SPEAKERS

WRJ is pleased to present Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, MD. MPH, a Palestinian physician who is a passionate and eloquent proponent of peace between his people and Israelis, as the keynote speaker at the assembly's opening plenary session.

Abuelaish has been an important figure in Israeli-Palestinian relations for years, working in Israeli hospitals, treating Israeli and Palestinian patients, and using his contacts to arrange for Gazans to be treated in Israel. Dr. Abuelaish was frequently interviewed on Israeli radio and television, as a representative of those caught between Israeli soldiers and Hamas guerillas.

On January 16th, an Israeli tank shell shattered his Jabalia refugee camp home, killing three of his daughters, as well as his niece. Another daughter was badly injured. The drama that followed was broadcast live on Israeli television, for the first time bringing the lethal toll that the battle was taking on Gaza’s civilian population into the living rooms of Israelis and others around the world.

This horrific tragedy did not harden Abuelaish’s heart, neither did it weaken his resolve to act for peace. He continues to live up to the description bestowed upon him by an Israeli colleague, as a “magical, secret bridge between Israelis and Palestinians.”

Dr. Abuelaish is associate professor at the Dala Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto.


Judy Feld Carr

The Dr. Jane Evans Pursuit of Justice Award is given to a woman of strength and action. At this assembly, the award, the third bestowed, will be presented to Judy Feld Carr.

Over a twenty-eight year period, Feld Carr secretly brought to freedom over 3,000 Jews prohibited from emigrating from Syria. By working with smugglers and bribing government officials, she removed most of that community from veritable bondage. In addition, she secretly smuggled priceless articles of Jewish worship out of Syria.

Until Yitzhak Rabin publicly acclaimed her activities, the world had no inkling of the Canadian Jewish woman's secret life. Her story was documented in the best selling book "The Ransomed of God" (also published as "The Rescuer") by Dr. Harold Troper.

 

Anita Diamant

This year's YES Fund Lunch keynote speaker will be the renowned author, Anita Diamant. Diamant's first work of fiction, The Red Tent was awarded the 2001 Booksense Book of the Year and has become an international bestseller. The author of six non-fiction guides to contemporary Jewish life, including The New Jewish Wedding, How to Raise a Jewish Child, and Choosing a Jewish Life, Diamant has also published a collection of essays, Pitching My Tent and the best-selling novels, The Last Days of Dogtown and Good Harbor.

Her new novel, Day After Night, is set in 1945 in Palestine and tells the story of four young Jewish women -- survivors with four very different Holocaust stories, who make their way to the land of Israel where they confront an uncertain future haunted by the past.

Anita Diamant is the founder and president of Mayyim Hayyim, Living Waters Community Mikveh and the Paula J. Brody Family Education Center, in Newton, Massachusetts.

 

Anat Hoffman

A major leader for social justice in Israel, Anat Hoffman will be the featured speaker at WRJ's plenary session dedicated to Israel. She is perhaps best known for never giving up, even when faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Anat was born and raised in Jerusalem and she served in the Jerusalem City Council for fourteen years, leading the opposition to the right wing and ultra-Orthodox administration. She was a founding member of Women of the Wall and continues to be a tireless advocate for freedom of religion and women’s rights. In 2002, Anat Hoffman became the Executive Director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the legal and advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel.

IRAC’s goals are to promote the values of religious pluralism, human equality, social justice and religious tolerance in Israel and to strengthen the public standing of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism (Reform), its congregations and institutions and to protect their rights.