Michigan
Description
The Detroit Jewish Community has a population of 96,000 people, living mostly in the city's northern suburbs of Southfield, Oak Park, Huntington Woods, West Bloomfield and Farmington Hills.
The organized Jewish community of Detroit was founded in 1889, when many agencies came together to avoid duplicating services. The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit became the community's central organization in 1926. In partnership with its agencies, the Federation identifies needs within the Jewish community and engages in communal planning and allocation of funds.
The Federation's Allied Jewish Campaign and Federated Endowment Fund supports Jewish education, elder care services, programs for families and people with disabilities, cultural events and Israel programs. The annual Campaign raised nearly $27 million in 1995. There are five Jewish day schools and 19 congregational and secular Jewish schools, serving a total of 8,000 children.
Aware of its immigrant origins, the Federation resettles about 500 new Americans each year. Federation's Neighborhood Project program has revitalized older Jewish areas of suburban Detroit and enabled many people, including immigrants, to buy a first home there.
Federation and its agencies reach out to the community through cultural activities, among them the Jewish Community Center Book Fair, the Walk for Israel, Yom Hazikaron and incredible Israel Fest. Other events, like Jerusalem 3000 programs, are hosted by the Federation and its beneficiaries. The Federation has a strong partnership with many of the community's 35 synagogues, representing Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Humanistic Judaism.
The Federation maintains links to the non-Jewish community through programs and dialogues with ethnic and religious groups. The Detroit Jewish community is known internationally for its leadership and long support of the State of Israel. The two largest community missions to Israel ever undertaken in the U.S. were sponsored by Detroit's Federation.
Tamuz 5763 - July 2003