Israel

Ba’asher Telchi

July 13, 2015 by

Families going through a divorce experience extraordinary stress that often devastates everyone involved. For Israeli women who are part of the haredi, or ultra-Orthodox community, the experience is even harder because social mores dictate that divorce is shameful, and women are often shunned by the community. They find themselves adrift with no support, financial insecurity, isolated from their friends, and often experience extortion and bullying.

This was the situation Fainy Sukenik faced years ago after leaving her own marriage. An activist by nature, Fainy recognized she was not alone and that her experiences were the norm for any haredi woman choosing to divorce. Her response was Ba’asher Telchi (“Where You Go” from the Book of Ruth). Her group provides nearly 3,000 women with legal aid, emotional support, socialization and frequent discussion groups that focus on living one’s life without a partner (or how to approach finding a new partner). In broader terms, Ba’asher Telchi focuses on changing the way the community responds to divorce.

Our funds are directed to individual needs and programming.

Ten Gav

July 13, 2015 by

We have all heard the idiomatic expression, “I’ve got your back.” For Vivi Mann and Naomi Brounstein, the expression was particularly apt when they started Ten Gav (loosely translated as “I’ve got your back”) in 2014. Using an online crowd-funding platform, Vivi and Naomi hoped to encourage Israelis and others to donate modest sums of money to specific, verified needs for people living in poverty in Israel.

The program works simply and efficiently. Municipal social workers submit to Ten Gav an application with a case history and summary of the individual’s specific need. It can be something as simple as a washing machine, eyeglasses, a refrigerator, funding for a course that will lead to self-sufficiency—all modest needs that will make life easier for someone struggling to survive.

Donors who access the organization’s website can then contribute to those costs. With numerous controls in place to insure the integrity of the process, the requested items are purchased and delivered and, perhaps most important, all is done discreetly and with kavod, respect, for the individual.

Our funding has underwritten those needs that have not received sufficient support from the “crowd”, the development of a marketing plan to help raise awareness of Ten Gav’s work, and most recently, the support of Ethiopian Israelis.

Inbar

August 26, 2014 by

“I used to pretend that I was normal, and now I know that I am normal. I feel like a whole person who can have everything, even love.”

What powerful words of self-worth and esteem these are, coming from a 39-year-old woman with physical challenges. She’s one of hundreds affiliated with Inbar, a nonprofit that works throughout Israel to equip those with physical or developmental challenges with tools and capacities for self-confidence in all aspects of life – including finding and nurturing significant personal relationships.

Shoshi Margolin, Inbar’s executive director, is energetic, passionate and creative. Because of her own challenges, she understands the personal, familial, and community impact of the group’s work, now reaching about 250 individuals and their families.

Our funds support a mentoring program that gives Inbar participants personalized support.

Necha Malka

August 26, 2014 by

In Israel, Shira Gilor, a resident of Hashmonaim, thought she knew her neighbors well until the day she was approached by a local mother. The woman confided that she did not have enough food for her children. Quietly, Shira delivered a package to the family, an event which became a personal turning point, as she pondered the food waste she witnessed around her.

Shira knew that this woman’s situation was not an exception, and so began her grassroots, neighborhood operation to secure food and discreetly feed her hungry neighbors. Necha Malka (named for the mother of a generous community member who wanted to help Shira) serves 24 families vetted by local social workers.

Volunteers facilitate the work and supermarket scrip (which we help underwrite) makes possible the purchase of any food that is not donated.

Pesia’s Kitchen

October 28, 2013 by

Gideon Ben Ami, a former successful restauranteur in both the U.S. and Israel, may be retired. But he readily admits that his present “job” helping others has given him more satisfaction than anything else he has ever done. A true entrepreneur long before the term became fashionable, Gideon always finds creative and meaningful ways to improve others’ lives.

Feeding breakfast to African refugees in Levinsky Park; making daily pick-ups from Tel Aviv’s restaurants, bakeries and supermarkets; rescuing refugees who are victims of racist attacks and implementing the distribution of tons of donated fresh produce to hungry people⎯these are just a few of his many accomplishments.

With our support and the help of others, Gideon’s simple and efficient operation runs nearly day and night and offers visibility and hope to people often hidden from sight.

Yotsrot

October 28, 2013 by

“Seeing with my own eyes, every day, women being used, sold, and exploited in prostitution hit me in my strongest point of power as a woman. I knew I had to do something to change it.”

These words, from Lilach Tsur Ben-Moshe – a former online fashion editor who commuted each day past Tel Aviv’s Central Bus Station and saw such injustices – capture why she founded Yotsrot Hofachot (Turning the Tables) as a catalyst for women’s empowerment.

The organization promotes economic advancement for women who want to leave the world of prostitution by offering vocational training in sewing, pattern-making and digital marketing. It creates a business hub for their creations, and provides a safe space where they find respect, friendship, and encouragement. In 2018, in a first, the women of Yotsrot were featured during Tel Aviv Fashion Week, a major event that infused them with self-worth and community support. Our funds support a social worker.