Last year’s Israel advocacy event included a procession with the Israeli and U.S. flags.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of South Jersey will host its 57th annual Israel advocacy event on Sunday, when it will award East High senior Josh Resnick.
Resnick has earned the Next Gen Israel Advocacy Award, according to the council’s website, for multiple reasons, including organizing a trip to Washington, D.C., in January for students to speak with members of Congress about combatting antisemitism, and for wearing a kippah on Oct. 8, 2023, the day after Hamas’ deadly attack on Israel.
Resnick is also president of East’s Jewish Student Union.
Sabrina Spector, executive director of the council, said the Next Gen award began in 2021 to acknowledge the work of high-school and college students.
“We really want to take this opportunity to acknowledge future leaders and to acknowledge that there is a next generation of individuals that are strong advocates …” she explained. “And we think it’s important to lift up the voices of young people to showcase what they’ve been working on and what their passions are.”
The council will also give the Next Gen award to Voorhees resident Mark Kramer, and the community award to Rinat Morad. Both will be recognized at the Israel advocacy event, whose keynote speaker will be Yoseph Haddad, an Arab-Israeli activist.
Kramer is one of four vice presidents on the council’s board of directors and is president of Kramer Beverage, a company that’s been in his family since it was founded in 1924. Morad is chair of the council’s Yom HaZikaron program, which honors Israeli soldiers and civilians killed in terrorist attacks.
Spector explained that both Kramer and Morad are important members of the community.
“He (Kramer) just continues to be a role model for the community and true leadership and partnership,” she remarked. ” … And the same is true for Rinat. She’s originally from Israel and she’s been a real pillar in the community, the Israeli and American community, bringing us together. Always being the voice of support.
“She also has a very long bio,” Spector added. “She’s worked tirelessly, a real community builder.”
This year marks only the second for the community award, which last year went to a single honoree. That has changed.
“There were some individuals that had gone over and beyond in just the community and servicing the community,” Spector noted. “And we wanted to acknowledge them. So this year, we kind of pivoted a little bit more. Last year was more of an honoree; we just wanted to acknowledge what they had done. And then this year we were like, ‘You know what, we really like it. Let’s have this community award …
“It’s not about the big picture with Israel and going to Israel all the time or the big dollars or whatever,” Spector pointed out. “There’s a lot of people doing a lot of grassroots work and we wanted to acknowledge them.”
Tickets for the Israel advocacy event are available to order by phone up until its date.
