Return to the Promised Land

DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER

From March 12-21, 2023, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit is sponsoring its first community-wide, adults-only mission to Israel since 2008: Motor City Mission.

The team planning the trip is led by Federation chairs Diane and William Goldstein, and Lisa and Richard Broder, along with Federation’s Israel and Overseas Department. Federation is also working closely with congregations throughout the city that will be participating in the mission. Collectively, the team has led hundreds of journeys to Israel.

Federation CEOSteve Ingber said this trip will be special because of the strong community experience the group will have with so many Jewish Detroiters traveling together at one time.

“A community-wide mission is something we’ve all been dreaming about for the past several years, and I’m incredibly excited to see it becoming a reality,” Ingber said. “Not only will the participants develop closer bonds to the people of Israel, they’ll also develop new and more meaningful relationships with their fellow Detroiters.”

Ingber’s first trip to Israel was the inaugural Teen Mission in the summer of 1996. Another memorable mission for Ingber was the last trip he was on just before COVID, with Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. “That trip showed how far we have come in strengthening the bonds between Israel and

the general community here in Michigan,” he said.

Because the mission doesn’t leave until March 2023, Ingber says Federation is hopeful there will be no issues with travel. Regardless, until Sept. 1, 2022, complete refunds will be offered should anyone need to cancel.

“Returning to Israel after such a long hiatus due to the pandemic will be very meaningful for many people and for Detroit as a community with deep bonds with our family in Israel,” Ingber said. “Visiting Israel is a life-changing experience for everyone who goes, and I know this very unique mission will have a profound impact on every participant as well as our community as a whole.”

Richard and Lisa Broder, co-chairs of Motor City Mission, said it’s as good of a time as ever to visit the Jewish state.

“Enough time has passed, but also it coincides with the 75th anniversary of the birth of the State of Israel, so that’s a good reason to go as well,” Richard Broder said.

The Broders have been to Israel many times, including on several Partnership2Gether trips visiting Jewish Michigan’s “sister region” in the Central Galilee.

“It was an unbelievable way to see Israel and experience going on a mission,” Lisa Broder said. “They have something for everybody. We had some days where there were [itinerary] tracks, and you could pick what you wanted to do and other days where you went with the group. It’s a good way to get to know people from your community that you didn’t know so well.” The Broders say a trip such as this can be critical in promoting people’s understanding of Israel first-hand and from what they can actually see, not just what they read. “There’s never a bad time to go to Israel,” Richard Broder said. “As a community mission, we’re going to expose people to what we think are the parts and pieces that they want to see, which would be food, culture, religion, politics, archaeology, history — any of the above. Whatever your particular interests are, you’re going to get some of that when you go there.”

Associate Director of Federation’s Israel & Overseas Department Jaime Bean has the role of logistical coordinator for the mission.

“I think people are itching to go and we just really want to be that vehicle to get people there,” Bean said. “We’re hoping to get individuals who maybe have never been to Israel before and then also people who maybe haven’t been in many years.”

Bean expects the trip to provide all the staples, including spending time in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and in the partnership region.

Bean has been to Israel at least a half-dozen times, has staffed a handful of

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Birthright trips and lived there for a year. She said Michigan’s Partnership2Gether region is a crown jewel.

“You go there, and people will be walking around with Tamarack shirts and Detroit Birthright sweatshirts, and it almost feels as if you’re home, but you’re in Israel,” Bean said. “The relationships we’ve created among the Americans and Israelis in these two communities are astonishing and really meaningful.”

Bean said Motor City Mission will be a oneof-a-kind experience, even more so while experiencing it with fellow Metro Detroiters.

“People who have been before, I’m hoping we can show them some new parts of Israel that they maybe haven’t seen yet. And first-timers, I’m hoping we can squeeze in everything that makes Israel so amazing and meaningful to so many Jews in the diaspora.”

Motor City Mission co-chairs Bill and Diane Goldstein said what sets Motor City Mission apart is that it’s for everyone.

“It’s for first-timers. It’s for people that have been there 20 times or more. It’s for the foodie, the cyclist, the art observer and the historian,” Diane Goldstein said. “We’re really going to have some exciting things that resonate with pretty much anyone coming on the trip.”

With so many types of people and so many varied interests to serve, the Goldsteins said they believe the different itinerary tracks available will make the trip special.

“People who have special memories and want to go back to those places can. People who have

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: View of Mount Tabor

never seen places like Masada or Independence Hall will be able to do those things,” Bill Goldstein said.

Both Goldsteins have been on Grosfeld Missions, one of the several Federation mission programs designed to strengthen the Detroit Jewish community and develop connections between young Detroiters and Israel. One of Diane Goldstein’s most memorable trips to Israel was on a Grosfeld Mission.

“We started in Poland and flew into Israel. Poland was right out of a movie, gray and rainy, and we landed in Israel to beautiful sunshine and the birds fluttering,” she said. “I just remember being moved to a point of tears when we landed in Israel of just how much we as a people have persevered, how much we’ve supported each other and how strong our communities have been historically.

“I remember landing and calling Bill and saying we’re canceling our winter break plans, and we’re coming back to Israel because there’s just no other place to be,” she continued. “All the time and money you spend there comes back twentyfold.”

That experience led the Goldsteins to bring their children to Israel on a family mission, meeting and connecting with an Israeli family in the Partnership2Gether region.

“We got to know this family fairly well just in an evening of dinner at their home, realizing we were way more similar than we were different, even though we live in such different places and opposite sides of the world,” Bill Goldstein said.

“And that’s the plan for this mission as well,” Diane Goldstein added. “There will be an evening spent in a home with an Israeli family, which I think most people who come back from our Detroit trips rank pretty highly.”

New things to see and experiences to be had in Israel that weren’t necessarily there 10-to15 years ago — such as the many startups and advancements in the tech and medical fields — could be among the many stops on the trip.

“But even if that’s not in their wheelhouse, I’ve done a fabulous graffiti tour there. There’s a bunch of stuff happening with fashion and food and wine and culture surrounding that,” Diane Goldstein said.

The Goldsteins said hundreds of couples and singles showed interest in Motor City Mission months before registration went public, consisting of a wide range of people from all different backgrounds.

Every time the Goldsteins have been to Israel, they’ve felt better about the country and about being a Jewish person. Both said they believe that will be a similar experience for Motor City Mission participants — no matter how many times they’ve been to the country. “It’ll wrap up everything,” Diane Goldstein said. “It’ll hit your intellectual curiosity. It’ll hit your heartstrings. It’ll hit your emotional ties, both to the country and the people there. We’ve traveled extensively, and it’s hard to come up with another trip that hits and checks off so many boxes.”

Federation President Matt Lester’s Jewish journey began with a Federation young adult mission to Israel in 1999. Lester hopes Motor City Mission can have a similar impact on others.

“We know, as American Jews, that Israel is a second

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