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6 | NOVEMBER 21 • 2019 

guest column
Gatherings – Not Programs
M

eeting facilitator Priya 
Parker’
s book The Art 
of Gathering: How 
We Meet and Why It Matters is 
inspiring hosts across the globe, 
from C-suite retreat planners to 
novice book club 
hostesses. 
 The Well, a 
Jewish commu-
nity-building 
organization for 
young families 
serving Metro 
Detroit, is also 
gleaning inspiration from the 
book and Parker’
s “rules” for 
hosting successful gatherings. 
 Breaking traditions, con-
fronting “FOMO” culture and 
combating millennial loneliness 
are just a few of the issues The 
Art of Gathering has helped The 
Well tackle, with an approach 
guided by a Jewish lens. 
I recently interviewed Rabbi 
Dan Horwitz, founder and 
director of The Well, to find out 
more about his organization’
s 
innovative gatherings, Parker’
s 
influence on his work and how 

the book has subtly transformed 
the day-to-day experience of 
participants in Metro Detroit’
s 
Jewish community. 
The focus on bringing young 
Jews (and those who love them) 
together is an essential part 
of The Well’
s success. While 
nationally, formal affiliation 
rates with traditional Jewish 
institutions is down, The Well 
has empowered Metro Detroit’
s 
millennials to take a hands-on 
role in developing its gatherings. 
“We aim to co-create and 
empower our people to play 
active roles in the planning and 
execution of our gatherings so 
that the up and coming gener-
ation of young adults will feel 
empowered to be architects 
of the Jewish future, prepared 
to invest their time, talent and 
treasure,
” Horwitz wrote.
The Well’
s gatherings avoid 
lectures and one-sided exchang-
es, instead favoring interac-
tive experiences and mutual 
exchanges in their work. “
All of 
our gatherings have substantive 
Jewish content built in, often in 
experiential fashion,
” he said. 
Many Jewish gatherings are 
“calendar-dependent,
” following 

the annual cycle of holidays. 
For many, these gatherings are 
driven by a desire to mark the 
holidays and seasons of the year, 
sometimes with little further 
direction or inspiration. The 
Well is constantly re-imagin-
ing these traditional gathering 
opportunities with new energy, 
such as their Passover-inspired 
escape room and Sukkot-
themed immersive dinner the-
ater experience. 
The organization’
s monthly 
“Tot Shabbat” series, a Sabbath 
prayer experience designed 
for families with young chil-
dren, creates opportunities for 
connection with the Jewish 
tradition, other young families, 
and exciting spaces in Metro 
Detroit, such as the Detroit Zoo, 
Third Man Records, the Detroit 
Institute for Music Education 
and more. 
The theme and location 
change every month, challeng-
ing assumptions that Shabbat 
and other Jewish gatherings 
must take place in traditionally 
Jewish spaces such as syna-
gogue structures and embracing 
Parker’
s concept that one choos-
es a venue to meet a particular 

gathering’
s objectives. So, for a 
Tot Shabbat celebrating the hol-
iday of Tu b’
Shevat (the Jewish 
Arbor Day), the Outdoor 
Adventure Center proved a 
powerful platform for the gath-
ering.
Many of Parker’
s other prin-
ciples can be seen in approaches 
embraced by The Well — from 
“creating an alternate universe” 
and “establishing rules” to per-
fecting logistics like thoughtful-
ly curating a guest list and fos-
tering meaningful connections 
between each person gathered.
However, one suggested 
approach in Parker’
s book 
seems to run counter to what 
The Well seeks to achieve. 
The “Passover Principle,
” 
explained in Parker’
s book as 
a special invitation to a one-
night-only gathering, might 
actually contribute to a height-
ened sense of millennial lone-
liness. Horwitz says: “It’
s near 
impossible to truly build com-
munity — one that supports 
you day-to-day — with one-off 
gatherings, or gatherings that 
only take place once a year.
” 
The pressure of creating and 
attending a “one-time-only” 

Issues With
Levin’
s Column
As a constituent of Rep. Andy 
Levin, I applaud him for writ-
ing about the anniversary of 
Kristallnacht and his concerns 
about the increasing anti-Se-
mitic attacks against Jewish 
institutions and individuals in 
this country. (“The Lessons 
We Learn From Kristallnacht,” 
Nov. 7)
However, I take issue with 
him connecting these incidents 
to the presidency of Donald 
Trump. He referred to the 
2017 incident in Charlottesville 

claiming Trump referred to 
the neo-Nazis who showed up 
as “very fine people.” He may 
be parroting video or audio 
clips from the main-stream 
media. However, those sound 
bites don’
t report Trump’
s 
entire quote. If Rep. Levin 
were to research and listen to 
the entire comment Trump 
made, he would have heard 
him condemn (in the presi-
dent’
s words) the neo-Nazis 
and white supremacists who 
showed up to the demonstra-
tion regarding the removal of 
Confederate General Robert E. 
Lee’
s statue. 

In the recording of Trump’
s 
comments, the “very fine peo-
ple on both sides” he referred 
to were the people who showed 
up to demonstrate against 
removing the statue and those 
who want the statue removed. 
It’
s fine for Rep. Levin to be 
critical of the president he dis-
agrees with, but he must get his 
facts straight first.

— Lee L. Schostak 

Beverly Hills 
 

Trump Supports Israel
“The Lessons We Learn From 
Kristallnacht” by Rep. Andy 

Levin was informative until he 
made false political claims that 
President Donald Trump was a 
threat to the Jewish people. 
 We never had an American 
president so supportive of 
Israel and the American Jews 
as President Trump. What 
country ills did the president 
blame the Jews for? It was 
Congresswomen Ilhan Omar 
and Rashida Tlaib who blamed 
the Jews for the Palestinian and 
American problems, but Rep. 
Levin tended to ignore this 
present danger.

— Doreen Lichtman

Orchard Lake

letters

Chelsea 
Landry

continued on page 10

