SEPTEMBER 23 • 2021 | 11

lived in Ann Arbor, hoping to see some 
friends from Birthright Israel. 

A LONG-HELD DREAM
Joshua Goldberg, involved throughout 
the community, was the president of 
NEXTGen Detroit until his term ended 
on Sept. 2. It was his idea to create 
a council that would unite diverse 
organizations that focused on engaging 
Jewish young adults. The dream had 
been simmering in his mind for years. 
Goldberg serves professionally as 
director of expansion for Moishe 
House, a global role not focused on the 
organization’s Detroit-area houses. He 
also hosts the Jewish News’ video series 
Bubbie’s Kitchen Detroit.
As part of his NEXTGen Detroit 
presidency, he envisioned “five points 
of connection,” all with the aim of 
increasing connections internally and 
externally. One of his points was to 
create a council that would strengthen 
ties within the community. 
“In September 2020, I announced my 
five points in my speech at NEXTGen 
Detroit’s Annual Meeting,” he said. 
“My exact words were: ‘We’ll organize a 
council to forge connections with other 
Jewish groups in our community who 
work with our demographic.’”
And that’s what he did. While 
NEXTGen Detroit itself had 
relationships with various groups, 
no forum existed to ensure that 
relationships exist between all the 
similarly-focused groups in the area.
That fall, he developed the parameters 
of which groups would be invited to join 
the then-unnamed council. The keys 
would be groups that “focus exclusively 
on Jewish community-building for 
young adults” and to consider Metro 
Detroit in a regional way. 
“My thought was to keep the council 
small to facilitate discussion, and I’ve 
sometimes referred to it as a ‘core 
council,’” he said. “In contrast, I imagined 
there being a much broader group that 
could be open to any interested party. I 
wasn’t yet sure what the function of that 
larger group would be, though.”
In December 2020, he emailed the 
designated groups. “Prior to this email, 

the council existed only in my mind and 
in the one-on-one conversations I’d been 
having with leaders from each group,” 
Goldberg said. “With the email, the 
council became real.”
Aside from NEXTGen Detroit, the 
invited groups were Chabad Young 
Professionals Detroit, Detroit City 
Moishe House, EmergingGen Windsor, 
Hillel of Metro Detroit, Jewish Young 
Professionals of Ann Arbor, Moishe 
House Royal Oak, Partners Detroit 
Young Jewish Professionals and The 
Well.
Stiebel of Partners Detroit was thrilled 
to be invited to sit on the council. 
“Joshua’s vision was for a unified Metro 
Detroit Jewish community; often we find 
ourselves fragmented. I was so excited 
when he reached out to me to be a face 
for Partners on this community council.”
Rabbi Jeff Stombaugh, 
executive director of The 
Well, said, “Part of the 
mandate of The Well is 
to help when there are 
opportunities to do so. 
I was personally and 
professionally drawn to 
the council as I’m in favor 
of working together as a community. 
I think it was a natural evolution 

that groups working with a similar 
demographic coalesced into this 
council.”

THE COUNCIL 
GETS TO WORK
Each organization was invited to bring 
two members to the initial virtual 
meeting in January. A few months later, 
the council met for a second time, again 
on Zoom.
Prior to that second 
meeting, Rabbi Noam 
Gross, director of Partners 
Detroit Young Jewish 
Professionals, discussed 
with Goldberg the idea of a 
community-wide event. 
“I thought we could try 
to do something historic 
with all the organizations together,” 
Gross said. “It had probably never been 
done anywhere, but it’s a testament 
to the strength of Detroit’s Jewish 
community that we could make it 
happen here.”
Gross pitched the idea at the meeting, 
where it was met with a nice but brief 
reception. “The other council members 
reacted positively, but I don’t think 
everyone thought it would necessarily 
really happen,” Goldberg said.

continued on page 12

PHOTOS BY ROBERT BRUCE PHOTOGRAPHY

Joshua 
Goldberg

Rabbi Jeff 
Stombaugh

Rabbi Noam 
Gross

