The Aleh Foundation and Jack Avital are pleased to announce A Special Evening with Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, including a cocktail reception to benefit Aleh's new Special Education School Campus in Pardes Katz, Israel, which will take place at Shaare Zion on Wednesday evening, May 7, 2008. Also on the program is a special appearance by Rabbi Yeoshiau Yossef Pinto Shlita of Shuva Israel. The evening will be dedicated to the memory of Abe M. Cohen, A”H, founder of Congregation Shaare Zion of Ocean Parkway and one of the driving forces behind the remarkable success of the Syrian Sephardic community in Brooklyn. Stanley Chera will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the evening’s activities.

May 7 is Israel’s Memorial Day, and the eve of Israel’s Independence Day. Mr. Avital and the staff of the Aleh Foundation worked tirelessly to put together a program that would honor the memory of those who founded the State of Israel, while supporting one of Israel’s leading institutions. Aleh is Israel's foremost provider of care and treatment of developmentally disabled infants, children and young adults. More than 650 of Israel's most severely disabled children live at Aleh's facilities in Jerusalem, the Negev, Gedera and Bnei Brak, and hundreds more attend as day patients.

The new Special Education School Campus will be located less than 10 minutes from Tel Aviv, and will contain 24 classrooms, a rooftop playground, an Olympic-sized therapeutic swimming pool, and a wide range of therapies, including occupational, hydro, physio, speech, animal, music and art. All proceeds from this event will go toward the construction of the school campus.

For more information about this event, or the work of the Aleh Centers in Israel, please call the Aleh Foundation at (718) 851-4596 or toll free at (800) 317-ALEH. You can learn more about Aleh's many programs and services by visiting their website, www.aleh.org.