Hear from Campaign Supporters
These are just a few of the faces, names and quotes from people supporting our Campaign. Keep checking back for additions as we upload more comments, and please feel free to add your thoughts. If you would like to share your insights, email [email protected] with your quote (under 50 words), photo, and names/titles as appropriate.
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The KJA and the synagogue, Congregation B’nai Israel shaped much of my roots and foundation. It’s been, and continues to be, a place of community and the center of our activities. It gives me great pride to contribute to the Foundation for the Future campaign. I want to be a part of a thriving congregation that fosters the creation of this meaningful space for our families and future generations to learn, celebrate, and come together. - Rachel Moussa, Campaign Donor |
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Nothing is as important to us as family. We want our children Gabriel and Zachary to know their roots, traditions, and to have a strong Karaite identity. We see our future in our children, and it gives us great joy to see our children in our vibrant synagogue, Congregation B’nai Israel. We want the congregation to grow as our children grow! - Kimberly, Michael, Gabriel and Zachary Ovadia; Campaign Donors |
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As a Jewish woman who grew up in San Francisco, my identity was a product of the eastern European Jewish experience, and the history I learned about was the Holocaust. I never fully realized that there was a broader Jewish community that also struggled to survive in Egypt and throughout the Middle East. Having learned about Congregation B'nai Israel’s Karaite Jewish community and its Foundation For The Future Campaign, I am so pleased to support this effort and I challenge the larger Jewish community to support it as well. The Campaign is helping to achieve greater understanding of our Jewish diversity and the depth and breadth of contributions made to Judaism by Karaite Jews. It will be exciting to explore the uniqueness and the similarities of our worlds through the variety of programs that will be sponsored by the national Karaite Jewish Cultural Center to be established as a result of the Campaign.
- Nancy Goldberg, Past President, Board of Directors, Jewish Family and Children's Services (JFCS) of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; Vice President, Current Chair, Palliative Care Task Force, JFCS; Vice President, Rhoda Goldman Plaza, Campaign Supporter |
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We are excited to help establish the first Karaite Jewish Cultural Center by planting the seeds for an institution that will be unique in the world. We are excited because we have been given a challenging opportunity to preserve the wisdom of our ancestors, to spread our knowledge, create new liturgies, deal with contemporary matters, and restore the glory of Karaism as of old. So in the future, when our descendants walk in the Judaic garden searching for their origins and their roots, they will find Karaism; the rare flowers of the lilies.
- Joe Pessah, Emeritus Rav, Congregation B’nai Israel, and wife Remy; Campaign donors, San Jose, CA |
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Over the years my connections with members of the Karaite community have deepened. What a wonderful community, what special people you are. Your heritage needs to be maintained. Your Campaign will make that dream come true. - Rabbi Marvin Goodman, Rabbi-in-Residence and Director of the Synagogue-Federation Partnership, Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, The Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties; former Rabbi, Peninsula Sinai Congregation, Foster City; Campaign Supporter |
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I want to be more connected to my roots. - Jeremy Ovadia, Campaign Donor, Los Angeles, CA |
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The Karaites are a historic and honored branch of our Jewish heritage and I am delighted to support them. - Rabbi Brian Lurie, Campaign Donor, President, New Israel Fund and former Executive Director of the Jewish Community Federation of San Francisco, the Peninsula, Marin and Sonoma Counties |
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Odette and I pledge to support the community as much as we can. With our children, Michelle, Robert, and Jennifer and Ben Lebovitz , we hope our gift commitment will help more people to get involved and to contribute as much as they can to make the dream a reality. That was my dad's dream -- to make our community strong and well known throughout the USA and the world, and not to have the Karaite Jews disappear like other minority groups did before us. We are excited and proud to be part of the NEW modern synagogue. We know that the changes the Board will implement for the new Family Shabbat, for example, will encourage younger couples to attend with their kids. - David and Odette Khedr, Campaign Donors Santa Monica, CA |
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It's very touching to know that the Karaite synagogue is always ready to help the elderly and the needy in the USA and in Israel. The care and love of the congregation is indescribable. We hope that an updated synagogue will encourage more people to participate in the prayers and activities. - Fred and Jackie Lichaa, Campaign Donors, Foster City, CA |
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The late and much loved Joe Wahed once told me that I needed to start speaking out about the history of Jews from the Middle East and to share our story and our shared experience. At first, I hesitated, but after 9/11, as a refugee from Libya I understood how important it was that I do this, in addition to my work for Soviet Jews. Joe always said: "We want our children to know our story"- now not only our children know it, hundreds of thousands do as well. The Karaite Jewish experience is an important part of this story, and I am pleased to honor Joe’s memory and to support his vision by making sure that our compelling history and exile is included in the narrative of world Jewry. I congratulate Karaite Jews of America for its efforts to preserve its traditions and to educate the larger community about them.
- Gina Waldman, Co-Founder and President, Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa; former Director of the Bay Area Council for Soviet Jewry; former recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award; Campaign Supporter |
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It is vitally important for our family to preserve our Karaite tradition, beliefs and heritage. Our contributions are channeled to be an investment in our future generations. The new addition and renovation of our Synagogue is a giant step towards, achieving this noble goal. Please join us and make all our dreams turn into reality. - Henry Mourad, President of Karaite Jews of America, and wife Doris; Campaign Donors Los Altos, CA |
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Throughout the years, my family has done much soul searching within the Jewish faith. Literally taking the phrase "wandering Jew" to heart, going from one synagogue to another searching for a home. We have found it at B'nai Israel! From the very first visit more than three years ago on Purim, to each and every time we come for services or an event, we feel such love and warmth that I can only encourage others to come and experience firsthand; rather than attempt to put into words. I am so thankful to B'nai Israel and wish them the utmost success in continuing the Karaite tradition for now and future generations. - Leah Frost, Executive Director of Congregation Beth Ami in Santa Rosa, California |
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We are honored to be leading this effort to help ensure that the unique culture and sacred traditions of the Karaite Jewish heritage be preserved, enhanced and understood in the years to come. Through this Campaign to revitalize our community in the Bay Area and throughout the United States, we also look forward to building bridges to the larger Jewish world.
- David Ovadia, “Foundation for the Future” Campaign Committee Chairman and Maryellen Himell-Ovadia, Volunteer Campaign Director; Donors |
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