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 continued from page 21