politics, including criminal justice,
education and immigration.
Nearly a year into his role at Fwd.
us, Brodsky says he was missing
the “Israeli-centric component of
my life” and went to a meet-and-
greet featuring author Peter Beinart,
whose book The Crisis of Zionism is
“a must-read for anyone looking to
understand the crisis facing Israeli
democracy,” he says.
As it happens, his current boss
was also in attendance and was so
impressed by the young man that
he was essentially offered a job at
Countable on the spot.
Three years after returning to the
United States, and now faced with
challenges to America’s democratic
institutions in addition to those
plaguing Israel, the stakes for this
“dreamer of a better tomorrow”
seem more consequential than ever.
His two loves, America and Israel
— beacons of democracy founded
on similar principles of equality and
meritocratic prosperity for all — are
increasingly coming under threat.
It takes a certain type of person
to look at the needs of the many
and not become cynical or jaded
when a 2017 poll by the University
of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public
Policy Center reveals how shock-
ingly ignorant too many Americans
are when it comes to the most basic
elements of their government and
the Constitution: More than one
in three people (37 percent) sur-
veyed could not name a single right
protected by the First Amendment.
Only one in four (26 percent) could
name all three branches of govern-
ment. One in three (33 percent) can’t
name any branch of government.
None. Not even one.
And while it might be easier
to throw in the towel and declare
democracy dead, there are others
like Michael Brodsky out there,
seeking a fix to our republic’s
morass.
“It’s his strong sense of seeing the
potential in humanity” that drives
him, Olivia Brodsky says. “He gets
so upset when it seems the world is
letting itself down, when countries
don’t live up to their potential and
systems aren’t the best versions of
themselves. That’s what drives
him.” ■

To learn more about Countable, go to
countable.us.

The Holocaust Unfolds:
Reports from the
Detroit Jewish Chronicle
and Jewish News

A Special Exhibit at the Holocaust Memorial Center

On Display October 3 – December 28, 2018

Unlike mainstream media – including the Detroit Free Press and the New York
Times – the Detroit Jewish News and its predecessor publication, the Detroit
Jewish Chronicle, continuously reported on the rise and fall of Nazism. View
reports from Hitler’s ascension to power through the destruction of European
Jewry to the trial of Adolph Eichmann.

The exhibit debunks the myths about what was known and when.

)0-0$"645.&.03*"-$&/5&3t;&,&-."/'".*-:$".164

28123 Orchard Lake Rd. Farmington Hills, MI 48334 www.holocaustcenter.org

For additional information please contact – 248.553.2400

jn

October 4 • 2018

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