Businessman and Jewish Philanthropist Aaron Frenkel Receives Keren Hayesod's Prestigious Yakir Award

JERUSALEM, December 6, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --

At a moving ceremony held recently in the Canadian city of Toronto, the leadership of Keren Hayesod - United Israel Appeal conferred the organization's prestigious Yakir Keren Hayesod Award upon international businessman Aaron Frenkel. The award is conferred annually to leaders of Keren Hayesod-UIA who, through their exceptional contributions and efforts, have helped advance the goals of Keren Hayesod in Israel and in the Jewish world. Past recipients of the Yakir Keren Hayesod Award have included many other outstanding philanthropists, public figures and international leaders, among them Israel's late President Shimon Peres, late Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and former Knesset Speaker Shlomo Hillel. The award ceremony was held at the International Leadership Reunion of major donors of Keren Hayesod and the Jewish Federations of North America in the presence of Keren Hayesod Honorary President Julia Koschitzky; the chairman of the Keren Hayesod World Board of Trustees, David Koschitzky; Keren Hayesod Director General Greg Masel and hundreds of major donors to the State of Israel, including Sheldon Adelson.  

Aaron G. Frenkel, who was born in 1957, is an international businessman and entrepreneur. Since the late 1980s, he has been the owner of the Loyd's Group, which is engaged in investments in the fields of real estate, civil aviation, energy and high tech. In the 1990s, Frenkel provided major assistance in bringing new immigrants from the former Soviet Union to Israel, in close cooperation with the Jewish Agency and the government of Israel. In addition to his global business activities, Frenkel plays an active role in a number of public initiatives in Israel and abroad. By virtue of his efforts, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor by French President Nicolas Sarkozy; was made a chevalier of the Ordre de Grimaldi by Prince Albert II of Monaco; and Mecenate of Russia by the president of the Russian Federation. Frenkel was chairman of the Israeli Presidential Conference during the presidency of the late Shimon Peres and currently serves in a number of leading public positions, including serving as president of Limmud FSU; chairman of the governing board of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress; honorary consul in Jerusalem of the Republic of Croatia; and president of the Monaco Jewish community.  

Since its founding in 1920, Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal has been at the forefront of Israel's growth and development. Early in its history, Keren Hayesod brought hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees to Israel who had survived the horrors of the Holocaust, providing support for their integration into the country, as well as assistance in establishing more than 900 urban and agricultural communities around the country. After Israel's establishment, Keren Hayesod became a national institution and in 1956 received special status by virtue of the Keren Hayesod Law enacted by the Knesset. In cooperation with Jewish communities in more than 45 countries around the world, Keren Hayesod has helped bring and absorb nearly 4 million new immigrant to Israel. It is currently working to advance national priority projects of the State of Israel, with special emphasis on communities in outlying areas of the country, the advancement of disadvantaged youth and support for immigration and absorption of new immigrants.  

For additional information, please contact Ronnie Vinnikov at [email protected].