While PK continues to empower women to build Jewish life, advance the status of women and advocate for civil society, the October 7th attack by Hamas puts our organization at the center of two active war zones. We invite you to support vital efforts by attending Project Kesher’s 2024 Benefit on May 8, 2024 at The Times Center.
Donate to Register
Please make checks payable to Project Kesher and mail to: Project Kesher, 2660 Broadway #16, New York, NY 10025. Click here to view sponsorship levels and critical needs.
To donate by phone or to get assistance with your donation, please contact us at 513-276-7282. Click here to view sponsorship levels and critical needs.
Click here to make your donation online.
Our Guests
MUSICAL GUEST JULIE BENKO
Julie Benko is an actor, singer, and writer based in NYC. She recently marched her band out on Broadway as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, skyrocketing to fame and joining the annals of theatrical lore for her sensational understudy-to-star trajectory in the show. Between her tenure as the standby, alternate, and full-time Fanny, she played the role over 180 times and received numerous accolades for her interpretation, including Theatre World's Dorothy Loudon Award for Excellence in the Theatre. She was also named the 2022 Breakout Star for Theater in the New York Times, honored as one of 40 Under 40 for Crain's New York Business, hailed by CBS Mornings as "Broadway's breakout star," and profiled in numerous national media outlets such as the New York Times and Time. In the fall of 2023, she originated her first role on Broadway, playing Ruth in the Barry Manilow/Bruce Sussman musical Harmony.
EMCEE MISHY HARMAN
Mishy Harman is the founder of the award-winning podcast Israel Story (the Israeli equivalent of This American Life). Israel Story’s mission is promote a deeper understanding of - and connection - Israel, through human-interest storytelling.
Following his military service, Mishy studied history at Harvard, archeology at Cambridge and wrote his PhD – a biography of the first Protestant missionary in Ethiopia – at the Hebrew University. He lives in Jerusalem with his wife Federica and their two dogs.
WITH SPECIAL UPDATES FROM PROJECT KESHER LEADERSHIP FROM UKRAINE AND ISRAEL
Vlada Nedak, Rabbi Olya Weinstein, and Galina Sadirova
PROJECT KESHER BOARD
Barbara Glickstein (Chair) • Roz Blanck • Sheila Friedland • Sheila Lambert • Elisabeth Lerner • Dr. Shari Lusskin • Kate Epstein Mankoff • Beth Mann • Arleen Priest • Deborah Roberts • Judith Smith • Eunice Ward • Janet Winter
HEROINE UNDERWRITERS
Michele and Marty Cohen • Sheila and Bill Lambert • Arleen and Aaron Priest • Tracey and Robert Pruzan • Deborah and David Roberts
ESSENTIAL SUPPORTERS
Eunice Ward
ACTIVIST SUPPORTERS
Sheila and Bob Friedland • Daily and Phineas Lambert
MENTOR SUPPORTERS
Gloria and Mark Bieler • Louise Braver • Karyn Gershon and Ed Rosenfeld • Barbara Glickstein and Ethan Ellenberg • Marti Meyerson and Jamie Hooper • Doris and Mike Saranga • Judith Smith and Neil Grill • Diane and Howard Wohl
PATRONS
Madelyn Bucksbaum Adamson • Laurie Baskin and Steve Fadem • Roz and Ron Binday • Sarah Clarkson • Dorothy and Kenneth Finger • Finger and Finger A Professional Corporation • Sallie and Alan Gratch • Joan Kuriansky • Beth Mann • Renny Shapiro • Nancy and David Solomon • Diane Troderman and Harold Grinspoon
SUSTAINERS
Kate Epstein Mankoff and Steven Mankoff • Marta and Franklin Miller • Janet and John Winter
ALLIES
Anita Altman and Gil Kulick • Susan Beckerman • Eve Birnbaum and Lawrence Goldberg • Roz Komisar Blanck and Stanford Blanck • Joan and Peter Cohn • Erica and Martin Frederick • Barbara and David Garlock • Stacy Kanter and Eric Kornblau • Elisabeth Lerner • Shari Lusskin • Rabbi Karen Perolman and Elizabeth Glazer • Lynn Povich and Stephen Shepard • Shari and Stephen Reiches • Sandra Rocks • Janice Rous • Lizzy Scheinfeld • Deborah and Jeremiah Shaw • Joyce and Charles Shenk
PARTNERS
Jacqueline Braunthal • Elaine Cohen • Nina and Arnold Lehman • Bobbi Mark • Abby Pariser • Renana and Bob Rosenbloom • Marcie and David Singer • Beth Sosin • Carole Caplan-Sosin • Joan and Richard Toder • Nancy and Daniel Torchio • Ann Viney
Our Work
WORK IN UKRAINE
In Ukraine, we continue to work with trusted partners to meet the country’s most urgent needs, including food, clean water, medical and hygiene kits, menstrual cups, generators, hospital equipment, electric bicycles for nurses to visit homebound patients, and grants to women-owned small businesses. We have also expanded our Jewish intergenerational leadership programs for mother-daughter pairs and introduced cultural events celebrating Judaism in Ukraine.
WORK IN ISRAEL
In Israel, with the collapse of the government infrastructure providing services and mass layoffs impacting refugees and immigrants who were holding menial jobs, poverty has turned into desperation. We have been delivering food parcels for women, children, and the elderly, gift cards for warm clothing and hygiene supplies, first aid kits for minor injuries in the rush to bomb shelters, and mental health support for women and children in Russian. In addition, we continue leading educational seminars and language classes for new immigrants, launching new women’s groups, and supporting the LGBTQ community financially and emotionally.
