Pearls From the Opera

On January 18, 2007, approximately 1,500 individuals came to the Israel Opera House in Tel Aviv in order to participate in the yearly donor event of "Yeladim- Fair chance for  children". All the funds that were raised were solely for the benefit of the 10,000 children who were unable to live with their dysfunctional families, and who live in eighty residential group homes throughout the country. The guests that evening were greeted by the Events Committee and their partners (Irit and Jonathan Kolber, Judith and Rami Nussbaum, Gila and Chemi Peres, Prof. Dan Shnit, Chair of the organization, and his wife Nurit, and Galia Maor, Director of Bank Leumi and the Chair of Friends of "Yeladim- Fair chance for  children". The atmosphere was as festive as those of opening nights in theaters around the world.  

The event was opened by Kobi Meidan, who has volunteered for several years to host Yeladim's" events. Galia Maor, Chair of Friends of "Yeladim" spoke first and expressed her appreciation for those from the business world who made  generous contributions and sponsored the evening's event, and have helped for a number of years to make the yearly events a successful tradition. Professor Dan Shnit then spoke of the need to offer equal opportunities for children in residential group care to become full and contributing citizens of the state. The last to offer his best wishes for the evening was Shimon Peres, Deputy Prime Minister.

The highlight of the evening was the premier showing of a very moving film about the life story of two children growing up in residential group care. David, eight years old, spent two years repeating first grade three times. His "Yeladim's" tutor, Sofri Cfir, discovered where the trouble lay and saw to it that the child was promoted to second grade. Then, in the third grade, David surprised everyone by passing the "Sold" Institute test for intellectually gifted children with highest marks in his class and second highest in his grade level. Nitzanit, eighteen years old, is a teenager without any family. She is one of the court-appointed wards of the "Yeladim" Legal Guardian Program, with a social worker who has been a mother substitute for her. Nitzanit is one of the success stories of the Program and she is serving in the army Entertainment Unit after having been chosen from 8,000 applicants.  

The main portion of the evening, voluntarily organized by Naomi Atias, was the performance of opera singers: David De'or, Shlomit Aharon, Larissa Tatoyev, Alexandra Shabat, Hila Bagio, Noach Briger and Yotam Cohen, who sang choice solo and duet arias from various operas and popular melodies.

The amount of money the organization was able to raise at this event was the largest ever, and came above one million Shekels. Those who contributed generously and sponsored the event were: Galia Maor, CEO Bank Leumi and Nochi Dankner CEO I.D.B.