OCTOBER 17 • 2024 | 45
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their arms to members of the 
community that are new to 
NEXTGen Detroit.
“How can we be more 
welcoming? Who could we be 
more inclusive of by doing this 
rather than that? Who have we 
unintentionally not engaged yet, 
where we can now flip the script 
and intentionally include in our 
programming so that the success 
we’ve seen over the past 13 years 
can be available to more people? 
“My vision is achieving 
those goals through taking that 
intentional look at who can we 
better include, through intentional 
asks and being targeted about 
which subgroups of our community 
have not been historically 
welcomed, and how we can better 
integrate them into the work we’re 
doing,” Lucker said.

PLANNING A NEXTGEN
DOMESTIC MISSION
A specific project NEXTGen 
Detroit will be focusing on this 
year includes working toward a 
domestic mission for NEXTGen-

age Detroiters. The idea for the 
pilot program is taking a small 
group of current and potential 
leaders to another Jewish 
community of a different size to 
connect with them, learn from 
them, see what they’re doing 
differently and similarly, and what 
kind of results they’re seeing. 
Lucker previously served on 
NEXTGen Detroit’s Executive 
Committee. One of the major focus 
areas Lucker worked on during 
that time was the New to Town 
Committee, and he is expecting to 
continue that work in his time as 
president. 
“I’m really proud to hold this 
role [as a Detroit transplant]. It 
says a lot about this community’s 
excitement to embrace newcomers 
and willingness to open their 
arms to the broader community,” 
Lucker said. “And that’s exactly 
what I hope to do this year — make 
sure I’m giving back to others 
the warmth, hospitality, love and 
support that I’ve received from our 
community.”
NEXTGen Detroit Director 

Tomer Moked said, “We are so 
thrilled to welcome Spencer as 
NEXTGen Detroit’s 13th president. 
As a board member for four years, 
Spencer’s creativity, leadership and 
motivation to make an impact have 
been huge assets to our community. 
“He’s so driven to engage and 
expand the Jewish young adult 
community here in Detroit. And as 
someone not originally from here, 
Spencer brings critical insight into 
how we can be a more inclusive, 
welcoming community while 
helping us appreciate what makes 
Jewish Detroit such a special place,” 
he added.
Outside of the Jewish 
community, Lucker works as 
director of Strategic Talent 
Initiatives for the Michigan 
Economic Development 
Corporation. Previously, he 
served as director of Employer 
Engagement for Detroit Mayor 
Mike Duggan’s Workforce 
Development Board. 
Lucker, his wife, Stephanie, and 
their 3-year-old twins, Avi and 
Mila, live in the city of Detroit. 

NEXTGen Detroit Immediate 
Past President Jennifer 
Maxbauer, President 
Spencer Lucker, President-
Elect Andrew Luckoff and 
Director Tomer Moked
Sharansky to Chair 
Rabbi Sacks’ Legacy 
Advisory Board

Natan Sharansky has been 
appointed the chair of The 
Rabbi Sacks Legacy’s Global 
Advisory Board.
The news was announced 
at an event to celebrate 
the publication of the 20th 
anniversary edition of Rabbi 
Lord Jonathan Sacks’ book, A 
Letter in the Scroll.
Sharansky, speaking at the 
event, said, “Rabbi Sacks was 
a moral lighthouse, and his 
light is needed more than ever 
in these dark times. That’s 
why I have chosen to accept 
the chairmanship of the Rabbi 
Sacks Legacy’s Global Advisory 
Board to ensure his timeless 
teachings on Jewish identity, 
personal responsibility and the 
fight against antisemitism reach 
every corner of the world.”
Sharansky, 76, a former 
Israeli Cabinet minister and 
Jewish Agency chairman, is 
an internationally renowned 
human rights activist and 
author who played a pivotal role 
in the Soviet Jewry movement.
He wrote the foreword for the 
new edition of Sacks’ book. 
“We feel Rabbi Sacks’ loss 
keenly, but are also grateful that 
he left us his precious words, 
words that even when we reread 
them more than 20 years after 
they were written, carry his gift 
of opening the fullness of our 
own existence to us, of inviting 
us to be everything that we can 
be,” Sharansky said.
The Rabbi Sacks Legacy was 
established to perpetuate the 
rabbi’s wisdom as a “teacher 
of Torah, a moral voice and a 
leader of leaders.” 

