South Florida Sun Sentinel Spotlights A4BGU Events
South Florida Sun Sentinel Spotlights A4BGU Events
February 6, 2024
Current events, Leadership, Awards & Events
South Florida Sun Sentinel — A4BGU’s South Florida Chapter is hosting events in February on topics ranging from resilience during wartime to the impact of Israeli water technology.
On Feb. 15 at the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival, A4BGU is screening “Who Are the Marcuses?” The documentary reveals the remarkable story of one family, Lottie, Howard, and their daughter Ellen, who changed the future with the single largest donation ever made to an institution based in Israel. This screening will feature the attendance of Ellen Marcus, who will introduce the film and participate in a conversation afterward. The film simultaneously traces the development of Israel’s vital water technology from pre-state to the present; how the Marcuses’ $500 million gift to Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) in 2016 has ensured continued leading-edge development in water science for not only the Israeli people, but the world as a whole; sets the family’s gift in a geopolitical context; and explores both its impact and implications for regional peace through technology exchange.
“The Marcuses were humble visionaries who saw the importance of water research not only as vital to Israel’s self-sufficiency but as a strategy to achieve peace through shared natural resources. Their transformative generosity will be felt for generations to come,” said Doug Seserman, Chief Executive Officer of A4BGU.
Later in the month, Prof. Ilan Troen — Professor Emeritus of the Sam and Anna Lopin Chair of Modern History at BGU, and Stoll Family Chair in Israel Studies at Brandeis University — will speak on Feb. 27 in Boca Raton and on Feb. 28 in partnership with the Miami Beach JCC. On October 7, Prof. Troen’s daughter and son-in-law, Deborah and Shlomi Matias, were murdered in their home in Kibbutz Holit. At the South Florida events, he will share his firsthand account of the Hamas massacre; its impact on BGU and his own family; and how he, and Israel, forges a way forward.
For more information about these events and sponsorship opportunities, contact Rebecca Wasserstrom at [email protected]
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