NOVEMBER 11 • 2021 | 21

allocated to the community,
visit JewishAnnArbor.org
to view Federation’s 2021
Annual Impact Report.

A LEADING CLIMATE
ADVOCATE
With community impact on
their minds, attendees at the
Major Gifts Event finished up
the cocktail hour by pulling
their masks back over their
faces and moving from the
outdoor patio to a spacious
indoor ballroom. There, they
were treated to an exceptional
program featuring Member
of the Knesset (MK) Tal.
A leading climate activist
in Israel, Tal was born and
raised in Raleigh, North
Carolina. He was active in
the Zionist youth movement
Young Judaea, which
eventually led him to make
aliyah to Israel as a young
adult.
Tal has had an illustrious

academic career, earning
a law degree from Hebrew
University and a master’s and
doctorate in environmental
health policy from Harvard’s
School of Public Health.
He has served as chair of
the Department of Public
Policy at Tel Aviv University
since 2017 and has also held
several visiting professorships
around the world, including
at Michigan State University.
Moving his activism to
the political sphere, Tal was
among the founders of Israel’s
Green Movement party and
became its chair in 2010. He
then joined the Blue & White
Party led by Israel’s current
Deputy Prime Minister and
Minister of Defense Benny
Gantz. When Israel formed
a new government in the
summer of 2021, Tal became
a member of Knesset.
Although it was nearly
midnight in Israel by the

time he began to address
the crowd over Zoom, MK
Tal opened the program on
a note of hope: “In 5782,
we have seen the wonderful
blessings of democracy,” he
said, “and how a peaceful
transition of power can take
place.”
He went on to describe
his excitement and hope for
the future of Israeli society,
his legislative priorities
around the environment and
religious pluralism in Israel,
and the need to address what
he called a “domestic crisis”
with regard to the increase
in domestic violence against
women during the pandemic.
As he spoke, Tal invoked
the idea of the shemitah year,
a year of rest built into Jewish
tradition. Originally intended
as a year to let one’s fields lay
fallow in order for the land
to rest, Tal reimagined 5782
as a shemitah from focusing

on issues that divide our
communities, and instead
turning our attention to areas
where we can find common
ground.
“[This program] was what
we needed to take our minds
off trouble in America,” one
attendee noted afterward.
Another called it a “joyous
reunion!” Indeed, it was
a wonderful way to feel a
sense of community and to
celebrate the generosity of
those who support the most
vulnerable in our community
and enrich Jewish life in
greater Ann Arbor, in Israel,
and around the world.

For more information about the

Jewish Federation of Greater Ann

Arbor, or to make a gift to the 2022

Annual Community Campaign, visit

JewishAnnArbor.org or contact

Federation’s Communications &

Development Manager Rachel Wall

at rachel@jewishannarbor.org or (734)

773-3533.

Federation Board Members Marla Chinsky, Randy Milgrom and Decky
Alexander
Event Chairs Brad Axelrod, Robin Axelrod, Ed Goldman and Mona
Goldman

Judy Cohen
and Gideon
Hoffer

Mark Daskin
and Babette
Levy Daskin