February 21 • 2019 17
jn

Sarah Allyn and Conner Mendenhall

Emily Levine 
& Brett Willner
Emily Levine, originally from 
Huntington Woods, and Brett Willner, 
originally from West Bloomfield, 
have been married for seven years. 
They are parents to Nadav, 2, and are 
expecting to welcome another young 
Detroiter this summer. Prior to pur-
chasing a 1916 home in the Boston-
Edison neighborhood, they rented in 
the Cass Corridor near Wayne State 
University. 
Levine relishes the fact that in her 
reverse commute home to the city 
from her job in the western suburbs, 
she cruises along at 60 mph while the 
traffic on the other side of the high-
way crawls to a standstill. 
On her way home, she may pick 
up some groceries or kosher meat for 
dinner that’
s still hard to come by in 
the city. She enjoys shopping at the 
variety of Latin American and Middle 
Eastern markets in the neighborhoods 
of Detroit. 

Levine does not like when people 
shower her and her husband with 
praise for their decision to live in the 
city. 
“We are not doing it out of altruism 
or anything like that,” said Levine, 
who is active with JTot. “We chose to 
live in the city because we want to.”
Their Boston-Edison home was 
in move-in condition and their only 
upgrade so far has been insulating 
the attic. There is a playground a few 
blocks away and Downtown is a quick 
Uber, bike or QLine ride away. 
Levine said Jtot fills a need as it cre-
ates a circle of friends of young Jewish 
families doing Jewish things together, 
whether it be celebrating Shabbat or 
Chanukah or having an outing like 
they did this fall to visit the Sukkah X 
Detroit installation in Capitol Park. 
“
As the children grow older and get 
to know each other, they are becom-
ing each other’
s Jewish community,” 
she said. 

MYJEWISHDETROIT.ORG 

Emily Levine 

and Brett Willner 

with Nadav

Sarah Allyn & 
Conner Mendenhall
Allyn is executive director of Repair 
the World. After renting in the city 
for five years, she and her husband, 
Connor Mendenhall, a software 
engineer, last August purchased a 
home in the Hubbard Farms section 
of Southwest Detroit. Growing up 
in Huntington Woods, her current 
neighborhood has similar support-
ive and friendly “vibes” of diversity 
in age and race. She said whether 
or not they have children, they are 
“here for the duration” and she is 
“super excited” to offer a Jewish 
educational option to Detroit’
s cur-
rent and future children.
“The school in its first year will 
operate in a very experimental 
phase and we are open to sugges-
tions from a cohort of families,” 
said Allyn, who has a background 
in early childhood education and 

most recently taught at Temple Shir 
Shalom in West Bloomfield. “As we 
offer adult as well as early child-
hood Jewish learning, there will be 
a heavy focus on social action and 
volunteerism that will take us out of 
the building and into our neighbor-
hoods.” ■

jews d
in 
the

continued from page 14

With support from

The 
Jewi
sh 
Federati
on 
of 
Greater 
Tol
edo 
seeks 
an 
energeti
c 
l
eader 
for 
thi
s 
cl
osel
y-kni
t 
Jewi
sh 
communi
ty.
 
Wi
th 
stabl
e 
l
eadershi
p 
and 
a 
sound 
financi
al
 
base,
 
we 
seek 
an 
Executi
ve 
who 
has 
the 
vi
si
on 
and 
dri
ve 
to 
bui
l
d 
on 
our 
strengths 
and 
i
mpl
ement 
a 
pl
an 
for 
future 
servi
ces 
and 
programs 
consi
stent 
wi
th 
findi
ngs 
from 
our 
strategi
c 
pl
anni
ng 
i
ni
ti
ati
ve.
 

For 
compl
ete 
j
ob 
descri
pti
on,
 
go 
to 
www.
j
ewi
shtol
edo.
org/career-center
.
 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

For more information and to apply,
please submit a cover letter and
resume by January 31, 2019, to: 

Ti
na 
Sti
eben,
 
Interi
m 
COO,
Jewi
sh 
Federati
on 
of 
Greater 
Tol
edo,
6465 
Syl
vani
a 
Avenue,
 
Syl
vani
a,
 
OH 
43560 

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