The Annual Aish Los Angeles Gala, with an oversell crowd of 950 attendees, took place on Wednesday evening, May 21, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.
The multigenerational crowd included 300 singles under the age of 35 representing the Young Professional programs MyAish, Aish Ignite and NextGen headed byRabbis Yitz Jacobs, Mordechai Teller and Yehuda Levin.
Hollywood Producer and Writer Saul Blinkoff MC-ed the evening which focused on Aish’s mission to connect Jews to Judaism and one another. Blinkoff’s opening rendition of Mr Rogers’ “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” created a warm and inclusive energy which permeated the entire evening. He then read a children’s story illustrated book on unity that Aish created just for the evening.
Rabbi Aryeh Markman , Executive Director of Aish LA, spoke about the Aish Hasbara Fellowships program, funded by the Adam and Gila Milstein Family Foundation, which is under attack on the UCLA campus. Hasbara educates and empowers college students to engage in Israel advocacy on campuses across the country.
Markman thanked Aish International President Dick and Beverly Horowitz for their ongoing leadership, support and vision.
Chana Heller and Sharon Shenker, Directors of the Jewish Women’s Initiative ( JWI) presented the Leadership Award to Sheri Levy and Phyllis Shinbane for the award-winning cook book, “Try It, You’ll Like It”, which they and many other JWI women created. This cookbook raised $25,000 to date to fund the scholarship program which has sent 150 Moms to Israel on a subsidized birthright-like trip to Israel (www.jwrp.org). The next group of 48 Moms leaves for Israel October 27. The Jewish Men’s Initiative will be taking an equal number of Dads on November 9. The JWI and JMI are inspiring and educating hundreds of parents to bring Jewish values back into our homes and to connect our children to Judaism.
The evening’s Honorees, Jack and Linda Nourafshan, Kambiz and Lily Babaoff, and Roy and Nahal Rayn, recently launched the newest date-to marry singles program. “Soul Search” not only provides a way to meet other singles but has an educational component designed to help singles date smart, choose wisely and create healthy marriages.
The evening concluded with keynote speaker Charlie Harary, CEO of H3 & Company, whose riveting multi-media musical message emphasized channeling our drive for greatness into unifying the Jewish People.
The program was created by Sarah Weintraub of Sarah Weintraub Productions, Saul Blinkoff and Aish COO, Rabbi Azriel Aharon.
Tali Merewitz of Events Enchanted and Sanaz Sazegar, Aish Executive Coordinator, organized the seating and Banquet administration.
