StandWithUs marked its 24th anniversary with its annual Festival of Lights (FOL) gala on December 7, 2025, bringing together more than 850 guests at the Fairmont Century City.
Guests enjoyed a feast that included delicious latkes and sushi before making their way to the main buffet. The evening opened with a performance by stand-up comedian Elon Gold, arguably the busiest Jewish comedian in town. Gold shared hilarious anecdotes from his recent trip to Israel, joking about the abundance of stray cats and the lack of car washes. “There aren’t enough car washes,” he said. “I wrote ‘Free Palestine’ on every car just so they would wipe it down and wash the car.” He also recalled, with amusement, how difficult it is to find parking in Tel Aviv. “Once you find one, you just stay there for two months.”
Among the guests was Beverly Hills Mayor Sharona Nazarian, who took the stage to praise StandWithUs’ impact and presented co-founders Roz Rothstein, Jerry Rothstein, and Esther Renzer with a Certificate of Recognition.
This marked the beginning of a long and often emotional evening, which included a couple of special guests from Israel. Oz Davidian, a farmer from a moshav near the Nova Music Festival site, received the Guardian of Israel Award.
Roz and Jerry Rothstein and Esther Renzer, who presented the award, recalled meeting Davidian in Israel and asking what gave him the courage to repeatedly enter such a deadly scene. Davidian replied that he realized no one else was coming for those kids. With luck, faith, and sheer will, the “accidental hero” persisted and survived. The bond between Davidian and those he saved remains profound. One couple even named their newborn son Oz in his honor, and another got married after being rescued together by him. Clips from the documentary “Oz’s List,” which chronicles his extraordinary actions, were shown to the audience.
Another guest was Oran Almog from Haifa, whose life was forever changed on October 4, 2003. Almog was 10.5 year-old when a suicide bomber detonated herself at the Maxim restaurant, killing Almog’s father, brother, grandparents and cousin, and leaving Almog blind. Nearly 22 years later, the mastermind behind that attack was released as part of a hostage deal with Hamas.
“I was shocked when the terrorist was released but I understand that keeping him, won’t bring back my loved ones,” he said. “It will however, bring other loved ones back home. Yes, it was a bad deal, but any deal with the devil is bad.”
Almog’s life since the attack stands as a testament to resilience. Faced with the choice “to survive or to live,” he chose to live fully. He learned Braille, mastered assistive technology, became a competitive sailor — winning third place in a world championship for blind sailors — volunteered and served with the IDF’s Special Forces, spoke before the UN Security Council, founded and partnered in startups, and continues to play guitar. “With strong willpower and support, one can emerge a winner,” he said.
Roz Rothstein, who is the daughter of Holocaust survivors, reflected as to why she and her co-founders, felt compelled to create the non-profit organization. “The Holocaust didn’t begin with gas chambers. It began with hateful words that became normalized and led to violence.”
She warned that those who “stand with Hamas and facilitate their treacherous strategies, are complicit in their lies – a lie repeated over and over became ‘truth.’”
Rothstein described a climate in which “hate against Israel and the Jewish people is louder, uglier, and more normalized than anything we have seen in decades,” with students bearing the brunt of it. “In the middle of this storm, our students — our children and our grandchildren — are being targeted simply for being Jewish or for supporting the Jewish state,” she said.
Carly Gammill, Director of Legal Policy and Litigation for StandWithUs Saidoff Law, detailed how the legal arm of the organization has expanded its response to antisemitic incidents that predated October 7, 2023. She described increased staffing, resources and legal training, as well as tangible results achieved through legal action on campuses, in school districts and workplaces, and through involvement in passing legislation in California.
“As long as StandWithUs exists, no student will ever face antisemitism alone,” said Gammill. “We will train them. We will empower them. And we will stand with them every step of the way.”
Each year, StandWithUs honors two student leaders with the “Star of David” Award, recognizing courage and resilience in the face of antisemitism. This year’s recipients were Aayush Keshari, a Hindu student leader at the University of Cincinnati and Sadie Gryczman, a senior at Santa Monica High School.
Keshari, who was recognized for spearheading programs that reached hundreds of students said that despite the fact he isn’t Jewish, he was targeted on campus because of his support of Jewish students. Furthermore, he said, the university didn’t do much to protect them.
Sadie convened campus-wide discussions, including bringing a Holocaust Survivor to share their story which drew 1,000 students and community members.
The evening’s keynote speaker was Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15), one of the most outspoken advocates for the U.S.-Israel relationship in Congress. In a thoughtful onstage conversation with StandWithUs board member and attorney Barak Lurie, Torres spoke candidly about his journey to becoming a staunch supporter of Israel, which he said began during his first visit to the country as a congressman. Touring the Old City, Yad Vashem and Sderot, he gained a deeper understanding of Israel’s security challenges. Reflecting on his own upbringing in a hostile neighborhood, but “the danger was guns, not rockets.”
Asked how support for Israel can remain nonpartisan in Congress, Torres rejected the notion that it is a right-left issue. “Zionism is a progressive rights movement,” he said, calling the Abraham Accords “profoundly progressive.” Israel, he added, with its freedoms and inclusion, is “the embodiment of progressive rights.”
Addressing criticism from the far left, Torres explained that his resolve comes from the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”
He emphasized that the burden of proof lies with Israel’s detractors. Warning about the influence of groups such as Queers for Palestine and the rapid spread of misinformation on social media, Torres said October 7, exposed trends that had been building for years. Still, he asserted that Israel has emerged as the region’s superpower. “The greatest deterrence to war is strength,” he said.
The gala was co-sponsored by board members Ellie and Bruce Lederman and Debbie and Naty Saidoff, with Naty Saidoff leading the fundraising portion of the evening.
The event concluded with a performance by Idan Raichel, one of Israel’s most talented and beloved musicians.
Magen-Am security team provided their services, as they do each year.
