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

