Jewish charities gifted £6.5million in grants

A range of UK Jewish charities will share £6.5million as part of £20million in new grants from the Wohl legacy.

Nearly £9m was also awarded to medical science in Israel and £5m to the arts in Britain to celebrate 50 years of philanthropy by foundations set up by the late Maurice and Vivienne Wohl.

The new funds will enable Jewish Care, whose main campus in Golders Green is named after the Wohls, to develop 32 new independent living apartments in Hendon, while Nightingale Hammerson is set to renovate the Hammerson House complex to include features, such as sensory rooms and reminiscence areas, to help increasing number of dementia sufferers.

Community members looking to set up business or develop their workplace skills will also benefit from The Wohl Employment and Business Campus, 6,500sq foot of meeting and training rooms being established by TrainE TraidE. “The Jewish sage Hillel taught us not to separate ourselves from our community,” said Professor David Latchman, Maurice Wohl’s nephew and chairman of the Maurice Wohl Charitable Foundation. “These grants not only reflect Maurice and Vivienne’s commitment to the communities of arts and medical science, but also to their shared love for the UK and for Israel. They also illustrate how creativity and discovery in the arts and sciences must be sustained and nourished.”

In the arts, the anniversary grant will enable the National Gallery to carry out restoration in the 19th century and Impressionist Galleries, while the Royal Academy will enjoy its most significant renovations since moving to the Burlington Gardens site in 1967 to include new learning facilities and galleries. A unified campus will be created with a link-up to Burlington House.

Delivering the Wohl lecture to an audience of community leaders and philanthropists at the Royal Academy event, Matthew Gould said: “Jewish philanthropy tied together with Israeli creativity has achieved amazing things in Israel, and is still doing so. Maurice and Vivienne Wohl were models for giving that makes a difference. Their legacy keeps their vision alive.”

In Israel, funds will go to the Jerusalem-based Hadassah Medical Organisation and the Sheba Medical Centre in Ramat-Gan, to create two Wohl Institutes for Translational Medicine, which is the ability to translate scientific and medical concepts into research advances.