Israel’s 75^th Independence Day has already been and gone and Jerusalem Day is around the corner. At the interface of these two so very Israeli milestones and current events, many of us feel compelled to think about the future.

The mounting tension in public, the political disagreements and the ensuing social divisions have all raised questions about Israel’s social cohesion regarding fundamental principles on the future of the country. Many share the feeling – especially at these times and irrespective of political viewpoints – that there is a vacuum in true leadership right now. Trustworthy, courageous, attentive leadership that creates and upholds a moral agenda for the future. Leadership that is prepared to lead meaningful change and not only to answer immediate needs for the short-term or to placate the ‘base’ as we say in Israel.

Therefore, I want to dedicate this special edition of Stories from Jerusalem to the subject of leadership.

Nurturing young dynamic leaders and true leadership is one of the central pillars of the Jerusalem Foundation.

Young leadership of Jerusalem’s civil society – dedicated to the city; committed to highly professional and authentic enterprises that embrace the city’s diversity, communal strength and cultural wealth; striving for shared living to reduce gaps between communities and give equal opportunities to all – this stands at the core of our values and activities.

The Jerusalem Foundation is at the vanguard in leading some of the most impactful future leadership programs across Jerusalem. These include, at one end, the George Pinto Young Leadership Program for Doctoral Students and, at the other end, the pre-army-service Year of Meaning of the Hesed Youth Patrol where youth from underprivileged neighborhoods become social activists. There are many more such inspirational young leadership programs like these.

Our leadership programs also cover specific spheres for professional young leadership, such as training young people from East Jerusalem as social workers to treat their own community and nurturing young leadership to take responsibility for the community sports center currently being constructed in Beit Hanina.

These leadership programs align perfectly with the Jerusalem Young Leadership Prize, a new partnership between the Maimonides Fund and the Jerusalem Foundation. The winner of this prize – awarded for the first time – was Yael Berman-Domov, the CEO and founder of Tene Yerushalmi which has been operating in Jerusalem for over 10 years. Tene Yerushalmi runs communities activities for young adults as well as the Mechina Yerushalmit leadership gap year. Many of its hundreds of graduates have chosen to live and study in Jerusalem. Yael was chosen through a rigorous jury process from among more than 100 candidates, all worthy young applicants. The Jerusalem Young Leadership Prize process displayed an impressive mosaic of the fabulous and idealistic forces who are working to strengthen and contribute towards the city’s diversity.

The prize ceremony was a magical evening and everyone present felt – like me – that we were witnessing one of Jerusalem’s ‘finest hours’. An impressive gallery of young leaders, activists, donors and supporters – all equally committed to the city and its future – attended the ceremony. I want to share selected words from the ceremony, starting with some of the moving speech by Yael Berman-Domov, winner of the Jerusalem Young Leadership Prize.

“Tene Yerushalmi has become a home for good people and for good deeds, a magnet where everyone fits in, and fertile ground for everyone who wants to rejuvenate the most wonderful city in the world. We specialize in creating dialogue and collaborations based upon broad consensus. In particular during these times, with fierce public conflict about ideologies and identity, the role we have to play in Israeli society is even clearer – to repair society’s schisms, to firmly implement liberal and democratic values, and to continue motivating people to do good.

Active in Jerusalem for many years, we work in the belief that this city is the fount of the most important social enterprises and the wellspring for solutions to the trickiest social issues. We’ve already proved that changes evolving here in this city on a small-scale expand across Israel to large-scale impact. We are active in Jerusalem because it is our home and our very essence, it enriches our personal lives, it inspires our communal efforts and it propels us to action through its existential energies and restlessness. This is Jerusalem’s unique character and charm.

Over the next few years, our goals will be to launch and support more social initiatives; to open new programs to enhance the city; and to welcome young people to the city and empower them to live here.”

I would like to conclude with my own words from the same ceremony. “Leadership is the entire story! The past days, weeks and months have been the best demonstration of that. And the leadership programs and success stories that we have led and discovered during the past days, weeks and months bring us optimism and hope. Wonderful young leadership is taking the reins and leading Jerusalem to a much better future.”

In these days of tensions, conflict and uncertainty about the way forwards, I am particularly pleased to share these beautiful words and to grasp their optimistic spirit and hopefulness that came from Jerusalem just in the past month.

Happy Jerusalem Day to everyone in the city.

Shai Doron

Jerusalem Foundation President

photo credit: Chen Wagshall

הפוסט Stories From JLM – Jerusalem Day 2023 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

The last weeks of 2022 have been truly festive, filled with ceremonies, events and openings of projects. We have worked very hard to make this happen, and we are proud of reaching the finishing line and having the opportunity to share this feeling with you. The newly renovated Morton L. Mandel Plaza, adjacent to the historic windmill in Yemin Moshe, is undoubtedly a breathtaking spot within the beauty of Jerusalem. Hundreds of thousands of visitors will be able to enjoy this Plaza, now fully accessible, with its magnificent view over the Old City and the eastern slopes surrounding Jerusalem.

We were thrilled to inaugurate the new entrance plaza to Hebrew Union College at the Taube Family campus, together with many visitors who came especially from the USA. The Jerusalem Foundation has led and completed this long-awaited project which forms another layer in the overall plan for this campus developed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie.

If these were not enough, I will mention another jewel in the crown of Jerusalem’s beauty, the Sir Charles Clore Hill Gardens in the Valley of the Cross, which we renovated and upgraded, thus fulfilling a dream of many years. This project took us back to the historic days of the Jerusalem Foundation, way back to the seventies. Now the Gardens – a hidden gem – have been revealed to all – with benches overlooking the view, lovely walking paths and proper lighting, and they can be enjoyed by local residents, all Jerusalemites and everyone visiting the city.

During these hectic weeks, we also joined in the festivities celebrating the establishment of the new arts complex in the center of Jerusalem – the Jerusalem Arts Campus – which is now home to the premiere arts colleges in the city. We were also delighted to take part in the opening of the impressive new campus of the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design just across the road from Canada House.

Yet, among all these ceremonies, distinguished inaugurations and sparkling events, three projects of the Jerusalem Foundation also unfolded that have no less impact. Sometimes we need to shine the spotlight on projects that are just as important. They may not receive the honor and glory of projects housed in impressive edifices, but what takes place behind their modest walls has enormous significance for all of Jerusalem’s diverse communities. For the Jerusalem Foundation, they are a source of great pride.

One such ‘modest’ project is the youth club in the neighborhood of Kiryat Menachem, which was renovated and refurbished through the generosity of the Ottolenghi family from Italy in memory of their father, Emilio. The youth club, which serves as a warm home for dozens of teenagers from Kiryat Menachem, has undergone a real transformation thanks to this renovation. You can see the difference as the teenagers are ‘voting with their feet’ and attending their club every afternoon. A snooker table, sofas, a rug, a well-equipped kitchen and an arts and crafts room all help the teens feel like they have somewhere to go that is theirs.  When the Ottolenghi family visited the newly re-opened Club, one of the girls just said, “this is my second home and now it is so enjoyable to come here as it feels like we are coming home”.

photo: Sasson Tiram

This new youth club will also enable expansion of programs for its teenagers, particularly in developing their leadership skills and honing their commitment to their neighborhood and to Jerusalem.  Roi Triblisi, the Director for Youth Development in the neighborhood, told us a story about a young boy who started coming to the youth club and very slowly over time, with gentle and careful encouragement, came more and more often, finding a place where he was seen and appreciated.  Today he has become a counsellor for other youth that frequent the club.

Another inauguration which might have been missed amidst the many ceremonies was that of the Polinsky Vocational Training Center for Young People at Risk and with Special Needs. This unique project works according to a special training and educational model which does not exist anywhere else in Israel. The Center is currently functioning as a pilot and, if it succeeds, it will make a huge difference to young adults and teenagers with special needs or at risk who currently have nowhere to go and nothing to do when they leave high school and go out into the world.

The Polinsky Center is comprised of three floors with designated learning areas that allow the young people to gain professional training. With a qualification certificate, they will be able to join the workforce and become more integrated into general society. The training college aligned with the Polinsky Center offers courses in cooking and culinary skills, hairdressing and hair-styling, make-up and manicures, mending telephones, and kindergarten assistants. The youngsters with learning and behavioral difficulties who attend courses at the college (ages 16-21) know that the new Polinsky Center will enable them to acquire a profession and their self-empowerment is so very meaningful.

“What moved me the most was seeing the parents who came to register their children for this training college,” said the principal of the Polinsky Center, Yael Avital. “It is very painful for an elderly parent to know that their adult child with special needs will not be able to fend for himself/herself and earn a living. Now, as soon as the special education system finishes, young adults with learning and behavioral difficulties simply sit at home, with nothing to do. Through this project, we are giving their parents hope that their (adult) children will be able to integrate into society and to earn a living through their own skills and resources. From my point of view, this achievement is worth everything – all our hard work.”

The third such project was the renovation of a kindergarten and its playground in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, thanks to a donation by Daniel Müller and his friends from Germany, who visit Jerusalem every year and renovate a different kindergarten. To date, over 50 kindergartens have been renovated and upgraded thanks to their decades-long dedication and support. It would seem that this is ‘just another kindergarten’ but this donation provided a completely new kindergarten for children with special needs. In this super-new space, they are receiving dedicated, specialized care and treatment from educational and therapeutic staff in much improved physical conditions, which they so greatly need and deserve.

photo: Sasson Tiram

Strengthening and sustaining Jerusalem and its communities while providing equal opportunities to all, remains the core of our activities and goals. Projects like the youth club and the training center may not be in the limelight or appear in the news but projects like this are the guarantee, the promise, that our efforts will make a difference – as I said above, through just important things – and are what is truly making Jerusalem a better city.

So, in this spirit of optimism, I wish all of us a happy and healthy New Year!

הפוסט Stories from JLM – Going Into 2023 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

I first met Esti Hess at the closing ceremony of the course which trains people from Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox (“Haredi”) community to guide and mentor Haredi young adults about wise management of their family’s economic affairs. This Smart Home Economics Management program for Haredim in Jerusalem is a partnership between the Jerusalem Foundation and the ‘Tvuna’ organization.

Mrs. Hess is a graduate of the first training course; she and her co-graduates are guiding and mentoring young Haredi women about basic financial principles and concepts and how to manage their household finances wisely and responsibly.

The guiding principle behind this financial literacy program is to cultivate young people with leadership potential from within the ultra-Orthodox community and train them as financial mentors and guides for Haredi young adults. Currently, some people growing up in the ultra-Orthodox world lack knowledge of basic economic principles and smart financial management.

Rather than external intervention, Tvuna is developing leadership that springs from within a community, that can bring about change within their own community and that takes the initiative and acts responsibly. This concept simplifies and facilitates the training process, as the Haredim recognize and appreciate the ‘in-house’ aspect of this program.

Beyond the significance of sound financial guidance and mentorship, we view this Tvuna program as an integral part of the Jerusalem Foundation’s nurturing of future leaders in Jerusalem who are committed to the city as well as to their own community.

I heard Esti Hess at the closing ceremony when she spoke as the representative of the first training course for women. I sat in the first row with my male Haredi friends and colleagues. Out of all the speakers, her quiet authority and inner strength as a role model about to lead such an important process was overwhelming. She and the other alumni of this first leadership course are true trail-blazers. When I went on the stage to congratulate the Tvuna graduates, I ignored my speech notes and shared with all those present my feelings that something much bigger than sound financial guidance is happening here.

At present, we are calling this program a ‘pilot’. Esti has already given financial education and mentoring in several workshops to women and families based upon the knowledge she gained in recent months through this training program. The pilot is successful and success breeds success. Thanks to the support of the Jerusalem Foundation’s good friends at Cross River Bank, which runs digital banking services in the USA and a development center in Israel, we are launching a second training program for women and a training program for men along the same lines.

I am not a finance or economics expert but the importance of this program for young Haredim in Jerusalem cannot be overstated. Yet Esti Hess and her Tvuna-trained colleagues are even more important. Their pioneering spirit and their leadership will bring about a much deeper change. They bring good tidings – for the Haredi community, for Jerusalem and for all of Israel.

Writing the Next Chapter in Jerusalem’s Future

A torrent of work, a jam-packed schedule and lots of trips abroad all leave me with little time for emotion. But there are moments when you lower your guard, become truly emotional and even feel like a co-editor in writing the next chapter in the story of developing Jerusalem’s future leaders. Arik Grebelsky, a new board member of the Jerusalem Foundation, and I were truly and deeply touched when we met some 16 teenagers from Jerusalem one fall evening in Jerusalem at the launch of the new pre-army-service gap-year ‘Year With Meaning’ of the Hesed Youth Patrol (SAHI).

We met Keren, Almog, Moshe, and their friends – all SAHI volunteers – who have decided to join us in creating the future of Jerusalem. They are members of the first cohort of SAHI’s gap year program. For those not acquainted with SAHI, you are missing out knowing about this amazing volunteer organization. Distribution of food packages and other community projects is carried out by teenage volunteers who grew up in Jerusalem’s peripheral and underprivileged neighborhoods and who did not feel at home in the traditional youth movements. They become teenagers with huge commitment to the communities in which they grew up despite the fact that their families and neighbors struggle with complex socio-economic difficulties.

You may not have heard about ‘SAHI-niks’ because one of their founding principles is that anyone can help another person, their community and the needy but they do so through ‘secret giving’. Hundreds of young SAHI activists throughout Jerusalem are gaining new and tremendous meaning in their lives by dedicating themselves to helping the needy and vulnerable members of the communities and neighborhoods in which they grew up. In turn, these idealistic youngsters are transformed into inspirational young leaders.

Almost two years ago, in the late hours of the night, in a wintery Jerusalem, at the height of a Covid outbreak, the idea of a SAHI gap-year was born. I had joined the motivated teenage SAHI volunteers and their counsellors that evening in packing hundreds of food parcels and basic household items which they were going to distribute anonymously to isolated elderly people and needy families throughout the city. As we worked, packed and chatted, the SAHI gap-year idea seemed then like a faraway dream.

The idea was not simply a pre-army voluntary-service gap year but a program for Jerusalem in Jerusalem by Jerusalemites. A gap-year program that would take place in the very neighborhoods and communities that the SAHi-niks know best, their own. We shared so many doubts…. “Are WE, teenagers from OUR backgrounds, really going to devote a year of our lives to community service?” These and other fears were raised but, slowly and surely, we found answers and created a program which had sounded crazy at first.

The Jerusalem Foundation backed this ambitious program from the outset, with our commitment not only to boosting Jerusalem’s communal strength but to nurturing its future young leadership. After 18 months of preparation, selecting suitable candidates, and long complex authorizations, our dream finally became reality. 16 teenagers on the brink of adulthood (aged 18) are setting out on this long journey of non-stop volunteerism, personal development, responsibility to the community, group communal life and the added value – developing a cohesive community of young leaders dedicated to staying in and bolstering the city and Israel.

This journey has begun. The SAHI alumni are living in two rented apartments in Katamonim (some of Jerusalem’s underprivileged vicinities). During the day, they volunteer in special education schools and other educational frameworks. In the afternoons, they help teenagers and the elderly in these neighborhoods with homework and housework. And in the evenings, of course, they join their younger SAHI colleagues (who look up to them as role models) in doing good deeds for vulnerable people, anonymously, throughout Jerusalem.

Though they’ll definitely encounter some obstacles during this year, there are already SAHI-niks waiting in line who want to join this gap-year program next year.

Everyone present at the launch of this program, just before Rosh Hashana, was moved to tears. We all felt that we are part of writing the next chapter in Jerusalem’s future.

On this optimistic note of good deeds, giving and creating new beginnings, I want to wish all our friends in Israel and across the world – Shana Tova! May the New Year be a good one and a year of peace.

Shai

הפוסט Stories from Jerusalem – September 2002 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

Dear Friends,

Summertime is here and the long warm days bring exciting news; the Jerusalem Foundation is leading the construction of East Jerusalem’s first ever community sports center, in Beit Hanina. This project – some would say decades in the waiting – is groundbreaking in more senses than one. This unprecedented initiative for the 370,000 residents of East Jerusalem will bring a modern sports center – where they and their children can meet friends, learn to swim and get fit – into their neighborhood, and they will no longer need to travel far to West Jerusalem for access to sports facilities or simply not take part in sports.

Our Highest Priority: East Jerusalem’s First Community Sports Center

The Jerusalem Foundation launched our ‘2030 & Beyond’ Plan for Jerusalem a few years ago and placed this project as of the highest priority at the outset. Our devoted donors including the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, who understood the game-changing potential of this project as soon as we launched it, made this possible. While we specialize in creating facts on the ground with innovative capital projects that have transformed Jerusalem, raising $20 million for construction of this center is a real achievement. We are particularly proud of creating meaningful relationships that propel and maintain our projects into the future. The three-way partnership between the Jerusalem Foundation, the local Beit Hanina-Shuafat leadership and the Jerusalem municipality is going to transform the brand-new center into a vibrant hub of social, cultural and community life.

We know that Beit Hanina’s community sport center is going to become a meaningful example of the Jerusalem Foundation’s mission to reduce gaps between Jerusalem’s diverse communities and offer equal opportunities for all. The added value of the center will be to bring people of East Jerusalem together, provide much-needed recreational activities, increase community-building capacity, develop leadership and encourage participation in civic society.

Our work is conducted through a productive partnership with Beit Hanina-Shuafat’s finest local leaders who are committed to the success of this center. These include George Saman, its chairperson with 40 years of community-leadership experience, and Wassim El-Haj, the community center’s dynamic CEO, as well as board members of the community center.

Through our decades of work and experience in and for East Jerusalem, we realize that this sports center will not solve all of East Jerusalem’s challenges. However, we celebrate its beginning, rejoice in the hard work ahead of us, and look forward to its tremendous impact in the not-too-distant future. Only by promoting communal strength and future leadership can we bring about a better Jerusalem for everyone.

I am delighted that the Jerusalem Foundation is generating positive news in Jerusalem. The links below are to some of the stories, including in Arab social media and press, sharing news of this project with people in Israel as well as around the world.

Photos: Michal Fattal

• Jerusalem Post article: https://www.jpost.com/business-and-innovation/energy-and-infrastructure/article-710935
• Bokra article (in Arabic): https://bokra.net/Article-1493123
• Alarab article (in Arabic): https://www.alarab.com/Article/1037315#.YrtIpLxU0xg.whatsapp

Shai Doron

Jerusalem Foundation President

הפוסט Stories from JLM – July 2022 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

Dear Friends,

The Life and Soul of the City, Ynet

A Ray of Light, Ha’aretz

Shai Doron

Jerusalem Foundation President

הפוסט Stories from JLM – June 2022 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

Dear Friends,

A Story of A Story

During the past year, a youthful spirit has been sweeping across the Jerusalem Foundation’s premises. Young people with boundless energy and good humor whose ‘big ears’ are their microphones and recording devices. They are called podcasters and they are on a mission: to tell stories to promote greater awareness of the wealth and complexity of modern Israeli society. They are “The Israel Story” – the world’s most widespread and successful podcast about Israel.

In June 2021, we invited the talented creators and producers of the Israel Story to join the Jerusalem Foundation family and to establish their headquarters in the social hub adjacent to my office on the third floor of our building.

Here, in the heart of Jerusalem, these vibrant, creative, gifted young people work hard and tell stories about Israel and about Israelis, unique, intricate and heartwarming stories that reach millions of listeners across the globe in more than 190 countries.

This young innovative Jerusalemite team is led by Mishy Harman. Mishy – a Jerusalemite by birth and by choice – is distinguished by his mane of curly hair and by his conviction that genuine dialogue based on mutual understanding is the optimal way to ensure a better future for and in Jerusalem.

The Israel Story promotes a greater awareness of others and mutual understanding through storytelling, and they tell excellent human-interest stories. Listen, for example, to the chapter on the day they spent in Jerusalem’s YMCA, from dawn till dusk, “A Day at the Y”. They tell us how one of Jerusalem’s primary communal centers, in one of Jerusalem’s landmark buildings, rebuilt its exemplary diverse community: a real microcosm of Jerusalem’s own mosaic.

Last year, the Jerusalem Foundation, with our new partners, the Israel Story, gave birth to the Jerusalem Story – storytelling conducted on the move in live evening sessions across Jerusalem. With Jerusalem – and its residents – stories waiting to be told, the Jerusalem Story has become the ultimate platform for sharing these stories.

Here and now, voices rise up from the first floor of the Jerusalem Foundation’s building, voices of the new, innovative recording studio of the Israel Story. Their voices will help turn Jerusalem – Israel’s capital – into Israel’s storytelling capital. Their recording studio will serve social organizations across the city and enable them to record their own podcasts with professional guidance. The Jerusalem Foundation’s fund established by the Israel Group to support creative social ventures by young people for young people – in Jerusalem and for Jerusalem – supported this venture. Our Innovation Fund for Culture and Community also provided support with creating an app for recording and tagging stories in various locations across the city. The Jerusalem Foundation is trailblazing the way for turning Jerusalem into a story shared with everyone and about everyone.

A Story of Hope

Talking about hope, I want to share a story about an even younger group of Jerusalemites, who are equally as inspiring, lively and creative. This is a story about a group of Grade 5 girls, pupils of the Reishit state-religious elementary school in the Kiryat Menachem neighborhood. As residents of Kiryat Menachem – which has a diverse population that we call it the ‘Jerusalem Mix’ – this diverse group of girls includes those from the Ethiopian community. So, the last thing you would expect this group to do is to play… soccer. Yet only we are limited by such prejudices these girls are unencumbered by such pre-conceived notions and are a symbol of hope and optimism.

Over the past year, the Jerusalem Foundation has been spearheading the “Sport as a Tool” program to promote Communal Strength and Shared Living, thanks to the support of our friends from all over the world. With our partner, the Equalizer organization, this program promotes soccer training, community building, schoolwork help, and familiarization with other communities, Jews and Arabs.

Last week an all-girls’ soccer tournament with teams from all over Jerusalem took place. The Kiryat Menachem team – with our support and proudly bearing Jerusalem Foundation soccer shirts – took to the pitch with huge excitement.

Here, the plot in our story has a twist. You may be expecting me to tell you that ‘our’ team won the tournament. They did not. The Kiryat Menachem girls were knocked out in the qualifying rounds. They were beaten by a group of Arab girls from Abu Ghosh. Did they despair? Not at all. On the contrary, their meeting these girls from a different background and a different location at the outset of the tournament caused them to want more, to improve their sport, to practice further and to boost their team’s social and physical aspects.

They may not win in the next tournament either but these girls are committed to achieving more and reaching higher rounds of the tournament. Soccer – yes, soccer too – can play a significant part in community empowerment and shared living, in motivating the young to aim for the stars and to be proud of simply taking part too.

The spring is in full bloom in Jerusalem. So, despite the challenges and difficulties we face, where flowers bloom, so does hope. Hope for tranquility, hope for quiet and hope for success.

With Passover and Easter just a few days away, and with Ramadan already in full swing, I want to wish you all Chag Sameach/Happy Holidays/Ramadan Kareem.

Shai Doron

Jerusalem Foundation President

הפוסט Stories from JLM – April 2022 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

Dear Friends,

In these last days of 2021, the sky is again darkening…

But it is not the weather, today the sun is shining on the streets of Jerusalem but the Omicron is bringing darkness and gloomy forecasts. In spite of this, I always seek out an optimistic perspective. The year 2021 taught us to face difficult challenges but also showed some signs for better days in the future.

On such days of retrospection and reflection, I always look toward an optimistic future.  The last time I wrote to you, I found some good reasons to be optimistic and hopeful and this time I have even more reasons. I can already report that in 2022 we will start building one of the most important projects of the Jerusalem Foundation in recent years: the first community sports center in east Jerusalem, in Beit Hanina, named for Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel.  And this is surely a reason for great optimism: communal strength, future leadership, shared living, reducing gaps and providing equal opportunities for all – all of these are integral and inherent parts of this significant and important project that will break ground in the new year.

Double Optimism

And, if the above is not a good enough reason for optimism, then I think you will find it in this next story about a group of young people, all graduates of the Jerusalem Gap year program of Tene Yerushalmi. They spent a year in Jerusalem before army/national service and now 4 years later they have returned to the city.

“Double Impact” is the name of the Jerusalem Foundation and Tene Yerushalmi joint program, encouraging and supporting the engagement of young Jerusalemites with their community – so that a power multiplier is created: both assistance to the Jerusalem population and training of the next generation of young leadership committed to living and working in Jerusalem.  The participants, students and graduates of the Tene Yerushalmi will lead social programs and initiatives in the city they fell in love with 4 years ago and are returning to now.

This special group has made a commitment to work in the Gonenim neighborhood, one of the most disadvantaged communities in the city, for atleast 3 years.  They will receive scholarship support for their academic studies and will participate in leadership development training that will prepare them for a role as civil society leaders for Jerusalem and for the future.

One of the participants is Ofer Gelfand, a 26 year old Biology student at the Hebrew University Givat Ram Campus.  He was born in a moshav (small agricultural settlement) in Northern Israel and came to Jerusalem for a gap year before enlisting in the IDF.  This year was his first acquaintance with Jerusalem, with its diverse population groups and with Jewish Renewal – his deep exploration of all of these fascinating aspects of the city led him to want to study in Jerusalem and to plan a future in the city.

​

Today as a student, he lives in Jerusalem and receives a scholarship for his studies through the Tene Yerushalmi joint program with the Jerusalem Foundation.  “I meet people from different backgrounds that I would never have had a chance to meet,” he explains, “and I understand today that divisions between people are due to the fact that we do not know each other.  The ‘mechina’ gap year was the first time I understood this and today I am trying to pass it on to other young people.”

Ambassadors of Hope

And if you are still not convinced that I have good reasons for optimism… then I have another “booster shot” to bolster my message.  The regular meetings of the Jerusalem Foundation Ambassadors of the Learning Together program for joint study – bring together principals and teachers from schools in Jerusalem, Jews and Arabs, who work together to promote shared education initiatives for Jewish and Arab children, and the creation of a network of teachers committed to the program.

This is currently the largest program in Israel dealing with meetings between Jews and Arabs and it takes place within the national public education system, in schools in west and east Jerusalem.  This program which was launched by the Jerusalem Foundation and the Jerusalem Education Authority, 7 years ago, now numbers more than 100 schools from elementary to high school, with participation of hundreds of teachers and thousands of students.

The Dutch Scout

During these unpredictable days with constantly changing regulations and difficulties with flights – I managed to leave the country for a few hours to attend a very happy event for a friend in Holland, Roger Van Oordt, who leads the organization Christians for Israel, great supporters of Jerusalem and Israel.  Roger was presented with the title of “Honorary Consul of Israel” and I was deeply moved and honored to be present for this ceremony.  Sometimes one has to find some distance from Israel and Jerusalem, in order to find perspective and understand the great commitment to Jerusalem that is reflected in Roger’s leadership and the work of his partners and friends.  Many programs for all the people of Jerusalem, young and old, are carried out thanks, to their regular support, including the Double Impact project above, and in 2022, we will launch a construction project with their aid and partnership: a new building for youth leaders from the Scouts in the East Talpiot neighborhood.

The feeling of excitement and optimism from those hours when I attended this meaningful ceremony for Roger – were hours of true joy and true love for Jerusalem, which lifted my spirits and stayed with me long after I returned to Israel.  As some of my long-time readers will remember, I am a graduate of the Israel Scouts movement full of again optimism.  Seeing Roger immediately put on the Scouts uniform that I brought for him as a gift with the tie of the Scouts group from the neighborhood where the new building will be built, and immediately commit himself to the values of the Scouts and Jerusalem with a smile so big – no one could be more optimistic.

And with all of this, together with a wide and optimistic smile, I would like to send you all good wishes for a happy and healthy 2022.

Shai Doron

Jerusalem Foundation President

הפוסט Stories from JLM – December 2021 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

Closing the Circle

There are small moments within larger events when you realize that something significant, meaningful is happening. “The penny drops” so to speak, and you sense the deep moment you are engaged in  and the magnitude of what is being accomplished.

A moment like that happened last week when we celebrated the opening of the Davidson Theatre, the new home of the Train (Puppet) Theater. After more than three years of hard work, a new “jewel” of the Jerusalem Foundation was inaugurated, with thanks to the Davidson Family, another “jewel in the crown” of cultural institutions established by the Jerusalem Foundation throughout the city. The campus, with the Davidson Theatre at its center, has an unconventional design and layout. Much thought and creativity was invested in the design to establish a cultural center appropriate to the character of the Train Theater – a new destination for children and the whole family, and also a vibrant cultural hub where additional events will take place at night, long after the children are in bed, dreaming of images inspired by the performances they saw in the very same place.

During the ceremony, between the speeches, two historic images were projected on the large screen: Teddy Kollek at the Train Theater 40 years ago, at the opening ceremony and at a performance. In the photos you can see the old blue train wagon, which was found in a scrap yard in Tel Aviv and brought to Jerusalem to be transformed into a puppet theater. It was thanks to four young and imaginative artists that this discarded junk was turned into a well-known cultural institution for 40 years, hosting the International Puppet Festival for the last 30.

The Theater’s founder, Mario Kotliar, had a vision for expanding the building and shared it with Teddy Kollek – and today the dream has come true.

The Jerusalem Foundation and Mayor Moshe Lion and the Jerusalem Municipality, were able to close this circle and bring the vision to reality. It is during a moment like the opening ceremony of this amazing project that one can understand the long-term significance of acts in the city of Jerusalem. The simple images of the theater’s beginnings gave me, as someone who was privileged to work with Teddy Kollek, that moment of perspective and satisfaction of knowing that we were completing Teddy’s plan for this tremendous site and project in the new building.

We continue with Teddy’s vision for the city, which today we call “Jerusalem 2030” and the Train Theater’s new home is yet another milestone in our plans for Creative Culture.    The vision is even more clear when you connect the  Davidson Theatre to the “Cultural Mile,” a chain of cultural “jewels” established by the Jerusalem Foundation, starting from the Khan Theater, continuing to the Cinematheque, Mishkenot Sha’ananim, the Jerusalem Music Center, the Tower of David Museum, and of course the Koret Liberty Bell Park itself, inside which the Davidson Theatre campus now sits, alongside the open air amphithearter and much more.

Not far away, and another new addition to the Jerusalem Foundation cultural mile, is the site of the new building being planned for the Jerusalem Hassadna Conservatory. Our work continues, and the new Conservatory building is another part of our 2030 vision, developing future leadership, supporting creative culture and strengthening community.

The two historic images shown at the ceremony resonated inside of me and the vision that I have been committed to since the days of Teddy, has found its way to the present day.

It was a fitting way to end this past year, a not-so-simple and challenging year, but a year that ended with a great deal of optimism for the future, even for the near future.

These days, Jerusalem is buzzing with cultural activities and events: not only within cultural institutions and buildings designated for these purposes, but in all parts of the city, and in all kinds of spaces. This was made possible through the support of the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation for the new “CultureSeries” developed and carried out by the Jerusalem Foundation, in all neighborhoods of the city.  This incredible series is another source of inspiration and provides the optimism which we all need for working in a city like Jerusalem.

There are a few more good reasons to be optimistic and hopeful, but I’ll leave them for next time…

In the meantime, I would like to wish you all a Happy New Year – a year full of health and activity and my wish that your visions and dreams come true.

הפוסט Stories from JLM – September 2021 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

Dear Friends,

It may already seem like distant history – but not so long ago everything looked very different here. Jerusalem was again at the center of world news, and there were difficult days. But from the perspective of two months later the city has almost returned to normal…

Last week we experienced magical nights in Jerusalem, a full moon was shining over the city, wonderful early summer weather offered cool breezes and thousands of residents and visitors came out to enjoy an incredible creative atmosphere that Jerusalem uniquely inspires and the Jerusalem Foundation promotes and supports. One of the highlights of last week was the Jazz Festival in the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden of the Israel Museum. 

Jerusalem at its best, Jerusalem that excites, encourages and inspires… that is exactly what I want to share. For this “Stories from Jerusalem” I chose three tales of “normalcy” at the beginning of summer.  And about the full moon, you will read more in just a moment…

Neil Armstrong from Ras al-Amud

If in 20 years the first astronaut from East Jerusalem takes off into space, do not be surprised to hear where he grew up. I have no doubt that he will come from the Ashbal Al-Quds School in Ras al-Amud, at the foot of the Mount of Olives.

Muhammad Arbik is the principal of this amazing school specializing in science, technology, robotics and space. Yes, an ambitious list especially for an elementary school, but one that is well-deserved.

The city of Jerusalem is looking for educational leaders like Muhammad. The school’s reputation has already spread, and students come from all neighborhoods of the city – from Tsur Baher in the south to Shuafat and Beit Hanina in the north, even if it is an hour’s drive each way.

The Jerusalem Foundation got to know the school through “Al-Mada” – a program to promote science and math studies in elementary schools that we support and mentor together with our partner IASA / ICEE- the Israeli Center for Excellence through Education. As part of the program we work with teachers and students in Jerusalem schools from all sectors, enhancing tools for engaging, effective teaching of science and math. We work long-term with each school and have already seen the rewards.

It is an inspiring experience to walk around the school with Muhammad, meeting the teachers and students from the robotics lab which makes me wish I was a student again. The young children already know how to build tiny robots from Lego and to program them. The members of the Al-Mada steering committee were deeply amazed and impressed during our visit, since even the respected academic leaders among us do not have a clue how to program a robot. Academic excellence exists in every corner of the School. The learning atmosphere and the dedicated teaching staff radiate confidence and calm. 

In the evening, after visiting the School, an early summer full moon rose over Jerusalem and I knew where the first Palestinian astronaut to land on the moon would come from: the Ras al-Amud School of science, technology, robotics and… space!

Hazaz on the Move 

With all that has been happening in the city, we still found the time to inaugurate the Haim Hazaz Room at Mishkenot Sha’ananim.  This was a unique project for the Jerusalem Foundation, reconstructing the library and study of one of Israel’s greatest Hebrew writers, Haim Hazaz (1898-1973). Hazaz was the first recipient of the Israel Prize for Literature and one of the founders of the Academy of the Hebrew Language. Many of his stories and books take place in Jerusalem, and during his many years living in the city he moved freely between homes and neighborhoods, getting to know different communities and cultures. 

Together with his widow Aviva z”l, the Jerusalem Foundation created a plan to move the study and library, including artwork, antique furniture and rare books, to the Mishkenot Sha’ananim Cultural Center to become a permanent exhibition open to the public.

The restoration of Hazaz’s room in Mishkenot Sha’ananim required great sensitivity on the part of all those involved. But the project was not just a story of planning and execution, preservation and attention to historic details. It became an exciting journey into the past when, during the dismantling of the room in the house on Hovevei Zion Street prior to its relocation, hidden cabinets full of thousands of undiscovered letters and rare manuscripts were discovered.

For us, at the Jerusalem Foundation, a special find in this treasure chest was a passage Hazaz wrote in a story that was published only after his death: “In Jerusalem you can find many nations, from all over the world- all kinds of Jews: Yemenites, North Africans, Iraquis, Persians… all kinds of Hassidim: Chabad, Breslav, Gur… To what may this be compared? to a barrel of honey. If a man sets down a barrel of honey, bees immediately begin to swarm to it from all around.” (From Bell and Pomegranate collected stories, Pa’amon VeRimon, 1974).

Indeed, Jerusalem is unique in its cultural mosaic. Hazaz wrote about the city’s multiculturalism and lived it firsthand. He understood that this was the greatness of Jerusalem – the inspiring ability to find a way to live together. This vision is exactly what the Jerusalem Foundation seeks to advance. And even if we did not know it, we are following in the footsteps of Haim Hazaz.

“The French Connection”

Daniel Ben Simon is one of the most respected journalists, writers and publicists in Israel who also found time to serve as a Member of Knesset. He was born in Morocco, studied in France and from there immigrated to Israel alone in 1969. Since then, Ben Simon has been active and engaged with Israeli life and is considered one of the leading commentators in Israel on social issues, including minority representation in the Israeli media.

Today his personal story of how he began his career at the Haaretz newspaper can make us smile, but it shines a light on the difficult journey for an immigrant from France who wanted to be part of Israeli society and to break into the elite circles of the Israeli media establishment. His story raises important questions about the difficulties of absorbing new immigrants in Israel, especially when they want to enter one of the most traditional Israeli centers of influence such as Haaretz newspaper. 

I was privileged to hear about Ben Simon’s immigration experiences together with about 30 new immigrants from France, many living in Jerusalem. They are all participating in a program initiated by the Jerusalem Foundation this year: “Israel through the Eyes of the Media,” a program to train and integrate the next generation of French speaking immigrant journalists. The program was born in collaboration with Qualita, the umbrella organization of French-speaking immigrants in Israel, and with the support of Marc Eisenberg, who divides his time between Jerusalem and Paris. The program is being implemented by the Jerusalem Press Club, (founded by the Jerusalem Foundation and Mishkenot Sha’ananim) at the highest professional level.

Participants in the program are exposed to the layout of the Israeli media and learn more about the current burning issues, by meeting with leading reporters and experts in their field and undertaking assignments. Several outstanding participants will also receive a special scholarship that will offer them further training and an internship in one of Israel’s large media outlets.

Yes, this is yet one more challenge we have taken on, along with our partners in this project: to ensure that all voices of the Jerusalem mosaic are heard, that the diversity of the city is truly reflected in the media as well. We continue to build a model of shared living in Jerusalem and cultivate future leadership that will be committed to this city and will thrive in it.

And if, in the end, one of the participants in the program decides to become a member of the Knesset like Daniel Ben Simon, we will not complain…

Shai Doron

Jerusalem Foundation President

הפוסט Stories from JLM – July 2021 הופיע לראשונה ב-.

Dear Friends,

We are living in dramatic times. The political system in Israel is in turmoil. We wonder: Is the pandemic behind us? Is there a new routine? When will we be able to meet again in person with friends from around the world?

Especially now, with Pesach and spring ahead, I want to bring you three optimistic stories from Jerusalem to share my  hopeful belief that better times are not too far away.

Saddam and a New Spirit?

What did Saddam Hussein fail to accomplish in Jerusalem that, Yossi Klar, CEO of Ruach Hadasha/ New Spirit, is managing to do today? And how are the two even connected? The connection will be clear by the end of this story and once you know more about Yossi Klar. Yossi is a relatively new CEO, young, involved and passionate about Jerusalem, and New Spirit is a movement of dynamic artists, activists and entrepreneurs whose goal is to strengthen the city of Jerusalem and make it an attractive and inspirational city where young people of all backgrounds can live together. 

New Spirit is moving into its new home in a building which Jerusalemites identify as “The Old Shaarei Tzedek Hospital”. The building was built in 1902 and served as a hospital in the early days of the modern city which was expanding outside the Old City walls.

For decades, the building served as a hospital and then when the hospital moved to Bayit ve Gan, the building was abandoned for 20 years before it was turned over to the government.  They decided to establish the Israel Broadcasting Authority complex at the site. Since the closure of the Broadcasting Authority, the building remained empty until it was sold to developers. The Canada Israel company will develop the surrounding area as part of the new business center at the entrance to the city. This development and construction will take some time, and meanwhile they are allowing these young entrepreneurs to use the space at no cost, as they did in New Spirit’s former home, the Alliance House adjacent to Mahane Yehuda.

The new home will be a center for dozens of not for profits as well as an artistic and cultural center for young, cutting-edge Jerusalemites. The Jerusalem Foundation has supported New Spirit for many years, and it is natural that we help them move into their new home with a special grant from the Innovation Fund for Community and Culture, an initiative of the Jerusalem Foundation Inc. in the USA.

While the Broadcasting Authority was based in the old hospital building, they used the basement for storage, but in the late 1990s they set up broadcast studios below ground, in preparation for the first Gulf War and in response to Saddam Hussein’s missile threats. The plan was to provide an alternative to the nearby Israeli radio and television studios that were not protected and were vulnerable to attack. Large sums were invested in the space, but it was never used for broadcasting.

The missiles fired at Israel were not aimed at Jerusalem, and the underground studios were never used. The studios stood empty for 30 years. The building changed hands, but no one touched the studios. Now, 30 years later, they will be used for the first time. The radio studios will become a center for broadcasting podcasts from Jerusalem to listeners around the world, and the television studios will be transformed into a center for photography and video arts recording for young Jerusalem artists.

To bring the story full circle, Yossi Klar has been able to accomplish what Saddam Hussein could not: for the first time, the hidden basement studios will be used for broadcasting, infusing the historic building with a “New Spirit”.

Theater out of the box

It was the end of February, and I found myself sitting with my wife in the Khan Theater Auditorium, during the first days after the lockdown was relaxed, and we were laughing. Something that during regular days does not merit any special mention, but after the crazy year we have had, how welcome and liberating it was! The British comedy “Blithe Spirit” by Noel Coward took us to amusing worlds and let us forget our daily cares for a few hours.

The Khan Theater is one of the first institutions that the Jerusalem Foundation established in the city, with the support of the Gestetner family from the United Kingdom. Always a trendsetter, the Khan decided to take the lead and be the first theater in Israel to reopen its doors under the new green passport rules. Only a supremely professional and dedicated team could have put this all together for opening night, within six short days.

Believe me that no one noticed any small mistakes or missteps that resulted from such a short turnaround of production.   When the excitement of the actors and the director was at its peak, two hours before the curtain rose, even the Prime Minister came to visit behind the scenes, and the director shared with him some of his thought on the final details of the performance… 

It was a magical evening – we have been missing and longing for a return to culture, to theater, to normal and creative life in Jerusalem for far too long. 

Above all I felt proud that Jerusalem has once again led the way. 

Already in the long months of last summer we knew that the Khan Theater was forging new trends with its creativity and innovation. Between the second and third lockdowns, the Jerusalem Foundation supported another wonderful production of the Khan, the play “Tehila” by Shai Agnon, a wandering journey through the alleys of the nearby Yemin Moshe neighborhood. It was an extraordinary Jerusalem experience that turned all the restrictions and prohibitions around opening theater halls into an opportunity for an innovative theater experience.

And this is just the beginning. The Khan’s Director General, Elisheva Mazya, summed it up: “We fell in love with going outside.” The theater is breaking the accepted norms and starting to do theater “out of the box”. Productions are already being planned for the theater courtyard. The Jerusalem Foundation’s Innovation Fund is also supporting the Khan’s next major project. 

But remember, you have been “warned”: the play planned for the courtyard deals with a now “familiar” theme – it’s “The Plague” by Albert Camus…

Wishing everyone health!

“I am not” – I am

One of the most wonderful natural phenomena in the world and in the ocean is “Schooling”. Thousands of fish, sometimes many more, swim in a group as if in a perfect, coordinated dance movement. This is their way of surviving in the world. But what happens when one fish swims against the current?

This is exactly what is portrayed in the amazing art installation entitled “I am Not” recently installed in the entrance lobby to the Gottesman Family Israel Aquarium at the Tisch Family Biblical Zoo, next to the schooling pool.

The artwork is by Jerusalem artist Andi Arnovitz whose work has been exhibited throughout the world. In the installation of impressive scale and bright colors, 1,200 fish and seahorses swim in unison in colorful groups. Only one fish faces them and swims against the current… It is not easy to identify the rebel fish within the large school, but it is possible if you look carefully. The piece is thought-provoking, cannot be ignored and will certainly become a popular “photo-op” for hundreds of thousands of Aquarium visitors each year.

I first encountered this work  at the Jerusalem Biennale, a unique meeting between contemporary art and Jewish cluture which takes place every two years at various sites in the city, with support from the Jerusalem Foundation.

“I am Not” was exhibited in the space of the old swimming pool in the YMCA sports complex. As soon as I saw it, I told Andi it was clear where the work should find its permanent home. It took some time, but the porcelain fish finally found their place in the Aquarium. The Jerusalem Foundation found the financial resources to install the work, Andy and her team lovingly hung the fish one by one, and the mission was completed. The work is breathtaking.

We owe a huge thank you to Andi Arnowitz and her creation. The task may be technically complete, but the thought that the piece evokes will stay with us: Should we swim against the current? How can we be unique and independent? How to balance community with the individual? These are just some of the thoughts and ideas that emerge from looking at the impressive work – and Andi must have had more ideas she wanted to express as well.

If you have not yet planned a visit to the Aquarium, here is one more reason to visit soon!

Wishing you all a Happy Passover, Happy Easter, and a spring full of health and hope for the future.

Shai Doron

Jerusalem Foundation President

הפוסט Stories from JLM – March 2021 הופיע לראשונה ב-.