Nancy Spielberg and Shimon Katz

Eli Tahari

will.i.am

CHILDREN OF CHERNOBYL
Jon Voight, will.i.am Team Up
To Rescue Radiation Victims

TEXT AND PHOTOS BY TIM BOXER

C

HABAD’S Children of Chernobyl (CCOC) continues to hold its signature event every fall at the waterfront space of Chelsea Pier 60 in New York. The charity’s Children at Heart Gala raises funds to rehabilitate people exposed to lethal contamination from the 1986 nuclear disaster emanating from a flawed Soviet nuclear plant located in Ukraine near the border of Belarus.

CCOC will continue its rescue and care efforts because, as Esti Herman put it, "Radiation is eternal — it will last more than a million years."

Nancy Spielberg (Steven Spielberg’s sister) and husband Shimon Katz have been at the forefront of this nonprofit organization since its formation in 1990. Thus far the group has rescued 2,800 children from the contaminated region, bringing them to Israel for medical care and education.

As in years past, super star Jon Voight served as emcee. Among the celebrity guests were designer Elie Tahari and musician will.i.am (William Adams). Sportscaster Bruce Beck served as the night’s auctioneer.

"I just came back from Israel," will.i.am said, "because the brightest minds in computer science are in Israel. I choose to focus on East Los Angeles. I realized there is a tsunami in the ghetto where I come from. There is no education, no technology. Don’t say, I can’t wait to leave the ghetto. We need to say, I can’t wait to change the ghetto."

Alluding to the wave of antisemitism sweeping across Europe, Voight declared, "Every Jew and Christian must voice their outrage. Do not be silent!"