The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington's Imagine Israel

After making aliyah (moving to Israel) from the US in 2000, Gitler began his food rescue efforts from his car by rescuing meals from catering halls and delivering them to local nonprofits that serve the needy. Eventually, Gitler founded Leket in 2003, working with 200 partners to collect and redistribute more than 28 million pounds of fresh, perishable, quality food that would otherwise be considered waste from farms, hotels, military bases and catering halls.

Patrick Levy was one of the first individuals in Israel to be diagnosed with HIV and soon after became an activist for policy change to improve the lives of those living with the virus. Patrick eventually worked his way up, serving for three years on the Israel AIDS Task Force. To this day, Patrick continues his life’s work to advocate on behalf of those whose voice is not heard in Israeli society.

Patrick is the Co-Founder and Director of Israel’s Alumot, an advocacy organization for individuals with disabilities. Previously, he worked for many years at Healing Across The Divide (HATD), a foundation committed to improving health for those living in underserved communities across Israel, including refugee communities. He has worked as a counselor for Human Rights and other nonprofit organizations on organizational strategy, peer education and fund raising in Israel through the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the New Israel Fund and other bodies as well as abroad through the United Nations.

*Israel’s War on Road Safety *

*Bringing Israel’s Geographic and Economic Periphery into Focus

At age seven, alongside her parents and many of her 12 siblings, Oshra Friedman left Ethiopia and escaped to Israel via Operation Moses.* Now a proud Israeli, Oshra has devoted her adult life to bridging socioeconomic gaps and promoting social mobility for groups on the periphery, including but not limited to Ethiopian, Russian and Arab Israelis.

“I saw my journey as an adventure to know more and learn more. We saw people dying on the way, children are starving, but I always looked up at my parents eyes and I knew that there was hope.”

Oshra received the esteemed 2014 Yaffa London Yaari Prize of the New Israel Fund for her work helping single mothers while working for Rashi’s Katzir Scholarship Fund. Her goal is to protect the basic rights and well-being of all Israelis and provide justice and equality for all makes her a true social change warrior!

*Operation Moses: refers to the covert evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan during a Civil war that caused a famine in 1984.

Rabbi Gottfried is co-founder and director of Beit Tefilah Israeli, a fast-growing, multi-generational community that is renewing and revitalizing the landscape of Judaism in Israel. Under the radar from the official Jewish religious establishment in Israel, and for more than a decade, a grassroots movement of Israeli Judaism is emerging, gaining supporters and slowly changing the way Israelis connect to their Jewish identity. Hear how Esteban’s approach to prayer, song and celebration has introduced an alternative outlet for spiritual expression that has become an international phenomenon. Explore the balance between sustaining religious tradition and accommodating social change with Federation’s Imagine Israel Podcast host, Robbie Gringras.

This episode is dedicated to the memory of Rabbi Dr. David Applebaum who revolutionized the field of emergency care in Israel. In 1990 Dr. Applebaum opened Israel’s first private emergency care clinic, which today sees over 150,000 patients a year. Emergency medicine in Israel is a new specialty, recognized for the first time in 1999. Dr. Applebaum was tragically murdered in a terrorist attack alongside his daughter, the day before her wedding. As we hear from his former colleagues, it is apparent that Dr. Applebaum’s memory lives on.

Kaynan Rabino is the brain behind Good Deeds Day, an annual day of service that has flourished into an international phenomenon, currently reaching 75 countries—including the Greater Washington’s own Sara & Samuel J. Lessans Good Deeds Day. Rabino explains why the simple objective to change the world and positively impact the lives of others has garnered such a following, one good deed at a time.

Avner Stepak, former CEO of the second largest investment house in Israel, is revolutionizing Israel’s corporate world to include the previously overlooked disabled population in Israel’s workforce.