18 | DECEMBER 19 • 2019

Shabbat with families in eastern
Oakland County. They plan
to use The Platform, an event
space in Birmingham, as well
as other yet-to-be-determined
locations. Jacob Spike Kraus,
a singer and songwriter, has
been engaged as the temple’
s
youth artist in residence, and he
will perform at some outreach
events.
These programs are “totally
open to everyone and our hope
is that they will attract an inter-
generational audience,
” Lader
says. “Temple Israel believes
that a rising tide raises all ships.
We are constantly visioning
about how to reach people and
increase our bandwidth in the
eastern areas.
”
Yedwab says, “We always
had the idea of creating Jewish
experiences where people are.
Brick-and-mortar organizations
are under siege.
”
Following through on that
idea, the temple established
The Well, short for Meet You at
The Well, a program targeted
to young professionals, in 2015.
Yedwab credits temple member
Lori Talsky for supporting the
program. “The Well has served
thousands of young people with
events at gyms, coffee houses
and Detroit locations,
” he says.
Rabbi Dan Horwitz, The
Well’
s founding director,
explains the use of multiple
locations but not the Temple
Israel facility is by design.

“The Well was created to
serve the needs of Metro
Detroit’
s young adult popula-
tion broadly — not to serve a
particular temple or synagogue.
Our target audience is 20- and
30-somethings and young
families with kiddos up to age
5. Temple Israel understood
that the goal of The Well was
to turn as many young adults
and young families on to being
part of the Jewish community
as possible, knowing that the
more engaged and connected
young Jewish people there are,
the more likely they are to affil-
iate down the road, ideally ben-
efiting all of our community’
s
institutions.
”
Some Well events are held at
The Platform, owned by Gary
Cohn, a Temple Israel member.
He says The Platform has host-
ed Shabbat services and din-
ners, meetings for Temple Israel
leadership as well as a craft
beer-making demonstration
offered by the temple’
s Rabbi
Josh Bennett.
“They are looking to posi-
tion themselves on the east
side,
” Cohn says. In addition,
the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit has used
the facility for its LGBTQ
group, he says. The Platform
opened about a year ago.
“We’
re always looking for
ways to serve our members and
always looking for opportuni-
ties,
” King says.

continued from page 17

Jews in the D

The Lefkofsky family at a ceremonial ground-breaking for Phase II

COURESTY LEFKOFSKY FAMILY/TEMPLE ISRAEL

They
depend
on
you.

Magen
Davi
d
Adom
(MDA)
i
s
Israel’
s
offici
al
ambulance,

blood-servi
ces,

and
di
saster-

reli
ef

agency,

servi
ng
the
nati
on’
s
9
mi
lli
on
people.

But
li
ke
every
other
Red
Cross


agency
around
the
world,

MDA
doesn’
t
recei
ve
regular
government
support.



That’
s
why
i
t
reli
es
on
people
li
ke
you.

Si
nce
the
1
930s,

generous
Ameri
cans
li
ke
you
have
provi
ded
the
vehi
cles,

trai
ni
ng,


and
equi
pment
that’
s
kept
Israeli
s
healthy
and
strong.


There
are
many
ways
to
support
Israel,

but
none
that
has
a
greater
effect
on
i
ts

people
and
i
ts
f
uture
than
a
gi
f
t
to
Magen
Davi
d
Adom.

Your
support
i
sn’
t
just


changi
ng
li
ves
—
i
t’
s
li
terally
savi
ng
them.


Make
an
end-of-year
donation
to
Magen
David
Adom
at
afmda.
org/chanukah


And
our
best
wi
shes
f
or
a
joyous
Chanukah
and
New
Year.

For
emergency
medical
care,
who
do
Israelis
depend
on?