B'NAI B'RITH IN YOUR COMMUNITY AND AROUND THE GLOBE
Summer 2024
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- Welcome to IMPACT: June Issue
- B’nai B’rith Annual Leadership Forum Honors History and Addresses Urgent Issues for Israel and the Worldwide Jewish Community
- B’nai B’rith Conducts Mission and Facilitates Testimonies from Hamas Attack Survivors at Paris and Geneva United Nations Meetings
- OAS Secretary-General Recognized for His Fight Against Anti-Semitism
- B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Honors Excellence in Diaspora News Coverage
- Annual Yom HaShoah Programs Remember Individual Victims of the Holocaust
- Center for Senior Services Hosts Community Service Project Alongside Annual Housing Network Meeting
- Jewish Rescuers Ceremony Presented for 22nd Year at B’nai B’rith Martyrs Forest
- Israel’s B’nai B’rith Members Meet with CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin
- B’nai B’rith’s Israel Emergency Fund and World Center-Jerusalem Help the People of Israel in Time of War
- B’nai B’rith, the American Zionist Movement and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York Join Forces for June 2 Israel Day Parade
- Thousands Rally and March in Manhattan to Support Israel on April 7
- B’nai B’rith Talks: Conversations with B’nai B’rith Podcast
- Volunteer Efforts Bring Meals to Those in Need During Passover
- B’nai B’rith Leader Named New Zealander of the Year
- Backstory: B’nai B’rith President Kent E. Schiner z”l
Welcome to IMPACT: June Issue
Thank you for visiting the June issue of IMPACT, your must-read overview of B’nai B’rith’s work everywhere.
We are just a month removed from our phenomenal Leadership Forum, held May 4-6 in Washington, D.C. Gathering in person, our leaders renewed and restored connections, while also welcoming new faces to the fold. With a range of panels and programs, attendees were awed by B’nai B’rith’s depth and breadth of work.
In the current IMPACT, you’ll be able to relive this important gathering, perhaps coming away with new insights inspired by distance and time. If you did not join us for the Leadership Forum, IMPACT will take you there, so you can catch up on what you missed.
As with every issue, the June IMPACT offers unique insights into the important and impactful work of B’nai B’rith around the world.
As you read through the many global endeavors of our dedicated staff and volunteers, perhaps you’ll be inspired to start a new program, or join an existing venture. That’s the great thing about IMPACT: it brings the world of B’nai B’rith to you.
Happy reading.
–Best wishes from the IMPACT team
Congratulations to our own B’nai B’rith Magazine Winter 2023 issue for a top prize in the American Jewish Press Association Rockower Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism.
First Place: Award for Excellence in Writing About Young Families/People
“When anti-Semitism hits home: How hate hurts kids”
by Beryl Lieff Benderly
B’nai B’rith Annual Leadership Forum Honors History and Addresses Urgent Issues for Israel and the Worldwide Jewish Community
Credit for all photos: Leslie E. Kossoff/LK Photos
B’nai B’rith Conducts Mission and Facilitates Testimonies from Hamas Attack Survivors at Paris and Geneva United Nations Meetings
In early March, B’nai B’rith President Seth J. Riklin and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin led more than two dozen of the organization’s international leaders from nine countries during a mission that included meetings and dialogues with more than 50 ambassadors and other officials coinciding with the first U.N. Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions convened since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks.
The group also attended the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) executive board meetings in Paris. Addressing issues vital to the Jewish community worldwide, the B’nai B’rith cohort communicated directly with meeting participants, speaking out for the fair treatment of Israel at global venues.
Mariaschin noted that: “The imperative for our meetings in Geneva was never more vital. At a time when Israel is under a barrage of diplomatic criticism for its rightful war of defense against Hamas, our sitting face to face with ambassadors to call out the seriously tilted, rote and biased denunciations of Israel at the UNHRC is a vital part of our work at the United Nations.”
B’nai B’rith urged acknowledgement of Israel’s ongoing need to defend itself—and the immediate and unconditional release of Israeli hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during the Oct. 7 attacks.
During this same time, representatives of B’nai B’rith, a U.N.-accredited organization, presented multiple official statements at the UNHRC, which routinely condemns Israel more than all other countries combined and singles out the Middle East’s sole democracy alone for scrutiny under a permanent agenda item.
Victims Tell Their Stories
After the conclusion of the trip, B’nai B’rith facilitated eyewitness testimony from four victims of the Oct. 7 attacks, who spoke in recorded messages during ongoing UNHRC sessions on March 21 and March 27.
Of varying ages, ethnicities and backgrounds, these individuals described their harrowing struggle for survival, and the trauma they continue to endure resulting from the murder or kidnapping of their partners and family members, some of whom are young children. Freed hostage Aviva Siegel, 62, whose husband is still held in Gaza, concluded: “I plead to the world and Human Rights Council—put an end to our suffering, to the suffering of all the hostages, to the crimes against humanity. Speak out against the existence on our planet of this terror organization. Free the hostages.”
Watch Video statements:
Aviva Siegel speaks here.
Ofri Bibas speaks here.
Noam Mazal Ben David speaks here.
With dedicated United Nations offices in Europe and the United States, B’nai B’rith has led Jewish communal engagement with the world body since its inception in 1945.
FROM THE PRESIDENT
A Critical Time: Growing Our Community
President, B’nai B’rith International
When I was elected chair of the B’nai Brith Senior Housing Committee, I became a member of the Executive Board of Directors. I was honored and excited to move from being an officer and board member of Goldberg B’nai B’rith Towers, a 302-unit low-income senior housing project in Houston, Texas, to having a seat at the table governing B’nai B’rith International.
B’nai B’rith is like a 33-story skyscraper, with a shadow reaching across our Jewish communities worldwide. Since 1843, our lodges and communities have carried out the work to bring our people closer together and to make a difference. Each president has added a floor to the building, each floor different, all of which collectively increased our strength. I am the 33rd president. Isaac Dittenhoefer (z”l) was the first. He was followed by leaders who continued the path of greatness. Names like Frank Goldman (z”l), Phillip M. Klutznick (z”l), Label A. Katz (z”l), Jack J. Spitzer (z”l), Gerald Kraft (z”l), Seymour D. Reich, Kent E. Schiner (z”l), Tommy P. Baer, Richard D. Heideman, Joel S. Kaplan (z”l), Moishe Smith (z”l), Allan J. Jacobs, Gary P. Saltzman and Charles O. Kaufman. I am eternally grateful for the opportunity to have known and worked with Seymour, Kent, Tommy, Richard, Joel, Moishe, Allan, Gary and Chuck, who each shared their love of B’nai B’rith. We are all truly sons of the covenant.
The dark day of Oct. 7 has deeply affected the Jewish community worldwide. I have read many stories of people who considered themselves disconnected from our faith, who are now coming home. Regardless of their religiosity, they were still Jews. To the enemies of the Jewish people, their devotion or lack of faith was irrelevant. The dangers and challenges of today are not that different from those faced by the immigrants in a strange country who formed B’nai B’rith 180 years ago to provide support to the Jewish community. We must continue their work by fighting anti-Semitism, supporting Israel and working in our local communities.
Our founders would be amazed at the opportunities and tools we have today. We have tens of thousands of members all over the world, including a vibrant presence in Israel, our homeland. We are in a much stronger financial position than when Moishe asked me to run for treasurer in 2008. We are not rich, but we are secure.
Our efforts at the United Nations, UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) and the United Nations Human Rights Counsel are making a positive difference that we should all be proud of. We are more connected to our brothers and sisters in other countries than ever thanks to the internet. Yes, we may have 11 opinions for every 10 members, but when we are attacked, we form a cohesive and strong force for good.
We have always worked together to ensure the future of the organization and our Jewish communities. In recent years, there has been an evolution away from all organized religion, including Judaism. Young couples and professionals are looking for new ways to connect with our Jewish community. Many are lonely and isolated, and we must rally to blow the shofar and call them to B’nai B’rith. At this critical time, B’nai B’rith can play an important role in bringing Jews together for social welfare, fellowship and friendship.
Photo: Leslie E. Kossoff/LK Photos
In the last month, I have had conversations with many young couples and professionals in Houston, where I live, who are looking for ways to connect with other Jews. Many of them can’t afford or simply won’t pay synagogue dues. They have limited time due to work and family demands. Some are in interfaith relationships and they feel some parts of our community have unnecessary barriers to their partners’ participation.
Early in June, I was fortunate to have a long discussion with a local rabbi who works for the preeminent Jewish high school here. She expressed these same thoughts to me about the Jewish community she works with in Houston, including the school’s students and parents. She believes that B’nai B’rith has the opportunity to bring many of these people together to create their own B’nai B’rith community in Houston that will give them the ability to make new friends and to do tikkun olam in Houston and the world. From my many conversations with you over the last few years, I believe that the challenges of the Houston Jewish community are like the challenges in your community.
I believe that my chat with the rabbi will bear fruit for the young people of our community in Houston who were born and raised here, as well as those who moved to Houston later in life due to the bountiful career opportunities that Houston offers.
I plan to have an organizational meeting before the High Holidays that will include my nieces and nephews, friends and children of friends, who are all searching for a new way to reaffirm their Jewish identity. They will be asked to talk about their needs and desires, educated on the history of B’nai B’rith, and hopefully mentored to help them to organize their own B’nai B’rith community, unique and relevant to them.
B’nai B’rith is identical to Judaism more broadly, in that everyone has their own meaningful experiences and connection to it. We will give them the bones to grow their own muscles and sinew and hope they breathe life into a community of their own. They will form their own governance board and plan for their next meeting, with the spirit of B’nai B’rith being renewed once again.
כן יהי רצון
Yes, please
FROM THE CEO
Lessons From Gaza: Crass Hypocrisy and What to Do About It
CEO, B’nai B’rith International
It didn’t take very long for international public opinion to morph from a week or two of “Israel has a right to defend itself” to the hemorrhage of opprobrium that has been directed Israel’s way since Oct. 7. From the United Nations to the European Union, from the International Court of Justice to the International Criminal Court, from The New York Times and The Washington Post, to the weak knees of university administrators, Israel has been the target of big lies and blood libels from a host of hypercritical—and worse—antagonists.
How did this happen?
The atrocities carried out by Hamas on that holiday Shabbat near the Gaza envelope to this day are unspeakable in their perverse barbarity. But the details are well-known: families killed in the most horrendous ways, parents in front of children, children in front of parents, the killing of babies, rapes, mutilations and so many burned alive in their homes. Over two hundred carried off to the tunnels in Gaza, including bodies of those killed on the spot.
At this point, many have witnessed either the scenes of the crimes in places like Nir Oz, Be’eri and Kfar Aza, or the 47-minute film assembled by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from videos taken by the terrorists themselves as they carried out this compendium of horrors. Survivors of the Nova Festival massacre and hostages released by Hamas in November have told their stories of brutal treatment at the hands of the terrorists. And yet, even before the IDF actually entered Gaza on the ground on Oct. 27, the worm had turned into casting the victim into the victimizer.
Any discussion of Israel’s defensive war against Hamas must begin with the fact that it is an asymmetrical enemy. Hamas places its terrorist operatives and stores its weapons in locations that invite heavy civilian casualties: mosques, schools, hospitals, apartment buildings. It has built a Gaza-wide network of tunnels that runs into the hundreds of kilometers.
And one more fact that we know to be true, but that is an inconvenient truth for many of Israel’s critics and for the agitators who are in the streets calling for the elimination of the Jewish state: no country in the history of modern warfare has ever taken more care to protect civilian lives in battle than Israel. Don’t take my word for it; listen to what John Spencer, the chair of Urban Warfare Studies at West Point, has to say on the subject: “Israel has done more to prevent civilian casualties in war than any military in history….setting a standard that will be both hard and problematic to repeat.”
Over the years, stories abound about IDF units being turned back and aborting attacks on certain targets because of the possibility of incurring mass civilian casualties in the process. For years, personnel from the IDF’s Military Advocate General’s Corps have been called in, moments before a military operation, to opine on whether hitting a target might involve collateral civilian casualties.
All of this is known to diplomats, members of Congress or parliaments abroad, serious journalists or anyone who wishes to spend 10 minutes on Google to seek out what Spencer has to say. Most don’t check, or will not admit that they do, because to report fairly on how Israel conducts a war does not fit it neatly into a worldview that gives, at best, lip service to Israel’s right not only to defend itself, but to defeat its enemies. At worst, some simply don’t say what they actually think: “Israel had it coming.”
A stream of European diplomats, led by the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Borell, of Spain, and a host of presidents, prime ministers, foreign ministers and others early on, were lining up to castigate Israel for its fight against this quintessential asymmetrical enemy. They bought into the “Gaza (really the Hamas) Ministry of Health” figures on tens of thousands of Palestinians killed and called it a genocide.
Months later, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs buried deep in one of its reports that the casualty figures in Gaza were half those reported and repeated ad nauseum for months. Beyond a few publications and statements by a number of Jewish organizations, the revised figures are nowhere to be seen.
Israel’s military on the front lines of the defensive war with Hamas.
Photos: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit of the Israel Defense Forces
In March, B’nai B’rith conducted our annual visit to Geneva and Paris, for meetings with diplomats at the U.N. Human Rights Council and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), respectively. Those meetings usually focus on resolutions at those bodies that we consider to be biased against Israel, urging member states to vote against or at the very least, abstain. This year, much of our discussion at missions of nearly 50 countries, focused on the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and their aftermath.
One of our principal talking points was a question: If your country was attacked in similar fashion, if Lithuanians, Senegalese or Uruguayans were subject to the worst possible barbarity on a peaceful Saturday morning, resulting in 1,200 killed and thousands wounded and injured, with hundreds being carried away as hostages, what would you do?
And if the answer is, “we would respond,” why is it that Israel is being held to an impossible double standard when it seeks to do so? Why is it that Israel is subject to presumptuous micromanaging of its military effort to defeat its enemies? And, by the way, why do countries raise armies to begin with, if not to be able to overwhelm their enemies in decisive fashion? Indeed, we might say to the Europeans: Why do we have NATO if not to be able to do just that?
It is said that Israel is “the Jew among nations,” that it, like Jews throughout history, is subject to double standards, castigation, opprobrium and worse. But in this case, this is where history takes a major turn in the road: We are living in a different time and place. We’re not the Jews, nor Israel the country, depicted in chains on the Arch of Titus. Nor are we the Jews of medieval times, being blamed in blood libels for killing Christian children and using their blood to bake matzos for Passover. Nor are we the vulnerable millions, so many of whom fought valiantly as partisans or to save their communities, most of whom were rounded up and cast into the ovens of Nazi death camps.
Since 1948 and the rebirth of both the State of Israel and the Jewish people along with it, the old rules of the game of how Jews were treated—and mistreated—by others has been overturned. A sovereign Jewish nation, with its own army to defend its citizens, has been called on time and again to assert its independence. That fight continues today, against an enemy driven by hate to seek Israel’s destruction, and ultimately the destruction of the Jewish people. Israelis of all political stripes are in sync on the objective that we will never return to a time of abject vulnerability.
So what’s behind the hypocrisy of the diplomats and the pundits, the instant analysis folks on TV, and the masterminds of the pro-Hamas demonstrations on our nations’ college campuses? Is it ideological? Raw or hidden anti-Semitism? Classic envy of Jews or resentment that they dare fight back? Or a combination of motivations?
There will be plenty of time, after the war in Gaza to make these calculations and assess criticism on those who have sought to tell Israel that it can defend itself, but only up to a point.
Living as we do in the moment, we must not be deterred by doomsday predictions of international isolation of Israel or us its supporters. We are in the right. We need make no apologies for fighting or supporting Israel’s existential threats. “Ein breira” (there is no alternative) never rang truer.
In December, I led a group of B’nai B’rith leaders to visit a few of the kibbutzim that had been attacked near Gaza. After visiting Be’eri, we traveled a short distance to a makeshift rest and recreation spot for IDF soldiers fighting in Gaza to have a few hours of good food, a shower and some camaraderie before going back into battle. I talked with several. They were reservists, spanning ages and vocations. They were upbeat and determined; their patriotism and sense of purpose immediately rubbed off on us. Over falafel and a soda, the small talk took me back to our history of travail and persecution, when we did not have a place of our own.
And then I wished each one well, telling them that they should know they were not only fighting for Israel and its people, but for all of us, as well.
OAS Secretary-General Recognized for His Fight Against Anti-Semitism
Organization of American States (OAS) Secretary-General Luis Almagro received the Combat Antisemitism Movement (CAM) Global Leadership Award for his decadelong efforts fighting anti-Semitism, at a symposium in Washington, D.C. on April 11, organized by CAM and B’nai B’rith International.
On April 9, B’nai B’rith produced another event relating to its work and relationships in Latin America. The organization partnered with UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization), the Institute of Strategic Dialogue, the World Jewish Congress and the Latin American Jewish Congress for the presentation of an online Spanish language workshop, “Facing Online anti-Semitism in Latin America: How to Deal with Online Hate Speech and Holocaust Denial and Distortion.”
Learn about the April 11 award ceremony and symposium here
Read the Israel365 News story about the April 11 symposium at OAS
B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem Honors Excellence in Diaspora News Coverage
Keynote speaker Eylon Levy calls for the appointment of an elite team of government spokespersons
Photos: Bruno Charbit
B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem presented its annual awards Recognizing Excellence in Diaspora Reportage on May 26. This year’s honorees were Elad Simchayoff, Channel 12 News correspondent and Canaan Lidor, Jewish World reporter for The Times of Israel.
Lidor was cited in the written media category, in memory of Luis and Trudi Schydlowsky. Simchayoff won in the broadcast media category.
A special award for Fostering Israel-Diaspora Relations Through the Arts in Memory of Naomi Shemer was presented to Israeli music legend Ilanit (whose real name is Hanna Dresner-Tahk).
In his keynote address, Eylon Levy, former Israeli government spokesperson, observed: “The Jewish People are a global nation, and the solutions to our challenges must be global. October 7 triggered a regional war, which has become, in every sense, a global war on the Jews.”
He advocated for the Israeli government to organize an elite team of spokespeople who could communicate in all languages and across all time zones immediately. He likened this team to a special forces unit, ready to spring into action at a moment’s notice anywhere in the world, equipped with the necessary ammunition, backup and defensive gear.
Annual Yom HaShoah Programs Remember Individual Victims of the Holocaust
B’nai B’rith International, the North American Partner of Yad Vashem’s “Unto Every Person There is a Name” commemoration, is honored to advance remembrance, awareness and educational initiatives through this program, held on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day, observed this year on May 6, to coincide with the Hebrew calendar date marking the beginning of the 1943 Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
The Unto program derives its name from “Unto Every Person There is a Name,” a poem by Israeli educator and writer Zelda (1914-1984), whose first line reads: Unto Every Person there is a Name bestowed upon him by God and given him by his father and mother.”
B’nai B’rith concluded its annual Leadership Forum on May 6 with an “Unto Every Person There is a Name” observance at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
Austrian Ambassador Petra Schneebaur joined B’nai B’rith leaders in the reading of the names of Austrian victims.
Reflecting on this year’s theme, “A Lost World: The Destruction of Jewish Communities,” B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin observed that it “is especially poignant …after the savage Hamas terror attacks on Israel—the worst mass atrocities committed against Jews since the Holocaust…it’s a frightening resonance of the Shoah.”
In Atlanta, Achim/Gate City Lodge organized an “Unto” ceremony that included the reading of names of participants’ family members.
B’nai B’rith International and the Holocaust Resource Center sponsored an outdoor “Unto Every Person There is a Name” event in Fairfield, Connecticut.
In partnership with B’nai B’rith, the national Jewish fraternity AEPi hosted its annual “We Walk to Remember” Yom HaShoah on-campus observance during the first week in May at Bentley University in Waltham, Massachusetts., George Washington University in Washington, D.C., Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. and at Chicago’s DePaul University.
Center for Senior Services Hosts Community Service Project Alongside Annual Housing Network Meeting
The annual B’nai B’rith Center for Senior Services (CSS) Housing Network Managers and Service Coordinators meeting was held in Los Angeles from May 15-17.
The group prepared food boxes at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank prior to the Housing Network meetings, a tradition of community service paired with the meetings, which began in 2019 when attendees volunteered at local farms in Puerto Rico planting vegetables and preparing food packages for hurricane victims.
The Housing Network program featured issues of concern for older Americans and non-profit senior housing stakeholders and employees, including fraud and investment education from the Securities and Exchange Commission, emergency preparedness hosted by MySafe: LA, which educates adults and children about fire prevention and public safety, and Social Security Administration and social service program updates.
Particularly relevant for administrators at Jewish-sponsored residences, security enhancement was addressed in response to the rise in anti-Semitic incidents following the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks and Israel’s defensive war with Hamas.
As the largest national Jewish sponsor of non-sectarian subsidized housing for the elderly in the United States, B’nai B’rith Center for Senior Services is committed to educating its building administrators at residential facilities for older Americans. It is the mission of CSS and the building staff to protect and improve the quality of life for the residents in each building.
Jewish Rescuers Ceremony Presented for 22nd Year at B’nai B’rith Martyrs Forest
On May 6, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael (KKL-JNF) posthumously awarded Jewish Rescuers Citations to 13 individuals during a ceremony held annually on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day (Yom HaShoah).
Relatives of the recipients were in the audience for the presentation at the B’nai B’rith Martyrs Forest near Jerusalem. This year’s awardees risked their lives to save Jews in France, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Italy and Poland.
Speakers included Ambassador Sergio Barbanti, ambassador of Italy to Israel; Aharon Bar, director of Pedagogy and Guidance, KKL-JNF; Haim Katz, chairman, B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem; Brigadier General Gihad Hasan, police border guard; and Sarah Jackson, Holocaust survivor who rescued young people from the Nova festival on Oct. 7 (recorded).
Learn about the ceremony, the honorees’ acts of heroism, and the history of the Jewish Rescuers Citation here.
View highlights from the B’nai B’rith World Center-Jerusalem and Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael’s (KKL-JNF) 2024 joint Holocaust commemoration ceremony on Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day at the B’nai B’rith Martyrs Forest.
FROM THE VAULT
Chaim Nachman Bialik: Zionist Poet and B’nai B’rith Member
From its establishment in 1888, B’nai B’rith in pre-state Israel attracted prominent individuals recognized for their contributions to its laws, language and schools. Novelist Wilhelm Ze’ev Hertzberg founded the Jerusalem Lodge; its members included editor and linguist Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, “the father of modern Hebrew,” who spent his life codifying the language, formulating new words and compiling the first Hebrew dictionary. Other celebrated members included educator Ephraim Cohen; Rehoboth Colony founder E.W. Lewin-Epstein; Israel’s first president, Chaim Weizmann; economist Yakir Behar; Nahoum Slousch, an important specialist in Middle Eastern languages and archeology; translator David Yellin; jurist Gad Frumkin; and Tel Aviv Mayor Meir Dizengoff.
Embraced as “the national poet of the Jewish people” and favorite of David Ben-Gurion and other leaders, Chaim Nachman Bialik (1873-1934) emigrated in 1924 from Europe to Tel Aviv, already an important cultural center. He joined B’nai B’rith’s Sha’ar Zion Lodge there, and became an active member of the community, giving lectures and readings, and raising money for his adopted land.
Photo: gellerj/commons/wikipedia.org
As a young man, Bialik was praised for the beauty of his Zionist verses, filled with imagery taken from the world of nature.
Bialik’s books for adults and children are still enjoyed. Mixing despair and hope, his poems often merge his own experiences—his love of Jewish learning, his personal relationships and his lingering sorrow over the loss of his parents—with the narrative of Jewish oppression, and the uplifting vision of the Jewish homeland.
Scholars liken his two masterworks, “In the City of Slaughter,” Bialik’s response to the 1903 pogrom in Kishinev, Bessarabia, and the long prose poem, “Scroll of Fire” (Nathan Rapoport’s monument in the B’nai B’rith Martyrs Forest is named after this work) to Dante’s “Divine Comedy.” Addressing his own longing and grief, he imagines a new society, exhorting Jews to reject passivity, grow strong and defend themselves against those who would destroy them.
Tel Aviv’s Bialik Lodge, founded in 1936, became one of the largest in the country; many members were German refugees. Its first president, Moses Chelouche, briefly served as the city’s mayor.
Israel’s B’nai B’rith Members Meet with CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin
Following his participation in the annual Conference of Presidents mission to Israel, B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin met with more than 100 representatives of lodges operating throughout Israel in Tel Aviv in late February.
The agenda focused on the forging of closer ties in the fight against anti-Semitism and for the implementation of global projects.
Read more about the meeting here:
B’nai B’rith Leaders Gather in Tel Aviv To Welcome Expansion of International Activities
B’nai B’rith leaders dive headfirst into volunteering in Israel
B’nai B’rith’s Israel Emergency Fund and World Center-Jerusalem Help the People of Israel in Time of War
After the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, B’nai B’rith members and supporters immediately mobilized to set up and support its Israel Emergency Fund. Since then, B’nai B’rith is proud to have raised more than $227,000, which has been used to rebuild communities, support soldiers by providing socks and other basic needs, assist areas experiencing attacks and make life better for those impacted by the current war.
B’nai B’rith CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin noted that: “Our opening of B’nai B’rith’s Israel Emergency Fund enabled us to provide much needed, real-time assistance to Israelis affected by the attacks from Hamas and Hezbollah since October 7. Our partner on the ground, B’nai B’rith Israel, has worked tirelessly to get this aid to those who are displaced and in need of assistance.”
During the fall and winter, the fund supported displaced residents of Kibbutz Kfar Aza and Kibbutz Be’eri, both decimated during the Hamas infiltration. Survivors received care packages and stipends for groceries and essential items.
Among other initiatives, the fund sent food, household essentials and medical supplies to Sderot, Netivot and Ashkelon, heavily targeted by Hamas missile attacks. Displaced children received electronic devices, toys and games. Additional funds were sent to Kibbutz Be’eri and Kibbutz Kfar Aza.
In May, the fund purchased an all-terrain vehicle for the Mevo’ot HaHermon regional council. The ATV will be used for firefighting and the equipment transport to remote areas.
Andrea Cure, B’nai B’rith vice president of Development and Strategic Initiatives, who spent the latter part of May volunteering in Israel, forged deep connections with lodge members there. Moved by their dedication and altruism, she said, “I was awe-struck by the sheer love and compassion B’nai B’rith Israel members had for the people they help. The conversations, the coffee and wafers shared—it felt like family. We picked out sets of clothing for children with the same care I use to select my own children’s clothing…”
“I met with B’nai B’rith Israel leadership several times and was deeply impressed by their commitment to helping others. All volunteers, giving their time selflessly—this is how B’nai B’rith started, and this is how it continues in our Jewish homeland to this day.”
World Center-Jerusalem Activities
In April, the World Center-Jerusalem’s B’nai B’rith Edith ‘Pat’ Wolfson and Roselle and ‘Benjamin’ Bernard Roseman Endowment Fund for Israeli Youth provided grants to recipients including a one-year-old baby from the Bedouin city of Rahat, whose father was one of 20 Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed by Hamas in January, and a 16-year-old boy afflicted with Down Syndrome from Ofakim, whose brother was murdered by terrorists during the Oct. 7 onslaught. Launched in 2005, the fund assists young Israelis whose lives have been disrupted by terrorism and wars.
B’nai B’rith, the American Zionist Movement and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York Join Forces for June 2 Israel Day Parade
A massive crowd gathered on Fifth Avenue on June 2 to demonstrate solidarity with Israel and to cheer thousands of people participating in New York’s 59th annual Israel Day Parade.
Taking part in the parade, B’nai B’rith staff and volunteers joined forces with the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York and the American Zionist Movement, along with Jewish philanthropies, families of hostages taken in the Oct. 7 attacks, and friends and allies from across the world.
The official delegation of the State of Israel was represented by Minster of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz, Consul General of Israel in New York Ambassador Ofir Akunis and Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Gilad Erdan.
Thousands Rally and March in Manhattan to Support Israel on
April 7
B’nai B’rith partnered with Jewish communal organizations including the Hostages and Missing Families Forum for an April 7 rally at Dag Hammerskjold Plaza at the United Nations. Thousands supporting Israel turned out to demand the immediate release of the hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7.
The B’nai B’rith Podcast: Conversations with B’nai B’rith
Discover the B’nai B’rith Podcast, where insightful conversations on Jewish culture, history and current events come alive.
B’nai B’rith Podcast host and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin delves into a wide range of topics from global anti-Semitism and human rights to Jewish art, literature and communal achievements.
Featuring expert guests and influential leaders, the podcast offers valuable perspectives and engaging dialogues that inform and inspire listeners.
Tune in to explore the richness of Jewish life and heritage and stay updated on critical issues impacting the Jewish community worldwide.
In this issue of IMPACT we guide you to some of the unique discussions you may have missed, including these highlights:
Volunteer Efforts Bring Meals to Those in Need During Passover
This Passover, B’nai B’rith lodges again participated in Project H.O.P.E. (Help Our People Everywhere), an annual tradition where the community distributes kosher-for-Passover food to elderly and low-income families in need.
The initiative provided Passover meals to hundreds of households this year, led by lodges around the country. Participating for the 27th year, Philadelphia’s Liberty Region packed and distributed 700 bags to local families. The New York area MetroNorth region delivered 288 bags across Connecticut and Long Island.
The Isadore Garsek Lodge in Fort Worth, Texas, organized the delivery of 48 quarts of soup and other Passover foods from a kosher restaurant to local seniors.
“For most of the seniors, our lunch is the only celebration they have for Passover and it makes them extremely happy,” said Alex Nason, former president of the Garsek Lodge. “Seeing their smiling faces is a huge reward for the members of Garsek Lodge.”
As part of our relief efforts abroad, Passover food was provided to 500 families in Sderot, Israel, and the surrounding area, who have been displaced from their homes due to the ongoing war against Hamas. B’nai B’rith also sponsored Passover seders for hundreds of Ukrainian refugees and Jewish communities in Chișinău and Tiraspol, Moldova.
Since the 1960s, B’nai B’rith has provided Passover meals to the community through volunteer efforts. Project H.O.P.E. continues to bring holiday cheer every spring, thanks to the dedication of B’nai B’rith volunteers in communities across the country.
B’nai B’rith Leader Named New Zealander of the Year
With its philanthropic mission dedicated to sustainability and the environment, the New Zealand financial institution Kiwibank has announced that B’nai B’rith New Zealand President Jim Salinger is its New Zealander of the Year. Hailed for his groundbreaking studies on climate change, Salinger has worked in the field for 50 years. Author of four books and more than 200 papers on climate change, he is an adjunct research fellow at the School of Geography, Environmental and Earth Sciences at Victoria University of Wellington.
Salinger is also an international climate change expert at the Climate Reference Group in Queenstown and the World Meteorological Organization expert on climate change on agriculture and fisheries. In 2015, he was a visiting professor at the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at the University of Haifa.
Read more about Salinger’s accomplishments here.
Backstory:
B’nai B’rith President Kent E. Schiner z”l
Baltimore resident Kent E. Schiner z”l, who died on Feb. 15, served his term as B’nai B’rith President from 1990-94 during celebrations for the organization’s 150th anniversary in 1993.
The country’s most prominent political officials gathered for ceremonies on Oct. 23 in Washington, D.C. at the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, when President Bill Clinton, who helped conduct the Havdalah service, and First Lady Hillary Clinton, were greeted by Schiner (right).
In his final B’nai B’rith Magazine “Presidential Diary” column, Schiner expressed his gratitude to B’nai B’rith members and shared his experiences: “I marveled at this international network, which binds us to our fellow Jews across the continents. As the most trusted name in the Jewish world, we will always contribute to the quality of life for Jews everywhere.”
May his memory always be a blessing.