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?