The Samantha Woll Center for Jewish Detroit (The Sam)
The Sam thrives on a simple belief: that curiosity, joy, and genuine human connection can transform community. Launched by the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue (IADS) in 2026, we're inspired by the life and legacy of Samantha Woll (z”l), who embodied those qualities every single day.
We curate civic and cultural experiences that bring new voices, bold ideas, and a spirit of openness to Jewish Detroit and beyond — to deepen understanding, fuel creativity, and celebrate our shared humanity.
Let's build something beautiful together. Help shape what's coming. Join us!
Fall 2026 at The Sam
Check back soon for additional event listings. Registrations will open a few weeks before each gathering.
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In partnership with Repair the World Detroit:
Elul invites us to reflect, return, and prepare for the year ahead. This four-part series weaves together embodied mindfulness practice and direct service — creating space to arrive at the High Holidays feeling grounded and connected. Each gathering includes a mindfulness-based practice (e.g., meditation, improv, yoga, art), hands-on service and/or learning with a local service partner, and dinner together.
Register here: https://jlive.app/events/16460 This program is available to young adults ages 18-39.
Session 3:
Mindfulness: Step outside of your comfort zone with improv games led by community member Hallie Bernstein, followed by Elul-centric Jewish learning led by Adamah Detroit.
Service: Weeding and clean up at the beautiful MSU-DPFLI urban farm, followed by wood-fired pizza dinner!
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In partnership with Repair the World Detroit:
Elul invites us to reflect, return, and prepare for the year ahead. This four-part series weaves together embodied mindfulness practice and direct service — creating space to arrive at the High Holidays feeling grounded and connected. Each gathering includes a mindfulness-based practice (e.g., meditation, improv, yoga, art), hands-on service and/or learning with a local service partner, and dinner together.
Register here: https://jlive.app/events/16460 This program is available to young adults ages 18-39.
Session 4: Ground yourself through a mindful art exercise led by Abby Rubin and Jewish learning led by Rabbi Ariana Silverman, with a service project to close out the evening.
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A screening of Jeremy Xido's documentary Sons of Detroit, which recently premiered at the DIA, followed by a conversation with the filmmaker alongside historian and storyteller Marsha Music and Rabbi Ethan Davidson.
Xido was raised in a Black Detroit family in the 1970s — the only white kid on the block, taken in as one of the cousins. Decades later, he returns home to find the block gone and the family scattered, and sets out to find his cousin Boo, recently home himself after twenty years in prison. Together they piece together what happened to their family, their block, and the city that shaped them. Blending memoir, detective story, and documentary, the film opens into questions of race, identity, and chosen family that don't resolve easily.
The conversation afterward is the heart of the evening. Xido, Marsha Music, and Rabbi Ethan Davidson bring three different vantage points — filmmaker, Detroit historian and storyteller, and Jewish communal and artistic voice — to a discussion about identity, memory, and how family and place shape who we become. The ensuing conversation will be a chance to sit with a complicated story alongside people equipped to help unpack it.
Click here to watch the trailer [https://vimeo.com/1130539080]
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Join The Sam and NEXTGen Detroit for drinks, community, and exuberant lulav shaking in the only rooftop sukkah in Detroit! No prior Sukkot experience required – we’ve got you covered (literally). Sukkot asks us to step outside our usual four walls for a week and rebuild something new, in community, under the open sky. Come for the view, stay for the company!
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A conversation with journalist and author Bankole Thompson on his new book Hope: On the Mountain of Fear, featuring an essay by Sam Woll's parents on her lifelong instinct to embrace people across every kind of difference.
Thompson has spent his career covering Detroit's civic and political life, and this collection of essays turns that same clear-eyed attention toward questions of hope, fear, and what keeps a city moving forward even when the news cycle gives you every reason to despair. Expect the same kind of grounded, ask-before-assuming dialogue The Sam tries to bring to every civic conversation: Thompson's reporting instincts, paired with a room willing to sit with hard questions.
Books will be available for purchase on site. -
A full Shabbat arc with nationally acclaimed musician and educator Aly Halpert: immersive, musical Friday and Saturday services followed by a Saturday night Havdalah Open Mic. Halpert has a gift for pulling a room into song together — the kind of night people describe afterward as feeling truly heard, not just present. The musical magic builds toward Havdalah, when anyone who wants to share a song, poem, or reflection is invited to grab the mic!
Learn more about Aly Halpert here: https://www.alyhalpert.com/
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A hands-on workshop with Bukharian artist and educator Ruben Shimonov, exploring Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian calligraphy side by side. Shimonov's own background bridging Bukharian Jewish, Central Asian, and broader Middle Eastern traditions makes him a natural guide for this: these three script traditions share more history and visual DNA than most people realize — connections that show up in the shape of a letter more clearly than they ever would on a page of text.
No calligraphy experience or artistic skill is required. Shimonov teaches this as a workshop, not a lecture, with materials and instruction for beginners. The evening is less about mastering a craft in one sitting and more about the experience of sitting with scripts from traditions that don't often share a table, and noticing what they have in common.
A New Hub for Jewish Life in Detroit
The Sam represents the next phase of IADS’s growth. In 2024, we completed a $7.5M renovation of our historic downtown Detroit home and named the building the Samantha Woll Center for Jewish Detroit. As part of our strategic plan, adopted in October 2025, and in memory of Sam Woll (z”l), The Sam transforms our revitalized building into a living laboratory for Jewish creativity, civic engagement, and cultural connection. While the synagogue focuses on ritual, lifecycle, pastoral care, and holidays, The Sam takes on civic and cultural programming, collaboration with our partner organizations, and building activation.
Read more about The Sam in the Detroit Jewish News (the cover story from the July 23, 2026 issue!)
In Loving Memory of Samantha Woll
June 15, 1983 - October 21, 2023
The Samantha Woll Center for Jewish Detroit honors Samantha Woll, a cherished leader, passionate advocate, and beloved friend. Sam's steadfast commitment to social justice and her tireless efforts to bridge communities left an indelible mark both locally and globally.
Sam's dedication to creating a more inclusive and compassionate society continues to inspire us. She lived a life of meaning and purpose, driven by a strong belief in her Jewish values, the State of Israel, and the City of Detroit.
In the last years of her life, Sam was exceptionally devoted to IADS, where she was proudly serving as President when she was tragically murdered. In this building we honor her memory, celebrate her legacy, and strive to continue her work of making our world a better place.
May her memory be a blessing.
