Leading figures of Britain’s Jewish community gathered at the Roundhouse in London last week for the annual fundraising dinner to aid the work of World Jewish Relief, which last year worked in 21 countries.
WJR provides essential support to vulnerable people and those suffering the consequences of conflict, disaster, and climate change. The evening was hosted by Suzy Klein, Head of Arts and Classical Music at the BBC. Klein shared her personal connection to WJR, recounting how her grandfather fled Nazi-occupied Hungary in 1939.
She revealed that she discovered his registration slip in the charity’s archives – a document that her family hadn’t seen for 85 years. “Knowing that World Jewish Relief was there, on the ground, ready to help people like my grandpa, who had lost everything, is deeply moving,” said Klein.
WJR Chairman Maurice Helfgott, who accompanied King Charles to Poland last month for the 80th-anniversary commemoration of the liberation of Auschwitz, spoke about the vital support offered during these challenging times by the King, who is the charity’s royal patron, as well as the patron of other Jewish organizations.
Helfgott reflected on his late father Sir Ben Helfgott’s experience in German concentration camps, emphasizing that the lessons from that time must never be forgotten. Helfgott also passionately underscored the duty of Jews to not only support one another but also extend their assistance beyond the community, highlighting the charity’s ongoing commitment to aiding vulnerable individuals worldwide, from Ukraine to Israel and Gaza.
“Our Jewish traditions and values demand that we proudly use our expertise to support many thousands of individuals beyond the Jewish community,” he declared. Lady Valerie Mirvis, wife of Chief Rabbi Sir Ephraim Mirvis, conveyed a message of hope in the midst of adversity.
She spoke of the inherent hopefulness of a room full of people determined to contribute to a better world.
With the three-year anniversary looming, the war in Ukraine was high on the agenda for the evening. Through the generosity of supporters, WJR has assisted over 330,000 people inside Ukraine across 388 towns and cities. The charity has also founded the UK’s largest employment program for Ukrainians fleeing war (STEP Ukraine), empowering more than 13,000 refugees with essential English language training and employment support.
Attendees at the dinner heard a movingly beautiful performance by Daria Golovchenko, a classically trained pianist from Ukraine who fled the war with her one-year-old daughter to Britain. Upon arriving in the UK, she featured on Channel 4’s hit series The Piano, making it to the final.
Taking the stage at London’s iconic Roundhouse venue, she spoke of her harrowing journey from Kherson, Ukraine, where music became her lifeline. She shared her passion for using art to inspire and unite people: “Today, I stand before you to say: the power of art lies in its ability to transform lives. I believe that through music, we can not only tell stories but also inspire action.”
In recent years, WJR’s annual dinner has raised millions of pounds from the UK’s Jewish community to fund critical humanitarian work across the world. While the Israel-Hamas War and a global spike in antisemitism have put immense strain on British Jews over the past 16 months, WJR and its supporters are determined to overcome these challenges without forgetting their sacred duty to support those outside their community.
Founded in 1933, WJR rescued over 65,000 Jews fleeing the Nazis and today works across four continents supporting vulnerable people from marginalized communities, from Ukraine to Afghan refugees in the UK and from climate migrants in Nepal to young women in Rwanda.
■ NAME CHANGES can cause confusion. For instance, Hadassah Academic College, previously known as HAC, is now known as The Jerusalem Multidisciplinary College and has been accredited by the Israel Council for Higher Education.
The reason for the name change was prompted by the fact that the college and Hadassah, its founding organization, have parted ways.
The college was founded in 1996 by Hadassah Women’s Organization of America which supported the institution for many years. In 2024, the two parties decided to part ways, and the college embarked on a new, independent path. In view of the fact that it was no longer supported by Hadassah, it was decided to drop the name of the organization from its title.
Its new name was approved in December last year by the Council for Higher Education and the Israel Registrar of Nonprofit Associations in January of this year. It would not be surprising if the college evolved into a university. Jerusalem, which has by far the largest population in Israel, is this year celebrating the centennial of the Hebrew University, which has two campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot.
Ariel University and Reichman University were each colleges before they became universities, and it’s quite possible that JMC, under the continued presidency of Prof. Ariela Gordon-Shaag, will also become a university. If this eventuates, the college will again have to rebrand itself so as to avoid confusion with HU.
Famous families and their descendants
■ MOST PEOPLE with famous or highly accomplished forebears are proud to be their descendants. That’s all very well when there are one or two outstanding ancestors with claims to fame. Even then, their families and friends have great expectations of them.
But what happens if you’re a member of the Lau family with generations upon generations of rabbis, or of the family of Rabbi Benjie Levine in which there are scores of famous closely related Torah scholars or the Rivlins who distinguished themselves as academics, journalists, politicians, entertainers, and more.
The best-known family is the Herzogs who have achieved fame in many spheres in Israel and beyond. Isaac haLevi Herzog was Israel’s first chief rabbi after serving as chief rabbi of Ireland.
Rabbi Herzog’s PhD thesis was on the source of the blue-colored dye for the wool used in the priestly garment and the stripe in the tallit katan (small prayer shawl) worn by regular people. Although this was the most comprehensive study of the subject, no one has discovered the absolute secret of the blue.
Two of his four grandsons bear his name. Both are qualified lawyers. One is also a rabbi and teacher, and the other is the president of the State of Israel. Their mothers and fathers and all their grandparents were also accomplished achievers.
It’s not certain how many members of the Herzog family will attend the official opening of the Ptil Tekhelet Museum in Tel Aviv next Sunday, which will honor Rabbi Herzog and the blue dye, but his presidential grandson will definitely attend and deliver an address.
■ FORMER BEZEQ CEO Ran Guron, son of the late Yair Guron, along with Aylon Gadiel, chairman of the Yair Guron Memorial Scholarship Fund, awarded scholarships at a festive ceremony held at the “Yair” research station named after Yair, founder and first director of the Central and Northern Arava Research & Development station in Hatzeva.
The ceremony was held by Central and Northern Tamar R&D as part of a conference to conclude the agricultural season of the date harvest in the Central Arava.
The scholarship fund, which was established in 2010, awarded scholarships totaling approximately NIS 85,000 this year to six outstanding students for master’s and doctoral degrees whose research deals with agriculture, water, environment, biotechnology, and climate.
A scholarship was also given to two outstanding high school students from the ‘Shitim-Darca School’ in Central Arava, whose research work deals with the biology field. The scholarship fund was founded by the Guron family, who raised additional donations from organizations and companies, including the Central Arava Regional Council and Gedera Seeds-Syngenta.
During the 15 years that it has been operating, the fund has raised over NIS 1.7 million in donations, and approximately 80 scholarships have been awarded.
■ AS HAS been previously mentioned in this column, journalists seldom know who is reading what they write unless they make a mistake. That is the positive side of erring. Last week, in a reference to former writers for The Jerusalem Post who have changed direction, Grapevine listed former Jerusalem Post editor David Makovsky as being the director of the Washington Institute.
A correction was quick in coming as you wrote that David Makovsky is the Ziegler Distinguished Fellow in the Washington Institute’s Irwin Levy Family Program on the US-Israel Strategic Relationship and director of the Koret Project on Arab-Israel Relations. Robert Satloff is the executive director.
Making mistakes is not great, but it is nice to know that one’s work is read by such august institutions.
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