While most of New York City’s attention was turned to the mayoral election results on Tuesday night, some 150 philanthropists gathered to support a cause 5,000 miles away — raising $500,000 for the La’Aretz Foundation, a Brooklyn-based aid organization that provides cash directly to Israelis in need.  

The third annual La’Aretz benefit was held at the Harmonie Club in midtown Manhattan, where attendees dined on acclaimed Israeli chef Eyal Shani’s stuffed pita and roasted sweet potato dishes. The evening included remarks from La’Aretz founders, husband-and-wife team Mike and Shelly Pitman; Ambassador Ofir Akunis, Israel’s consul general in New York; Ben Carasso, a fifth-grader from Tel Aviv known as the “spokeskid of Israel”; and “N,” an injured Israeli reservist, who cannot be identified by his full name for security reasons.

La’Aretz, which means “to the land,” was founded by the Pitmans — both born and raised in Israel, now living in New York — one year before the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks with the goal of helping families either make aliyah or move back to Israel for humanitarian reasons. In response to Oct. 7, the nonprofit shifted to fundraise for victims of the terrorist attack and the subsequent war effort. In an unorthodox approach, it provided hundreds of Israeli families with direct deposits — $2,500 to their bank accounts — to help rebuild their lives after the devastation caused by Hamas. “We felt it was a unique approach and the easiest way to donate to the kibbutzim affected,” Shelly Pitman told eJewishPhilanthropy in an interview last year. “We decided to cut out the middle man, minimize bureaucracy and just give the donation directly to the families.” 

In July, La’Aretz raised more than $1 million, providing $2,500 directly to 500 families affected by the Iranian attack in the central Israeli city Bat Yam. 

N’s family — his wife and their three young sons — are among the families that have received assistance from La’Aretz. N, a reservist in the IDF’s paratrooper unit, was injured by a grenade during a mission in Khan Yunis, in southern Gaza, a few months into the Israel-Hamas war. His commander, Gabriel Shani, and friend, Yuval Nir, were killed. 

N suffered injuries to his leg, hands and ears. “But the biggest pain is losing close friends,” he told attendees on Tuesday. 

“Since then, I have been in a long and hard recovery, with many ups and downs for me and my family. When I finally came home, after four months in the battle and six months in the hospital, I felt like a stranger in my own house. Then I heard about La’Aretz,” continued N. “They reached out to me with love and support, and showed me that amazing people across the ocean care about us.”

N credits La’Aretz’s support for his family being able to celebrate the recent bris of their third son, Shiloh.

Carasso, a 10-year-old who volunteers with the Israeli Citizen Spokespersons’ Office, shared his experience as a child living in Israel post-Oct. 7. “We have been ignored,” Carasso said of Israeli children. “Our stories haven’t been told. Since Oct. 7, life has not been the same for the children of Israel,” he continued. “So many kids my age have lost their moms and dads, brothers and sisters, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends. Some still don’t have a home to go back to. Others wake up every night from bad dreams. These are things no child in the world should have to go through. No one speaks for us. No one seems to talk about what we have suffered in Israel since Hamas attacked us just over two years ago.” 

Carasso said that Israeli families find hope through La’Aretz, which “helps rebuild lives, giving comfort, food and love to kids who need to remember what it feels like to smile again.”