6 | NOVEMBER 11 • 2021
PURELY COMMENTARY
1942 - 2021
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
FOUNDATION
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MISSION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will be of service to the Jewish community. The Detroit Jewish
News will inform and educate the Jewish and general community to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish
people of greater Detroit and beyond, and the State of Israel.
VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater
Detroit Jewish community, refl
ecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the
morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity.
DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205,
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248-354-6060
thejewishnews.com
Publisher
The Detroit Jewish
News Foundation
| Board of Directors:
Chair: Gary Torgow
Vice President: David Kramer
Secretary: Robin Axelrod
Treasurer: Max Berlin
Board members: Larry Jackier,
Jeffrey Schlussel, Mark Zausmer
Senior Advisor to the Board:
Mark Davidoff
Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair:
Mike Smith
Founding President & Publisher Emeritus:
Arthur Horwitz
Founding Publisher
Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory
| Editorial
DIrector of Editorial:
Jackie Headapohl
jheadapohl@thejewishnews.com
Associate Editor:
David Sachs
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Social Media and Digital Producer:
Nathan Vicar
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Staff Reporter: Danny Schwartz
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Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello
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Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn, Suzanne
Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Shari S.
Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Louis
Finkelman, Stacy Gittleman, Esther
Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, Jennifer
Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz,
Robin Schwartz, Mike Smith, Steve Stein,
Julie Smith Yolles, Ashley Zlatopolsky
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| Production By
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Manager: Scott Drzewiecki
Designers: Kelly Kosek, Kaitlyn Schoen,
Deborah Schultz, Michelle Sheridan
essay
Tulsa Shows Us
How to Attract New
Jewish Residents
J
ewish entrepreneurs
first settled in Tulsa,
Okla., in 1902, once
known as the “oil capital of
the world.
” Although the Tulsa
Jewish community only has an
estimated 1,800
members today,
several Jewish
families amassed
fortunes in oil
and gas, resulting
in the city being
home to some
of the Jewish
world’s most recognizable
philanthropists, including
the Kaiser, Schusterman and
Zarrow families.
Among these three Jewish
families alone, hundreds of
millions of dollars are spent
annually on services throughout
the city, plugging the holes of
significant state budget cuts and
limited public services.
I’ve been told that Tulsa is
possibly the most philanthropic
city per capita in the country,
and that Jewish philanthropists
fund close to half of all social
services in the city. Both
Tulsa’s United Way and Tulsa’s
Community Foundation are the
second largest in the country,
which says a lot for a medium-
size city.
In 2016, businessmen David
Finer and David Charney
convened a few friends and
decided that the Tulsa Jewish
community needed to take
proactive steps to reverse
its demographic decline.
The group calls itself “The
Guerillas” and decided to tackle
the community’s demographic
challenge by founding an
independent organization
called Tulsa Tomorrow. Tulsa
Tomorrow’s mission is to
create curated experiences
and opportunities for people
looking at Tulsa as a place to
move, grow and connect with a
Jewish community.
Since 2017, Tulsa Tomorrow
has assisted with the relocation
of 50 Jewish young adults from
throughout the world and
is continuing to attract new
arrivals to the city through
curated weekends that bring
together prospective transplants
to see in just three days
what the city and its Jewish
COURTESY OF DAN BROTMAN
Dan Brotman
Philanthropist George Kaiser giving
the Tulsa Tomorrow group a private
tour of The Gathering Place