Steve Ingber, CEO
February 16, 2024
On Monday night, almost a thousand participants gathered for our 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 a hundred 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 generations.
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 communities around the world. After that, we’ll have many other great programs, including 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 Ed class, or tonight at your Shabbos dinner.
As I often say, Just do Jewish.
When you do, you not only enrich your own life, you strengthen our entire community.
To paraphrase the words of one the speakers at Monday’s 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.
I hope to see you soon.
Shabbat Shalom.