22 | DECEMBER 2 • 2021
OUR COMMUNITY
Federation, JDC board mem-
bers, local foundations and
dozens of generous individ-
ual donors) share a rich and
proud history of partnership
and generosity, including
JDC’s past president, Penny
Blumenstein. The relationship
goes back over half a century
and has yielded wide-ranging
impact in helping people in
need globally, including pio-
neering national early child-
hood initiatives in Israel, and
providing food, medicine and
homecare to impoverished
elderly Jews in the former
Soviet Union and beyond.
“This trip was a combina-
tion of many partnerships and,
personally for me, it was an
honor to be able to be a part
of bringing together so many
elements of my life — JDC,
Entwine, NEXTGen, Detroit
Federation, the Dubai Jewish
community and all the peo-
ple involved,” said Katz, who
served as trip chair given her
experience as the RIG Fellow.
“The opportunity to revisit
a place and community that
has seen such tremendous
change, somewhat unrelated
to COVID, only two years
after being there, and to do it
with peers and members of
the Detroit community was
pure joy and incredible,” she
added.
The Ralph I. Goldman
Fellowship in Global Jewish
Leadership is JDC’s premier
leadership opportunity, award-
ed to one person annually, for
rising Jewish communal or lay
leaders, young thinkers and
doers from all fields — pol-
icymakers, writers, business
innovators, artists and com-
munity builders.
“The experience I
had in 2019, pre-Abra-
ham Accords, was
unique and completely
different to what the
Jewish community has
evolved into today,”
Katz said. “Projects I
worked on or merely
brainstormed alongside
community members
are beginning to come
to fruition; outside the
community, the Abrahamic
House (a UAE govern-
ment-funded campus includ-
ing a mosque and a church)
was a conversation while I was
there before — but we drove
by the physical building more
than halfway through con-
struction and I was amazed by
the fast progression!
“In doing the work of a
JDC Fellow, often the feeling
is one of planting seeds and
wondering if something might
grow from it. This was an
experience to physically see
the growth and connect with
those continuing to do the
work,” Katz said.
“When we have the oppor-
tunity to travel abroad, we are
always reminded of the vast dif-
ferences of Jewish community;
but to me, it’s also a reminder
of the similarities — the things
that keep us, especially as Jews,
connected on a global level —
and to be able to bring home
this experience with other
Detroiters means we get to
continue to build connections
together and have an impact
beyond the weeklong trip.
”
DETROIT DELEGATION
Shimon Gal Levy, an executive
board member of NEXTGen
Detroit, was part of the dele-
gation and was
amazed by the
confluence of
history and modernization.
“Seeing up close how the
Jewish tradition in Dubai has
been practiced for less than
a decade was fascinating,”
said Levy, who translated for
the group from Hebrew into
English when the participants
met a Jewish family that left
Yemen; a conversation that
was a highlight for many
attendees.
Roman Golshteyn, another
NEXTGen executive board
member, described the trip as
a historical and life-changing
experience. For him, some
highlights included meeting
local leaders of Dubai’s Jewish
community, connecting with
local Emirati leaders sup-
portive of the growing Jewish
community, and seeing up
close how the idea of normal-
izing relationships between
Arabs and Jews is becoming a
reality.
Another highlight Roman
mentioned was a visit to the
Crossroads of Civilizations
Museum, which has Judaica,
Israeli artifacts and doc-
umentation about the
Holocaust within its exhi-
bitions. The founder of the
museum, Ahmed Al
Mansuri, befriend-
ed Justice Richard
Bernstein of the
Michigan Supreme
Court during
Bernstein’s travels to
the UAE over the last
year.
Golshteyn says that
he realizes the more we
have the ability to con-
verse, work and trade,
the better off we will
be. “I was able to expe-
rience firsthand how
the stereotypes are being bro-
ken down in both ways and,
by the end of the trip, I was
convinced that it is extremely
important for our local Jewish
community to support and
assist the growth of Dubai’s
Jewish community.”
The delegation celebrated
Shabbat in Dubai alongside
Ambassador Houda Nonoo,
the first female Bahraini
ambassador to the United
States and the first Jewish
ambassador from the Arab
region. Bahrain became the
fourth Arab state to recognize
Israel. Nonoo shared how
she recently visited Israel and
brought back a mezuzah to
place on Bahrain’s synagogue.
She also recently celebrated
her son’s wedding with her
community.
“It is my hope,’’ Golshteyn
said, “that these relationships
we saw in person continue
to grow, and the relationship
between Jews and Muslims
continues to improve so much
that it spills over into neigh-
boring countries and causes
a positive geopolitical shift in
the region.”
6: Jessica Katz
7: Shimon Gal Levy
8: Roman Golshteyn
9: Tomer Moked
6
7
8
9
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