember that a major conflict erupted
between Israel and Hamas in November,
as Israeli civilians were threatened,
Israeli troops were mobilized and the
Iron Dome anti-missile system — jointly
developed by the U.S. and Israel — was
for the first time fully deployed (thank-
fully, with much success).
Meanwhile, Iran's nuclear ambitions,
endangering not just Israel but the entire
world, continued at an accelerated pace.
The scourge of terrorism remained an
ever-present danger. The civil war in
Syria and its reverberations in Lebanon
and Jordan proved increasingly worri-
some. The recent coup in Egypt, with
that country's stability having been the
lynchpin keeping the Middle East from
utterly devolving for more than four
decades, raised a host of worries for