Adam Milstein is more than just a noted philanthropist, real
estate investor, family man, and pro-Israel activist; he is also a connector
who works to bring organizations and people of sometimes competing interests
together so that they can all accomplish more than they each would have been
able to accomplish alone. It's an idea he fosters through relationships,
fundraising, and the foundation he started with his wife in 2000, the Adam andGila Milstein Family Foundation (MFF).
Milstein wasn't always a philanthropist and pro-Israel
advocate. When he came to the United States with his wife and young daughters
in 1981, it was with the singular goal of getting his MBA from the University
of Southern California. Once he graduated, however, he and Gila decided to stay
in the Los Angeles area for a little while so he could work and pay off school
debt.
He soon found himself enjoying a successful real estate
career, and before he and Gila knew it, their daughters were young women, and
they'd been away from Israel for 20 years. It was around this time that Adam
realized he needed to reevaluate what being an Israeli-American and a Jew meant
to him, and as his Jewish pride and identity were strengthened in the process
of rediscovering his heritage, he began to see a way he could help address the
concerns of Israel and the Jewish people, not just in spite of the fact that he
was living in the United States, but because of it.
These days, through the efforts of his family's foundation
and through his role on a number of prominent pro-Israel and Jewish
organizations, Adam Milstein is working to strengthen the State of Israel and
Jewish identity in every way he can. The MFF has its own work, but it also
offers support and resources to a number of different organizations that aim to
promote and provide a wide variety of causes and services.
These include media accuracy in the coverage of the Israeli
State, Jewish education for children in the United States, stemming anti-Israel
sentiments and anti-Semitism on university and college campuses around the
country, policy research, and the promotion of the Hebrew language among Jews
living in the United States — and that's just a small sampling of the
foundation's efforts.
In every way he can, from fundraising and bringing people
together to direct advocacy and education, Adam Milstein seeks to make the security
of the State of Israel and the preservation of Jewish heritage a priority — not
just for himself, but for everyone he comes into contact with in the United
States.
