fied life, to be rich. It wasn’t our dream or
our vision when we were in Ethiopia,’”
Kanotopsky said. “‘We had one destiny
in our life, and it was Jerusalem.’”
By 2016, Kanotopsky was already
deeply steeped in improving the life of
Ethiopian Jews in Israel. She was CEO
of NGO Olim Be’yachad, where she cre-
ated a mentor network and leadership
training for Ethiopian-Israeli young
professionals. The organization worked
with the Israeli CEOs and human
resource departments to address and
dismantle racism and hiring discrimi-
nation within the business sector.

In 2019, Kanotopsky was honored
by the Bruce and Ruth Rappaport
Foundation with the Rappaport Prize
for Women Generating Change.

“Israel was​, in one
way, the end of one
journey but the
beginning of
another journey.”
SIGAL KANOTOPSKY
Her commitment to aliyot for
Ethiopian Jews is part of what made
Kanotopsky an appealing candidate
for JAFI regional director, JAFI Head
of North America Daniel Elbaum said.

“She’s able to speak with unique
credibility externally about the issue of
Ethiopian aliyah, how important it is
to her, her own family’s story, her own
story that’s incredibly impactful, and
personalize an issue which is an incred-
ibly high priority to us,” Elbaum said.

However, JAFI has not been primar-
ily concerned with Ethiopian aliyot
in the past month. The organization
has set up assistance in Kyiv, Odessa,
Kharkiv and Dnipro, Ukraine, and is
helping to process 15,000 Ukrainian
olim over the next six months. JAFI’s
North American Council has helped
raise the funds to make this possible.

“It’s helping people make aliyah when
they wish to make aliyah; it’s helping
to raise money for Ukraine,” Elbaum
said. “And she’s incredibly impactful
and dedicated to all those.” JE
srogelberg@midatlanticmedia.com JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
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