The past year has not been easy for our staff, lay leaders, community members and most especially, our Israeli friends and family. We are grateful that due to the incredible support of this community, we have been able to make a difference in many lives through our Israel Emergency Fund. In every issue of this newsletter, we try to highlight at least one of the NGOs we support with those dollars. This month, we are highlighting the recent Israel & Overseas Allocations trip to Israel and some of the programs that they encountered.
In addition to our regular spotlights, we wanted to highlight three lesser-known programs we are funding through our regular allocation and operating dollars. When Federation sold Sinai Hospital in 1997, most of the proceeds went to create The Jewish Fund. What you may not know, is that $500,000 was sent to the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) to support a low interest loan fund for entrepreneurs in Israel. Since its inception, these dollars have provided hundreds of business loans all over Israel. During Covid, we transferred $100,000 to SparkIL for urgent loans. Recently, Detroit has partnered with JAFI and the Pittsburgh Federation to spin off a new Loan Fund that is just for the northern communities (where our respective Partnerships are).
Lastly, we are proud to be a partner of Unpacked Israel. An organization that provides tools to students, teachers and everyday people to learn to have effective conversations about Israel. With the rise of antisemitism, this is proving to be a very worthwhile investment. Read on to hear what they had to say about the last year.
As always, if you have any questions about anything below – or anything related to Israel & Overseas in general, don’t hesitate to contact us directly.
Jennifer Levine
Senior Director, Israel & Overseas