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‘STAND-UP NATION” – New book highlights Israel’s many contributions to world through international development
Review by BERNIE BELLAN Elsewhere on this website we have a story about an event that was sponsored by JNF Canada at Camp Massad on Sunday, September 1, during which the guest speaker was someone by the name of Aviva Klompas.
As we noted in that story, Klompas is the author of a recently published book whose title, “STAND-UP NATION” is an unabashed emulation of the wildly successful ‘”START-UP NATION,” which was published in 2009.
As I noted in my review of ‘START-UP NATION” in the December 16, 2009 issue of The Jewish Post & News, “This book, simply put, is one of the most uplifting pieces of writing about Israel that has come out in a very long time. For anyone who is a strong supporter of Israel, the stories that (Dan) Senor and (Saul) Singer relate about Israel’s emergence as a high-tech superpower will be reminiscent of past stories about Israel’s military brilliance.”
Fifteen years later, Klompas adopts a very similar style that Senor and Singer employed in their book, which was to provide a series of case studies that illustrated how Israeli creativity and entrepreneurship combined to turn Israel into an economic success story.
While “START-UP NATION” suggested that Israel’s brilliance in the economic sphere was something that had only been a relatively recent development – beginning in the 1990s and fuelled largely by the influx of massive numbers of Russian immigrants, Aviva Klompas’s thesis is that Israel has had a tradition of international development and aid from the very beginning of the foundation of the state.
Her book was 10 years in the making, she explained in an interviews she gave at a recently held event near Boston. It first took root when she was Israel’s sole speech writer at the United Nations (from 2013-15), she said. In that capacity, Klompas noted, she had to immerse herself in a whole range of subjects – including international aid and development – about which, she admitted, she knew very little prior to her period of service at the UN.
But, as she learned more about how much international aid development had been a part of the very fabric of Israel’s founding ethos – especially as it was promoted by Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben Gurion, Klompas began to develop an especially keen interest in finding out as much as she could about how Israel came to be one of the very first nations that advanced the notion of international development in third world countries.
As Klompas explains in the book, the tremendous challenges that the newborn State of Israel faced in the first two years of its existence – when it absorbed over 800,000 new immigrants comprised of Holocaust survivors and refugees from Arab countries – leading to a doubling of Israel’s population almost overnight, “Despite the small population and lack of natural resources, the country’s leaders had big ambitions. Ingenuity and entrepreneurship were celebrated. Chutzpah took root as a national ethos. As time passed, the country’s confidence grew, and its citizens turned outward. They shared their success with other countries confronting similar challenges. With each passing decade, as Israel grew more secure and prosperous, it became a model and inspiration to developing countries that sought to achieve the same transformation.”
How Klompas came to write this particular book is an interesting story in itself. She said, during the interview that, after she left the UN, she began something called “Project Inspire,” in which she took young people on study tours to third world countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Nepal, Guatemala, and India.”
During those tours she encountered project after project that had been started by Israelis who had been inspired by a combination of idealism and experience. Of course, she uses the phrase “tikkun olam” quite often in her book, but that particular phrase is trotted out so often by Jewish organizations and is so general in its meaning that it loses its impact.
Instead, what Klompas does is tell a series of 20 different stories in which Israelis – often Americans who emigrated to Israel by the way, turn to using education and skills that they acquired in Israel into very imaginative projects in countries all around the world.
It was during the Covid epidemic that Klompas first thought of writing a book filled with stories of Israelis who had travelled to distant lands to initiate a variety of aid projects – often without any assistance at first, but then through a combination of fund raising and appealing to the governments of countries to which they had travelled, had achieved remarkable success almost always through their own ingenuity and resourcefulness,
What is so remarkable about many of these individuals is that their stories begin with travelling to a particular country, often backpacking – usually seeking adventure, and during the course of their experiences in those countries, they come to realize that they are well suited to providing exactly the sort of expertise that is so sorely needed in those countries.
Whether it’s in the areas of agriculture – which is a very common theme in the book, or often health care, Israelis time and time again have gone into some of the poorest parts of the world to offer assistance. And, in contrast to many other individuals from other countries that have also become involved in development projects, many of the Israelis profiled in “STAND-UP NATION” have stayed for years, rather than mere months. Often they’ve learned native languages – and customs, and rather than attempting to inject foreign concepts into the lives of the people with which they’re living, they adapt those concepts to native traditions.
Even after they’ve returned to Israel a great many of the individuals Klompas describes in the book have kept going back to the countries where they helped to initiate projects – often to check up on those projects or to begin new ones.
At the beginning of the book, Klompas describes Israel’s very first international development agency, known as MASHAV, and how it actually preceded international development agencies from countries such as the US, Canada, and Britain, as well as the UN’s own international aid agencies.
While Klompas does concede that, to a certain extent, MASHAV was intended to improve Israel’s image within third world countries, she notes that even to this day, MASHAV has training programs for thousands of individuals coming from countries that have been highly critical of Israeli policies – especially since Israel’s incursion into Gaza.
Given that the book was released only recently, Klompas often refers to how much Israel’s image in the world has changed for the worse since October 7. Yet, in a series of often poignant post scripts that she includes at the end of many of her chapters, Klompas quotes from many individuals who have either been working closely with Israelis in their respective countries or who have benefited from receiving training and education in Israel itself. In many of those excerpts from emails sent by various individuals, they remark upon how much anguish they feel for Israelis – also for Palestinians.
One question that did occur to me as I read this very well written book (and Klompas’s years of experience as a speechwriter shine through as she manages to imbue each story she tells with a freshness that keeps the book from bogging down into repetitiousness) is: How many of the many aid projects that had been undertaken by Israeli-based organizations have been severely affected by how badly Israel’s image has suffered in the past year? In many of the cases Klompas cites – and these were situations in which Israelis had gone to countries that either had no relations with Israel at all or had very poor relations with Israel, the Israelis going into those countries hid their identities as much as they possibly could.
Klompas also describes how Israeli disaster relief teams have gone into countries – such as Turkey and even Syria, to provide relief, often at great danger to the members of those teams.
One final note: Considering that Aviva Klompas was the special guest speaker at an event sponsored by JNF Canada Manitoba-Saskatchewan Region, and JNF Canada is now in the midst of a terrible situation in which its charitable license has been revoked by the CRA, I thought it appropriate to refer to a section of “STAND-UP NATION” in which Klompas writes about the many projects in which the JNF has been involved that have directly led to enormous benefits, not only for people in many third-world countries but, at least prior to October 7 – Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza as well. (Again, I would have liked to know to what extent projects involving students from the West Bank and Gaza have now had to cut ties with students from those areas since October 7. What a tragedy.)
Klompas writes about the Central Arava Research and Development Centre, “which is developing new crops and improving existing techniques so farmers in the Arava Valley can compete in the global produce market;” about the Kasser Joint Institute for Food, Water, and Energy Security, “which develops techniques and technologies to aid communities in arid and hyper-arid low income countries in addressing their food, water, and energy insecurities cost effectively and sustainably;” about the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, which brings together “students from Israel and Jordan, along with Palestinians from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip…who train together in the fields of sustainability and the environment;” and the Arava Institute for International Training, which is “attracting young men and women from developing countries all over the world.”
While Klompas doesn’t specify exactly how much the JNF has been involved in each of those projects, the point is that the JNF’s contributions to research in the areas of crop development in even the harshest, most arid conditions, have been of benefit not only to Israel, but to countries all over the world – also to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. And to think: the CRA has questioned JNF Canada’s “charitable object.”
Just as Israeli international aid organizations have been motivated by a combination of a desire to do good – as in the concept of “tikkun olam,” also to a certain extent, Israel’s desire to improve Israel’s image in the third world, what difference does it make so long as all those individuals working in third world countries are contributing so mightily to the well being of the people with whom they are working?
The same can be said of JNF Canada. While the CRA may be nit picking individual projects in which JNF Canada has been involved, saying the paperwork trail is deficient, how can one question the incredible humanitarian contribution that the JNF has been making for years – in ways Klompas cites?
Perhaps at some point we’ll be able to find out from Klompas how each of the 20 projects she profiles in this very important book have been affected by what’s been going on in Gaza the past 11 months. But, if anyone needs to get a better idea how enormous an impact Israel has had in the area of international development – on a scale the country has had in the area of entrepreneurship – as described in ‘START-UP NATION,” read “STAND-UP NATION.”
“STAND-UP NATION…Israeli Resilience in the Wake of Disaster”
By Aviva Klompas
213 pages
Published by Wicked Son, 2024
Available at the JNF office in Winnipeg (phone 204-947-0207) or an Amazon.ca
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Younger Jewish talents continue to shine in their respective categories at annual Winnipeg Music Festival
By MYRON LOVE A number of younger members of our community were repeat stars at the most recent (108th annual) Winnipeg Music Festival – which takes place annually in March. Among the repeat Jewish singers and musicians in the ranks of high achievers this year were” Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout, Gregory Hyman, Alex Schaeffer, Juliet Eskin, Noah Kravetsky, and Lyla Chisick.
Vocalist Yale Rayburn-Vander Hout, the oldest of this year’s group of Jewish repeat winners, was competing in his fifth straight festival, where he continued to build on his accomplishments in previous festivals. This year, the 20-year-old son of Samantha and Peter finished first in two musical theatre categories – songs from musical theatre productions between 1965 and 1999, and shows from the past 26 years. Yale sang “I’m Allergic to Cats,” from the 2016 musical “The Theory of Relativity,” and “Suppertime,” from the 1967 musical, “You’re a Good man, Charlie Brown.”
The former Gray Academy student is currently enrolled at the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music in the Choral program. Yale says that he is hoping to get into the performance track in the fall with the goal of earning a degree in Classical Voice Performance en route to pursuing a career in musical theatre.
As reported previously, Gregory Hyman is a multi-faceted artist who can do it all. The 18-year-old son of Hartley and Rishona Hyman is a singer/songwriter/musician (guitar) who records and performs under the stage name, GMH. His versatility shone through once again in his eighth Music Festival, in which he registered first-place finishes for vocal performances in both “Popular and Contemporary Music” and “TV and Movie Music “categories.
Gregory notes that he was also recommended to compete in the provincial finals in June. The St. John’s-Ravenscourt student (and soon-to be) graduate continues to be busy on stage. In January, he headlined a sold out solo show at Sidestage on Osborne featuring some of his new material. In March, he released an album of his newest songs. Readers can check out his latest compositions on any of the music streaming platforms as well as his own social media (thegmh) on Instagram.
Gregory also continues to host his own podcast: “Talk and Rock with GMH – now in its fifth season – in which he interviews various people in the music business across Canada.
While Gregory says that a musical career is his “dream,” he reports that he is hedging his bets and considering different potential career opportunities. Come September, he will be enrolled at the University of Manitoba in a University One program, which will allow him to select from a variety of courses that can count toward a degree.
Sixteen-year-old Alex Schaeffer won first place this year in the “Musicals Prior to 1965, 16 Years and Under” category with “Try Me” from “She Loves Me,” and was runner-up in the “Musicals 1965 to 1999, 16 Years and Under” category with “On My Own,” from “Les Misérables.” For the son of Marc Schaeffer and Kae Sasaki, this was his fifth year competing in the festival.
The Grant Park High School student made his big stage debut three years ago as Kurt von Trapp in “The Sound of Music,” followed by playing Michael Hobbs in “Elf the Musical” this past winter at the Royal MTC.
Alex recently performed in Grant Park High School’s production of “Something Rotten!” This summer Schaeffer can be seen again at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, where he will be appearing in a production staged by Rem Lezar Theatre.
Rounding out the voice winners is Lyla Chisick. The daughter of Daniel and Baillee was competing in her second music festival. This year, she scored Gold performances in the “Vocal Solo,” “Manitoba Composers,” and “TV/Movie Musical, 12 and under” categories.
Lyla reports that she began taking voice lessons from Jessica Kos-Whicher three years ago. She says she regularly takes part in the Shaarey Zedek Synagogue Family Service and has sung at several community events. Lyla adds that she is already looking forward to next year’s music festival.
Nate Kravetsky and Juliet Eskin competed in the festival as musicians rather than singers. Juliet, 16, plays the viola, and is also is the violist in the Assiniboine String Quartet. In this, her fifth go-round at the festival, Juliet, the daughter of the musically talented Kelly Robinon and Josh Eskin, had first place finishes in the “Viola Solo, level 8,” “Baroque or Classical Concerto,” and “Romantic Composers” categories.
Juliet originally took up the violin – adding the viola a couple of years after. She also just finished performing in the Grant Park High School production of “Something Rotten!”
Nate Kravetsky is currently in Grade 5 level piano. He studies with Erica Schultz and has been taking lessons from her since age 5.
Nate competed in three categories at the Winnipeg music festival: “Baroque,” “Sonata,” and “Contemporary/own choice.”
His own choice selection was the theme from his favourite video game, “Hollow Knight.”
Nate, who is in Grade 7 at Gray Academy, is also preoccupied preparing for his upcoming bar mitzvah.
We look forward to the continued musical success off Yale, Gregory, Alex, Nate, Juliet and Lyla, and what new talent may be unveiled at next year’s Winnipeg Music festival.
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Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada’s Archivist and Curator Stan Carbone retires
By MYRON LOVE Stan Carbone, a long-time friend of our Jewish community and fixture at the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada (JHCWC) for the past 25 years, retired last week. His last day of work was May 13.
Most recently, he was the JHCWC’s Director of Programs and Exhibits.
“For the past 25 years, the Jewish Heritage Centre of Western Canada has been an integral part of my life,” Carbone said. “I have made a lot of friends in the Jewish community, and I hope to maintain those friendships.”
Carbone’s own history reflects the immigrant experience. He arrived in Canada in 1960 as a three-year-old with his mother and sister, from San Giovanni in Fiore, Calabria in southern Italy. His father had come a few months earlier. Initially, the family settled in Fort Rouge which, at that time, had a substantial Italian community. Within a couple of years, they had relocated to East Kildonan to be closer to where his father’s two sisters and their families lived.
He earned a BA Double Honours in History and Political Studies at the University of Winnipeg, followed by an MA in History at the University of Manitoba, from where he graduated in 1981.
In 1993, he was hired at the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature (as it was then called) as Curator of Multicultural Studies.
“I always enjoyed doing research,” he said.
His first project for the JHCWC came in 2000, the year after the organization was formed through the amalgamation of the Jewish Historical Society, the Ed and Marion Vickar Jewish Museum of Western Canada and the Freeman Family Foundation Holocaust Education Centre.
Marim Zipursky had approached the Manitoba Museum of Man and Nature looking for a curator to organize a JHCWC exhibit featuring Jewish music and musicians in Winnipeg,” Carbone recalled. “I didn’t know much about Jewish music and musicians, but I was familiar with the Jewish Historical Society – which preceded the JHCWC. I was really impressed by its extensive archives, and I was intrigued by the Jewish community’s history and the wide range of subject materials in the archives.”
The next year, when a position opened at the JHCWC, Carbone applied.
“I have been here ever since,” he said.
Over the past quarter century, Carbone has been involved in bringing to fruition several interesting exhibits. He mentions the synagogues display, a history of the YMHA, and the current exhibit highlighting the important role of women’s organizations. The exhibit that was closest to his heart though was “A Stitch in Time,” a look at how Jews contributed to the development of the garment trade in Winnipeg. Both of his parents worked in the garment industry.
The exhibits though are just one facet of the JHCWC’s focus, Carbone noted. He mentioned how the organization contributed to the publication of Allan Levine’s “Coming of Age: A History of the Jewish People of Manitoba.”
There have also been several compilations over the years of talks that the JHCWC has organized. These are known as the “Jewish Life and Times,” consisting to date of ten volumes.
Carbone further pointed out the organization’s commitment to Holocaust education and the numerous initiatives that have brought that subject to greater public attention.
The organization’s genealogical component, he reported, draws numerous queries from people all over the world.
One particularly interesting project that Carbone spoke about is an ongoing cooperative partnership with Gray Academy. For the past 10 years, the JHCWC has been loaning photos from the archives to the school’s art program, allowing the students to make drawings based on the photos.
“It has been a wonderful program which has given the students a better understanding of local Jewish history,” he said.
“During my time here, we have worked with numerous Jewish and non-Jewish organizations,” Carbone added. “It helps to build bridges between the Jewish and other communities.”
In retirement, Carbone is looking forward to doing more travelling with Anna, his wife of 40 years. They were scheduled to leave for southern Italy on May 16.
He will also continue to be busy in his role as Italy’s vice-consul here, helping fellow Italians and others in Winnipeg.
And he is excited about having more time to spend on his own genealogical and historical research. He has already published two books: “Italians in Winnipeg: an Illustrated History,” and “The Streets Were Not Paved With Gold: A Social History of Italians in Winnipeg”.
A future project which he is seriously considering is a study of the history of Jewish life in Calabria.
He is also working on a family tree.
“I may be retired,” he said, “but I will still be available from time to time to help out if needed.”
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Negev Gala honours Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba
By MYRON LOVE It is written in “The Prophets” – specifically in ‘The Book of Isaiah’ -that the prophet heard the voice of the Lord saying “Whom should I send and who will go for us?”
And Isaiah answered the call and responded “Hineni” (here I am). “Send me.”
“Hineni” was the theme of this year’s Friends of JNF Canada’s annual Negev Gala – and about 750 supporters of the Jewish state – Jewish and non-Jewish – answered the call.
“Hineni” was the response of this year’s Negev Gala’s honorees: -members of the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba (JPAM), who, instead of remaining silent in the face of unprecedented levels of antisemitism in modern times, chose to speak with one voice against Jew hate in Manitoba’s medical community – and specifically among medical students enrolled in the Rady Faculty of Medicine.
“Hineni”is also the name of a new award that was given out at this year’s dinner. The Negev Gala Hineni award recognizes non-Jews who speak up on behalf of the Jewish people, despite personal risk for taking such a stand.
The evening opened with singer Haviva Polevoi singing a prayer for healing (“Mi Shebrach”) accompanied by pianist Tatyana Smolyaninov. The duo returned later in the evening to offer a second Mi Sheberach for “those who protect us.”
In his opening remarks, David Greaves, Friends of JNF Canada’s executive director for Manitoba and Saskatchewan – and emcee for the evening, observed that “over the past almost three years we have seen the worst of the worst as a community – as Am Yisrael, but what we may not have seen clearly are the struggles of subcommunities within our own community.
“This has been highlighted by the unfortunate need for the existence of JPAM. As the Jewish physicians continue to serve the ‘whole’ community, they do so in the face of extreme antisemitism, roadblocks and hate. Friends of JNF Canada are honoured to honour the many physicians and healthcare heroes that dedicate their lives every day to keep us all safe and healthy, regardless of background or beliefs.”
Greaves was then joined on stage by Aboriginal community leader and friend of the Jewish community Lisa Lewis for the requisite Land Acknowledgement. In relatively quick succession, the Shaarey Zedek’s senior Rabbi, Carnie Rose, read the prayer for the State of Israel, local Bridges for Peace leaders Don and Victoria James recited a prayer for peace, and medical students Rachel Cogan and Rotem Keynan recited haMotzi.
Michael Silver, president of the local Friends of the JNF Canada, national CEO Lance Davis and Jewish Federation of Winnipeg vice chair (and past JNF Manitoba ad Saskatchewan president) Jessica Cogan made presentations, after which Cogan had the privilege of introducing the inaugural Hineni Award recipient.
“We all know that in the months following October 7, our community was deeply shaken,” Cogan observed. “We were not only traumatized by the brutality of that day, but by the silence, the hostility, and the surge of antisemitism that followed.
“Antisemitism,” she continued, “began creeping into every corner of public life, even in spaces we believed would be guided by integrity and care. In May 2024, we felt the sharp pain of this reality during the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Medicine convocation.
“The world we thought we knew no longer felt as safe or as certain. And yet—out of that darkness, something extraordinary emerged. As David mentioned earlier, even in the darkest of days, our community seeks, finds and creates sparks of light.”
One of those “sparks of light” that she pointed to was the decision by a number of local Jewish doctors to come together to fight back through the formation of the Jewish Physicians Association of Manitoba.
“The creation of JPAM,” she noted, “told us we are not alone. This group of Jewish physicians made it clear that antisemitism—whether subtle or overt—would not go unchallenged.
“As the mother of a newly graduated medical student at the U of M,” Cogan added, “it meant even more. Our daughter, like so many others, faced moments of discomfort and isolation after October 7. Because of JPAM, she had somewhere to turn, someone to guide her. This brought a sense of reassurance that I cannot overstate.”
While JPAM works from within our Jewish community, Cogan pointed out, Dr Matthew Bzura chose not only to stand with us but also to stand up for us. (To read more about what Dr. Bzura did, go to PARIM Board forces out principled president-elect.)
“When so many stayed silent or even applauded the statements made at the medical school convocation two years ago by an antisemitic valedictorian,” Cogan recalled, “Dr. Bzura raised his voice — in a very public way. He responded with clarity, integrity, and courage. And we all know, these days, speaking out on behalf of the Jewish community comes with substantial personal and professional risk.
“His voice cut through the silence, espousing the values we all claim to share. Dr. Bzura answered: “Hineni. Here I am.”
In accepting the award, Bzura observed that Hineni may seem to be a simple phrase but, he noted, “the more time you spend with it, the more you realize that though it may sound a simple phrase, it’s a demanding one. To me, it doesn’t mean ‘here I am when it’s easy’ or ‘here I am when it’s convenient’. It means showing up – fully – and especially when it’s difficult, uncertain, or uncomfortable – when it costs you something.”
“I come to this moment from outside the Jewish community,” he noted ,“and I stand here tonight very aware of that, but that’s what makes this recognition all the more humbling and meaningful. What I’ve had instead is the privilege of working alongside Jewish colleagues, mentors, and patients – people who have shown me, not through words but through action, what it means to carry a deep sense of identity, responsibility, and caring for one another.
“So tonight,” Bzura concluded, “while I am deeply grateful for this award, I don’t see it as recognition of something I did alone. I see it as a reflection of a community that stood together and refused to be silent. On a deeply personal level I also accept this award with a sense of responsibility to keep showing up. To keep listening. To keep learning and, when it matters most, to say hineni.”
In response to Dr. Bzura’s remarks, Dr. Charles Bernstein, JPAM’s chair, observed that “sadly, I can report that I can count on both hands, at most, the number of non-Jewish physicians and scientists who have reached out to me in support of our community as it has been attacked in the medical community, mostly in the medical school community.
“JPAM,” Bernstein pointed out, “exists to bear witness to what is happening in our medical community; to provide advocacy where it is needed, to support Jews in health care who are being victimized and others who are being victimized; to ensure that Jewish Canadians feel free to study at U of M and exercise their rights to study openly as persons wanting to optimize health care through research, education and health policy and to undertake this as openly Jewish, fearless to openly wear a Star of David or Chai around their neck, as our Sikh friends should not fear wearing a turban or Muslim friends wearing a hijab.”
In responding to Friends of the JNF’s recognition of JPAM, Bernstein spoke of his own medical career, provided an historic overview of the role of Jewish doctors in Manitoba’s medical history and identified by name many of the Jewish-trained doctors from Winnipeg who have played leading roles in the practice of medicine nationally and internationally – innovators such as Morley Cohen in Cardiac Surgery, Ruben Cherniak in Respirology, Lionel Israels in Hematology, Harry Medovy in Pediatrics, Arnold Naimark in Respirology and Medical Education, Maurice Victor in Neurology, Max Wintrobe in Hematology, Alvin Zipursky in Pediatric Hematology, and the entire Hollenberg family – as well as his brother, Keevin, who revamped the medical school curriculum 15 years ago.
Bernstien further noted that of the 25 current Distinguished Professors at the U of M, four are clinicians and three of the four are Jewish and proud members of JPAM. Harvey Chochinov, Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg and Teddy Lyons, he pointed out, are still active in Medicine and all have been inducted into the Order of Canada.
In his speech, Bernstein reported that JPAM was formed in October 2023 – shortly after the pogrom on 0ctopber 7 – at Dr. Laura Chisick’s house – who served as hostess, along with Dr. Michael Boroditsky presiding. JPAM, he explained, was created “to address the need to provide advocacy for Jewish trainees, Jewish physicians, and Jewish patients.”
In June 2024, the inaugural meeting of JPAM took place at the Etz Chayim Synagogue. Nearly 100 physicians participated. The current board consists of: Charles Bernstein, David Hochman, Cheryl Rockman Greenberg, Marnie Wiseman, Lorrie Kirshenbaum, Isanne Schacter, Daniel Kroft, Brent Schacter, Vivian Schutt, and Grant Goldberg , all of whom joined Bernstein at the podium.
The funds raised from the 2026 Negev Gala are slated to go toward the opening of a new rehab clinic and hydrotherapy pool at the Ashdod Rehabilitation and Therapy Centre in southern Israel. The Centre provides crucial care for trauma victims, children with disabilities, and cancer patients.