Shelley and Marc Willner are pleased to announce the dedication of an Ambulance for Magen David Adom on the 3rd of April at Temple Shaari Emeth. The dedication is in memory of Charlotte Weinstein (Shelley’s mom) who was a lifelong Zionist and supporter of the people and land of Israel. During her lifetime she had donated three MDA ambulances.
Magen David Adom (MDA) is Israel’s paramedic and Red Cross service. Israel’s more than 9.3 million residents rely on MDA to respond to every possible emergency — from a sick child to a suicide bomber or a rocket attack near the country’s borders. Virtually everyone in Israel knows someone whose life has been saved by Magen David Adom.
As a Red Cross affiliate, MDA is precluded from accepting governmental support for its general operations. As a result, MDA relies on support from American donors through the American Friends of Magen David Adom (AFMDA) to keep its dispatch systems, training, and equipment the best in the world.
MDA operates a massive fleet of 2,150 emergency medical vehicles — from Life Support Ambulances and Mobile Intensive Care Units (MICUs) to Medicycles and all-terrain vehicles. In addition, it fields more than 30,000 paramedics, EMTs, and volunteer first responders in 180 emergency medical stations who are among the most highly trained pre-hospital medical professionals in the world.
Please join us to honor Charlotte and our support of MDA who makes a significant impact in Israel by helping to save lives every day.
Lifelong Learning: Movie: Joachim Prinz: I SHALL NOT BE SILENT: In-person and on Zoom Click to Register
Sunday, April 3 11:30am-1:00pm
In Berlin in the 1930's, the civil rights of Jews were systematically stripped away. A young rabbi refused to be silent. His name was Joachim Prinz and he set out to restore the self-esteem of the German Jews. Knowing the Nazis were monitoring his every word, and despite repeated arrests, Prinz continued to preach about the value of Judaism. He saved many lives by encouraging Jews to emigrate from Germany.
Expelled from Germany in 1937, Prinz arrived in the United States, the land where democracy had supposedly triumphed over bigotry and hatred. Here, he witnessed racism against African Americans and realized the American ideal was not a reality.
As rabbi of Temple B'nai Abraham in Newark, NJ and later as President of the American Jewish Congress, Prinz became a leader of the civil rights movement. Prinz worked to organize the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, declaring, "bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful and the most tragic problem is silence." Moments later, Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his "I Have A Dream" speech.
