World

Staff photos by Angie Baan

Eyal Shalev of Beersheva, Hadar Tenenbaum of the Golan Heights and Ilan
Shahar of Tel Aviv

Stefenie Sasson, second from right, of Birmingham with Karen Weiss, Brenda Wayne
Berris and Nancy Pomish, all of West Bloomfield

Making An Impact

Friends of the IDF help send Israeli soldiers to college.

Robin Schwartz
Special to the Jewish News

I

lan Shahar, 29, of Tel Aviv says he
couldn't have done it alone.
The former member of Israel's
bomb squad, who recently lost his mother
to cancer, completed his military service
and now works at one of the top law
firms in Israel. He earned his law degree
and graduated valedictorian after receiv-
ing a full four-year scholarship through
the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces
IMPACT program which provides finan-
cial assistance to combat soldiers whose
families could not otherwise afford to pay
for college.
"I couldn't have graduated without
this scholarship',' Shahar told a crowd of
about 300 Friends of the IDF supporters
at Tam O'Shanter Country Club in West
Bloomfield. "Once you leave the army, a
soldier's salary is very low, only $100-$250
a month."
Another 104 soldiers like Shahar will
be awarded scholarships in the coming
year with the help of money raised by
the Michigan chapter of Friends of the
IDF. The organization's annual Women's
Luncheon held Sept. 18 raised more than
$225,000 — enough for 39 new scholar-
ships.
"The IMPACT program is something I
just feel is so important," said Karen Ring
Weiss of West Bloomfield.

She co-chaired the event with Nancy
Pomish and Brenda Wayne Berris, also of
West Bloomfield, and Stefenie Sasson of
Birmingham.
"These students will go on to become
Israel's socioeconomic future," added
Sasson who took part in an Israel mission
in August where she met many soldiers.
"They're working to support Jews all over
the world; we could never reciprocate what
they've done for us."
Hadar Tenenbaum, 23, one of three
children raised by their mother in Israel's
Golan Heights, also attended the luncheon
and shared her story. Her parents divorced
when she was young and Tenenbaum's
father is currently being treated for brain
cancer. After serving as an antiaircraft
fighter in the air force, she received an
IMPACT scholarship and is attending col-
lege and doing volunteer work with chil-
dren who are homebound due to medical
problems or injuries.
"I can say with my whole heart I
couldn't be where I am now, mentally and
physically, without the IMPACT program,"
Tenenbaum said. "They gave me the
opportunity I never thought I could have
— the opportunity to fulfill myself and
help other people as well." I I

For more information about Friends
of the IDF and the IMPACT program,
go to the Web site:
www.israelsoldiers.orgor call the
Michigan chapter: (248) 926-4110.

Rachel Siegel of West Bloomfield, Erna Gorman of Nancy Katzman of Franklin and
Marcie Orley of Bloomfield Hills
Bloomfield Hills and Sharon Levine of Oak Park

Answering Israel's Critics

The Charge

In a speech before the United Nations last week, Iranian President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad accused Israel of oppression, terrorism and brutality.

The Answer

Ahmadinejad's charges lack credibility coming from a leader that Columbia
University president Lee Bollinger called a petty and cruel dictator. Israel's
military acts not as oppressors, but in the security interests of the only Jewish
nation, which is surrounded by enemies and terrorist populations.

- Allan Gale, associate director, Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit

©copyright Oct. 4, 2007 Jewish Renaissance Media

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October 4 2007

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