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Unity in Motion

This was not your typical banquet gala fundrasier. The setting was not some posh hotel, but the Cohens\' backyard, for a parlor meeting.
[additional-authors]
May 16, 2002

On the warm night of May 2, a cross-section of wealthy Los Angeles Jews — including philanthropists Jona Goldrich, Stanley Black, Danny Ziv and Max and Anna Webb — attended an event in the heart of Beverly Hills to raise money for Israel. The evening’s goal: to raise $180,000 to purchase 180 state-of-the-art bulletproof vests for Israeli soldiers.

During the evening, hosts Orit and Chaim Cohen read a moving letter from their absent daughter, who contributed to the cause a $180 paycheck she earned at college. David Suissa, co-founder of Suissa Miller Advertising, reflected on the Jewish unity he was witnessing from every denomination and political leaning. And Tiran, a 27-year-old Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officer, mesmerized the audience with his firsthand account of his experiences in the trenches of Jenin.

This was not your typical banquet gala fundrasier. The setting was not some posh hotel, but the Cohens’ backyard, for a parlor meeting.

Such parlor meetings are increasingly common in area homes these days, as Jewish Angelenos express their concern for Israel through grass-roots efforts and through mainstream organizations. With two years of the intifada raging and no end in sight, U.S. Jews are worried about the escalating carnage, the future of the Jewish state and a perceived media bias against Israel.

From major communal philanthropists to elementary school students, people have been pooling their resources and extending themselves to help Israeli causes. The push for ad-hoc activism took on a profound urgency in the aftermath of the brutal Passover suicide bombing at a Netanya hotel that claimed the lives of 29 people gathered around a seder table.

“Something biblical happened on Passover in the Jewish world,” Suissa said. “This remarkable surge of unity is something I haven’t seen in 20 years. It gives me goose bumps.”

During Pesach, Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Westwood raised more than $1 million from his congregation, which was matched by Magbit Foundation, a local Persian Jewish charitable institution. The total $3.2 million, directed to The Jewish Federation’s Victims of Terror Fund, will be presented during an early June mission to Israel by Wolpe and a delegation of community representatives. Those joining Wolpe on the mission will include Federation President John Fishel, Magbit representatives Parviz Nazarian and Jimmy Delshad, Suissa and the Webbs.

The money collected will be divided among a group of charities, including Beit Halochem, which supports soldiers; NATAL, which promotes emotional recovery; Sela Foundation, which assists Soviet immigrants, and trauma centers in five major Israeli cities.

Recently, Magbit coordinated several parlor meetings, including one in Santa Barbara and a local Russian community house call last weekend.

All these efforts are taking place against the backdrop of The Jewish Federation’s recently announced Jews in Crisis campaign, a commitment undertaken by The Federation to raise $10 million for Israel. It is part of a nationwide effort of the United Jewish Communities’ multimillion dollar campaign (see sidebar).

At a May 5 Jews in Crisis fundraiser at the Century Plaza Hotel, past Federation President Herb Gelfand announced that he had held a parlor meeting the night before at his home that raised $1 million. Gelfand donated $60,000 to Jews in Crisis, and he urged his audience of nearly 2,500 to hold their own parlor meetings. Among those who did just that was Santa Monica resident Cece Feiler, who held a meeting earlier this month that Fishel attended.

“People have been calling us who want to do something about the crisis of Argentina and Israel, and we’re helping them with materials and speakers,” Fishel said.

Feiler, a therapist and mother of three, raised $50,000 from the 37 people who attended her function — roughly half of whom were not Jewish.

Another Brentwood woman, who prefers to remain anonymous, said she has been holding regular meetings for a year at her estate. On May 11, she drew 60 people to her home to hear Morton Klein of the Zionist Organization of America. Her gatherings are not fundraisers, but teach-ins.

Synagogues have also geared up for action, many of them coordinating their efforts with the Jews in Crisis fund. On May 14, hundreds of people came to Valley Beth Shalom in Encino to hear Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior. On May 21, University Synagogue will host a talk with Ze’ev Friedman of the Health, Welfare and Human Services Department of Tel Aviv, proceeds of which will go to the fund.

Like many other synagogues, Temple Beth Am circulated a special letter outlining Project Embrace, a program that matches members of synagogues with an Israeli family that has been victimized by terror.

The Federation, along with Janine and Peter Lowy and Vivian and Ron Alberts, began sponsoring a newspaper page in tribute to Israeli terror victims (see page 3).

Jewish schools have also gotten involved. Children at Maimonides Academy and Congregation Beth Jacob raised over $5,000 to support families of terror victims through the organization One Family.

Various clubs at Milken Community High School spent a month raising $1,180 for Jews in Crisis. Anat Ben Ishai, religious school director at Wilshire Boulevard Temple, coordinated an effort on both of the temple’s campuses to raise $22,000 toward the purchase of a Tel Aviv trauma unit.

“When the situation in Israel started to flare, we said, let’s see if we can do something on behalf of the school,” said Ishai, who added that tzedakah efforts at the school have always been a staple. “I have kids who took their boxes of coins and gave a lot of money.”

The effort also engaged the school’s 1,100 kids in writing letters and drawing posters of support that will be forwarded to students at Machon Schecter in Jerusalem. “The teachers went all the way, trying to boost the morale of the kids who constantly hear all around them the negative stuff,” Ishai said.

Letter-writing campaigns are popular around Los Angeles, with elementary school children penning notes to soldiers in Israel. One second-grader wrote: “Dear soldier, thank you for protecting Israel. I hope you and your family are safe,”

Young people in their 20s have been active in fundraising events. Four young Pico-Robertson-area Israeli folk dance teachers — Jenny Fish, Aviva Notowitz, Naomi Silbermintz and Natalie Stern — are staging Dance for Israel, for females age 11 and up, at Shaarei Tefila Dance Studio on June 9. Their goal is to raise $5,000 for American Red Magen David for Israel (ARMDI).

Janet Hay organized a May 4 Youth of Israel Night at Temple Israel of Hollywood, which brought in 300 people and raised $12,000 for Magen David Adom’s emergency services for terror victims.

Across town in Westwood, UCLA Hillel special events coordinator Guy Kochlani altered the focus of this year’s annual Jewish student union block party. “You spend all of this money and time and energy, I thought. Let’s do something a little more serious,” Kochlani said.

The Hillel party raised $1,500 for IHelpIsrael.com, which raises funds for families of Israeli soldier victims. About $1,200 was raised from the sale of IDF merchandise, while another $300 was generated through a raffle. According to Kochlani, the April 17 outdoor event was UCLA’s biggest. “We expected 2,000 people, and 3,000 showed up,” he said.

Among the senior set, the Wabash Saxons-Spirit of Boyle Heights, a collective of Jews from the once-thriving Jewish East L.A. community, are once again addressing Israel’s dire situation.

“The situation about 28 years ago was really tough for Israel. We got together and got the money,” said Hershey Eisenberg, 75. “Now we’re doing it again.”

In 1974, the group purchased Chevrolet vans for ARMDI at $8,000 apiece for use in Israel. The vans served as emergency vehicles and carried the slogans “The Spirit of Boyle Heights” and “Wabash Avenue Cannonball.”

Today, an ambulance costs $60,000, and the Wabash Saxons-Spirit of Boyle Heights members have committed themselves to purchasing an ambulance to replace one of the same vehicles they had purchased nearly three decades ago. The group has so far raised $33,000 since late April from 34 alumni. Eisenberg said that the new ambulance will be named “The Spirit of Boyle Heights II.”

Retailers have also become swept up in the fundraising movement. Nader and Mireille Menesh, owners of Avant Garde, a high-end women’s clothing store in Beverly Hills, have organized Shop to Support Israel. The special sale, to run June 9-17, will offer merchandise donated by top manufacturers, with proceeds going to Magen David Adom.

Menesh, a Persian Jew, and his wife of Moroccan-Jewish descent, said the goal is to raise between $75,000 and $100,000 during the sale.

“We’re very much in touch with our clients and most of them are local,” he said. “The voice of concern is very loud. Most of them have Israel on their minds.”

The Internet has also seen a proliferation of spontaneous charities. StandWithUs (standwithus.com), which has already staged pro-Israel rallies in recent months that have attracted thousands of people, is currently planning an August solidarity mission to Israel.

One Family (onefamily.org.il), is the brainchild of Canadian Israeli teen Michal Belzberg. She canceled her bat mitzvah party after the Sbarro restaurant attack in Jerusalem and contributed her gifts to those orphaned, widowed and injured from terrorist attacks. One Family merged with Israel Emergency Solidarity Fund (IESF), another home-grown cause established in 2000 by Neil Thalheim. During this short time, One Family/IESF has raised and distributed $3 million and launched a campaign to raise $25 million toward an orphan’s fund. The fund has already attracted major contributions from Ronald Lauder and Edgar Bronfman.

There are several other Web drives, including: the Shavout-timed Seeds of Solidarity (SOS), created by Israeli citizen Sima Menorah (www.flowers4israel.org). People may purchase pizza and Pepsi for a patrol or a platoon of Israeli soldiers at www.pizzaidf.org.

Yeshiva University students Uri Miller, Ovadiah Jacob and Gershon Strauchler initiated Project One Percent (www.pledge4israel.com), a Wharton School of Business program-inspired endeavor that calls on students to pledge at least 1 percent of their summer income to IESF.

“I reasoned if Wharton could have that kind of success, so, too, could the Jewish community for such a worthy and urgent concern,” said Miller, who launched the project on Israeli Independence Day.

Although most organizations raising money for Israel have tried to keep it apolitical, when it comes to Israel, politics inevitably enters the equation.

Stuart Wax and his Midnight Music Management held an all-star April 29 benefit concert at The Mint that raised $10,000 toward purchasing a traveling amusement park for children living in the settlements. Although the settlements have become a flashpoint of controversy, Wax does not want the humanitarian aspect to become drowned out by politics.

“It’s not politics,” Wax said. “Jews dying is not politics.”

On May 2, Suissa, who bought several vests for the IDF and contributed $50,000 to Jews in Crisis, spoke of the recent spontaneous fundraising movement. “Unity is the bulletproof vest of the Jewish people,” he said. “We’re not alone tonight. Throughout the world, Jews are getting together like we are tonight and asking, What can we do?”

Suissa, himself an immigrant, said that everybody in the Cohens’ backyard on that night was not present because of intellect, talent or accomplishments but by circumstance and the grace of God.

“We’re very lucky to be here and to give money, rather than to give blood,” he said.

Meanwhile, over at the collection table, jeweler Elly Sandberg looked around and liked what he saw.

“For a week of preparation, it turned out to be a very good event,” Sandberg said, smiling. “It’s just the beginning.”

To donate money to the Jews in Crisis Fund, visit www.jewishla.org or call (323) 761-8207. To join Sinai Temple’s June 2 mission to Israel, contact Ranit or Orit at World Express at (818) 654-2880. Shop to Support Israel will run June 9-17 at 401 N. Canon Drive, Beverly Hills. Contact Nader Menesh at Avant Garde at (310) 550-0105. Dance for Israel will take place at 7 p.m. on June 9 at Shaarei Tefila Dance Studio. $10 minimum. Contact Aviva Notowitz at (310) 888-8734. Temple Israel of Hollywood is seeking volunteers for upcoming youth events benefiting Israel. Contact Janet Hay at (310) 659-4555. To donate to the Spirit of Boyle Heights’ ARMDI campaign, send contributions in care of Meyer Sack, 4521 Sherman Oaks Ave., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403.

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