Your UIA helping Holocaust survivors in Israel
Popular Israeli performers will next week honor 300 volunteers of Laad, a joint project of The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Ministry for Senior Citizens which trains volunteers to assist Holocaust survivors.
Benjy Rutland
The event to be held at the Tzavta Theater in Tel Aviv will feature Guy Zoaretz (presenter on Survivor), Raz Shmueli (runner up on the Voice), Dianna Golbi (winner of Kohav Nolad – the Israeli Pop Idol) and veteran Israeli performers Arik Sinai and Yoni Shechter. It will be attended by Aharon Azoulay, Director General of the Ministry for Senior Citizens and Yehuda Sharf, Head of the Jewish Agency’s Aliyah, Absorption & Special Operations Unit.
Over 200,000 Holocaust survivors live in Israel today and many are eligible to receive assistance from a range of government and non-governmental bodies but are not aware of their rights. La’ad trains hundreds of volunteers each year to help Holocaust survivors claim their full legal rights, improve their standard of living and ensure their wellbeing. In addition, the volunteers help document the life story of each of the survivors and send them to the web site ledorot (http://ledorot.gov.il) and to Yad Vashem.
Laad was founded in 2009 by the Ministry for Senior Citizens and The Jewish Agency for Israel in partnership with the Ruach Tova volunteering organization. The 4,500 volunteers who have been trained through the program have assisted tens of thousands of Holocaust survivors.
Former Sydneysider Benjamin Rutland is Spokesperson to the Foreign and English Language Media at the Jewish Agency in Jerusalem. The Agency is funded by the UIA.
