An American couple gave $25 million to Yad Vashem, the largest single donation ever given to Israel’s Holocaust memorial. Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, gave the donation to help enhance Yad Vashem’s programs in Holocaust education, documentation and research. Adelson, who made his fortune in Las Vegas real estate and more recently in China, recently was ranked fifth-richest person in the world by Forbes Magazine. The donation is expected to help expand Yad Vashem’s teacher-training activities in Israel and abroad and develop special programs for senior teachers, educational coordinators and shapers of public opinion. The money also will help in establishing a “virtual school,” intended to serve as an online study center and information source for teachers and as a forum for dialogue between education professionals throughout the world. A ceremony in honor of the Adelsons will be held Friday at Yad Vashem, with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel in attendance.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.