OCTOBER 5 • 2023 | 13
J
N

continued on page 14

B

ack from a community event in 
Toronto in 2019, Lou Goldhaber 
and Jordon Wertheimer — both 
now in their fifth year of Cabinet — 
were sharing a cab to the hotel. As 
first year National Young Leadership 
Cabinet members at the time, they were 
reminiscing about the experiences of the 
retreat and asked themselves one very 
simple question: Why can’t this retreat 
take place in the heart of Detroit? 
This simple question began a four-year 
process, from seeds to fruition, where 
folks far and wide, covertly and overtly, 
would be recruited and work to make 
this dream of bringing Cabinet retreat to 
Detroit a reality. 
On July 28, 2023, National Young 
Leadership Cabinet with almost 300 
Jewish leaders from across North 
America, were in Downtown Detroit for 
the annual Cabinet retreat. 

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 
WHAT IS CABINET?
National Young Leadership Cabinet 
is the Jewish Federations of North 
America (JFNA) premier young 
leadership development program 
that educates and connects the next 
generation of global Jewish leaders and 
philanthropists. Cabinet trains and 
inspires young volunteers ages 30-40, 
or as we call them, chevre (friends in 
colloquial Hebrew), for positions of 
leadership in the Jewish community. 
Cabinet’s focus is to provide tools 
for participants to better themselves 
and their capacity as leaders through 
continued learning, reflection and 
action. Members participate in a 
five-year curriculum that builds on a 
series of Jewish values: Hineni (Call to 
Leadership), Achrayut (Responsibility), 
Kehilah Kedosha (Sacred Community), 
Klal Yisrael (Jewish Peoplehood) and 
Hazon (Vision).

Cabinet not only has a robust 
curriculum that’s aligned with its 
members’ advancement but also builds 
on the skills and knowledge acquired 
during the previous years. 
In addition to annual retreats, 
members are able to enrich and 
strengthen their development on a 
global level, through travel experiences 
that include hands-on service 
opportunities, meeting with local and 
national leaders, and engaging with 
the people who their work impacts. 
Since its founding in 1963, Cabinet 
has successfully attracted individuals 
who lead at the highest levels of Jewish 
communal life. 
It is the only Jewish leadership 
program where members are not 
only taught the skills they need to be 
successful but also are given the chance 
to put those skills into action. 
With over 4,200 alumni, 300+ 
existing members and an annual 
raise of over $3.75 million, Cabinet 
distinguishes itself as a force to be 
reckoned with in the Jewish communal 
space and has nurtured some of today’s 
exceptional Jewish communal leaders. 
Some homegrown leaders include 
Gary Torgow (incoming Jewish 
Federation of Metropolitan Detroit 
president), Michael Berger (incoming 
United Jewish Foundation president), 
and an impressive roster of former 
Cabinet chairs from Detroit, including 
Jane Sherman, Larry Jackier, Stanley 
Frankel and Robb Lippitt. 

CHAPTER 2: THE MISSION — 
BRING CABINET TO DETROIT
Bringing Cabinet to Detroit was not 
short of challenges. “Lou Goldfarber and 
I ran the Detroit idea up the flagpole in 
2019 while still in Toronto, and certainly 
had some immediate pushback,” Jordon 
Wertheimer reflects. “Then COVID 
happened, and we lost two years. After 
the annual retreat in Palm Beach in 
2021, we reached back out to JFNA 
about bringing the retreat to Detroit and 
didn’t stop asking them until they came 
for a site visit, which they did in 2022.” 
Goldfarber adds, “Once we were even 
considered, we engaged others to help 
put the best plan and proposal in place.”
They put those plans and proposals 
in place — including creating a pitch 

FACING PAGE, COUNTERCLOCKWISE, 
FROM TOP RIGHT: Gov. Gretchen Whitmer 
with Planning Committee: Sam Foon, 
Lacey Foon, Lou Goldhaber and Jordan 
Wertheimer. Cabinet Chevre tour of the 
Friendship Circle. Detroit chevre Josh Ketai 
and Andrew Luckoff. Pool party July 30 
hosted by Shimon G. Levy.

Gary Torgow welcomes 
over 300 participants 
in the opening plenary 
at the Westin Book 
Cadillac Detroit. 

Shimon G. Levy 
with Rabbi Eli 
Mayerfeld at the 
Huntington Tower 
Cabinet Reception

