The Maryland Chapter of the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces held its annual gala on Oct. 28 as it honored local Jewish philanthropist David Cordish, showcased the initiatives to support soldiers through the war and humanized the experiences of soldiers.
The gala is the signature event and major fundraiser for the Maryland FIDF chapter, drawing over 1,000 people to the Live! Casino Hotel Maryland in Anne Arundel County this year for a night of excitement and passionate support of Israel, according to Shoshi Ponczak, the director of the Maryland FIDF chapter.
“It’s a powerful program. I think people feel immense pride that we live in such a community that’s able to bring 1,000 people into a room to support Israel. It’s a big deal to say that we’re a community that can do that,” Ponczak said.
Ponczak credited the Maryland FIDF board for their leadership in making sure the event ran smoothly, specifically board president Sherry Mauer, chairman Marty Taylor, and Bill and Myra Fox, the event chairs, for the work that let the organization raise the money they needed to continue supplying IDF soldiers with important services.
Ponczak added that part of the event’s mission was to share the various needs of IDF soldiers and the ways the FIDF can be there to provide food, mental health services and other services to mitigate some of the effects of being at war for over a year.
“It’s our event to bring to the community what FIDF does and all of the initiatives that we put forth, and to put our name out there and show people that there’s a lot of need for the soldiers of Israel, and FIDF is there for all those things. We are an organization that supports and empowers the soldiers of the IDF through humanitarian ways,” Ponczak said.
A major feature of this year’s gala was the honoring of Cordish, a Baltimore native, for his decades of support for Israel and the FIDF cause through “unprecedented” contributions that Ponczak said have been “paramount to our cause.”
The gala featured four parents of lone soldiers who moved to Israel to join the IDF. Ponczak said that there is a large community of lone soldier parents and IDF veterans in the area and it’s something that they’re proud of and wanted to highlight with their program.
The FIDF also rolled out a program providing PTSD treatment for soldiers and families impacted by a year of war. During the gala, they brought two soldiers in as speakers for one to describe their experience with PTSD and the other to share their experience partaking in a hostage rescue operation in June.
Ponczak said that they wanted to humanize the soldiers and show that they’re people “putting themselves on the front lines for the Jewish people.”
“This is the longest war Israel has ever fought, and there is a lot of need for mental health treatment. Everyone in Israel, every single person is affected by this,” Ponczak said. “FIDF has promised that we are going to take care of those people.”
Ponczak said that overall, the night had a warm and beautiful feeling being surrounded by people who were so passionate to support Israel and the soldiers fighting.
This year was her first time attending the event after taking on her role as director in June and could feel how important the gala was to so many people.
“It really felt palpable that people were there to be supportive of Israel, supportive of FIDF, supportive of the IDF and giving their time and money,” Ponczak said. “Everybody there is in a space where they can feel unapologetic about their Zionism.”
But even with the support and fundraising the Maryland FIDF gained during the event, there is still plenty of work they have left to do with the country still at war with no foreseeable end in sight.
Ponczak provided some foresight on what next year’s gala and its programming might look like. She said that even if the war is over, the needs of soldiers will still remain and the FIDF will be there to support them through it.
“Hopefully we will not be in a place next year where we’re still in a war. But that doesn’t change the need for support for the IDF. The organization was founded by Holocaust survivors in the 1980s and those are the kinds of people who know what it means to have Israel in modern times, and that without a secure Israel, we, as Jews, don’t necessarily have a place to go. And so the needs don’t change. The soldiers of the IDF are our front lines and we need to be supportive of that, regardless of if there’s a war or not,” Ponczak said.
