At a posh soirée last month in an Israeli’s enormous Palo Alto home, replete with valet parking and the mayor of Jerusalem flown in as a guest speaker, a paradox was unfolding.
Israelis were donating money to their own country.
More than 100 Israelis doled out a total of $60,000 for ELEM/Youth in Distress in Israel, dispelling criticisms that Israelis give little to philanthropy, according to Eran Etzion, consul of Israel in San Francisco.
“The unique thing was that it was mostly Israelis” giving to Israel, he said. “We are all hoping it’s not going to be a single episode but will become a trend.”
ELEM acts as a safety net for truant kids in the Jewish state. Under the auspices of the program, a van sweeps the streets in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, as well as in small towns, for homeless and troubled teens. The vehicle picks up the kids, often in the midst of hustling their bodies or drugs, and brings them to a shelter where they retreat among the camaraderie of peers and receive counseling and rehabilitation.
Alona Barkat, who hosted the fund-raiser, first came in contact with ELEM five months ago while visiting Tel Aviv. She had moved from Jerusalem to Palo Alto about two years ago with her husband, Eli, who started a lucrative career as CEO of Backweb.
After meeting with the teens for five minutes, she was hooked by their stories. “The kids talked very openly about their problems — being in the streets, using drugs,” Barkat said.
“I have two kids, and I feel like every mother would feel the same way about these kids. I said then I’m going to come to California and expose what you are doing.”
Barkat took the cause on her shoulders by orchestrating a fund-raiser that tapped into Silicon Valley, a burgeoning scene for transplanted Israelis. She found the high-tech-minded Israelis to be generously enthusiastic about ELEM.
“Everyone said Israelis aren’t going to respond,” Barkat said. “Israelis come here and work very hard; fund-raising is not top priority. But they really supported ELEM. I think we did a good thing.”
For Israeli groups that seek funding from the diaspora — Shaare Zedek Medical Center and the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are two examples — fund-raisers have found success in mixing Israeli and American donors. But Barkat called her event “a milestone” for rounding up mostly Israelis.
Etzion agreed. “It’s almost contrary to Israeli culture” to be active donors, he said. “But as you have more Israelis staying here, doing better and better financially, they are adopting some characteristics of American culture.”
It’s a large leap in local Israeli philanthropy from “when it was zero” three years ago, Etzion said.
One of Barkat’s key moves was to ask for help from other Israelis who have been in America for awhile. She got support from Israela Banin, a Palo Alto resident who has lived in the Bay Area for 28 years.
Because ELEM “is for kids, it is easier to contribute,” said Banin, a former social worker from Jerusalem.
Banin is trying to organize another fund-raiser, this time for wounded Israeli soldiers. “I hope I will be able to open the hearts of Israelis who usually don’t give a penny,” she said.
Daniel Shek, Israel’s consul general in San Francisco, also deemed local Israelis’ generosity as impressive.
“Israelis in general are becoming more involved in nonprofit and philanthropic causes,” he said. The phenomenon of Americans donating large sums to Israel while American-Israelis sit idly watching is “gradually disappearing.”
Etzion warned, however, that the new Israeli philanthropists have a long way to go.
“By and large, Israelis still expect the country to give to them,” he said The social problems in Israel “are not going to be remedied by the state. They have to be supported by individuals. Israelis can be pioneers even though they’re not in Zion.”