By Lior Zisser-Yogev, Shlicha, Jewish Federation of Detroit
When I first arrived in Michigan in July 2002, I was amazed by the incredible nature and serenity of the woods of Tamarack, the pouring rain in the middle of summer, raccoons and deer and other wildlife that, until then, I had only seen in Disney movies, and fireflies—which I believed were actually fairies. In fact, I believe that to this day.
But what astonished me the most was the Detroit Jewish community—a community that showed me Judaism can be fun, can be uniting and can bring us together. A community that opened their homes to me and 300 other Israeli teens. A community that took us in as their own and kept this relationship going.
And when I returned here in August 2023, this time not as a 14-year-old, but with my family—Gil, Zeve and Rona—I felt like I was coming back home.
We spent two perfect months here in Michigan—two months that were taken out of a dream, filled with sunshine, new friends, trips in Northern Michigan and lots of food for lots of squirrels. Never in our wildest dreams could we have hoped for a better place to come to on our Shlichut. Two months in which we acclimated to our new home and to our new community, before the terrible day of October 7, 2023.
In these moments of tragedy and pain, this community that we still hadn’t gotten to really know showed up for us.
- You showed up 3,000 strong to support Israel only two days after October 7th, and there in Shaarey Zedek, you held me during the most difficult and most painful moment of my life.
- You showed up while we were in Israel at my brother Ilay’s Shiva. This community collected letters and drawings full of kind, encouraging and supportive words from all of my daughters’ new friends at Hillel (Zeve and Rona still couldn’t even speak, let alone read, in English) and sent them to us in Israel.
- For weeks after we returned to Michigan, you showed up at our door every night with dinner on a Meal Train, so that we wouldn’t have to cook g-d forbid (this is a well-known Jewish instinct).
- 2,300 Jewish Detroiters showed up at the Detroit Zoo to march with Israeli flags and shout in one voice עם ישראל חי in the midst of war and loss. And a year later , returned to the zoo in pouring rain that could have easily canceled the event. But that’s not what we do here in Detroit. We show up.
- This community answered every single question and post I wrote in the Jewish moms’ group, providing answers to questions I didn’t know I had! I am telling you, Jewish Moms is 10 times better than any chat GPT or AI LLM.
- Our dear friends showed up for us when Rona was at the hospital with appendicitis. Brought us games and books and a full Kosher for Passover Seder dinner so that we don’t have to eat hospital food for Pesach.
- You showed up when we hosted “Running with Zisser”, the running initiative in memory of my brother Ilay z”l, at Tamarack where he was a camper in 2010; at Hillel Day School where my daughters are students, and when last year’s 8th graders dedicated a Torah Cover and case in his memory.
My Federation community, my work family, showed up for me every single day. The Israel and Overseas team in Federation supported every initiative, program, activity or whim I thought of and backed me up on every random idea to bring more of Israel to Detroit, and supported me so that my dreams would become a reality.
I want to say TODA to all of you for making these 3 years of Shlichut so remarkable for me and my family. We made relationships and connections here that can never fade. Toda to all those who invited us, for Shabbat dinner, for brunch on Sunday, for Thanksgiving dinner or for every Erev Chag, those who invited us to synagogue and Temple for services and to give a Dvar Israel, those who invited us to stay at your place up north, invited us to an event for the organization you’re involved with, to a playdate for the girls, to a birthday party, to a camp friends meet-up, to trick or treat in your subdivision, to a PTO activity at Hillel, to professional development for Jewish educators, to a guys nights out with whiskey tasting and mingling, to Girl Scouts, or to a cup of coffee at Starbucks, or Lucky’s, or Soul Cafe.
For inviting us to be a part of this community. For inviting us to belong. And we felt invited, and we feel that we belong.
Coming here to Michigan was the best thing we have done as a family, and these three years shaped who we are as people and who we always will be.
Toda for being our Home and our Mishpacha. We love and appreciate you all.
