JERUSALEM (JTA) — Russian-Israeli businessman Leonid Nevzlin said he’s donating $6 million to the Museum of the Jewish People in Ramat Aviv.
Nevzlin, chairman of the international board of governors of Beit Hatfutsot (the Diaspora Museum), home of the new museum, announced the donation Wednesday night. The donation will be given through the NADAV Fund, which he established.
Nevzlin was the initiator and leading force behind the establishment of the Museum of the Jewish People in Beit Hatfutsot, which will cost an estimated $24 million and is scheduled to be opened in 2012.
“The new museum will be one of the principal tools available to us for ensuring the future of the Jewish people and its prosperity. I believe that visitors at the museum will not only be moved emotionally, but it will also teach them about their Jewish roots, and succeed in connecting them with the collective story of the Jewish people,” Nevzlin said.
