JANUARY 4 • 2024 | 21
Further enhancing the
Friday night service was
the TKA band, choir and
junior choir.
“The sanctuary was so
full — as full as it was
for the High Holidays,”
Shribman said. “This
was very gratifying. This
made me feel that I had
already had an impact on
the community in just six
months. But the crowd
wasn’t only for me; the
crowd also came out to
show how invested they
are in our congregation
growing.”
A special Saturday
night program featured
Havdalah, followed by
a social action project
where over 250 soup kits
were assembled to be
distributed at TKA’s weekly
food pantry. It was an
especially meaningful way
for Shribman to wrap up
her installation weekend,
as social action is very
important to her.
Shribman has already
embraced living in Detroit’s
amazing Jewish community
and working at the warm,
intimate TKA.
“Coming from an area
with around 100 Jews in
five counties, I often felt
isolated. But at TKA and
in West Bloomfield, I have
regained what I was lacking
in Wausau, Wisconsin: a
sense of community and
support.
“The opportunities that
are open to me within the
congregation and in the
surrounding community
are inspiring. I love that
there are many ways to be
invested in community in
this area.”
T
he University of
Michigan announced
the creation of a new
Raoul Wallenberg Institute
to “leverage U-M research
and scholarship around
global antisemitism and
divisiveness.”
Wallenberg, a 1935
graduate of U-M, was a
Swedish diplomat, business-
man and architect who
served as Sweden’s special
envoy in German-occupied
Budapest in 1944. During
Wallenberg’s six months in
that role, he saved thousands
of Jewish individuals by
issuing protective passports
and sheltering Jews in
buildings that he designated
as Swedish territory.
The university’s
announcement said that
the institute will be part of
the College of Literature,
Science and Arts with
collaborations throughout
the university, including
complementary efforts to
“enhance religious inclusion
and interfaith engagement”
by the university’s Office
of Diversity, Equity and
Inclusion.
The University of
Michigan has 6,500 Jewish
students, as well as many
Jewish faculty members
and donors. Some Jewish
students turned to U-M for
college during a period in
the 1900s when Ivy League
schools had quotas for
Jewish students. The Jean
and Samuel Frankel Institute
of Judaic Studies, which
offers interdisciplinary
minors and majors in Judaic
Studies, was established at
U-M in 1988.
The announcement of
the Raoul Wallenberg
Institute came after several
months of campus marches,
protests and confrontations
following the Oct. 7 Hamas
attack on Israel. U-M
President Santa Ono issued
a statement on Oct. 10 that
began “Violence is never the
answer. Yet today
our campus
communities
are reeling in
the wake of the
horrific attack by
Hamas terrorists
on Israeli citizens and the
immense loss of civilian
lives.”
He mentioned that he had
reached out to several Israeli
universities that U-M has
had research partnerships
for many years to express
concern for their faculty and
students.
According to Rabbi
Davey Rosen, interim CEO
at U-M Hillel,
antisemitic
incidents have
increased on
campus since
Oct. 7, including
harassment
for wearing
a kippah or
otherwise seeming to be
Jewish. He said that many
Jewish students want to
find common ground with
others but are unable to do
so when no distinction is
made between Hamas as a
terrorist organization and
the Palestinian people.
He said there have been
many “anti-Israel and hurtful
messages” in the student
newspaper, including some
describing the Oct. 7 attack
as “justified resistance.”
Rabbi Rosen described the
Raoul Wallenberg Institute
as a “positive step. This will
take time. We hope to be a
partner in exploring content
and implementation.” He
added that “it’s wonderful
that Ono is taking seriously
all students’ concerns. The
university needs to respond
to Islamophobia, too.”
Ono has called for
intimidation and threats to
stop and has pledged to meet
with students on all sides of
the Israel-Palestine issue.
The university announces new
antisemitism initiatives.
U-M’s New Raoul
Wallenberg
Institute Will Tackle
Antisemitism
Santa Ono
Rabbi
Davey
Rosen
SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Raoul Wallenberg’s passport
photo from June 1944