Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue

A special meeting with Mrs Paula V. Edelstein took place at Sukkat Shalom Synagogue on March 10th. During her visit in London Paula wished as part of her program to be introduced to the Redbridge community.

We apologised that this meeting had to be organised at the last minute but we are pleased that Paula was able to talk with the community at this time in conjunction with the SSRS and WLS Access to Judaism class. The talk was sponsored by EAST (East Anglian Synagogues Together), a cross communal educational organisation. This is a wonderful and informal opportunity to meet this fascinating lady whose resume Is attach below:

Paula V. Edelstein
Co-Chair, Immigration and Absorption Department
Jewish Agency for Israel

Paula Edelstein was born in Duluth Minnesota and made Aliyah to Israel in 1972. She has been the Co-Chair of the Immigration and Integration Department of the Jewish Agency since 2007 and previously served nine years as the Co-chair of the Israel Department. Ms. Edelstein has been on the Executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel since 1998 and a member of the Executive of the World Zionist Organization where she has represented ARZENU since 1992.

Ms. Edelstein has graduate degrees in social work and public health and in Israel worked in the Ministry of Social Welfare, the Jerusalem Public Health Department and in the Ministry of Health. She served as the Executive Director of the International Federation of Reform and Progressive Religious Zionists from 1991-2006 and is the immediate past lay chairperson of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism and is the current chairperson of the Israel Religious Action Center of the IMPJ. She is also a member of the International Assembly of the World Union for Progressive Judaism.

Ms. Edelstein is active in a number of public boards and commissions One of her favorites is the Public Council for the Commemoration of Theodore Herzl. She was instrumental in establishing the official site for memorializing the Ethiopian immigrants who died on the trek to Sudan on their way to Israel.