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tions manager for 
Friends of the IDF 
Central Region 
helps her feel a 
sense of purpose as 
she works to sup-
port the IDF with 
its most immediate 
needs. Toby, who was involved 
in planning the FIDF annual 
dinner in October, was over-
whelmed by the outpouring of 
support. 
“When you raise almost $3 
million in one evening, I can’t 
even tell you how it feels as an 
Israeli to see all the love and 
support of our donors who want 
to do so much for our brave 
young men and women,
” she 
says. “What helps me a lot is 
talking to people, sharing infor-
mation about what’s needed in 
Israel, and making sure we can 
help the IDF and the soldiers. It’s 
very therapeutic.
” 
She’s also been a vocal advo-
cate for Israel and for Jewish 
students in the Bloomfield Hills 
school district, which came 
under fire in March for inviting 
a known anti-Israeli activist to 
speak at its high school and for 
its response to the events of 
Oct. 7. 
Toby has been communi-
cating with district officials, 
expressing safety concerns over 
a pro-Palestinian student walk-
out and talks of a nationwide 
planned jihad day that would 
have impacted Bloomfield 
Hills High School, both held in 
October. She was particularly 
outraged by the school’s han-
dling of the rally and vague lan-
guage in emails sent by school 
administrators that referred to 
the series of events as “violence 
in the Middle East.
”
“The recent events are not 
‘violence in the Middle East,
’ 
but rather a horrific attack by a 
terrorist group named Hamas. 
Hamas is Isis,
” she wrote. “Over 
1,200 Jewish children, kids, 
babies, elderly and women were 

slaughtered in their homes and 
murdered for the simple fact 
they were Jewish. Hamas kid-
napped more than 100 babies, 
women and elderly people. 
Among them Americans!”
In addition to sending emails 
and meeting with school offi-
cials, she advocated for dis-
trict-sponsored dialogue among 
Palestinians, Muslims, Jews 
and Israelis to work together 
for the benefit and safety of the 
students. She will now serve 
on the district’s newly formed 
Community Partnership 
Committee.

DELIVERING 
PSYCHOLOGICAL 
HELP
Shai Brosh is a clinical 
psychologist 
living in Flint. 
He left Israel 
in 2000 to 
study clinical 
psychology 
at Western 
Michigan 
University, where he 
earned a Ph.D. Since the 
war began, he and other 
mental health profession-
als have been meeting weekly 
on Zoom to identify ways they 
can deliver psychological ser-
vices to those impacted by the 
war. The group is also engaged 
in research because he says 
the magnitude of this war will 
significantly impact future gen-
erations. 
One of his biggest challenges 
since Oct. 7 is feeling powerless, 
which is why he’s been connect-
ing with other Jewish psychol-
ogists in the U.S. and Israel to 
find ways to support those in 
Israel as well as the Jewish com-
munities in the diaspora. 

STAYING CONNECTED
Toder echoes his feelings of 
helplessness and says she would 
have gone to Israel and joined 
the IDF, but because she is 

the parent of a young teenage 
daughter, she’s unable to leave. 
Instead, she’s dedicated herself to 
engaging in activism. 
Before Oct. 7, many local 
Israelis were already part of an 
active WhatsApp group to stay 
connected. It started as a men’s 
group and was primarily used as 
a resource for things like recom-
mendations for repair services 
or when someone needed to 
borrow a ladder. There were also 
social gatherings, giving partic-
ipants a much-needed opportu-
nity to connect. The group grew 
to 160 men and evolved during 
COVID as a resource to help 
others, according to Leiberman, 
one of its founders. 
The events on Oct. 7 changed 
the group’s dynamics and 
increased the activity level. 
Israeli women were invited to 

join, and subgroups were 
added. One subgroup is 
a place to discuss politics. 
Another is a resource for 
those acting as spokes-
people and explaining the 
situation in Israel to the 
press. 
For the first time in a 
while, its members gath-
ered in Royal Oak shortly after 
the war began. Brosh addressed 
the crowd — in Hebrew — and 
talked about coping during 
stressful situations. More than 
anything, the meet-up provided 
a much-needed opportunity to 
connect and feel less isolated. 
“When the war started, we 
felt this was a big, historical 
event, and we all miss the Israeli 
connection and togetherness. 
We are all kind of ripped 
apart about what’s going on,
” 
Leiberman says. “If we were 
in Israel, I wouldn’t need to 
explain to another person what 
I’m feeling because everybody’s 
feeling it. Over here, it’s some-
what strange because we have all 
these feelings, and I can’t even 
communicate about it with the 
person next to me.
” 

Keren Toby

Shai Brosh 

Chaim Leiberman got to see 
former community shliach Yiftah 
Leket when he was in Israel.

Chaim Leiberman 
volunteered to help 
with farming on his 
recent trip to Israel.

