News

December 3, 2008

Major General Elazar Stern (Ret) appointed as Chairman of GPG's International Advisory Board

Genesis Philanthropy Group is pleased to announce that Major General (Ret) Elazar Stern has been appointed as Chairman of GPG's International Advisory Board. He will be a full-time advisor to the foundation on its work in Israel and other countries where Genesis operates.

Elazar Stern will be responsible for identifying and implementing strategic approaches to enhancing the Jewish identity of Russian-speaking Jews in Israel, including but not limited to the Israeli school system, informal education programs, and IDF/pre-military youth programs. Elazar will also work with the Israeli government and governmental organizations to seek the inclusion of Russian-speaking Jews on the official agenda of governmental affairs. He will focus on creating strategic partnerships with Israeli and international foundations, non-profits, and philanthropists around the issue of Jewish identity for Russian-speaking Jews. Elazar's work will allow Genesis to develop the organizational infrastructure needed to support the growth of GPG activities in Israel, and will allow Genesis to eventually serve as a resource and support for GPG grantees in Israel.

"We are very pleased and honored to have Elazar join GPG," said Stan Polovets, the CEO of Genesis Philanthropy Group. "Having Elazar Stern on the Genesis team will help establish and maintain GPG's reputation as a preeminent international foundation active in Jewish philanthropy, and will allow the foundation to manage key relationships with the Israeli government, major international Jewish organizations, and other foundations active in this arena."

Elazar Stern is a Major General (Ret) of the Israeli Defense Forces and is the former head of the IDF Human Resources Directorate. As head of Human Resources, Major General Stern oversaw the creation of Nativ, a program that offers educational opportunities to non-Jewish IDF troops to study Judaism, Jewish history and tradition. This program, which is run with the full cooperation of the Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform movements, provides all the necessary content for those soldiers who wish to convert to Judaism. Throughout his military service, Elazar took part in numerous projects, all of which dealt with the integration of various segments of Israeli society, particularly lone soldiers, new immigrants and orthodox soldiers. During his service in training and combat commanding positions, Elazar Stern was instrumental in seeding and expanding the IDF’s involvement with Jewish identity issues, including strengthening ties between IDF soldiers and world Jewry. While serving as commander of the Officers’ Training School, Stern initiated the flagship project of the IDF, Edim Bemadim (Witnesses in Uniform). This highly reputable program gives IDF soldiers and officers the opportunity to tour to the concentration camps of Poland. The project started in 1994 with one bus per year and by the time that Stern retired from the military, the program was sending 80 buses to Poland annually.