WIZO celebrates achievements and new beginnings

Rosh Hashanah has brought new beginnings for all of us and the hope that the special connections and support of family, friends, and community, will continue when the threat of COVID-19 is a distant memory.

Over the past few months, WIZO (the Women’s International Zionist Organisation) has been constantly in the news in Israel. Fighting for women’s rights, maintaining excellence in WIZO schools, and being recognised by the Israeli government for the network of philanthropic projects that stretch the length and breadth of Israel are only some of the milestones that make us such proud members of this international organisation.

WIZO Israel proudly promoted the Bill for Equal Rights and Pay for Women and Men in the Workplace passed in the Knesset on 24 August 2020. As women’s rights activists, WIZO works tirelessly to promote gender equality on all fronts. Women’s empowerment is one of the founding principles of the organisation since its inception in 1920. Lobbying against domestic violence is ongoing, and WIZO provides safe-houses, training, and work opportunities for women forced to flee their homes, often with small children in tow. As leaders against gender-based violence, WIZO also offers a helpline and counselling for the perpetrators of abuse, and the lines are busy day and night.

Esther Mor, World WIZO president, was one of four women in Israel to receive the Eshet Lapidot Award for philanthropy on behalf of WIZO. Mor was also invited to the signing of the Abraham Accords at the White House in Washington DC last week. What an honour for her and for WIZO, demonstrating the esteem with which the organisation is held not only in Israel but around the world!

The day before Rosh Hashanah, the chairperson of World WIZO’s early age department visited Neve WIZO (WIZO South Africa’s jewel-in-the-crown project), accompanied by Avi Mottola, Israel’s deputy director general of the ministry of welfare. Each of its five cottages had exquisitely laid yom tov tables, and the children at each home shared warm and tender stories of their lives before and after coming to live at Neve WIZO. In one of the houses, Mottola met Hila, a soldier in the Patriot Regiment who came to celebrate at the home. Mottola was moved to tears, and at the end of the visit he said, “I couldn’t have started the year in a more significant place than Neve WIZO”.

On the home front, WIZO has hosted a number of informative webinars, WIZO societies have committed themselves to outreach projects in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, and WIZO’s Wheelchairs of Hope have been donated to needy children around the country.

The WIZO Elise Gift Shop is officially online, with a stunning range of hand-picked homeware, baby gifts and more at significantly reduced prices. Shop.wizo.co.za

Finally, please save the date for WIZO South Africa’s conference on 22 November 2020, with guest speaker Trudy Gold, renowned British historian and Holocaust educator, and the former chief executive of the London Jewish Cultural Centre.

May we all be inscribed in the book of life, and a gmar chatima tova.