Inside Israel

JDC Entwine and 
The Well offer local 
group a deeper 
look at Israel.

ALLISON JACOBS DIGITAL EDITOR
 PHOTOGRAPHY BY RACHEL MATZ

Jews in the D

L

ate this November, Rabbi 
Dan Horwitz of The Well 
invited 17 Metro Detroit 
participants to experience Israel 
with JDC Entwine, the young 
adult division of the American 
Jewish Joint Distribution 
Committee.
Also known as “The Joint,
” 
JDC is the largest Jewish 
humanitarian organization, 
working in 70 countries to 
uplift lives and strengthen com-
munities.
The common thread among 
our Inside Israel group was 
a desire to experience Israel 
not just through the eyes of a 
tourist. All of us were hungry 
to learn about the country’
s 

complex cultural, social and 
economic challenges.
As we learned about JDC’
s 
efforts, more than one Israeli we 
encountered said “it’
s compli-
cated” when describing Israel’
s 
hardships. While JDC provided 
a better picture of the complex 
issues in Israel, that sentence 
reverberated throughout our 
seven-day journey. 
Our trip was led by Jessica 
Katz, a Metro Detroiter finish-
ing her year as a JDC Entwine 
Ralph I. Goldman (RIG) Fellow, 
and Shachar Beer, a native 
Jerusalemite and operations 
manager for JDC Entwine’
s 
Israel programs. Each day, we 
became more aware of Israel’
s 

complex issues by exploring 
JDC-led programs.

SUNDAY, NOV. 24
After arriving in Jerusalem, we 
convened at our hotel. Despite 
the jet lag, I was excited to start 
the journey and get acquainted 
with members of the group.
We first set kavanot (inten-
tions) for the trip in small 
groups. I chose to keep an open 
mind and to not hesitate to ask 
questions.

MONDAY, NOV. 25
On our first full day in Israel, 
we dove right into learning “the 
what, why and how” of JDC. I 
had heard of JDC peripherally, 

continued on page 14

TOP: The Inside Israel group at 
Beit Hansen: (back) Jessica Katz, 
Erin Savage, Nicole Reich, Leah 
Josephson, Zach Frick, Dan Horwitz, 
Garrett Dixon, Renee Liberman, 
Brandon Lefkowitz, Ian Gross, 
Shachar Beer; (front) Brooke Ben-
dix, Allison Jacobs, Emiko Hayashi, 
Angela Reich, Rachel Kestenberg, 
Mimi Marcus, Rachel Matz, 
Simonna Matz and Evan Samuels.

12 | DECEMBER 26 • 2019 

s
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on the cover