Organization honors 12 Jewish women for International Women’s Day.
In honor of International Women’s Day, Masa Israel Journey is proud to recognize 12 remarkable Jewish women for their leadership and commitment to advancing a brighter future, including Detroit philanthropist Jane Sherman.
Sherman is a longtime leader in Jewish philanthropy, acting in executive and board member roles for several essential community organizations, from Detroit to Israel. Jane was founding chair of the Young Women’s Leadership Cabinet and a founder of the Israeli Forum. She was a vice chair of UJA and UJC for many years, and served as chair of the United Israel Appeal.
She has held many leadership roles at the Detroit Federation, including Women’s Campaign chair and president, first woman chair of the General Campaign and vice president of Federation.
She was a member of the Board of Governors of the Jewish Agency for Israel for more than 25 years and is now an honorary board member. She is a member of the Jewish Agency Executive, where she chaired the Israel Department, Youth Aliyah and Allocations, and was first chair of Project Renewal. She is currently chair of the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Foundation.
She serves on the board of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and Aspen Music Festival and School. Jane and her husband, Larry, have led more than 50 missions to Israel and are intimately involved in Fisher Flight, a program to train future campaign leadership of the Federation.
She has won numerous awards including Detroit’s highest honor, the Fred M. Butzel Award. She is a recipient of the Herb Garon Young Leadership Award, Israel Bonds Leadership Award, Sylvia Simon Greenberg Young Leadership Award as well as having been made an honorary citizen of Ramle, Israel.
“Over my 60 years of involvement with the global Jewish community, I have had the privilege to take part in a number of groundbreaking initiatives, from being the first female campaign chairman in Detroit to starting Youth Futures in my kitchen and seeing it grow to a national Israeli program,” Sherman said. “But of all my accomplishments, I’m particularly proud of starting Fisher Flight and seeing it blossom into a program that has produced several campaign chairs, federation presidents, Jewish Agency board members, and millions of dollars for the Jewish world. It is an honor to be chosen as one of the women for Masa, which I believe will guarantee the future of our Jewish world.”
Amazing Women
Masa is committed to helping young Jewish adults realize their potential while also connecting to their heritage, in hopes to inspire the next generation of Jewish leaders and empower women across the globe.
In addition to Sherman, other honorees include Amy Albertson, Jewish advocate and educator; Meara Ashtivker, New York director of PJ Library; Heidi Gantwerk, president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Diego County; Shiri Madar, CEO of Habonim Dror; Lori Palatnik, founding director of Momentum; Danit Peleg, 3D printed digital fashion designer; Rachel Sasiene, manager of the Israel Action and Addressing Antisemitism Program at Hillel International; Emily Schrader, CEO of Social Lite Creative, journalist, and video host and producer; Veronica Siegel, Jewish educator; Adeena Sussman, cookbook author and culinary consultant; and Mandie Winston, CEO of United Jewish Israel Appeal.
