M

ax Kresch, 25, an 
Oak Park native, 
is both an Akiva 
Hebrew Day School (Farber) 
and a Frankel Jewish 
Academy alumnus who was 
active in Bnei Akiva and 
NCSY in Michigan and now 
lives in Jerusalem. 

Q: What motivated you 
to make aliyah?
MK: At Farber and FJA, it is 
the status quo to go to Israel 
for your gap year after high 
school, and many Farber 
and FJA graduates make ali-
yah after that year and some 
after college.
I came to yeshivah as a 
gap-year student right after 
the three boys were kid-
napped in the summer of 
2014, and I also volunteered 
for Magen David Adom 
(MDA). During the year, I 
decided I wanted to draft to 
the army. I didn’t know if I 
wanted to make aliyah yet, 
but I knew I wanted to do 
my part serving the country, 
specifically as a medic.
Initially, I wanted to be 
part of the combat search 
and rescue unit. To do that, 
I had to make aliyah and 
go through their tryouts. 
I made aliyah as a Lone 
Soldier, and although I did 

not end up getting accepted 
to that unit, I was accept-
ed to a combat unit called 
Egoz, where I served as a 
medic.

Q: What have you been 
doing since you finished 
your army service?
Since being released two 
and a half years ago, I have 
worked as an au pair, as a 
paralegal for a law firm and 
as a real estate agent for RE/
MAX.
About two months ago, I 
was called up for reserves 
duty. Because I was a medic 
in the army, they asked me 
to help administer COVID-
19 vaccines. It has been a 
huge honor and privilege to 
be part of the initiative of 
getting the country vacci-
nated, and I feel I have done 
something incredibly mean-
ingful.

Q: Do you have any 
interesting stories from 
when you were giving 
vaccines?
I really enjoyed giving peo-
ple who were terrified of 
needles the shot. I liked to 
just calm them down and 
get them to relax. Also, 
during Pesach, a Chabad 
rabbi sat down at my station 

and he took out a handmade 
shmurah matzah for me as 
a gift.

Q: What do you love 
about living in Israel?
It is not perfect, but I love 
that I have the ability and 
the opportunity to do what I 
can to make it a better place. 
It is a fairly young country, 
and we see improvements 
happening every day. It is 
fun to be part of it.

Q: What’s next for you?
I am going to Hebrew 
University in the fall to 
study biology.

Q: What do you miss 
most about Detroit?
I miss the nostalgia of being 
in the place where I grew up 
and being so familiar with 
it. And, of course, I miss my 
parents.

Q: What message do 
you want to send to 
Detroiters about Israel?
Israel is not perfect, by far, 
but it is definitely a work in 
progress, and we should not 
give up. We should be fight-
ing for something better. 

Aviva Zacks writes about Detroiters 
who made aliyah from her home in 
Israel.

Former Akiva/FJA student went 
to Israel for a gap year — 
and stayed. 

Meet Max 
Kresch

AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

36 | JUNE 3 • 2021 

ERETZ

METRO DETROIT OLIM

Max Kresch

ETHAN CURTIS PASSICOT

Antisemitic Acts in 
U.S. Soared 80% 

The organization that advises U.S. 
Jewish communities on security mat-
ters said it recorded an 80% spike in 
antisemitic acts in the last month amid 
Israel’s 11-day war with Hamas.
One of the causes, according to the 
Secure Community Network, was 
disinformation spread on social media 
during and since the exchange of rock-
et fire.
“There may be foreign actors 
spreading information and disin-
formation, often tied to antisemitic 
tropes,
” CEO Michael Masters said 
May 24 in an interview. “We’re seeing 
a clear rise in the calls for violence 
against the Jewish community and an 
uptick of attacks of violence.
”
Masters listed some of the antise-
mitic incidents: “
Acts of vandalism 
from Oregon to Virginia, synagogue 
desecrations from Illinois to Arizona, 
reports of people having bottles 
thrown at them, children’s playgrounds 
being daubed with swastikas in New 
York and Tennessee.
”
He said there has been a commen-
surate intensification of antisemitism 
on social media during the hostilities 
between Israel and Hamas that ended 
with a ceasefire early Friday. A feature 
of the attacks was to link Jews and 
Israel to the coronavirus pandemic — 
in some cases, by blaming Jews for the 
virus; in others, by likening Israel to 
the virus.
A hashtag, #COVID1948, using 
Israel’s founding to identify Israel as a 
deadly virus, seems to have had its ori-
gins in Iran, Masters said. Many of its 
initial uses were in Farsi, he said.
The Network Contagion Research 
Institute, which tracks disinformation 
on social media, traced a sudden mas-
sive spike in #COVID1948 usage on 
May 12, the third day of the war. It also 
tracked spikes in uses of phrases like 
“Hitler was right,
” “Zionazi” and “Kill 
all Jews.
”
Masters said other foreign actors, 
including states, also may have spurred 
incitement.
“We’ve seen misinformation and 
disinformation from a number of 
actors overseas over the last years, 
and it will not be surprising if some of 
those actors are related to the current 
conflict,
” Masters said. 

RON KAMPEAS JTA

