{"id":29540,"date":"2018-06-29T03:42:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-29T10:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=29540"},"modified":"2018-06-28T10:36:22","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T17:36:22","slug":"negev-dinner-helps-israeli-children","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2018\/06\/29\/negev-dinner-helps-israeli-children\/","title":{"rendered":"Negev Dinner helps Israeli children"},"content":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Ilan Pilo, Michelle Pollock, Dr. Neil Pollock, Wendy Eidinger Spatzner and David Goldman. (photo by Robert Albanese)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Vancouver supporters of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) gathered in their finery at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver on June 3 to celebrate Israel\u2019s 70th birthday and pay tribute to philanthropists Neil and Michelle Pollock.<\/p>\n

Michelle Pollock is a former lawyer, the immediate past president of the board of the Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver, and has co-chaired the Jewish Federation of Greater Vancouver annual campaign\u2019s women\u2019s division for six years, as well as supporting Jewish education, among many other causes. Dr. Neil Pollock is chief surgeon and medical director of Pollock Clinics. He has undertaken teaching missions to Rwanda, Congo and Haiti, as well as being involved in philanthropy at home and abroad.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Bernice Carmeli, dinner co-chair, with Ilan Pilo, David Goldman and Ilene-Jo Bellas. (photo by Robert Albanese)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

JNF Pacific Region president David Goldman welcomed the crowd \u2013 who had to pass a few dozen protesters on their way into the hotel \u2013 and introduced the evening\u2019s emcee, Michael Nemirow, a friend of the Pollocks, who is also involved in various community organizations and activities. \u201cI\u2019ve done the math, and we have around 11 hours of speeches and entertainment for you this evening, but we\u2019ll try to compress it into three,\u201d Nemirow said, eliciting laughter from the crowd.<\/p>\n

After Maurice Moses led the audience in O Canada and Hatikvah, B.C. Lt.-Gov. Janet Austin took the stage. She praised JNF for its work in the \u201crestoration and preservation of the Jewish homeland,\u201d which covers everything from ecological to social to security initiatives. Austin also commented about the Pollocks, highlighting Neil Pollock\u2019s work in Rwanda to prevent the spread of HIV.<\/p>\n

Galit Baram, consul general of Israel for Toronto and Western Canada, focused her remarks on the 70th anniversary of Israel, \u201cthe only democracy in our region, a bastion of democracy.\u201d She described its strengths in the areas of human rights, medicine, multiculturalism and technological innovation. She said Israel is led by people \u201cboth on the right and on the left who love their country with all their hearts\u201d in the face of multiple existential threats. \u201cWe rely on our friends who share common values, and Canada, our ally, is among them,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Honourary chairs Jodi and Alex Cristall. (photo by Robert Albanese)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThe success of Israel did not happen in a vacuum,\u201d said Baram, citing JNF as a key organization in supporting the state, one in whose name every Israeli has a tree planted. She also spoke of JNF\u2019s contributions in a multitude of activities, including supporting soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder and her \u201cpersonal favourite,\u201d the building of a protected playground in Sderot in an area that has suffered shelling from Hamas and other militant groups. Baram thanked Canadians for the warm welcome and open arms with which Israeli diplomats are welcomed in the country.<\/p>\n

After Hamotzi, chanted by the Kollel\u2019s Rabbi Avraham Feigelstock, Ilene-Jo Bellas, former president of the JNF Pacific Region (2012-2015), was presented with the JNF Bloomfield Award by local shaliach Ilan Pilo. He described Bellas as an indefatigable servant for Israel who \u201cbled blue and white,\u201d a portrayal she affirmed as fact after taking the podium.<\/p>\n

The video on the work of the JNF was introduced by JNF Canada president Wendy Eidinger Spatzner, who explained that the First Zionist Congress established a fund to purchase land in Israel and that this fund became JNF. She talked about JNF\u2019s extensive work to \u201cbuild the infrastructure of Israel,\u201d noting that it affects the daily lives of \u201cpretty much every Israeli citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Honourary chairs Jodi and Alex Cristall. (photo by Robert Albanese)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rabbi Dan Moskovitz then led everyone in Birkat Hamazon, before Vancouver TheatreSports performed a series of improv skits centred on the Pollocks\u2019 life as a married couple.<\/p>\n

The keynote speaker of the dinner was Doron Almog, a former major general in the Israel Defence Forces, who received the Israel Prize for lifetime of achievement. He discussed his role as founder of ALEH, the charity for children with developmental disabilities that the Pollocks chose to support with monies raised from the evening.<\/p>\n

Almog spoke on the theme of commitment, as experienced throughout his life and in the work he has done for children. He shared the story of the death of his brother, a tank operator who died after being injured, left behind by his fellow IDF soldiers. Almog subsequently swore to never leave behind an injured soldier.<\/p>\n

Almog\u2019s son Eran, who was named after his fallen uncle, was born with a combination of autism and developmental problems, and a psychiatrist told the family that he would probably never speak, remaining at the cognitive age of an infant. \u201cThis son became the greatest teacher of my life, he taught me more than anyone about life, about commitment,\u201d said Almog.<\/p>\n

After his son died, Almog went to see how children like Eran are treated \u201cin the only Jewish state in the world.\u201d What he saw horrified him: \u201cThe first thing you saw is the stink; distorted, terrified faces; shameful things. What the hell are these places, why are they being punished more?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo<\/a>
Keynote speaker Maj. Gen. (Res.) Doron Almog, founder of ALEH, right, with local businessman and philanthropist Gary Segal. (photo by Robert Albanese)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Almog discovered that such children were objects of shame in Israeli society. Golda Meir, prime minister of Israel from 1969 to 1974, had a granddaughter with Down syndrome who, as an adult, gave interviews to the press, said Almog. In these interviews, he continued, \u201cshe said, \u2018Golda never visited me, Golda never loved me, Golda told my mom, \u201cNever mention the prime minister of Israel having a retarded granddaughter.\u201d\u2019 Yigal Alon [deputy prime minister of Israel, 1968-1979] had a beautiful child who, at age 5, was taken away from the kibbutz she was born in and sent away to Scotland and he never spoke about her. And inside me I heard my son screaming, \u2018My dear father, I will never complain to the media, you can send me away to Scotland and never speak of me, but, if you do that, you do not deserve even the title of \u201cfather\u201d or even the title of human. I am the ultimate test of commitment,\u2019 he said to me, the echo box of your bleeding brother.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Almog left the military, he established the village of ALEH, \u201ca paradise where the children can have a full life. We broke the walls of stigma and shame and stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n

ALEH Jerusalem, a multi-service home for children with disabilities, now receives help from more than 450 volunteers from all over the world. Some of them, said Almog, are children of Nazis, who say they are coming as atonement for Hitler\u2019s decision to kill people with disabilities. \u201cThe social chain is always measured by its weakest link,\u201d said Almog, receiving a standing ovation.<\/p>\n

After a video explaining more about ALEH, there was a video tribute to the Pollocks introduced by their children, Josh, Elliot and Shoshana. The Pollocks said a few words, after which Goldman and Pilo wound up the celebration.<\/p>\n

Matthew Gindin<\/strong> is a freelance journalist, writer and lecturer. He is Pacific correspondent for the <\/em>CJN, writes regularly for the <\/em>Forward, <\/em>Tricycle and the <\/em>Wisdom Daily, and has been published in <\/em>Sojourners, <\/em>Religion Dispatches and elsewhere. He can be found on Medium and Twitter.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right: Ilan Pilo, Michelle Pollock, Dr. Neil Pollock, Wendy Eidinger Spatzner and David Goldman. (photo by Robert Albanese) Vancouver supporters of the Jewish National Fund (JNF) gathered in their finery at the Four Seasons Hotel Vancouver on June 3 to celebrate Israel\u2019s 70th birthday and pay tribute to philanthropists Neil and Michelle Pollock. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":29507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[8235,5864,2864,2777,4330,59,60,61,8024],"class_list":["post-29540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-aleh","tag-children","tag-health","tag-inclusion","tag-israel","tag-jewish-national-fund","tag-jnf","tag-negev-dinner","tag-pollock"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}