1942 - 2024
Covering and Connecting
Jewish Detroit Every Week
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DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
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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.
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Detroit Jewish community, reflecting 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
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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: Mark Davidoff,
Michael J. Eizelman, Larry Jackier,
Jeffrey Schlussel, Mark Zausmer
Executive Director:
Marni Raitt
Alene and Graham Landau Archivist Chair:
Mike Smith
Founding President & Publisher Emeritus:
Arthur Horwitz
Founding Publisher
Philip Slomovitz, of blessed memory
The Detroit Jewish News
Foundation Giving Society
The Rebecca and Andrew Hayman Giving Fund
Nancy and James Grosfeld
The Honorable Bernard Friedman
Editorial
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6 | JULY 11 • 2024
J
N
PURELY COMMENTARY
essay
Something to Celebrate
T
he Shehechiyanu
— one of Judaism’s
best-known, if hardest-
to-transliterate, prayers — is
popular for good reason.
Over the
millennia, Jews
have recited
it to celebrate
simchahs,
express joy and
give thanks for
new things. A
new job, a new
home, a new diploma, and
even new hope can give rise
to the desire to recite the
Shehechiyanu.
To that end, Gesher Human
Services is gratefully giving
thanks for arriving at this
season of new.
So, what’s new? What am I
celebrating?
Certainly there have
been countless occasions to
celebrate in the two-plus years
since Gesher was created
when JVS and Kadima, two
of our community’s premier
human service agencies,
merged. Every day, I give
thanks as my 400+ colleagues
support 2,500 members of
our Jewish community and
another 24,000 of our friends
and neighbors at work, at
home and in the community.
I give thanks as we’re
about to celebrate the 50th
anniversary of the JOIN
program — Jewish college
students working at our
communal agencies and
learning about our community
each day. And I give thanks
to our board of directors and
generous donors who support
the people we serve.
Today, however, I am giving
thanks to the Macomb and
St. Clair County Workforce
Board for awarding Gesher a
$1.7 million contract annually
to operate it’s WIOA Adult
and Dislocated Worker
programs. WIOA, or the
Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act, is a federal
program that serves job
seekers and helps employers
meet their workforce needs in
myriad ways.
In the coming months,
Gesher team members will
begin staffing offices in
Warren, Roseville, Clinton
Township and Port Huron to
provide these services to any
Michigander who chooses to
enter one of those offices for
support.
Gesher has operated a
Michigan Works! office in
Waterford and a Detroit-at-
Work office at the Durfee
Innovation Society (the old
Durfee school!) for a number
of years, and both offices are
at the top of their respective
county’s performance metrics.
This track record of success
certainly helped us secure this
new contract.
But, b’resheet, “in the
beginning,
” Gesher’s
predecessor JVS operated its
Business & Career Services
department for decades.
Supported by the Jewish
Federation of Detroit and
operating under different
names since 1941, Gesher’s
current success is built on the
foundation of helping Jewish
Detroiters get a better job, build
a better life for their families,
and passing on success l’dor
va’dor — from generation to
generation.
While Gesher’s new work in
Macomb and St. Clair counties
won’t be to the primary benefit
of the Jewish community —
Paul Blatt