8 | DECEMBER 1 • 2022 

PURELY COMMENTARY

guest column

A Meeting of 
Ambassadors

F

our years in the making 
and after numerous 
setbacks due to COVID, 
we finally kicked off the first 
class of the Lester 
Ambassador 
Program as 
originally 
planned. 
Having 
met each 
other through 
Federation’s 
Partnership-
2Gether program more than 
five years ago, the two of 
us recognized a gap in our 
communities’ programming. 
Kids interacted at Tamarack 
through the Israeli Camper 
Program, college students met 
through Birthright, internships, 
and study abroad, and our more 
senior community leaders were 
deeply engaged in committee 
roles that brought them 
together. 

What was missing was 
an immersive program that 
brought together emerging 
leaders in our two communities 
for intensive learning, 
travel exchanges and, most 
importantly, lifelong relationship 
building. Thanks to the 
generosity and shared vision of 
Nikki and Matt Lester, in the 
spring of 2019 we announced 
the Lester Ambassador 
Program. 
From the outset, our 
underlying goal has always 
been to advance the mission 
of the Partnership program by 
strengthening the relationship 
between the communities of 
Detroit and the Central Galilee. 
We assembled two cohorts 
of counterparts, one in Israel 
and one in Detroit, and built 
a curriculum focused on four 
pillars: Jewish identity and 
values, discovering community, 
leadership and legacy. 

It took longer than expected, 
but having the Israeli cohort 
finally arrive in Detroit to 
spend time with their American 
counterparts was worth the wait. 
It is hard to describe the instant 
connection you make with 
someone whom you may never 
have met in person based on 
a shared interest in something 
bigger than yourself. 

When we started creating this 
program, we built it around the 
idea that personal relationships 
must be made in-person. This 
was prior to the pandemic, and 
we assumed that young adults 
would struggle to commit their 
time to a program that did 
not have multiple in-person 
opportunities. This group of 
young adults proved us wrong, 
as they embraced three years 
of virtual — but meaningful — 
relationship-building before this 
first trip. 
When the restrictions of 
the pandemic finally lifted, 
we could not wait to see what 
it would be like when the 
Israeli cohort finally arrived in 
Detroit. What started out as a 
simple idea to get young adult-
aged participants from our 
Partnership region and Detroit 
together for a two-year learning 
program turned into much 
more. The Lester Ambassador 

Program survived a global 
pandemic, travel shutdowns, 
economic and political 
uncertainty. Standing here today 
we feel confident and grateful 
that we are stronger for it.

TOGETHER AT LAST
The Israeli cohort arrived in 
Detroit on Oct. 19 to a jam-
packed schedule. We began 
with an immersion into the 
history of Detroit, led by the 
director of the Leonard N. 
Simons Jewish Community 
Archives, Robbie Terman. 
Our firsthand encounter of 
the city included tours of old 
Jewish neighborhoods and a 
visit to the Charles H. Wright 
Museum of African American 
History. We also attended 
meetings with contemporary 
community leaders, both lay 
and professional, like Rabbi 
Asher Lopatin for the JCRC/
AJC and the staff at the offices 
of Sachse Construction.

For some of the Israelis, this 
was their first trip to a Jewish 
community abroad. As young 
adults coming from Israel, 
the most interesting part is 
seeing the community — how 
children are being raised and 
what it means to be Jewish in 
the diaspora. Our second day 
focused on just that. We started 

Barak 
Hashmonai 
and Lou 
Goldhaber 

The Lester Ambassador Program brings 
Young Israeli and Detroit leaders together.

A trip to the “Big House” stadium at the University of Michigan was 
one of the highlights of the mid-October event.

