Chagit Leviev, president and CEO of Leviev Group USA, spoke at the Arutz Sheva Jerusalem Conference in New York, and discussed the philanthropic acts that the group is carrying out in Israel and abroad.
“We’re involved in many philanthropic endeavors around the world. Our main focus was maintaining Jewish identity and we found that the way to do it is by giving Jewish education, and we opened hundreds of Jewish schools around the world,” said Leviev.
Asked why this is close to her heart, she explained, “We were appointed to it. When my father came to see the Lubavitcher Rebbe in the 80s he couldn’t speak, and the Rebbe told him that ‘you don’t need to speak a lot, you need to do a lot’, and gave him a mission to revive the Jewish life in former Soviet Union.”
On the impact of her philanthropic acts, Leviev said, “25 years ago, many of the Jewish families who lived in the Soviet Union immigrated to the US or Israel, so we established schools to help the children integrate in the Israeli community. And here what we’re doing is helping families go to Jewish schools because they’re pricey.”
“My father decided to open the first free Jewish school in America. Today we have thousands of graduates of that school in a couple of locations. You see students who graduated from the school signing their children to the school and they really want to be involved in all the philanthropic endeavors.”
Leviev, who is active on social media, was asked what principles guide her when she decides to post Israel or Jewish-related content and why she never promotes political agendas.
“I much more choose to focus on my Jewishness and not my political views because I look to bring people closer and not say ‘I believe in A and you believe in B’. Social media is an amazing platform for promoting philanthropic purposes,” she explained.