Danielle Abraham Honored for Helping Israel's War-Damaged Farms Recover

The Jerusalem Post reports that Danielle Abraham, a London-born immigrant to Israel, received the Global Impact award at the 12th annual Nefesh B'Nefesh Sylvan Adams Bonei Zion Prize. Abraham had spent years bringing Israeli farming know-how to countries battling drought and food shortages. Within days of October 7, she turned her attention home and launched ReGrow Israel to get the damaged Gaza-border farms running again.

When Hamas terrorists tore through the farming communities on the Gaza border on October 7, the Post writes, they left behind burned sheds, wrecked machinery and fields no one could harvest. Abraham's initiative set out to restore them, and it has since expanded to farms and communities damaged by the war in the north. The Bonei Zion ("Builders of Zion") Prize honors immigrants from English-speaking countries, known in Hebrew as Olim, whose work and community leadership have made a lasting impact on Israeli society. As the Psalmist wrote, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy." (Psalm 126:5)

Abraham shares this year's honors with recipients in science, education, social welfare, sport and diplomacy, the Post reports. The Community & Non-Profit prize goes to Naomi Stuchiner, founder of Beit Issie Shapiro, one of Israel's leading organizations serving people with disabilities and their families. The Lifetime Achievement Award goes to Prof. Marta Weinstock-Rosin, the neuropharmacologist who developed the Alzheimer's drug Exelon. The Special Recognition Award goes to Ron Dermer, former Israeli ambassador to the United States and former minister of strategic affairs, for decades of public service, including his role in strengthening the U.S.-Israel alliance and advancing the Abraham Accords.

The prize comes in a year that Nefesh B'Nefesh says is shaping up to be one of its strongest since it was founded in 2002, according to the Post. More than 1,100 North Americans made aliyah, the move to Israel, through the organization in August alone, a monthly record. "It's record-breaking for us," Marc Rosenberg, the group's vice president of Diaspora partnerships, told the Post at Ben-Gurion Airport as another 150 newcomers landed. Around 650 of this summer's North American arrivals moved to the periphery in the north and south, the regions that bore the brunt of the war.

Nefesh B'Nefesh works with Israel's Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and Jewish National Fund-USA. The Post reports it has helped nearly 100,000 North Americans settle in Israel, with a 90% retention rate. Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, the group's co-founder and executive director, said, "Each of this year's recipients exemplifies the values of dedication, innovation, and Zionism." Together, he added, they show the strength that aliyah keeps bringing to the State of Israel.

Prize sponsor Sylvan Adams, who himself made aliyah a decade ago, told the Post the connection between the honorees and the new arrivals is the point. "Each year, the Bonei Zion Prize reminds us of one of Israel's greatest strengths," he said, "the extraordinary people who choose to build their lives here and, in doing so, help build the future of the Jewish state."