We were excited to join an Iftar dinner last Thursday. attended by the President, Isaac Herzog.
Suzan Hasan, JDC-TEVET Deputy CEO, was honored to speak at the occasion. You are welcome to read Suzan’s important words.
Good evening everyone. “Ramadan brings us together…” is a sentence most of us are familiar with, and it authentically expresses one of the significant values this holy month summons to us. On this day, we celebrate a significant and moving family event at the President’s welcomed initiative, a Ramadan Iftar alongside the end of Passover. The contiguity between the holidays of the two major religions in Israel reminds us how intertwined our lives are. Like on Iftar, in Passover, we also sit together for the Seder dinner and celebrate the holiday with those close to us. We all very much enjoy this spirit of partnership, shared destiny, and solidarity on these two occasions.
The period of Ramadan reminds us well how important it is to have compassion and interpersonal communication, as it manifests in the traditional joint dinner around one familial, communal, and social table. Muhammed Alsadek said: God-fearing, and be just brothers who love each other for Allah, connected and compassioned, visiting and visited, remember our religion and give it life.
And today, our shared challenge is to hold on to these values of connection and communication, to know how to enjoy this spirit not only during the holiday with close family but also with the entire society after the holiday.
The worldview of connection and shared destiny is at the heart of my work at JDC. Since 1914, the JDC has been working for the most vulnerable populations in society to narrow the most urgent socioeconomic gaps and enhance the resilience of Israeli society due to the importance of the value of solidarity and the understanding that the strength of Israeli society is dependent on the resilience of each of its individuals. Only together will we succeed.
Personally, as Suzan, and as the JDC-TEVET Deputy CEO, my team and I wake up every morning to bring about solutions – and here, too, we work together. Together, we’re creating connections and partnerships with the government, authorities, the social, business, and philanthropic sectors, and the community.
At JDC-TEVET, we work on developing social solutions in employment and narrowing productivity gaps while helping diverse populations fulfill their personal and vocational potential. I invite everyone to get to know, support, and connect with these initiatives.
Thanks again to all those who thought of and organized this event, who were able to expand the family Iftar table, on one of the ten holiest nights of the month, into a broad Israeli family that includes one of our greatest assets – a diverse and delicate human fabric.
Ramadan Karim
