1942 - 2024
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
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ecting the diverse views and interests of the Jewish community while advancing the
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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