JUNE 18 • 2020 | 17

middle of the desert, she lis-
tened in on discussions of 
where and how people might 
sit and pray. Katz said it felt like 
witnessing history. 
“This type of thing feels 
unique not only because there 
is really nothing like it else-
where, but specifically because 
of where in the world it is being 
built,
” Katz said. 
The JDC plans to continue 
its relationship with the Dubai 
Jewish community — it’s hop-
ing to place a Jewish Service 
Corps fellow there in the future, 
Hoffman said. 
“Jessica was actually the 
beginning of a very successful 
first step in what's been a grow-
ing relationship with the com-
munity,
” he said. 
After leaving Dubai in 
November, Katz made one last 
stop in Israel to lead an Entwine 
trip for members of The Well, 
and then headed back to New 
York in mid-December. Before 
she knew it, the fellowship year 
had ended, and she was back in 
Detroit.
Coming back was, in some 
ways, strange for Katz. She 
wasn’t sure if she wanted to stay 
in the area after returning home 
from her fellowship, but after a 
few weeks of catching up with 
old friends and re-
immersing herself in the com-
munity, she knew this was 
where she was supposed to be. 
“There’s something about 
leaving and coming back,
” she 
said. “Coming back, I really felt 
that community uplift… It real-
ly made me even more excited 
about staying in Detroit and 
continuing to build what exists 
here.
” 
Fellows are chosen for the 
program in part because of 
their status as leaders in their 
own communities. They’re 
expected to take what they learn 
during their year of travel and 
bring it home to their own fam-
ilies, friends and coworkers. But 
that’s been a challenge this year. 

When the COVID-19 pan-
demic hit Michigan in March, 
mere months after Katz’s return, 
everything changed. 
Katz said the pandemic has 
made it more challenging to 
impart the lessons she learned 
from the fellowship. She would 
have loved to encourage peo-
ple back home to travel and 
see Jewish life in other places 
around the world. Still, Katz 
said she tried to soak up as 
much as she could during the 
fellowship and is now focused 
on starting conversations with-
in organizations she’s already 
involved in. 
“Right now, it's more of con-
sider these questions, consider 
where you’re from, or do you 
know where you’re from?” Katz 
said. 
COVID-19 threw a wrench 
in Katz’s personal life, too. She 
now serves as a consultant for 
local organizations, including 
Jewish programming group 
Partners Detroit. But the year 
of travel had left her craving 
in-person events with friends 
and family, which aren’t possible 
right now. 
Still, she said, “that resilience 
and that experience [of the fel-
lowship] kind of set me up to be 
perfectly fine with sitting inside 
on my own many days kind of 
figuring it out. It’s a balance. It’s 
not necessarily what I wanted to 
be doing, but at the same time 
I feel pretty well-equipped for 
quarantine.
”
Although the ongoing pan-
demic means we’ll likely need 
to stay at home for a while 
longer, Katz said she’s feeling 
more grateful than ever for this 
worldwide Jewish community. 
She encourages people to keep 
one eye on the Jewish people’s 
past and one eye toward our 
community’s future. 
“It's probably even more 
so important to remember 
that there are Jews around the 
world, and that we’re all really 
connected.
” 

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