STRENGTHENING THE TORAH OF ISRAEL
All of our programs are centered around the Bet El Yeshiva Center of Higher Torah learning. The Center emboldens the next generation of Torah scholars with the tools and education necessary to inspire and lead the Israeli public.
BUILDING THE LAND OF ISRAEL
Bet El Institutions has initiated an all-time record amount of construction: housing, dorms and public edifices. Attend our dinner to support this amazing growth.
DEFENDING THE PEOPLE OF ISRAEL
All of our students enlist to serve the State of Israel with all their heart, soul and might. Our Gluck IDF Academy imbues wayward youth with newfound vigor and understanding of what they are fighting for.
Our Keynote Speaker
Speaker of the Knesset – MK Yuli Edelstein
Yuli Yoel Edelstein was born in Czernowitz (former Soviet Union). He was active in Zionist circles in Moscow where he fought for the human rights of Jews to leave the Soviet Union and for their right to practice their religion as they saw fit.
Other Speakers
Lee Zeldin
Congressman Lee Zeldin grew up in Suffolk County, New York, where he graduated from William Floyd High School in Mastic Beach. Congressman Zeldin graduated from the State University of New York at Albany (SUNY) and then Albany Law School, becoming New York’s youngest attorney at the time at the age of 23.
After completing the Army ROTC program, Congressman Zeldin served on Active Duty. Throughout those four years in the U.S. Army, he served in different capacities, including as a Military Intelligence Officer, Prosecutor and Military Magistrate. While assigned to the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division, in the summer of 2006, Congressman Zeldin was deployed to Tikrit, Iraq, with an infantry battalion of fellow paratroopers in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Following his service on active duty, in 2007, Congressman Zeldin transitioned from Active Duty to the Army Reserves, where he continues to serve today with the rank of Major.
In 2008, Lee Zeldin opened a successful law practice in Smithtown, New York, which he operated full time until being elected to the New York State Senate in 2010, representing New York’s 3rd Senate District. As a State Senator, Lee Zeldin led the successful effort to repeal of the MTA Payroll Tax for 80 percent of employers, a job killing tax that was hurting New York’s small businesses. He also created the PFC Joseph Dwyer Program, a peer to peer counseling program for veterans suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI); the program started in Suffolk County and quickly expanded across the state. Lee also successfully fought to repeal the Saltwater Fishing License Fee; a victory for tens of thousands of fishermen on Long Island.
Then in 2014, following four years in the State Senate, Congressman Zeldin was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (NY-1).
Immediately after taking office in 2015, Congressman Zeldin quickly became a leading voice in America on the need for a stronger, more consistent foreign policy; outspoken on the need to defeat ISIS and other terrorist threats, secure our homeland, and correct a deeply flawed Iran nuclear agreement.
During his first term in office, Congressman Zeldin secured important victories for his district. Working with both sides of the aisle, Congressman Zeldin got several of his proposals passed in the House, some of which include: three bills for our veterans, two proposals to save Plum Island, and his counter-terrorism legislation. Congressman Zeldin helped pass a five year, fully funded transportation bill that included his Safe Bridges Act proposal, which was signed into law, and also got his common core amendment passed and signed into law. He also secured a new veterans health care clinic on the East End of Long Island and permanently reauthorized the Zadroga Act for our 9/11 first responders. Additionally, Congressman Zeldin helped make permanent 20 different tax relief provisions to help Long Island businesses and families. His office also successfully closed over 8,852 cases in favor of NY-1 constituents.
In 2016, Congressman Zeldin was re-elected to the U.S. House of Representatives (NY-1).
Congressman Zeldin’s top priorities in Congress include protecting America’s security at home and abroad, helping grow our economy and create more good paying jobs, supporting our veterans and first responders, improving the quality of education, repairing our nation’s infrastructure, improving healthcare in America and safeguarding our environment.
Congressman Zeldin serves on two Committees in the U.S. House of Representatives: Financial Services and Foreign Affairs. He also serves on five House Subcommittees. Rep. Zeldin, one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, also serves as co-chairman of the House Republican Israel Caucus, which has over 100 members.
Congressman Zeldin resides in his hometown of Shirley with his wife, Diana, and their twin daughters, Mikayla and Arianna.
Chris Smith
In his 37 years as a Congressman, Rep. Chris Smith has been unmatched among legislators in his leadership in fighting anti-Semitism and has been a strong supporter of Israel.
In 1982, during Smith’s first term in Congress, the first piece of legislation he authored to pass the House was H.Res. 269, “Calling Upon the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to Permit the Emigration of Yuli Kosharovsky and His Immediate Family to Israel.” His first official trips abroad as a Member of Congress were to the former Soviet Union on behalf of persecuted Jewish refuseniks. During the period of 1982-1989, Smith traveled to Moscow, Leningrad, and Perm Camp 35 in the Soviet Gulag to meet Jewish refuseniks, their family members, and Soviet leaders – and to fight for the release and emigration visas for the refuseniks.
In 1996, Smith chaired the first congressional hearings on anti-Semitism and the most effective ways to fight it. Following his 2002 landmark hearing on combating the escalation of anti-Semitic violence in Europe, “Escalating Anti-Semitic Violence in Europe,” he led a congressional drive to place the issue of combating anti-Semitism firmly at the top of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) agenda. The OSCE is an intergovernmental organization that promotes military security and human rights among the 57 countries of Europe and northern Asia.
As a result of Rep. Smith’s efforts, the OSCE passed Smith’s major resolutions on anti-Semitism and in 2004 in Berlin, the OSCE adopted binding commitments to document and fight instances of anti-Semitism. Within the OSCE, Smith has kept up the fight against those who would water down or ignore these norms—by regularly proposing and securing passage of resolutions and amendatory language at Annual Sessions of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, and promoting and participating in the 2014 Berlin +10 Review Conference. In 2016, he authored amendments that were adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly that called for explicit recognition of the increase in anti-Semitic attacks in the OSCE region, and on participating States to formally recognize and partner with Jewish community security groups. In 2017, he authored amendments adopted by the assembly that commended the working definition of anti-Semitism and called on participating States to adopt it at their annual meeting. In 2018, Smith authored amendments that condemned increasing incidents of anti-Semitism and called on countries to clearly define anti-Semitism and more effectively prosecute hate crimes.
In 2007 Smith became a founding member of the Interparliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism, of which he continues to serve on the Steering Committee. The ICCA brings together Parliamentarians from around the world to lead the fight against resurgent global anti-Semitism by sharing knowledge and experience, best practices, and making recommendations on how governments must deal more effectively with contemporary anti-Semitism. In 2009 and 2010 Rep. Smith gave keynote addresses at the ICCA London and Ottawa conferences.
In recent years Rep. Smith has focused his legislative efforts on fighting anti-Semitism on improving the security of Jewish communities abroad, strengthening the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, and, within the OSCE, working for greater implementation of the commitments assumed in 2004, promoting wider acceptance of the Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, and exposing and condemning the anti-Semitic nature of much European opposition to Israel.
In 2004 Smith also authored the legislative provisions that created the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in the U.S. State Department. In 2017, he introduced legislation, H.R. 1911, the “Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act of 2017”, which would upgrade the Special Envoy position—which heads the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism—to an Ambassador position. The bill passed House of Representatives 393-2 in September of 2018.
Since the Paris and Copenhagen attacks of 2015, Smith has focused on promoting a vigorous response to the threat that jihadist terrorism poses to the European Jewish communities. He authored House Resolution 354, a blueprint for strengthening the safety and security of European Jewish communities, and which passed the House of Representatives unanimously in November 2015. In 2016 Rep. Smith held a hearing to promote executive branch action on the resolution, and in 2017 Smith held a hearing on “Anti-Semitism Across Borders.”
Rep. Smith has been unequivocal in his support of Israel—without any illusions as to the genocidal intentions of its enemies. He has consistently voted and spoken out vigorously in support of U.S. aid to Israel, including security aid and support for Iron Dome. He voted against the Iran nuclear deal framework, and has supported Israel in its struggle against Hamas, Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations without any ‘ifs,’ or ‘buts,’ or ‘so long as,’ or any other qualifiers. In 2018 he voted in favor of measures that would strengthen sanctions against the Iranian regime and prevent the administration from offering more concessions to the mullahs to induce compliance with the nuclear deal.
As the Chairman of the Human Rights Subcommittee and a recognized international leader on human rights issues, Rep. Smith has, in his support for Israel, emphasized that Israel’s state enemies sponsor terrorism and anti-Semitism. Rep. Smith understands how poor human rights records, terrorism, and anti-Semitism are entwined and that the U.S. must stand unflinchingly with Israel—precisely because Israel defends human rights, and its enemies are the most notorious enemies of human rights and human dignity.
Rep Smith co-chairs the Bipartisan Task Force for Combating Anti-Semitism in the U.S. House of Representatives since the Task Force was created in 2015.
He has authored six laws, bills and resolutions and chaired nine hearings on fighting anti-Semitism:
SMITH-AUTHORED LEGISLATION
2018 Authored H.R. 1911, the “Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Act of 2017”, which passed House of Representatives 393-2.
2015 Authored House Resolution 354, “Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives regarding the safety and security of Jewish communities in Europe.” Passed 418-0 by the House of Representatives.
2004 Authored the provisions of the “Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004” that established the Office to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism in the U.S. State Department and the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.
2003 Authored House Concurrent Resolution 49, “Expressing the sense of the Congress that the sharp escalation of anti-Semitic violence within many participating States of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is of profound concern and efforts should be undertaken to prevent future occurrences.” Passed 412-0 by the House of Representatives.
1999 Authored House Concurrent Resolution 37, “Concerning anti-Semitic statements made by members of the Duma of the Russian Federation.” Passed 421-0 by House of Representatives.
1982 Authored House Resolution 269, “Calling Upon the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics to Permit the Emigration of Yuli Kosharovsky and His Immediate Family to Israel.” Passed by voice vote. This was the first resolution or bill authored by Rep. Smith that passed the House of Representatives.
SMITH-CHAIRED HEARINGS
March 21, 2017 “Anti-Semitism Across Borders”.
April 19, 2016 “Anticipating and Preventing Deadly Attacks on European Jewish Communities”.
March 24, 2015 “After Paris and Copenhagen: Responding to the Rising Tide of Anti-Semitism.”
February 27, 2013 “Anti-Semitism: A Growing Threat to All Faiths.”
December 2, 2011 “Combating Anti-Semitism in the OSCE Region: Taking Stock of the Situation Today.”
May 9, 2006 “Tools for Combating Anti-Semitism: Police Training and Holocaust Education.”
June 16, 2004 “Government Actions to Combat Anti-Semitism in the OSCE Region.”
May 22, 2002 “Escalating Anti-Semitic Violence in Europe.”
February 27, 1996 “Worldwide Persecution of Jews.”
SMITH-AUTHORED OSCE AMENDMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS
July 9, 2017 Authored amendments that were adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in its final declaration at its annual session, commending the working definition of anti-Semitism and calling for participating States to adopt it at their annual meeting.
July 3, 2016 Authored amendments that were adopted by the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly in its final declaration at its annual session, calling for explicit recognition of the increase in anti-Semitic attacks in the OSCE region, and on participating States to formally recognize and partner with Jewish community security groups.
July 9, 2004 Authored Supplementary Resolution on “Fulfilling OSCE Commitments Regarding the Fight Against Facism, Anti-Semitism and Xenophobia.” Passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at a meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland.
July 9, 2003 Authored Supplementary Resolution on “Combating Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century.” Passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at a meeting in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
July 7, 2002 Authored Supplementary Resolution on “Anti-Semitic Violence in the OSCE Region.” Passed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) at a meeting in Berlin, Germany.
SMITH’S INTERNATIONAL ADDRESSES AND MEETINGS
November 8, 2010 Keynote address to Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism, Ottawa Conference.
February 16, 2009 Keynote address to Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Combating Anti-Semitism, London Conference.
December 10, 2002 Chaired an inter-Parliamentary Forum of the U.S. Helsinki Commission on Confronting and Combating Anti-Semitism in the OSCE Region. Hosted international meeting of parliamentarians and human rights advocates pledging to expand joint cooperation in OSCE Parliamentary Assembly to promote specific initiatives to confront and combat anti-Semitism in the OSCE region.
Pete Hegseth
Pete Hegseth is co-host of FOX & FRIENDS WEEKEND and a frequent guest co-host for the weekday edition of FOX & FRIENDS—the highest rated cable morning show in America. He is also a FOX NEWS Senior Political Analyst, providing analysis and commentary across all FOX NEWS and FOX BUSINESS programs. Pete Hegseth is also the author of the highly-acclaimed book—IN THE ARENA—which was published by Threshold Editions of Simon & Schuster in May of 2016.
Pete is an Army veteran of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was also a guard at Guantanamo Bay. He holds two Bronze Stars and a Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his time in Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2012, Captain Hegseth deployed to Afghanistan with the Minnesota Army National Guard where he was the senior counterinsurgency instructor at the Counterinsurgency Training Center in Kabul. Before that, First Lieutenant Hegseth deployed to Iraq with the 3rd Brigade of the 101st Airborne Division for their 2005-2006 tour, serving as an Infantry Platoon Leader in Baghdad in 2005, and as a Civil-Military Operations officer in Samarra in 2006. A year before that, Second Lieutenant Hegseth served in Guantanamo Bay (JTF-GTMO) with his New Jersey Army National Guard unit from 2004-2005. Pete was recently promoted to the rank of Major, and is currently in the Individual Ready Reserve.
Pete is the former CEO of Concerned Veterans for America (2012-2015), where he built the largest conservative veterans advocacy organization in America and led the charge for real reform at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Before that, Pete was the Executive Director of Vets for Freedom (2007-2010), leading the “ground truth” charge for success on the battlefield in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is also a member of the National Rifle Association.
Pete graduated from Princeton University in 2003 with an undergraduate degree in Politics. While at Princeton, Pete was also a member of the varsity basketball team, an Army ROTC cadet, and the publisher of the campus conservative publication—The Princeton Tory. A decade later, Pete completed a Masters in Public Policy at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, graduating in 2013.
Pete has four young children—Gunner, Boone, Rex and Gwendolyn—who, he prays, will someday be “IN THE ARENA” for God and country.
Honorary Dinner Chairman
Eugen Gluck
President of American Friends of Bet El and Chairman of the Board
Where does the money go?
Proceeds from the Bet El Dinner fund educational programs and construction initiatives such as the Gluck IDF Prep Academy, where youth from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds receive a vital year of intensive training focused on character-building and Jewish identity. We have launched construction of a 60,000 sq. ft. new campus for the academy at a projected cost of $16 million.
Dinner Info
Address: Marriott Marquis Hotel, 1535 Broadway (and 46th St.) New York, NY 10036
Date: December 2, 2018
Time: Buffet Dinner 6:00-7:30 pm / Program 7:30-8:45 pm
Doors open for buffet at 6:00 pm. The program will begin at 7:30 pm. Throughout the program, the buffet will continue in the side room.
Attire: Dressy
Click the button below to reserve online
or mail in a check and ad text to
E. GLuck COrp
Attn: Mr. Eugen Gluck
6015 Little Neck Parkway
Little Neck, NY 11362
Click here to see mailed dinner invitation.
Our 2018 Honorees
Thomas and Debbie Herman
Shomer Eretz Yisrael Award
Thomas E. and Debbie Herman began their relationship with Bet El over twenty-five years ago when they organized a parlor meeting at their home in Manhattan Beach for Bet El Founder Yaakov “Ketzaleh” Katz.
Daniel and Razie Benedict
Builder of Eretz Yisrael Award
Daniel and Razie Benedict have been friends of Bet El Institutions for many years. They have been major contributors to Bet El’s construction projects and dedicated a Sefer Torah to the Gluck IDF Preparatory Academy in 2016.
Yair and Chana Leah Matan
Keter Torah Award
Yair and Chana Leah Matan attended their first Bet El Dinner in 2009, and the connection has only strengthened since then. Yair was born in Israel and served in the IDF Computer Division.
Why register for the dinner?
The Bet El Dinner provides supporters of Jewish sovereignty over Judea and Samaria with the unique opportunity to become partners in its success, by building the Shomron, defending the Jewish people, and strengthening Torah learning in Israel. Don't miss out!
Senior Co-Chairman
Duvi Honig
Senior Co-Chairman
Founder of The Orthodox Jewish Chamber Of Commerce which is a global umbrella of businesses of all sizes, bridging the highest echelons of the business and governmental worlds together stimulating economic opportunity and positively affecting public policy.