Israel@75 tour Zettlemoyers stop at ‘Allentown, PA’ high school in Ma’alot during trip

By Carl Zebrowski Editor

Cherie and Richard Zettlemoyer stood in front of a high school beneath the large lettering “Allentown, PA” this spring. They weren’t in Pennsylvania. They were touring Israel for its 75th anniversary celebration as part of a group organized by the Jewish Federations of North America.

“There’s an Allentown, PA, high school in Ma’alot,” said Cherie. “That’s amazing.”

It’s no less amazing that she has a close personal connection to it. The Murray H. Goodman Allentown, PA, Comprehensive High School was named for the main donor to the Jewish Federation of Allentown (now Lehigh Valley) campaign that funded construction of the building in the 1980s. The chair of that $6 million campaign was Cherie’s dad, Nate Braunstein.

It was through the efforts of Jeri Zimmerman and Aaron Gorodzinsky of the Jewish Federation that the Zettlemoyers were able to be at the school apart from the rest of their tour group. “We were treated like royalty,” Cherie said of their visit. “It makes you feel proud.”

The fundraising campaign was the local response to Prime Minister Menachem Begin’s 1977 Project Renewal and its call for the Diaspora to help plan and implement projects in underprivileged neighborhoods in Israel.

Before the school opened, students in the rural Ma’alot area had to ride buses to class dozens of miles from home.

Another stop was Leket Israel, the National Foodbank. The foodbank is stocked with produce that farmers can’t or simply don’t take to market. The Zettlemoyers and the Federations group joined volunteers there working to prepare the fruits and vegetables for distribution.

Israel@75 tour continues on page 4