THE RONALD S. LAUDER FOUNDATION CELEBRATES ITS TENTH ANNIVERSARY YEAR

The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation celebrated its Tenth Anniversary with a very meaningful colloquium last fall in Budapest, Hungary and Vienna, Austria in which fifty-five members of the Foundation family joined together for several days to share experiences and plan for the next ten years.

Not only was the Tenth Anniversary Year a year for such assessment and evaluation, but it was also a year of Groundbreakings, Openings, and Renovations, as Lauder educational institutions expanded throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

The Foundation adapted the dictum in Ecclesiastes 3:1, "TO EVERY THING THERE IS A SEASON AND A TIME FOR EVERY PURPOSE UNDER A HEAVEN . . . A TIME TO BUILD . . ." as it embarked upon or completed building projects or structural improvements to its existing facilities during each season of the 1997-98 year.

The Fall Season of the Tenth Anniversary Year
The Groundbreaking Ceremony of The New Lauder Chabad School Building in Vienna, Austria
Inaugurating the most ambitious undertaking since the completion of The Lauder Javne Jewish Community School in Budapest, Hungary in 1996, Ronald S. Lauder, during the Tenth Anniversary celebration and in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Austrian government officials, and the Jewish community of Vienna, laid the cornerstone for the Lauder Chabad School. The new building, completely financed by the Foundation, will rise on a site provided rent-free by the Municipality of Vienna, in the Augarten Park in Vienna's Second District, where the majority of Russian Jewish émigrés reside. The successful completion of this handsome structure, designed by renowned architect Adolf Krischanitz, will create a home for up to 380 Lauder Chabad students as well as provide an after-school center for the neighboring community.

The Dedication Ceremony of The Lauder Javne Jewish Community Kindergarten in Budapest, Hungary
Shortly after The Lauder Javne Jewish Community School opened in 1996, the Foundation began to search for a proper home for The Lauder Javne Kindergarten, which was still located far from the new school building. Fortunately, there was a beautiful villa, a few feet away from the school, which the Lauder Foundation, through the hard work and diplomatic negotiations of George Ban, the Foundation's European Projects Director, was finally able to acquire. Thus, during the Tenth Anniversary Celebration, Ronald S. Lauder and the Foundation were able to welcome 90 Hungarian Jewish children to the new facility -- colorfully renovated and imaginatively furnished.

The Winter Season of the Tenth Anniversary Year
New Offices for The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation Headquarters in New York, New York
Just as our Central and Eastern European projects continued to grow, so did The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation's New York office. We are now fortunate to have our own headquarters in the General Motors building. The new space includes a Judaic library, a kosher kitchen, and a permanent exhibition of children's artwork from Lauder Jewish educational programs and cultural projects.

The Spring Season of the Tenth Anniversary Year
The Renovation of The Lauder Reut Kindergarten and Lower School in Bucharest, Romania

In 1997, The Lauder Reut Kindergarten and Lower School in Bucharest, Romania (in Hebrew, Reut means "Friendship") opened its doors to 55 children. By September 1998, with the School's warm and welcoming environment, which boasts a renovated multimedia laboratory and beautiful ballet hall, the number had risen to 75 children, with dozens more on a waiting list. To accommodate this increased enrollment, the Foundation made a grant to refurbish yet another floor of the Jewish Theater where our school is located, and to build a special staircase.

The Groundbreaking Ceremony of the New Lauder Schneor School Building in Minsk, Belarus
On May 12, 1998, the Lauder Foundation, together with the Jewish Community of Minsk, celebrated the groundbreaking of a new building, which the Foundation intends to construct for The Lauder Schneor School. An outgrowth of what began as an after-school program in 1996, The Lauder Schneor School opened in 1997 as an official educational institution in rented space with several grades and 40 students. This year, as its popularity increased, the enrollment doubled to 80. The children eagerly await their new home.

The Jewish Community of Minsk and the Foundation find it especially appropriate that the site of the future school building is one on which, before World War II, stood a vibrant synagogue.

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Fall -- the year comes full circle
The Opening of The Lauder Etz Chaim School in Wroclaw, Poland
On September 1, 1998, The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation proudly opened its second Jewish elementary school in Poland, The Lauder Etz Chaim School in Wroclaw (Breslau). The School, whose name means "Tree of Life," welcomed 15 energetic students to its first grade in a space that the Foundation has renovated adjacent to the recently rebuilt Wroclaw Synagogue.

We are confident that Lauder Etz Chaim will grow and thrive like its counterpart in Warsaw, The Lauder-Morasha School, which began in 1994 with a handful of students and today enrolls 120 young people in eight grades!

The Newly Renovated Jewish School in Sofia, Bulgaria
During the past few years, the Foundation helped sponsor a nationwide summer camp for Jewish children from Bulgaria on a site near Sofia. The enthusiasm of the children flocking to the summer camp inspired the Foundation to become actively supportive of the fledgling "Jewish School in Sofia." There, approximately 350 students learn Hebrew as their second language. As a direct result of the Foundation's involvement, the state government agreed to accord special status to the School, thereby allowing more time for Judaic studies in the curriculum.

This summer, the Lauder Foundation made a grant to renovate the entire interior of the old and dilapidated school building. Ceilings were replaced, the dining room was refurbished, bathrooms were modernized, and the classrooms refaced. Students are absolutely delighted to be learning in this beautifully transformed environment.

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The Summer Season of the Tenth Anniversary Year
The Dedication of Beit David in Szarvas, Hungary
On July 19, Ronald S. Lauder and Ralph Goldman, former American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (AJJDC) Executive Vice President, officially dedicated Beit David, a newly built synagogue and educational center at The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation/AJJDC International Summer Camp in Szarvas, Hungary.

American Ambassador Peter Tufo and Israeli Ambassador Joel Alon joined in the spirited inauguration ceremony with members of the Hungarian Parliament, the mayor of Szarvas, leaders of the Hungarian Jewish Community, an American delegation from AJJDC, Foundation representatives Michael Berenbaum, Marjorie S. Federbush, George Ban, Marta Halpert, and 400 lively teenage campers.

Beit David is dedicated to the memory of David Ben-Rafael, son of Ralph Goldman. As a 43 year-old minister in the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, David Ben-Rafael was the tragic victim of a terrorist bombing there six years ago.

Financed by The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, Beit David is the first new synagogue to be built in Hungary since World War II. The structure also houses 11 activity rooms adding a special place for study and prayer to the 23-acre Szarvas campsite, two hours south of Budapest, where pathways lined with fruit trees meander around a sports arena, a swimming pool, tennis and basketball courts, a large communal dining room and comfortable living quarters.

Each summer since 1990, 2,000 Jewish youth from all across Central and Eastern Europe, fill to overflow this magical camp as they experience the joys of Judaism.

Over the years camp participants have come - many again and again - not only from Hungary but also from 14 other countries including: Albania, Belarus, Czech Republic, Germany, Former Soviet Union, Former Yugoslavia, Israel, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

At Szarvas, language barriers become subordinate to the universality of the Hebrew songs and dances. Campers forge such strong bonds of belonging that a whole generation of young European Jews now claim Szarvas as a unifying experience.

Dr. Israel Sela, Director of AJJDC in Hungary noted, "The weeks they spend here strengthen their Jewish identity, recharge their cultural batteries and catapult them towards future leadership positions in their respective Jewish communities."

Ralph Goldman, who unveiled the plaque BEIT DAVID on the wall of the synagogue, praised the efficacy and significance of the Lauder Foundation's work saying, "Wherever Ronald Lauder's operation sets foot - soon you hear Jewish youth sing a new song, metaphorically and literally."

Ronald S. Lauder responded, "Beit David, resonating with the activities of learning and prayer, will add a new dimension to the development of these young Jewish leaders in Szarvas by inspiring them to model their lives on the exemplary life of your son, the late David Ben-Rafael."

Our Tenth Anniversary Year was marked by a plethora of Openings, Groundbreakings, and Expansions of Lauder educational institutions throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

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