We have a new name — Israel and Overseas Committee!

By Myra Benedikt, IOC Chair

For many years, the Israel Advocacy Committee (IAC) of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples served our community under the most recent leadership of Dr. Ed Ezrine followed by Harvey Cohen. IAC fulfilled its mission with an array of informative and inspiring Israel programs. At the end of last season, the board of directors of JFGN gave us a new name — the Israel and Overseas Committee (IOC). And with that, we have the enhanced mission to educate about, engage with and advocate for Israel and global Jewry. Hence, IOC will continue to concentrate on Israel as well as offer programs of interest about other Jewish communities around the world.

In December, we engaged Dr. Scott Lasensky, who served as a senior policy advisor on Israel, the Middle East and Jewish affairs in the Obama Administration from 2011-2017, based both in Washington and Israel. Besides briefing us on the fluid situation in Israel since the Gaza attack of Oct. 7, Lasensky shared the latest developments about a big idea — Jewish Peoplehood — which is seeking to reshape Jewish belonging, cross-communal relations and IsraelDiaspora ties.

Lasensky is Senior Advisor with ENTER: the Jewish Peoplehood Alliance, an initiative co-founded by philanthropist Charles Bronfman that is devoted to ensuring the Jewish people remain a global community that is united, secure and inclusive.

His talk was entitled “Can 'Jewish Peoplehood' Save the Jewish People? In an age of polarization, disruption, and fractures erupting all across the Jewish world, can the idea and practice of Jewish Peoplehood, a uniquely Jewish American ideology, meet the challenges World Jewry faces today?”

In January, IOC and the Holocaust Museum and Cohen Education Center brought Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of JCC Krakow, to the community. Since JCC Krakow’s opening in April 2008 by the Prince of Wales, Ornstein has served as its executive director. The JCC has become one of Poland’s most visible signs of Jewish revival. He is a founding member of the Krakow Association of Christians and Jews where he serves as vice president. He also serves on the boards of the Krakow branch of the Child Survivors of the Holocaust organization, Hillel Poland, JCC Global and the Abraham Global Peace Initiative. His presentation was entitled “In the Shadow of Auschwitz: How JCC Krakowis Rebuilding Jewish Life in Poland and supporting Ukrainian Refugees.”

On Feb. 28, Chief Policy Officer of Israel Policy Forum Michael Koplow will join us. Koplow also serves as a senior research fellow at the Kogod Research Center of the Shalom Hartman Institute of North America. Before coming to Israel Policy Forum, he was the founding program director of the Israel Institute. He holds a Ph.D. in government from Georgetown University, where he specialized in political development and ideology, and the politics of Middle Eastern states. In addition to his Ph.D., he holds a BA from Brandeis University, a JD from New York University and an AM in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University.

Koplow’s topic will be “Israel in this Moment: A Crisis of Policy and Politics. How are the latest political developments shaping Israel's future and the IsraeliPalestinian conflict? What is threatening Israel's well-being as a secure, Jewish, and democratic state?”

On March 11, IOC is collaborating with the JCRC on JCRC’s Ninth Annual Day of Learning. There is a separate article on page 17 of this month’s Federation Star about the day in more detail. The topic of the day is “The Palestinian Arabs in Israel — What happened in 1948 and what happened since.”

On March 28, IOC and Hadassah will bring our own Karen Ezrine to update us on cutting-edge developments emerging from Hadassah Hospital. Ezrine is the chair of Hadassah International. She was most recently co-chair of Hadassah Medical Organization (HMO) and was a member of the National Board of Hadassah. She will cover some of the medical innovations unique to Hadassah and touch on Hadassah’s responses to the COVID situation (the setting up of a clinic for Ukrainian refugees in Poland, how Hadassah doctors were invited to many countries to help in crisis management), responses to natural disasters and, of course, now providing care to the wounded since the Gaza war began in October.

Hadassah is on the brink of opening a huge rehab center in Jerusalem, which is crucial to treating the wounded. It is also turning much attention to the psycho-social needs of the people of Israel, particularly those displaced, injured or awaiting news of the hostages.

We hope you’ll join us for these interesting and diverse programs. Registration is required. Watch for the links in the Federation e-blasts.

If you have any questions, please contact Reneé Bialek at RBialek@ jewishnaples.org.