58 | FEBRUARY 15 • 2024 J
N
D
espite facing several hurdles,
such as a worldwide
shutdown during the
COVID-19 pandemic and now the
ongoing Israel-Hamas war, the Lester
Ambassador Program continues to
connect young Jewish leaders in
Metro Detroit and Israel.
The privately funded program,
whose members Jewish Federation
of Detroit initially helped connect
through its Partnership2Gether
program in 2018, facilitates
community-building and professional
development for a cohort of some 16
individuals.
Oren Stern is part of the
10-member Israeli group involved in
the Lester Ambassador Program and
has served as an Israeli chair since
first joining the program in 2018.
The 38-year-old real estate
professional and IDF soldier, who
lives in the small village of Timrat
just outside of Haifa, took his first
trip to Detroit the year the program
was started. Along with other Israelis,
Stern met with Metro Detroit Jewish
nonprofit professionals to discuss
creating a program specifically for
young adults in their 20s, 30s and 40s.
The group also met with
philanthropist and real estate mogul
Matt Lester, whom the program is
named after, to share the program
idea for connecting Israelis and
Americans. Lester was immediately
drawn to the concept and agreed to
help make it a reality.
The Detroit-Israel connection remains
stronger than ever.
Lester Ambassador
Program:
Maintaining
Friendship
Through War
ASHLEY ZLATOPOLSKY CONTRIBUTING WRITER
ERETZ
Members of the Lester Ambassador
Program at Temple Israel in 2022
Oren
Stern
Oren Stern, right, with
Richard Broder from
Detroit, who traveled
to Israel on the recent
solidarity mission that
Stern helped escort.