FIDF raises 300K in 5T

Four-hundred-fifty people came out to support the work of Friends of the Israeli Defense Forces (FIDF) on May 9. The seventh annual Five Towns and Greater South Shore dinner at the Sephardic Temple in Cedarhurst raised about $300,000.

There are 205 active-duty IDF “Lone Soldiers” — personnel who do not have immediate family in Israel — from New York state, many of from Long Island.

“These funds go to the soldiers,” said event emcee and Lawrence resident Benjamin Brafman. “Without the soldiers we don’t have eretz Yisroel,” he added.

Four Lawrence residents were honored for their support of the FIDF. The man who piloted the lead airplane involved in the 1976 rescue at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport spoke on behalf of the IDF.

Ariel and Baruch Glaubach received the FIDF’s Keepers of the Flame Award. The Spirit of Israel Award went to Perri and Daniel Moskovic, the grandchildren of Holocaust survivors and lifelong Five Towners.

Noting the yellow symbol that Jews were forced to wear by the Nazis, Daniel Moskovic said, “The yellow star of David was replaced with the blue and white of Israel.”