34 | FEBRUARY 23 • 2023
OUR COMMUNITY
T
o commemorate the
100th anniversary of
the founding of AZA,
Michigan Region is honoring
Arnie Weiner, a man whose
dedication to the organization
spans half a century. Weiner’s
affiliation dates back before he
was even born, to the founding
of AZA in Omaha, Nebraska.
In 1924, cars from Grand
Rapids traveled to Omaha,
marking the beginning of
the first chapter in Michigan,
Wasserman AZA #5. Arnie’s
father was one of the first
members of that chapter, and
when Arnie was old enough,
he joined and was an active
member for five years.
While he was in social work
school at the University of
Michigan, Weiner’s professor
suggested that he might enjoy
working with teens in a newly
created cooperative effort of
B’nai B’rith and Beth Israel.
He started out as an adviser
to Eilat BBYO, mentoring
teens and attending conclaves
and conventions. It was there
that he met Manny Mandell,
who offered him the position
of Michigan region assistant
director in 1969. Arnie became
regional director in 1972.
Michigan Region flourished
under Arnie’s leadership and
is still considered one of the
strongest regions in the country.
He was committed to providing
the BBYO experience to as
many teens as possible and
worked to develop scholarship
funds so more teens could
attend conclaves, conventions
and summer experiences.
When he retired, he asked that
any contributions in his honor
go to a fund to help BBYOers.
His longevity in this position
gave the teens in our area
the opportunity to continue
growing in their involvement
in BBYO locally, nationally
and globally. He was actively
involved in directing programs
both in the United States and
abroad, including leadership
trips to Israel, a German Jewish
Exchange program in the 1980s
and a peer encounter trips to
Michigan Region kicks off local celebration
by honoring Arnie Weiner.
AZA Celebrates 100th Anniversary
Arnie
Weiner
L
ooking for a job in
Jewish Metro Detroit?
Are you an organization
in Jewish Metro Detroit looking
to fill an important position?
Everything is about to get easier
with the JLive Job Board.
A community initiative led
by The J Detroit and the Jewish
Federation of Metro Detroit
called The Collective — an eco-
system that seeks to empower
education and engagement
across the community — has
started organizing working
groups of Jewish professionals
who have identified some com-
mon challenges and opportuni-
ties across all their work.
One of those working groups
is looking to address staffing
challenges and opportunities
across Metro Detroit. Meetings
have been taking place with this
working group for about eight
months now.
One challenge this group
identified was that there was
no central place to see all of
the available opportunities in
Jewish Metro Detroit.
“There was no one-stop
shop to see who was hiring and
for what positions,
” said Sarah
Allyn, assistant executive direc-
tor of Strategic Development at
The J Detroit.
The staffing working group
said they would like to have one
place where all of the commu-
nity organizations could post
job openings.
“
And if I have a great candi-
date come across my desk but
they’re not a good fit for my
position, I want to keep them in
the Jewish community,
” Allyn
said. “So I want to send them
to this central place where they
can see all of the other opportu-
nities, with the goal being that
we can attract and retain the
most talented professionals who
want to work for our Jewish
community.
”
Realizing that the commu-
nity already had a centralized
event platform, JLive, the group
reached out and asked if JLive
could help build a careers page.
The JLive Job Board will be a centralized location for
both sides of the Jewish community’s workforce.
One-Stop Shop
DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
Sarah
Allyn