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June 2^nd 2005

PLANTING THE FUTURE

During the month of June, four more unique events will be added to the list of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund community activities. These events promote research through grants from KKL-JNF foundations or from estates bequeathed to KKL–JNF. Grants are awarded to various population groups worthy of advancement on the one hand, and to accomplished individuals in science, who have contributed to Israel and to society, on the other hand.

Seven doctoral candidates and researchers in the field of philosophy at various universities in Israel will be receiving grants totaling about NIS 282,000 from the Swiss Philosophy Fund, which is administrated by KKL-JNF.  The award ceremony is scheduled for June 15, 2005, with the participation of KKL-JNF World Chairman, Yehiel Leket, and senior philosophers from Israel's universities.

The following week a ceremony with very different participants will take place: pupils from grades1- 4 and grades 11-12, from schools in Haifa.  They will be awarded annual grants from the Haim Ben Dor Memorial Foundation in two areas of education worthy of promotion - the Ethical Behavior Prize for young children and the Good Heart Prize for teenagers. 

These two ceremonies represent the wide range of activity for the advancement of social and scientific excellence being carried out through KKL-JNF foundations, administered by the Endowments and Estates Department through generous gifts of KKL-JNF's friends in Israel and abroad.

What does KKL-JNF have to do with medical students?  What does KKL-JNF have to do with art?  KKL-JNF World Chairman, Yehiel Leket, offered an answer to these questions at one of the awards ceremonies.  "KKL-JNF's basic commitment is to the quality of life and to the quality of the environment.  In a recent study carried out at the Weizmann Institute it was found that forestation is central in the worldwide effort to preserve the ozone layer of the atmosphere.  Making nature accessible and safeguarding natural surroundings - these are goals of KKL-JNF. Through its activities KKL-JNF contributes to public health."  Mr. Leket applauded the largesse of donors who have established foundations over the years and have dedicated estates, through KKL-JNF, in support of society and the sciences.

At a festive event at the beginning of May 2005, KKL-JNF awarded grants to Hebrew University students.  At this event, grant awards totaled NIS 171,000.  These included three grants for cancer research from the Arthur & Ludmila Zucker Memorial Fund, Germany and eleven grants for pharmacology students from the Anna Sacerdoti Memorial Fund, Italy. They also include four grants in the field of open lands management from the Roberto Valobra Memorial Fund, Italy, and thirty grants for needy students, from the Nathan Simon Memorial Fund, USA.

On 2^nd June 2005 it will be the turn of the students at Tel Hai College, the northernmost college in the State of Israel, to receive annual grants from four different funds administrated by KKL-JNF.  Nine grants will be received from the Martha Dux Foundation for Needy Students (Italy); two awards will be received for the study of art, from the Edith Mandel Foundation, USA; four students of Ethiopian origin will be receiving scholarships from the Denise and Robert Bing Foundation, Switzerland; and ten other students in the fields of agriculture and ecology will be receiving scholarships from the Philip Simon Foundation, USA.

On 8^th June 2005, a similar event is to take place at Ben Gurion University, where eighteen grants of NIS 3,000 each will be awarded to medical students.  The financing of these grants was made possible by three foundations established by KKL-JNF donors from Italy and England.  From 2002 through 2004, Ben Gurion University students were awarded grants totaling NIS 992,000.  75% of this amount was directed towards students at the Institute for Desert Research, the pioneers in sustainable development of the Negev.  The remainder was directed to the Department of Health Sciences and the Department of Social Sciences.

During the month of April, two similar, moving events took place at Tel Aviv University and at the Emuna College in Jerusalem for medical students and for needy students.  These followed grants awarded to 60 students at the Haifa Technion at the end of March.  The Nathan Simon Foundation, USA, and the Rita Crom and Abba Ben Shlomo Memorial Fund, Israel, distributed NIS 3,000 to each student for the purpose of encouraging excellence.

At an enchanting event in April, KKL-JNF awarded scholarships for outstanding musicians totaling NIS 120,000 from five different funds from England, Uruguay, Argentina, Italy and the United States of America.  The ceremony took place in the Raicha Frair Hall in Kibbutz Yaqum, with fourteen Youth Aliya villages competing in the finals.  The young musicians demonstrated their special talents in playing musical instruments such as piano, cello, guitar, flute, drums, and accordion.  All participants who made it to the finals received prizes ranging from NIS 15,000 for the winner, cellist Vasily Hochrokov, to consolation prizes of NIS 2,500.  Entertainment included an Ethiopian group of youth from six different Youth Villages, as well as an ensemble from the Boarding and Youth Aliya Authority.  Both were so impressive that additional funds were obtained for grants of NIS 10,000 each, for instruction and for seminars.  The Ethiopian Youth group aims to instill pride in their own culture - which was evident that evening.

Attending were KKL-JNF World Chairman, Yehiel Leket, Yehiel Shilo, Director of the Administration for Rural Education and Youth Aliya; and Shulamit Yaish and David Goel, members of KKL-JNF's Public Committee for Scholarships.  Ms.Yaish is a member of the KKL-JNF Board of Directors.

KKL-JNF administers about a hundred foundations from bequests, most of which were earmarked in advance by friends of KKL-JNF for financial support of needy students for ecological or medical research, for needy families, for the elderly, for disabled children, or for pupils in regular schools. This year, twenty-two assistance grants were also received by women in shelters for battered women who were compelled to leave their homes.

Each year, about twenty ceremonies take place for grant awards for various purposes from foundation dividends, and the total of the grants awarded amounts to about NIS 2 million annually.  Some of the foundations grant awards for excellence, and these, as well as others, are received after a stringent process of selection by the Public Committee, which determines the purposes of the grants and prizes according to clearly defined criteria.

Six years before achieving universal recognition of the Nobel Prize for his research, Professor Aharon Czechanover of the Technion received a special prize from the Alkeles Foundation, Germany, established by Dr. Ludwig Alkeles, as part of the foundation's policy to grant prizes for unique medical research.  The prize was awarded to Professor Czechanover in 1999 - five years before the science world, through the Nobel Prize Committee, recognized the importance of the biochemical research conducted by Czechanover, with his teacher, mentor and partner in receiving the Nobel Prize, Professor Abraham Hershko.And perhaps in the future, the names of some of this year's award recipients will be recalled several years from now, as they make headlines in the world of science.  For KKL-JNF and friends it would not be the first time.  

Ultimo Aggiornamento: venerdì 06 aprile 2007 08.48.22 webmaster kkl italia Edmondo Del Monte 2005