ELEM – YOUTH IN DISTRESS IN ISRAEL HOLDS 3OTH ANNIVERSARY
GALA CELEBRATING
INTERFAITH AND INTERCULTURAL HARMONY
Contact: Michele Carlin (212)787-3337 mcarlin@elem.org
Funds Raised will Support Programs Assisting Children in Need in Israel; National Dance Institute and Gallim Dance to Perform
WHAT: ELEM – Youth in Distress in Israel is celebrating 30 years of helping troubled and adjudicated
Jewish and Arab Israeli youth with a gala to honor those dedicated to fostering interfaith and intercultural harmony. Funds raised will benefit ELEM’s programs that provide mentoring, occupational and educational placement, therapy and vocational training to youth throughout Israel.
WHEN: Tuesday, October 23, Cocktails 6:00 p.m.; Dinner 7:00 p.m.
Tickets are available for purchase at www.ELEMGala.org or by calling 212.787.3337. Young professional - $300, Benefactor – $750, Sponsor – $1,400, Patron – $2,500. Dietary laws observed; festive attire.
WHERE: New York Academy of Medicine, 1216 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y.
WHO: The evening’s honorees, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, Founder and President of the International
Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) and Alan Slifka, in memoriam, co-founder of The Abraham
Fund Initiatives and the founding Chairman of the Big Apple Circus, a New York City institution, are
being honored for their deep commitment to the State of Israel and to its youth.
Rabbi Eckstein has devoted more than 35 years to building bridges of understanding between Christians
and Jews. As national co-director of interreligious affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, he recognized
the potential of strong interfaith relationships and established the IFCJ to help Christians and Jews begin
a dialogue and collaborate on projects promoting the security of Jews in Israel and around the world.
Alan Slifka co-founded the Abraham Fund Initiatives, the first not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to further co-existence between Israel’s Jewish and Arab citizens. He was passionately committed to co- existence and established the Slifka Program on Inter-communal Co-existence at Brandeis University and the Alan B. Slifka Foundation to impact Jewish life and co-existence in Israel. Alan Slifka passed away on February 4, 2011.
Performances by the National Dance Institute, founded by New York City Ballet star Jacques d’Amboise, and Gallim Dance.
Master of Ceremonies Adi Ezroni is an award-winning Israeli actress and film producer. Her most
recent film is A Late Quartet, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Christopher Walken, to be released
November 2, 2012.
About ELEM
ELEM was founded in 1982 by a group of American and Israeli social service professionals and lay
volunteers to help Israel’s population of at-risk youth become productive citizens. Today ELEM is Israel’s leading non-profit organization dedicated to the treatment and rehabilitation of abused, neglected, and adjudicated Jewish and Arab Israeli youth. The youth ELEM serves face tremendous hurdles; many live below the poverty line or struggle to assimilate as new immigrants. With a network of 250 professionals and almost 2,000 volunteers, ELEM reaches tens of thousands of youth annually with innovative and comprehensive services, including therapy, mentoring, occupational and educational placement, and vocational training. ELEM also operates a wide network of counseling and support centers, as well as a fleet of outreach vans that take to the streets to reach the hidden “children of the night.”