Efforts in Israel to bring Jewish ceremonies into the public sphere; to prepare Ethiopian Israelis for careers in technology; and to offer job training to young people who leave ultra-Orthodox communities are set to get a significant funding boost.
The Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles (JCFLA) recently announced it is awarding $1.1 million in grants to six Israeli organizations whose work helps strengthen the country’s Jewish identity and supports economic development.
Awarded annually, this year’s Israel Grants will provide between $150,000 and $200,000 each over three years to a wide range of initiatives. Money for the grants comes from charitable assets the foundation manages on behalf of Jewish philanthropists in the Los Angeles area.
“The Jewish Community Foundation is fortunate to be able to support programs and initiatives that strengthen the fabric of our community and of the Jewish people living in Israel,” Elana Wien, director of JCFLA’s Center for Designed Philanthropy, said in an email. “We award these grants so that organizations conducting important work on the ground in Israel have the resources to make an even greater impact on the country.”
This year’s grant recipients include Beit Tefilah Israeli, a Tel Aviv-based organization that hosts Shabbat and Jewish holiday celebrations in public places, such as the Tel Aviv Port and public parks. Launched in 2004, Beit Tefilah Israeli attracts approximately 40,000 people a year to its events, co-founder Rabbi Esteban Gottfried told the Journal by phone during a recent visit to the United States.
Celebrations organized by the group include a weekly Shabbat service at the port that attracts about 1,000 people, and a giant Sukkot festival that includes prayers, concerts, lectures and children’s activities and brings in about 15,000 people over the course of a week, Gottfried said.
The goal is to provide a way for Israelis to connect with their Jewish roots and foster a Jewish-Israeli identity, even if they are not Orthodox Jews and don’t regularly attend religious services at a synagogue, Gottfried explained. He said the idea is to create a model of community that’s inclusive, pluralistic and open to people of different backgrounds.
“Many people come to pray but they’ve never been in a synagogue before. They feel at home in these kinds of prayer events,” he said. “It’s really a slow revolution that is happening in Israel.”
Gottfried said Beit Tefilah Israeli will use the $200,000 from JCFLA to support the existing Open Tent Shabbat and Holidays: Israeli-Judaism in the Public Sphere program, as well as efforts to expand it beyond Tel Aviv.
“We really welcome this grant because we need more support for what we are doing,” Gottfried said. “We are very happy … (The Foundation) saw that we are touching so many people and bringing them relevant and meaningful and happy Jewish ways to celebrate the holidays and celebrate Jewish life in Israel.”
Other organizations receiving grants include Tech-Career, which runs a vocational training and job-placement program for young Ethiopian Israelis. Titled Closing the Digital Gap – Empowering Ethiopian Israeli Young Adults, the program focuses on training participants for careers in Israeli technology and software companies. The program will receive $200,000.
The grant “will assist us in providing a unique opportunity for young Ethiopian Israeli men and women to develop a technological career, to integrate into the high-tech industry, and ultimately into Israeli society,” Avigail Harel, Tech-Career’s resource development director, said in a statement.
Another grant recipient is Hillel – The Right to Choose, a nonprofit dedicated to helping young adults who have left the ultra-Orthodox world through services including psychological counseling, housing, educational scholarships, vocational help and mentorship. The foundation’s $200,000 grant will support Hillel’s Workforce Integration and Facilitation Program, which provides job training to help participants integrate into the Israeli workforce and broader society.
The other grant recipients include Jerusalem-based Beit Midrash Elul, which will get $150,000 toward its work engaging Israeli Jews in public events related to Jewish identity, and through the exploration of modern and traditional Jewish texts. Hut HaMeshulash, also based in Jerusalem, was awarded $150,000 toward programming to strengthen Jewish identity among at-risk youth through learning Jewish text, art, music, creative writing, and Shabbat and holiday-based activities. The Joint Council of Pre-Military Leadership Academies will receive $200,000 to expose high school graduates to Jewish literature, holidays, history, practice and communities through a one-year leadership-training program.
Wien said the wide-ranging grants aim to help Israelis from different regions and walks of life, including immigrant groups, underserved populations and low-income women.
“Through our grant-making, it is our goal to increase Jewish knowledge, cultural understanding, engagement and practice for all Jews living in Israel as well as to promote economic self-sufficiency,” she said.
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