TAU epitomizes Judaism’s and Israel’s highest values—education and democracy.
Redefining Success in Education Change-makers Dr. Kathy Fields and Dr. Garry Rayant spoke with TAU Review about their Jewish values and passion for education and Israel By Julie Steigerwald-Levi
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r. Kathy Fields and Dr. Garry Rayant, entrepreneurs, philanthropists and TAU Governors from the San Francisco Bay Area, were instrumental in launching the University’s Center for Combating Pandemics and are core supporters of Minducate, a Learning Innovation Research Center at the Sagol School of Neuroscience. Both are TAU Global Campaign Cabinet members and recently established the Fields-Rayant Scholarship Fund in honor of Campaign Chair Dr. Anita Friedman. The fund provides scholarships to students from Israel’s periphery.
What drives your philanthropy? Garry: Hillel said it best, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” And as Kathy likes to say, we’re on the now plan. Health
and education are among the central tenets of who we are, from which our philanthropy follows. Kathy: It feels tremendous to make a difference, to matter, particularly at a time where many feel they are losing agency. Garry and I try to be part of the force actively involved in finding solutions to problems facing the Jewish people and the world.
What role do Judaism and Israel play in your lives?
Garry: I grew up in London, the son of a refugee from the Holocaust. My father evaded arrest by the Gestapo in Vienna and fled to England where he joined the British army. The other part of his family escaped to Palestine—now Israel. Because of that, I have a large family in Israel and have been visiting for years. It’s home.
I can’t overstate the impact of that background and the good fortune I have to live the dream that past generations did not. My parents never forgot who they were, their history and the fact that their values and morality came from their Jewish heritage. Kathy and I were married at midnight in the Billy Rose Sculpture Garden atop the Israel Museum, the last event of the UJA Young Leadership Cabinet retreat that year. Not a dry eye in the house, me included! Israel is a central part of being Jewish for us. Thank G-d we have a land of our own; it’s central to our security. Kathy: I grew up in a small Jewish community in Waukegan, Illinois. When we were singled out as Jews at school, my parents decided we’d better own our identity. My siblings and I were the first bnei mitzvah in our 15
