Beth and Steve Margolin
FJA Honorees
Beth and Steve Margolin are two of Jewish Detroit’s most committed and passionate community members. Steve, a third generation Detroiter, and Beth, a Memphis transplant, moved to Detroit in 1987 and immediately immersed themselves in the Jewish community. Following in the footsteps of their parents and grandparents and honoring their family values of tzedakah and community involvement, both Steve and Beth took on a variety of leadership roles. Steve is a past president of Hillel Day School and Congregation Shaarey Zedek, and Beth eventually transitioned from many lay leadership roles to professional staff as Federation’s Teen Mission Coordinator and Community Grant Writer. Beth is currently the Detroit coordinator of OnBoard, a leadership development program for board members of Jewish organizations.
Beth and Steve have three daughters - Amy, Judy (Andrew Landau) and Rachel (Josh Arbit), who all attended Hillel Day School. Judy (‘07) and Rachel (‘10) also graduated from Frankel Jewish Academy. Beth and Steve are passionate about Jewish education and recently made their Federation Centennial Fund gift to support Jewish education in our community for generations to come.
Ilana Goldberg Block
Class of 2003
Distinguished Alumni Award
Ilana (Goldberg) Block is a member of the class of 2003, the first graduating class of the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit. She served as its founding student government president. After high school, Ilana graduated from the University of Michigan and was a Dean’s Merit Scholar at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. Since moving back to Detroit, she manages her own law practice with a focus on litigation for small businesses and estate planning for young families.
Ilana is a well-known leader in the Jewish community. She has served on the Frankel Jewish Academy Board of Trustees, currently sits of the school’s Committee on Trustees and she is the immediate past president of NEXTGen Detroit. Throughout her tenure on the NEXTGen Board of Directors, Ilana has led many of NEXTGen’s outreach, leadership development and campaign initiatives with the goal of attracting and involving the next generation to engage in our community and build upon its legacy.
Ilana met her husband, Adam, during their sophomore year at the University of Michigan when both were in attendance at a Shabbat dinner at UM Hillel. They are the proud parents of Talia (6), Judah (4), and Shira, the family’s newest arrival born in December.
