1942 - 2024

Covering and Connecting 
Jewish Detroit Every Week

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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 
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MISSION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will be of service to the Jewish community. The Detroit Jewish 
News will inform and educate the Jewish and general community to preserve, protect and sustain the Jewish 
people of greater Detroit and beyond, and the State of Israel.

VISION STATEMENT The Detroit Jewish News will operate to appeal to the broadest segments of the greater 
Detroit Jewish community, refl
 ecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the 
morale and spirit of the community and advocating Jewish unity, identity and continuity.

DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
32255 Northwestern Hwy. Suite 205,
Farmington Hills, MI 48334
248-354-6060
thejewishnews.com

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The Detroit Jewish 
News Foundation

| Board of Directors:
 Chair: Gary Torgow
 Vice President: David Kramer
 Secretary: Robin Axelrod
 Treasurer: Max Berlin
 Board members: Michael J. Eizelman
 Larry Jackier, Jeffrey Schlussel,
 Mark Zausmer

 Executive Director:
Marni Raitt
 Senior Advisor to the Board: 
Mark Davidoff
 Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair: 
 Mike Smith
 Founding President & Publisher Emeritus: 
Arthur Horwitz
Founding Publisher 
 Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory

 Editorial
Director of Editorial: 
Jackie Headapohl
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Contributing Editors: 
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Contributing Writers:
Nate Bloom, Rochel Burstyn,
Suzanne Chessler, Shari S. Cohen, 
Louis Finkelman, Samantha Foon, 
Yevgeniya Gazman, Stacy Gittleman, 
Esther Allweiss Ingber, Barbara Lewis, 
Jennifer Lovy, Rabbi Jason Miller,
Alan Muskovitz, Karen Schwartz,
Robin Schwartz, Steve Stein, 
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Ashley Zlatopolsky 

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6 | FEBRUARY 29 • 2024 J
N

PURELY COMMENTARY

from Federation

A Thousand Women Show Support
O

n Feb. 12, almost 1,000 partici-
pants gathered for Federation’s 
annual Women’s Philanthropy 
Signature event.
What could bring out so many women 
on an otherwise ordinary Monday night?
If your answer is Debra 
Messing, the famous Jewish 
actress, you’re right.
But not completely.
The other answer to this 
question — and I would say 
the more important answer 
— is that the event was a 
chance to connect, to be 
inspired and to stand together as a united 
Jewish community. In other words, to do 
what we do best as Jewish Detroiters.
These are difficult times for the Jewish 
people. Our brothers and sisters in Israel are 
at war with Hamas, a terrible conflict they 
did not ask for. Over 100 hostages remain 
in Gaza, a fact that many in the rest of the 
world seem to have forgotten. Antisemitism 
has risen to levels we’ve not seen in gener-
ations.

But what defines us as a people, and what 
I believe makes us so unique, is our ability 
to unite in the face of difficulties and to 
always be there for one another.
That is what the Signature event was all 
about, a thousand women laughing, and 
grieving, and loudly proclaiming, as they 
did at the end of the evening, Am Yisrael 
Chai.

And that is just one example.
Next month, our young adult community 
will gather for the EPIC event, which this 
year will celebrate diverse Jewish commu-
nities around the world. After that, we’ll 
have many other great programs, includ-
ing a very meaningful observance of Yom 
HaZikaron and Yom HaAtamaut in the 
spring.
I hope you can make it to one of our 
events, but if you can’t, I encourage you 
to find community wherever it is right 
for you, at your temple or synagogue, in a 
Jewish education class or this week at your 
Shabbos dinner.
As I often say: Just do Jewish.
When you do, you enrich your own life 
and strengthen our community.
To paraphrase the words of one of the 
speakers at the Feb. 12 event: When we 
come together as a community, we support 
one another, uplift each other, and ensure 
that every Jewish individual knows that 
they are loved and that they belong. 

Steve Ingber is CEO of the Jewish Federation of Detroit.

Steve Ingber

Debra 
Messing

