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

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