Special performance by Super N!RO & Khaled Dajani of “One Passion – The Project“:
The dinner was held at the Hochberg residence, Closter New Jersey. There were 11 Guest and 5 volunteers (including Stas Fridman the best piano player ever) the evening started with a reception cocktail party accompanied with Capirinha from the bar, Stuffed mushrooms and salmon Teriyaki.
To complete the ambiance – Stas played a powerful classic symphony on an amazing mahogany piano. After half an hour of great music and atmosphere Shira of ELEM-Entry formally started the evening with a short introduction of the cause and an explanation on the upcoming evening. Following the guests moved to the dinner table , Guy Bar-On was on top of the culinary part that included branzino fillet with pickled lemon laid on wild rice and green beans accompanied with spinach salad with strawberries and avocado.
ELEM activists joined the dinner table and explained in detail about the organization and the different programs.
After the main course and before the deserts the party shifted to the living room for the ELEM Awake At Night movie followed by a discussion about the program and the uses of the evening donations.
for the evenings finale, Stas played another piano master piece, and delicious deserts including kaddaif cups filled with wild berries, homemade chocolate truffles and authentic Mahamuls were brought to the table.
In conclusion the Hochberg residence collected $2300 and experienced a great evening.
Shira & Guy Bar-On, Tamar & Elad Raz
Tenafly New Jersey is a quite little town situated to the North West of Manhattan just North of the remarkable double decked George Washington Bridge. On a snowy night in Early March 2013, 17 Israelis gathered at the beautiful home of Dorit and Daniel (Danny) Nissan. The very unique Israeli community that grew by leaps and bounds in the Tenafly area includes many Israelis in the hi-tech industry as well as medical, diamond, real estate, financial professionals and more. The Nissans were able to gather a sizeable group of young couples who came to a special evening to support ELEM-Entry New York. What made this event even more special is that a number of other homes in the NY area hosted at the exact same time similar events. The venue included a wonderful gourmet home cooked meal, a lecture and a movie about ELEM’s “Awake at Night” program to alleviate Israeli child prostitution problem.
The hosts opened their beautiful home and prepared a remarkable dinner.
Danny was attending to the grill in the back yard in the middle of an unexpected snowy night. While looking at Danny in between the large falling snow flakes, Nirel and Maoz assisted Dorit the host in preparing the condiments and appetizers and setting the screening room. At the same time Maia Karo, a beautiful and talented young singer, and Daniel Meron, a remarkable pianist, who also volunteered, were practicing the songs that they will perform for the guests later.
The guests arrived and we all sat in the living room to enjoy some of Dorits’ “Nishnushim”. We provided a short presentation about ELEM and its operations. As always with Israelis the guests wanted to know more and the intense discussion and inquisitive questions were already in full swing. The volunteers had to slow down the momentum and suggested to continue after dinner. Eating seemed to have appealed to the inquisitive crowd and we all shifted to sit down in the beautiful dining room.
Following the meal we all moved to a back room that the hosts pre-arranged. The atmosphere was very cozy as the two performers Maia and Daniel started playing and singing. We paused to allow the discussion about ELEM “Awake at Night” continue. We then watched a movie about the program and continued with some statistics that sparked more questions. The crowd was very concerned and was wondering about the successes of the program and the need to establish continued and permanent government support.
Following the discussion guests provided donations and the evening continued with more of Daniel and Maia’s song performance. Meanwhile Dorit was hard working and prepared some amazing deserts. Dorit is an interior designer and that aspect was evident not just in the home and the set up of the dinner table but also in the remarkable food that she and Danny served.
The evening was a remarkable success. The concern of the guests to the problem touched our hearts.
Thank you Dorit and Danny for opening your home to ELEM “Awake at Night”, for your hospitality for arranging such a great crowd and for your exceptional generosity. Thank you to all the guests that came and donated and interacted to make this evening a remarkable success both in terms of raising awareness and in terms of donating to this worthy cause.
Thank you Maia, Daniel, Nirel and Maoz for your time, dedication and talent.
ELEM-Entry NY’s Community Dinner at Lia Kes’ chic residence in the Upper West Side felt more than anything else THE HOTTEST PLACE to be on the night of March 2nd, 2013. In spite of snowy weather, there was a constant traffic of people throughout the evening: beautiful, talented and interesting individuals, friends of the host and friends of friends, who gathered around to hear about ELEM’s mission.
Lia Kes, a New York acclaimed fashion designer born in Kibbutz Afikim, Israel, has decided to dedicate her giving to young Israeli women who were subjected to abuse of any kind. We first met almost two years ago. Lia was a guest at another community dinner I ran. Throughout the evening Lia asked me many questions about ELEM, its programs, and most specifically about supporting young women. At the end of the evening Lia expressed her wish to become more involved with ELEM and offered to host a community dinner at her house. Our choice to dedicate the proceeds from this dinner to Awake At Night (Erim Balayla) – a program that deals with youth in prostitution had made the host deeply moved. At Lia’s request, the proceeds from her Community Dinner shall be dedicated to the program in Eilat that is dealing mostly with young women who are working as prostitutes in Israel’s southern touristic city.
Lia’s crowd was comprised of guests who came from out the city. They journeyed from Florida, California, Connecticut, North Carolina and New Jersey and are from different country origins American, Israeli, British, Russian and French. They work in a variety of occupations such as investment bankers, visual artists, fashion and jewelry designers, musicians, lawyers, art collectors, film makers, architects, interior designers, real-estate brokers, scientists and entrepreneurs. Our presentation of Awake At Night drew almost each and every one of them to us, the ELEM-Entry NY team Itzik Zur, Lior Brimberg and myself .-They asked questions about the program, expressed their interest in becoming involved and donating their art or professional skills to the cause.
The presentation was followed by a mesmerizing performance of the Israeli song “Confession” (“Viduy” – by Alexander Penn and Sasha Argov) by the graceful jazz vocalist Mor Ben-Yakir,accompanied by pianist Gadi Stern.
On a personal note: To me it’s such events that are encompassing the ELEM-Entry NY mission: to reach out to a broad audience of people, most specifically young professionals and to engage them with our cause of providing ELEM the financial means to treat youth in distress in Israel. That’s what it’s all about!
Nitzan Levy
Chairwoman of ELEM-Entry NY, Young Professionals for Youth in Distress in Israel
Meanwhile, at the Heiman household, the 6th-in-a-row Community Dinner brought together people from such places as Israel, Australia, New Jersey, Mexico and the exotic island of Manhattan. Spring vegetable and barley soup and a variety of middle eastern salads were followed by green peppers stuffed with veal, quinoa and chestnuts, crowned by a dessert table with no less than 12 different desserts. The host, chef and founder of ELEM-Entry NY and the ELEM Community Dinner project, Oren Heiman, led a discussion on the ‘Erim Balayla’ program and on various other programs, debating whether ELEM budgets should be shifted towards legislation, towards general program or towards specific program dealing with teenagers in the highest level of distress. Elad Kabilio played several solos for cello drawing standing ovations, Ronen helped with cooking, serving the wine and cleaning up and Becky, Oren F., Ron, David, Jacob, Steven, Moty, Sharon, Amit, Eyal, Lindsay and Dan ate, drank, debated and generously supported ELEM’s activities in Israel.