Rabbinic Reflection: Rabbi Zachary Goodman
An Intimate Evening with Inspiring Israelis
This Monday, Israel held its third election in under a year. After the Central Election Committee completed counting roughly 99% of the polling stations as of Tuesday night, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bloc of right-wing and religious parties remained the frontrunners in the race to form the Knesset’s next government. As these results and their implications become clearer in the coming days, all eyes turn towards Israeli politics.
While it is crucial that we remain attentive and acquainted with the political landscape of this historic election, let us not forget that Israel’s greatest asset will always remain to be her people. That is why I hope you will join me this Saturday evening at Holy Blossom Temple for an intimate evening with a handful or truly inspiring Israelis. At 6:00 pm on March 7, the Canadian Zionist Federation and the Department of Diaspora Affairs of the World Zionist Organization, in conjunction with El Al and Holy Blossom Temple, will be sponsoring a program called ‘Beit Ha’am in the Skies – El Al Ambassadors. El Al pilots and crew are trained to speak to diaspora communities about Israel and their life experiences. Scheduled just days after the Israeli elections, this will be a good opportunity to hear a variety of points of view about the election results from some very interesting Israelis.
The El Al Ambassadors program has proven to be very popular in Canada. Crew members of El Al have spoken at least half a dozen times in and around Toronto. The results have always been extremely engaging and have provided a very unique insight into the lives of Israelis. It is a little-known fact that a high percentage of El Al staff choose to work for the airline as a second or third career. They are mature and fascinating people with interesting life stories.
One such story is that of Captain Emmanuel Rosenzweig; a pilot with El Al as well as the grandson of the famed philosopher Franz Rosenzweig. Emmanuel has a fascinating life history and will be sharing it at Holy Blossom Temple on Saturday, March 7 at 6:00 pm!
Born in Germany and raised Israel, Emmanuel served as an intelligence officer, pilot and flight officer in the IDF as a career soldier for 22 years. He continued as a reserve pilot after leaving the IDF. For the past 15 years, he has been a pilot for El Al and is currently Captain of Boeing 777 and 787 aircrafts. Apart from his fascinating family story, his major claim to fame is his participation in the entire second season of the popular TV show ‘Master Chef Israel’ (where he competed as a finalist). Through this TV exposure, he has gained wide public recognition. I hope you will be able to join Emmanuel and a number of his El Al colleagues this Saturday night.
Schedule of Events:
5:00 pm – Mincha Service
6:00 pm – Panel with EL AL Ambassadors and presentation by Emanuel Rosenzweig
7:00 pm – Israeli style dinner and intimate roundtables with the ambassadors
Don’t miss this unique opportunity! To register, please CLICK HERE!
Interested in travelling to Israel? Click Here for more information on how to do so with our community!
We are looking forward to what promises to be a remarkable evening and hope you will join us!
