Keren Hayesod’s Australian Campaign

We are pleased to share that UIA, our Australian campaign, has had a successful end of the year. Major donors in Perth recently enjoyed an evening with Sa’ar Kadmon, who spent 28-years in service to Israel’s government, including working at the Prime Minister’s Office. The national Women’s Division held a virtual meeting with Israeli journalist Efrat Lachter. These events are in addition to UIA’s weekly Israel Update, which is held on Zoom and regularly attended by more than 250 Australian supporters. We applaud them for these incredible achievements and look forward to new activities in the year ahead!

Keren Hayesod’s European Campaign

Our Basel campaign held a special event in the same hall where the First Zionist Congress was held in 1897. 

The March of Life is an initiative by Jobst and Charlotte Bittner and TOS Ministries from Tübingen, Germany. Together with descendants of German Wehrmacht soldiers and members of the SS and police force, they have organized memorial and reconciliation marches at sites of the Holocaust all over Europe. Since the beginning of this movement in 2007, marches have been held in 20 nations and in more than 400 cities in cooperation with Christians from different churches and denominations, as well as from many Jewish communities.

During the Guardian of the Walls Operation, March of Life was approached by Keren Hayesod’s World Chairman, Sam Grundwerg and within a few days they raised enough donations to cover the costs of three shelters in the South of Israel. On November 10th, in a ceremony that took place in Hodaya, they received the honor that they deserved by naming the Shelters with the organizations name.

Keren Hayesod’s Latin American Campaign

The last few months were incredibly busy for Keren Hayesod’s Latin American campaigns, which held several community-focused events. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, an event was held in which over 500 people participated. The event featured a Chanukkah art auction and raffle dedicated to the people of Israel. The event was a huge success and of great importance to the community.

Also in Brazil, a lecture series was held for 210 students at the Porto Alegre Jewish School who had the opportunity to hear and learn about the important work of Keren Hayesod, will also strengthening their connection to the state of Israel.
In addition, the seventh grade organized a second-hand market at the school.  All of the proceeds were donated to Keren Hayesod’s Bar Mitzvah Project.  The students will receive a certificate of appreciation and a “leaf of appreciation” that will be on the donor tree at the youth village in Kiryat Ya’arim.

Finally, a farewell event was held in the Keren Hayesod office in Argentina for the 19 participants of the “Protected Aliyah” project, which provides these young adults, from difficult backgrounds, the opportunity to have a better life in Israel. These young Jewish adults will be embarking on a new life and journey in Israel.

Keren Hayesod’s International Women’s Division

In the beginning of December, the International Women’s Division held their global virtual closing event for the campaign year. The event was very fascinating and featured Lihi Lapid – Israeli author, photojournalist, newspaper columnist and the wife of Yair Lapid, Alternate Prime Minister of Israel – as one of the main guest speakers, along with a female lone immigrant soldier girl who serves at in the Karakal Combat unit. The women who participated were very touched and asked her many questions.

Within the framework of the event, there was a virtual recognition of the IWD Award of Excellence 2020 recipients: Miríam Ende (Sydney, Australia), Monique Altaras de Hatchwell (Madrid, Spain) and Sheila Chor (Rio De Janeiro, Brazil). These women were recognized for their unique ability to deepen the commitment of Jewish women to Jewish continuity and to greatly strengthen the relations between Diaspora Jewish communities and the State of Israel.

The event was very successful with more than 250 women participating from all over the world!

From all of us at Keren Hayesod and the Youth of the Naale program in Ramat Hadassah Youth Village, we want to wish you and your families a healthy, safe, and successful upcoming year and we can only wish to see you all here, in Israel, in the coming year.