A holistic view of current events: from social outreach to academic recognition - grapevine

• Published date: 21 April 2024
• Author: GREER FAY CASHMAN
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

Several years ago, social entrepreneur Jay Shultz, who is the founder of several social and cultural organizations in Tel Aviv, founded Adopt-A-Safta, whereby young men and women volunteer to visit Holocaust survivors, sit and talk to them, walk with them, and help them with their shopping. This has been a mutually rewarding experience, but with all its good points, there are still Holocaust survivors who spend Sabbaths and other holy days alone. Some have no close relatives or no relatives at all, while others don't live close to relatives and are hesitant to bother them. Shultz again put out a call for volunteers for Adopt-A-Safta, but there are also male Holocaust survivors in need of TLC

■ SEVERAL EMBASSIES hold events on or near Holocaust Remembrance Day. Some of these events are held at Yad Vashem, or in public auditoria, and some in embassies.

The Czech Embassy in Tel Aviv has chosen to combine such an event with a book launch at the embassy on Friday, May 3. The program will include a lecture by Bruce Mainzer on "Fleeing the Nazis: A Journey of Two Sisters and the Hero Who Outwitted the Gestapo." His lecture describes the escape of his mother and aunt from Nazi-occupied Prague in 1939, thanks to Harry Roth's strategy that allowed thousands of Jews to escape.

Afterwards, there will be the book launch of Hana Sternlicht's book, The Girl from Terezín, in which the author tells the story of 12-year-old Hana, who was deported to the Terezin Ghetto and later to concentration camps in Eastern Europe. The story is based on true events and offers a glimpse of the extreme conditions under which she managed to survive.

Organizers of the event believe that it offers an opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the historical events associated with the Holocaust.

Human rights defenders converge

■ ON MAY 15, leading dissidents and activists on behalf of human rights violations from Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Vietnam, Belarus, Zimbabwe, and Bolivia will converge on Switzerland to take part in the 16th Annual Geneva Summit for Human Rights and Democracy.

The published list of speakers does not include anyone from Israel or elsewhere in the Middle East, though there may be representatives from the region who are not among the keynote speakers.

Some of those who are keynote speakers include Lisa Yasko, member of Ukrainian Parliament and founder of the NGO Yellow Blue Strategy; Victor Navarro, exiled Venezuelan journalist, former political prisoner, and...