I am standing for election for one of the Ad Personam Future Leadership slots on the WJC Board and would like to introduce myself. My name is Hadassa Getsztain and I was born and raised in the small Jewish community of Curitiba (the capital of the state of Paraná) in Brazil. My family immigrated to Israel when I was ten years old and settled in the city of Raanana.
I served in the Israeli Navy as a seamanship instructor for two years. Later, I studied government and diplomacy at IDC Herzliya and law at Bar-Ilan University, from which I hold an MA. Today, I am the head of marketing at the Israeli Export Institute in Tel Aviv, the city I call home. In addition to Hebrew, I am fluent in English, Spanish and Portuguese.
As a grandchild of survivors of the Łódź Ghetto, remembrance of the Holocaust and Holocaust education are deeply important to me and are reflected in my work at the WJC and beyond. I have been an active board member of WJC-Israel since 2015 and am especially interested in advancing the cause of small Jewish communities similar to the one in which I grew up. I hope that you will find my candidacy worthy of support and would be happy to discuss the concerns and priorities of your community at your convenience.