A few years ago, Liz discovered IKAR after expressing to friends, Daniel Inlender and Joel Mogy her disappointment in her then life-long shul. Within days, YouTube video links were arriving from Rabbi Brous’s High Holiday services. Watching these thoughtful and inspiring videos, meeting in person with Rabbi Brous, and then reconnecting with Melissa Balaban after many years made joining the IKAR community feel like coming home!
Liz was born and raised in Los Angeles. She runs and owns a commercial real estate company in Los Angeles. Liz moved to Israel in 1993 with her husband and two small children, where she partnered in founding BIG Shopping Centers Ltd. (“BIG”), an Israeli public company traded on the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange. In 2007, Liz created BIG Giving, a philanthropic branch of BIG Shopping Centers that primarily supports educational, developmental, and co-existence programs for Jewish and Arab children across Israel. Liz remains active in her philanthropy in Israel working with the Tel Aviv Foundation and Babylonian Jewry Museum.
In the spring of 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Liz started the Make More Masks Campaign aimed to keep those most vulnerable in our communities safe and healthy and to provide protection for frontline workers. Make More Masks Campaign produced and distributed over 100,000 masks in California, New York, and Iowa at the height of COVID.
Liz has served as the chair of the board at Oakwood School, a private elementary and secondary school in North Hollywood from 2012-2015, amongst her twenty years as a board member. She serves on the board of The Representation Project whose mission is fight sexism through films, education, research, and activism. Liz is the author of two books, Israel Land and Sixty Seconds of Light. She served on Hillary for America’s National Finance Committee, Biden for President’s National Finance Committee, and, since 2018, as a deputy finance chair for the Democratic National Committee. Liz has hosted, curated, and spoken at over 100 events in support of Democratic candidates and organizations, many of which took place at her Los Angeles home prior to the pandemic. Liz has a wonderful partner Silvio, who is a painter and sculpture. Liz is the proud mother of five diverse, interesting, and incredible young adults who live in the US and Israel.
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