photo/shahar azran
Taly Katz (far right), executive director of the San Francisco Bay Area chapter of Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, attends a gala dinner March 13 at the Waldorf-Astoria in New York with the organization’s national director, Maj. Gen. (Res.) Yitzhak Gerson, and 1st Lt. Chen Waxman. More than 1,300 business and philanthropic leaders, including a Bay Area delegation, raised $26 million that will provide services such as academic scholarships to former combat soldiers; financial support for soldiers in need and “lone soldiers” from around the world; rest and recreation for IDF units; and educational, cultural and recreational facilities.