Our History

Located in Kiryat Bialik, near Haifa. This residential center provides a home for 250 children high-risk backgrounds. The therapy center will provide an integrated center with all therapists under a single roof, allowing for a more structured and supportive environment to care for the specific needs of each child.   See more about this project

Bnai Zion raised money to construct a community center that provides a cultural, recreational, and employment venue for people with disabilities to help them to reach their fullest potential. The George and Irina Schaeffer Cultural Center offers a myriad of supports and opportunities to Israel Elwyn’s service recipients living in the Supported Living Services and in the general community alike.   More on the cultural center

Within the Ahava Village for troubled youth, Bnai Zion provided the financial support to build rooms that protect residents from rocket fire.   Learn more about this project

Created by George and Irina Schaeffer, the new cultural center is an anchor for the arts within Ma’ale Adumim and the surrounding area. It gives a venue to local and student productions and attracts talent from across the country.   Learn more about this project

The Child Development Center at Bnai Zion Medical Center is now recognized as the region’s leading center for diagnosis and treatment of young children who have neurological-developmental challenges.  

Bnai Zion provided support to the teacher's college, which trains secular and religious Jews, Muslim and Christian Arabs, and immigrants.  

Bnai Zion committed to the construction of the library, which has been completed, dedicated, and is now being used by the entire Ma’ale Adumim region.   See the latest on this project

The Rothschild Hospital in Haifa was renamed the Bnai Zion Medical Center when Bnai Zion committed to complete a new 11-story west wing and modernize the hospital's facilities to provide proper medical care for the population of northern Israel.  

Senator Joe Biden accepts the America-Israel Friendship Award on behalf of Senator Alan Cranston. Senator Cranston received the award for his support of resolutions supporting Jewish emigration from Syria and Ethiopia. Rabbi Joseph Stern received Harris J. Levine Award. Moshe Arens, Israeli Defense Minister, was guest speaker at the dinner.  

Senator Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a long-time supporter of Israel in his 43 years in Congress and on the Armed Services Committee, was honored at the Bnai Zion Foundation dinner. NY Governor Hugh Carey, was honored alongside of Senator Jackson, receiving the America-Israel Friendship Medal. Governor Carey began his life-long support of Israel during WWII, when, as a soldier, he helped liberate the Norhausen concentration camp.  

Beit Halochem, a Bnai Zion funded rehabilitation facility, opened in Haifa. That facility has since been remodeled and continues to serve over 2,500 disabled veterans on a regular basis.  

The America-Israel Friendship medal was awarded to Elie Wiesel by Bnai Zion Foundation.  

President Gerald R. Ford, then Vice-President, was the recipient of the America-Israel Friendship Gold Medal at the Annual Award Dinner in February.  

The annual Bnai Zion Award Dinner in February, honoring Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey, yielded more than $407,000 to finance the projects of the Bnai Zion Foundation.  

Bnai Zion Foundation purchased a building in NYC and established a cultural and information center aimed at strengthening the ties of friendship between the people of both countries.  

Bnai Zion donated the funds and broke ground on the building of the distinguished Beit Halochem rehabilitation facility in Haifa. That facility has since been remodeled, and continues to serve over 2,500 disabled veterans on a regular basis.  

In the furtherance of the principle of Americanism, in 1968 the Bill of Rights Gold Medal was awarded to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall.  

In remembrance of President John F. Kennedy, the Order Day Dinner dedicated the Kennedy Forest and honored Carl Albert, Speaker of the House of Representatives.  

On June 4, 1960, as part of its Declaration of Principles, Bnai Zion Foundation restated its position as a nonpolitical body, rededicating itself to the principles of of Americanism, Zionism, and fraternalism. This nonpolitical stance of Bnai Zion was noted by President John F. Kennedy in a message when the America-Israel Friendship Medal was presented to Vice-President Lyndon Johnson on February 5, 1961: “As a nonpolitical organization, affiliated with no political group in our own country or in Israel, you have welcomed to your ranks members of all shades of opinion, united under American ideals. At the same time, you have adhered to the Jewish tradition calling for the re-establishment of the State of Israel, and since that historic event you have given material assistance to its rebuilding”.  

Bnai Zion Foundation helped found Ein Hod, a celebrated artists’ village near Haifa. Today, this village is recognized throughout the world for its inhabitants’ artistic talents and for the operation of its prestigious school.  

Bnai Zion opens a home to house Holocaust survivors in Israel, just before the UN resolution establishing the state of Israel.  

Dorothy S. Levine lead the founding of Bnai Zion’s Women’s Council. Later it was renamed the Women’s League. Ms. Levine and the women raised vast sums of money over the course of the next couple of decades.  

Leaders of Bnai Zion helped found Israel’s equivalent of the Red Cross. Millions of medical supplies and 125 ambulances were donated. Bnai Zion Foundation was instrumental in establishing the “American Red Magen David for Palestine,” a major source of funds for the new Magen David Adom. Between 1941-1949, the organization donated millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and over 100 ambulances. Today, Magen David Adom is Israel’s national ambulance service.  

Between 1939 and 1945, Bnai Zion provided aid in myriad ways; in one week alone, 450 members each donated a pint of blood to the Red Cross for servicemen.  

New York State Insurance Department grants an official charter to Bnai Zion to offer insurance products to its members.  

In 1916 President Woodrow Wilson appointed Judge Louis Brandeis to the US Supreme Court, becoming its first Jewish member. Just two years earlier, in 1914, Justice Brandeis was instrumental in obtaining an exclusive insurance charter for Bnai Zion in the state of Massachusetts. Not only was he a co-author of the Balfour Declaration, but he was also instrumental in urging American Jews into a united Zionist front.  

The Order of the Sons of Zion, now known as Bnai Zion Founation, was founded. Its major objectives were to aid in the support of all Jewish institutions that strengthen Jewish peoplehood; to spread the knowledge and study of the Hebrew language and Jewish history; to provide life insurance to members of the Order from $100 to $2,000; and to aid every member of the Order in case of need or sickness.