Ben Novack, Hotel Owner, Donates $1 Million to Israeli Philanthropies

Ben Novack, founder and owner of the Fontainebleau Hotel here, has donated $1 million to Israeli philanthropies. The Histadrut Foundation and the Jewish National Fund will each receive $250,000, with $500,000 to be dispersed through the Israel Bonds Organization. The announcement of the gift was made by Israeli Consul General Moshe Gilboa at a meeting in the Fontainebleau of the Israel Histadrut Council of South Florida. The meeting on Friday honored Yehoshua Levy. Histadrut treasurer in Israel, who was here to confer with leaders of the American Israel Histadrut Foundation. Dr. Leon Kronish, rabbi of Temple Beth Sholom and national chairman of the Histadrut Foundation, said: “By this bequest, Ben Novack has shown that he fully understands that every American Jew has an additional dependent, aside from his own family. That dependent is the people of Israel.” The Histadrut Foundation will use its $250,000 to help build the Ben Novack Outpatient Clinic of the South Florida Medical Center in Beersheba–planned as the largest and best-equipped such clinic in the Negev. The medical center, now under construction adjacent to the Histadrut Central Negev Hospital, will cost $2 million and be affiliated with the new medical school of the University of the Negev. Mr. Novak is former chairman of the Miami Beach Tourist Development Authority.